Blogs from Caribbean Coast, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean

Nach einer sehr schlechten 4-stündigen Fahrt von Flores, ohne Klimaanlage oder WC im Bus und mit nur einem kurzen Stop, sind wir endlich in Río Dulce angekommen. Dort haben wir ein Taxiboot zu unserem Hotstel (Dreamcatchers Eco Lodge) genommen, das relativ weit entfernt vom eigentlichen Ort Río Dulce liegt. Wir haben uns auf den ersten Blick in dieses Hostel verliebt ! Es war ein sehr schönes, offenes Hostel inmitten der Natur, sofort am Fluss, überall rundherum Affen und Vögel. :-D Anja und ich haben ein fliegendes Zelt genommen und Skander ist in den offenen Schlafsaal gegangen. Das Hostel ist offen, d.h. es hat eigentlich keine Wände, man sitzt also immer draußen und man kann den ganzen Tag die wundervolle Natur dort genießen. Die Besitzerin, Liesel, war sehr nett und gastfreundlich, genau wie ihr Personal. Sie haben ... read more

Have a couple of boat rides today into Belize. Promise I will write more when we have a bit more reliable internet. ... read more

On Wednesday morning I woke up at 5:30 am in preparation for a 6 am pick-up at my Airbnb. I decided late Tuesday night to book a morning tour to hike Pacaya Volcano and am so glad I did! Surrounding Antigua there are 3 volcanoes--Fuego, Agua and Acatenango. Pacaya is an active volcano about an hour's drive outside of town and rises to an elevation of 2552 metres (8373 ft). It's last activity was in 2014. In my group there was a family of 4 (French Canadian), a couple and their good friend (from France), Fernanda (my friend from Costa Rica) and myself. Upon learning that I speak Spanish, Fernanda and I quickly became good friends and hiking buddies. She's traveling around Guatemala for a week with a co-worker that as she described it, "is older ... read more

Dear All Greetings from the middle of the Guatemalan jungle! I am writing this one from the most amazing of eco-lodges, deep within the Guatemalan jungle, on the banks of the Rio Tatin, a small tributary which feeds into the larger Rio Dulce. It’s the Finca Tatin, and it’s just wonderful. I am currently lying on my bed, writing this, with a solar fan on as there’s only mains electricity here for a few hours every evening. I’m in a jungle hut, with insect-netted windows on all walls, surrounded by sounds of numerous types of cicadas and whirring insects – this morning I awoke to a cacophony of different bird noises – and this evening I just saw my very first fire-fly – wow, it’s a magical place! I believe I last wrote on a bus ... read more

HE SAID... We woke early again, thanks to the overly enthusiastic rooster that had set himself off at 3am every morning since we had been in Antigua. We made our way out of the Antiguan valley at 5am in bright moonlight and descended into Guatemala City with a blood red sun rising over the sprawling city. We were meant to be travelling to Semuc Champey, but political unrest in that part of the country had made it unsafe for travel, so we were venturing instead to Rio Dulce, close to the Caribbean coast. We had a six hour drive ahead of us, so we had stocked up on provisions. As I stared out the window of our minibus, the settlements on the outskirts of Guatemala City were a stark reminder of the extent of poverty that ... read more