http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Central America Caribbean , Guatemala , Antigua en-us Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:17:23 BST Thu, 24 Jul 2008 09:17:23 BST Round of applause please As of Thursday 17th July 2008 the Family Mixto Paxel now have a brand new home to live in We finished off the house by adding the door window roof and painting the outside and inside having finished off the floor the previous day. After leaving the office in the morning our brilliant planning once again ensured that we had the door hanging off the back of the truck. http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-302519.html Phewve just completed 4 days of Spanish school When in Rome...Antigua is reknown for its Spanish schools so I thought I'd try to learn something more than my dodgy French and vague Italian courtesy of Italian Disc 1 2 and 3 thanks Martin and hours of train journeys and lonely Italian meals for oneImagine putting yourself in a position where you feel like an awkward adolescent loosely tran http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-301956.html AntiguaToday we wandered around town on our last full day in Antigua and visited a couple of the churches. The town was originally built in the 1500s but has suffered multiple earthquakes on a fairly regular basis so just about every historical building has been built destroyed rebuilt destroyed and at some point left the way it was. We first went to the Catedral Santiago off Parque Central http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/blog-301950.html AntiguaAfter our initial uncertainty about this town we have decided to stay a couple days. We'll pick up our tickets today and leave in the morning for Panajachel on Lago Atitlan about 2.5 hours away.LodgingWe stayed at the Yellow House two nights ago and thought it was nice but not great. Lots of travelers obviously stay there and there is a small kitchen for use a small breakfast is provi http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/blog-301941.html Psych Like that would ever happen. I went on a tour set up by the school and at one of the stops a woman demonstrated an indigenous wedding ceremony. Since I was the only guy I dressed as the groom and another student Sarah from Ireland dressed as the bride. It was very educational. Apparently its the custom that the marriages are arranged while they are babies or very young. And it's typica http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/blog-300737.html Of course this trip isnt entirely about sitting in bars and drinking although the carribbean is only a short flight away idea The main reason why Im out here is to work with the organisation Houses to Homes casas a hogares. They build houses for people living in little more than sugarcane shacks and who hardly have any form of income. For this reason all they have to do is contact the http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-299272.html Well here's entry number one in my travels. Arrived in Guatemala city airport after an 8 hour flight from Heathrow into JFK and then after a 6hr wait finally left at 3am Argh Believe me that was knackering Got into Guat City at 6am and the first things that you notice are a the brightly painted houses belowb the sun breaking through the clouds as you're descend in a myriad of past http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-297187.html Antigua homestayThrough the school most students arrange a homestay which includes meals. My homestay has been great although I was surprised when I first arrived on that Wednesday afternoon. When I filled out the application for the homestay online I checked the box for no children and no pets. Is there a difference So of course my homestay mother Sylvia has a 15 year old son Fran http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/blog-297165.html I flew into Guatemala City the capital safe and sound Wednesday afternoon July 2nd. The city was noisy and dirty with generous amounts of carbon monoxide. Colorful chicken buses retooled American school buses for public transportation abound. It took about 1 hour to arrive in Antigua from the capital. It was once the captial of Guatemala but a major earthquake hit Antigua in 1773 and level http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/blog-295681.html We had a great few days celebrating 1 year http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/blog-295100.html Just our luck that the directo shuttle didnt have the numbers to run to Antigua. So we were up at 5.30 to get the 6am shuttle to Coban. Getting up when the shuttle is due only assures you have a seat so after an hour looping around the village we finally had enough people to leave. This hour wasnt boring as we learnt a new Guatemalan game of which we think we were in a winning team. This gam http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-294170.html Well we made it. Last night the flight from texas to guatemala was delayed over 2 hours some girl lost her passport and was not allowed to board the plane so they had to find her luggage and remove it off the plane.. Meaning loading all the luggage back on the plane. Yikes. Well we made it safe. It was a little dicey some drunk cab driver had a sign with our names on it and drove us to this hos http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-293700.html so really the best part of this entry is the photos...four different people taking hundreds of photos...we tried to choose a nice little bouquet for all ya'll. so lindsie was able to give a quick overview of our time up till flores...here's my two cents on top of that.... ...cenotes are amazing they are sinkholes that have filled with water and created underwater caves with stalactites and u http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-292979.html in antigua guatemala. it has been a while but lindsie and i are doing well and going to try and catch everyone up on the past month or so and more importantly post some photos. this little post covers the