Efter et par dages afslapning i Antigua, besluttede vi os for at tage ud for at bestige vulkaner! Det blev en vulkan i naerheden af Guatemala City, som hedder Pacaya. Vulkanen er stadig aktiv, saa vi glaedede os til at se en masse lava - og vi blev ikke skuffede! Det var en til tider ret haard tur opad. Nogle steder var det temmeligt stejlt, og paa lange straekninger var der rullesten og grus, som man skred rundt i. Paa naesten hele turen var der et par taalmodige guatemaltekere, som fulgte efter os med nogle heste, og ca. hver femte minut [View Full Entry]

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Hi everyone (go get yourself a coffee....this is quite a long one!), So where were we....looks like the last you heard we were in Acapulco.....is that right? Yes....? Ok then we´ll start from there. It was such a hardship spending a couple of days at the beach that we decided we should...er....go for another couple of days on a fabulous beach. Huatulco in the state of Oaxaca (pronounced Wa-ha-ka) has a few awesome seasides so we picked one and spent a couple of days looking around and being a bit lazy. The highlight was the world´s best spring roll which we [View Full Entry]

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Sorry its a bit scattered but here's Lake Atitlan & Semuc Champey [View Full Entry]

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We knew that Guatemala had volcanoes, lush tropical jungles, and some gorgeous lakes but over the past 2 very hectic weeks Lindsay, her friend Katie, and one of my best buddies from Uni, Sandy, and I discovered it had a lot more to offer too... After being told the capital, Guatemala City is not really worth visiting we spent the first two nights in Antigua. Antigua is matrix of narrow cobble stoned streets surrounded by volcanoes. It was a good place to get over the culture shock and for Lindsay, who landed the role of chief Spanish interpreter and negotiator extraordinaire, [View Full Entry]

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Waking up before sunrise to animal noises, working all day cleaning up poop and dodging the monkeys peeing on you from above, eating tasteless horrible food, covered in bug bites, mopping up toilet and rain water from the bedroom floor daily, and at night checking each other´s hair for lice while the girls seperated by paper thin walls in the room nextdoor have dance parties listening to horrible music... Ah, the life of being an ARCAS volunteer. At 5:30 am every morning we get to awaken to the noisy squawks of rescued scarlet red macaws. Occasionally we hear the loud hooting, [View Full Entry]

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Cooking indoors over an open fire is one of the issues that the people of Santa Maria de Jesus face in there daily lives. As it does many people in similar circumstances across the world. It is this issue that I went to this town in Guatemala to learn more about and to assist in fixing it for four families whilst I was there. After a week of one-on-one Spanish lessons in Antigua, I was ready to get my hands dirty with a bit of manual labour, something that I have missed after a number of years working and studying indoors [View Full Entry]

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Morning routine Our mornings started by meeting everyone at the coffee shop in Antigua, where all the volunteers got together before heading off to either Itzapa or Santa Maria de Jesus for the day. Our shuttle bus usually arrived around 8am to drive the teachers and stove builders to Santa Maria de Jesus, which is located on the side of Volcano Agua. Once we arrive at the viallge, and we all clamber out of the mini van, different children each day welcomed us with hugs and big smiles. During the weeks that Dan was building stoves, he would meet up with [View Full Entry]

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Situated in the northern part of Guatemala, the ruins of Tikal are considered by many to be the best remaining examples of Mayan architecture around. They are certainly the hottest. As we climbed onboard the battered minibus in Flores at 5am the air was thick with anticipation. Even the driver, slumped half-asleep over the wheel with headphones hanging from his ears, failed to quell the feeling of adventure. Each traveller was lost in their own thoughts and the conversation was minimal as we left the small town and headed out into morning mist. As the bus, laden with well-fed westerners [View Full Entry]

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Health Alert... From the looks of it my frequent, painful battles with gastrointestinal complications are a thing of the past, if you don´t count my erosive esopheghitis. My system is as strong as a donkey. I´m back to the good ol´days of devouring any type of street food Hondu and Guate can throw at me. Once again I´m living an intrepid, gastronomic free for all. Over all, movements are solid, frequent and of a mocca color. However, for the second year in a row I´m battling some odd skin condition. In the Middle East last summer 3 mysterious concentric circles appeared [View Full Entry]

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The return to San Pedro brought back a lot of funny memories of Xmas and New Year shenannigans. Though this time the party never even got started as Mhairi and I planned to dive the next morning so late night boozing was a no no. I hadn't been diving since Malaysia in 2007 so they reccommended a refresher session, which I was very thankful of as soon as I got under water and the fear began to rise. I remembered most of my skills but became a bit paranoid about bouyancy and not being able to wait for the safety stop, [View Full Entry]

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