Blogs from Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa, Pacific Coast, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean

In Antigua, the Calles run East-West and the Caminos run North-South. This makes it easy to read the map. Visitors think this means it is easy to find your way around. The only problem is--there are no street signs. In your hotel room you can think, plan and organize your walk around Antigua. But you won’t find your way around by thinking. There are no signs. You have to look up from the map, find the landmarks and use your gut feelings about which way to go. Guatemala taught me the joy of going with my guts. Saturday was our last full day in Santa Lucia. As usual, the mountain sky was a crisp, azure blue in the morning, but turned to an angry grey by afternoon. By 2:00, what was thick as fog covered the ... read more

My father was a bit of a joker. When I started dating way back in 1972, he wanted to be sure the boys treated me right. When that nervous knock came at the door, he would open it wearing a warm smile and say... “Hello, My name is Herb Beck. You must be a smart young man because my daughter is very special. Here, let me show you my gun collection. I’m an expert marksman. Please have her home by 10:30 PM.” I was always escorted home by 10PM. Meeting the family of someone you care about can be nerve wracking. You want them to like you. You want to like them. I was delighted when Julio invited Luke and me to spend two days with his family. It would be great to see his ... read more

Whenever I plan to rise early on a free day somehow the alarm keeps moving on a little later until it's not so early. Saturday was no exception. Once I got going, I found myself on a route I had travelled before with a choppy boat ride to Santiago followed by a pick-up to San Lucas. From here some inprecise pronunciation on my part (or too many names beginning with San) meant the next journey was a short (but free) one on discover of the misunderstanding. By this point I was stuck at one of those nothingy places where roads meet and subsquently a Pepsi stand emerges, some kids sell fruit and people wait around with stacks of wood and bundles of grass. If the roads are major enough, whole towns appear, which are normally scruffy, ... read more