time from oaxaca mexico up till we met with arin and kelli in akumal mexico. basically we drove a lot in order to make it to a k on time...from oaxaca we had an amazing drive to hierva http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-292966.html So now we are in Guatemala not straight from Barcelona we had 10 days in U.K visiting my family and then 2 weeks in the U.S visiting Kens. Had a fantastic time but both of us are absolutely burnt out from all this travel and meeting new people. To make matters worse we decided to book the cheapest and therefore longest flight we could find. We left at 12 at night and got in at 2 in the afternoon http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-292519.html We arrived in Antigua Friday morning and waited for the rest of the volunteers to arrive who were coming down for one last blow out with the Madrileos. By saturday night we were eleven people and headed out to wreck the town. Good night good send off and I was back to the orphanage by sunday night.Didn't see a lot of Antigua to be honest nice bars and restaurants lovely town with original cob http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-291738.html Great city with muchas grande volcanos http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/blog-289070.html Wow this blog posting is really difficult. It's time to say goodbye to Guatemala after all this time. Tommorrow morning at 530am we leave our house to go to the airport. It's been a very busy and emotional day.When I think about this year there are some major themes that strike me as being so meaningful to me and to our family.The first is how wonderful the actual country of Guatemala is http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-287851.html So after our rather wet week spent in San Pedro we headed back to our favourite place in the world not Antigua. We had to pass through it to leave Guatemala anyway and as we had missed the opportunity to climb up Volcan Pacaya a must do activity when it Antigua due to some bad belly problems we took the chance to do it on our way back through. The original plan was to arrive in Antigua chec http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-287731.html The first leg on my trip throughout the Maya Route RUTA MAYA http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-284083.html We are here Im not feeling like writing much at the moment One because I need to figure out the keys two because I am a bit under the weather and want to sleep But just wanted to say that... it feels good but a little strange to be back And we are here safe and sound.Saludos a todos http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/blog-283470.html Zal je net zien. Ben je eindelijk een keer in Guatemala hebben de weergoden besloten er een orkaan tegen aan te gooien. Resultaat dagenlang niets anders dan hoosbuien. Bijeffect de toch al niet zo prettige busreizen door de torenhoge Guatemalteekse bergen worden nog net iets minder prettig. Want terwijl je je je normaal al zorgen moet maken om de chauffeur die het scheurend langs de afgrond en http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-283395.html Well here it is a long awaited updated...again Unfortunately it looks like were not going to be updated this as often as expected What with no internet broken internet slow internet and power cuts weve not been having much luck. But here goes.So after San Cristobal we headed to Palenque which was an interesting trip as there was apparently some kind of blockade that was not letting anyo http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-279825.html Guatemala for Two Cents Stay Tuned for this entry http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-279081.html This is quite a short blog. It covers about three weeks. We spent most of it in Antigua Guatemala doing a Spanish course. The rest was rushing through central America getting to Panama to fly over to South America. So there isn't too many exciting photos.Anyway...As soon as we crossed over into Guatemala from Mexico we noticed a difference the landscape changed. First of all it was a lot greener http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-278841.html 2 months a 1 hour taxi journey a 12 hour bus journey overnight in San Salvador a 2 hour chicken bus and finally Nick surfsAs the transport strike in Nicaragua was still in full swing and the locals getting more extreme we decided it was time to leave...dissappointed not to have seen everything the country had to offer but we were still happy enough to be leaving the heat behind us. We cou http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-277980.html Dear All If you have taken time out of your day to navigate all the way to this page to read what Im doing over the other side of the world then thank you. Unfortunately I am having some trouble with this blog website and dont seem to be able to access it easily in some places. So Ive decided to move my jottings to this webpage herehttpjencentralamerica.blogspot.comIts more of a blog http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-275897.html A while back I was walking back to our house from central Antigua which is a 20minute walk along which final portion includes a dirt road between two small coffee farms. I've walked home alone many times and normally don't think twice about any safety issues but this time for some reason I didn't like the look of the man in the distance coming towards me.As he got a little closer to me I sta http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-274931.html For Mother's Day which is actually celebrated on May 10 of every year as opposed to second Sunday Lucas and Grace's school put on a little show for us moms. With a scheduled start time of 10am the event started promptly at 1045 or so with a pretty entertaining performance by a nationally known singer Elisabeth. Hey she must be good you can find her in Wikipedia AND she's got only o http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Guatemala/Antigua/Antigua/blog-274889.html