Two of the young ladies from our tour and I got in the Atun Tucnil Malakin (sp) van and went into town to the MayaWalk Tour Office. We paid our fees , found satisfactory wet/cave shoes, grabbed our bag lunches and headed out. After about an hour on a decent road, we turned onto the "road from Hell"! After another hour of riding on a road that couldn't have been any worse and still be usable by anything but an ATV, we arrived at the base camp. The guide briefed us on what to take and what to leave. Wear a pair of socks and bring a dry pair. A bathing suit is ok if its tough, otherwise shorts or even pants. We donned our helmets and one light backpack for the 3 of us ... read more

This morning we left paradise, aka Hotel Catamaran, for Flores. After one stretch break and the fruit fly search upon entering Peten department, we reached the little island of Flores. Flores is connected to the mainland by a causeway and has about 2,000 people, most of which probably work for one of the hotels, restaurants, or souvenir shops. A very quaint, laid-back town. After settling in to Hotel Sabana, Lisa gave us a short guided walk around the town, showing us the best restaurants and where we'd find an ATM. After calling home, we checked out some of the souvenir shops and then had lunch at Capitan Tortuga. Manoli had a fruit salad that was awesome. Several types of fresh fruit artisitically cut and arranged to look like 2 fish! I had a plate of ... read more

We left Copan Ruinas, Honduras about 8am, stopped once to stretch after about 2 hours, then arrived at Quirigua Ruins about 11:30am. The ruins are off the main road a ways on a dirt road, thru banana plantation(s), Dole I think. Although very small, Quirigua was still interesting with some cool stellae and zoomorphs (human-animal sculptures). The guide in Copan had told us his opinion was that the Mayans that made some of the designs in stone were probably on drugs... some peyote, mescal concoction popular at the time. Some of them were weird enough that he might be right! After a brief walk-thru, we had a picnic lunch from the Copan hotel, then headed down the road towards the lake and our stay at Rio Dulce. When we arrived at the lake, we pulled ... read more

We found out that not only was the tour comprised of only 6 people, we had a big 40-passenger bus! We loaded up and left Antigua. The bus was very comfortable, with reclining seats, two table and chair sets in the back and a good-sized paperback library and a cooler. After about 2 1/2 hours, we stopped for a quick stretch and then continued to the Honduras border about 2 hours later. We waited on the bus while the tour leader Lisa showed our passports and paid our border fees, 10 Quetzals each ($1.50) to leave Guatemala and $3 US to enter Honduras. We also bought some Lempiras (Honduras money) from one of the ever-present moneychangers at the border. Copan Ruinas (the name of the town... Copan is the name of the ruins..go figure!) was ... read more

After relaxing and getting some orientation and tips from our hosts, we walked into town. Although very touristy, Panajachel (our town on Lake Atitlan) was still colorful and interesting. We stopped first at the Crossroads Cafe (Americn owner Michael) for a couple of cafe con leches to go, then strolled about half way down the main street towards the lakefront, checking myriads of gift shops and Mayan street vendors. We stopped for lunch at "Sandra's", the place the Inn recommended. The British owner was friendly and the food was great. Supposedly Lebanese, but very tasty and varied. We had the appetizer plate and shish kabobs... total with drinks... $15.00. We finished our stroll to the lake, but by now it was raining, which happens most afternoons here, so the view wasn't as stunning. Getting back ... read more