Blogs from San Pedro La Laguna, Western Highlands, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 14

We spent the day wondering how to get to Antigua. We wanted to be there by the end of the day, but it's all the way across the other side of the country. We were prepared to make the 10 hour overnight bus journey if it came down to the crunch, but I'd developed a nasty cold over night and was feeling pretty awful. We decided to go to the airport in Santa Elena and enquire about plane tickets and knew that they ranged from $60-80 and even up to $130. A local met started hassling us at the airport telling us tickets were $130 but he could get them for $110 if we came to his travel agency. When we went into the airport to enquire at the desk, he beat us there and started ... read more

Fellow Gringos, The past few days have been exiting. We have traveled to many smaller towns up and around the Highlands in Guatemala. One stop was Chichicastenango. This town has the largest street market in Guatemala. Walking through the streets one will see street vendors selling corn tortilla with meat, ice cream carts, shoe shiners with a small black tool box, and a variety of handy crafts such as wooden animal masks and bright colored blankets. There is an endless amouant of jewlery and the seller is aggresive. The hotels have been nice. The rooms typically have two small beds and a small table. The walls are usually barren, but some have Mayan art framed above the beds. The day starts around 6:30 am and the hustle is very loud. The cobble stone steets have no ... read more

Celui la est un volcan eteint depuis bien longtemps, mais l'experience fut aussi sympa que pour le volcan Pacaya. Petite rando sympa de 1560m a 3020m d'altitude en 2h (au lieu de 3h30 normalement annoncees)! Explication: Etant le seul ce jour-la a tente l'ascencion avec le guide a 6h du mat', je lui ai dit que je faisais pas mal de rando, et du coup il en a profite pour se faire plaiz: du haut de son 1m60 et de ses 50 ans, c'est limite s'il ne courait pas devant moi dans la montee. C'etait assez hardos, mais ca valait vraiment le coup, la vue etait vraiment superbes . Dans une agence qui organise des excursions, il y avait une photo du lac avec cette legende: "Nature's way of exagerating", je trouve que ca colle pas ... read more

Wir sind da! Und alles hat perfekt geklappt. Nach nur ungefaehr drei Stunden Flug sind wir hier in Guatemala am Flughafen angekommen und direkt mit Marimbas und Kontrabass :) empfangen worden. Dann direkt mit dem Taxi zum Bus gefahren worden. Die Busse sind hier alte amerikanische Schulbusse (kennt man in gelb aus entsprechenden Serien), und hier sind sie total bunt lackiert, z.t. mit getoenten Scheiben und ziemlich rasant unterwegs- toll! Die 4 Stunden nach Panachajel hier am See waren superschnell vorbei, und wir haben dann noch das letzte Lancha (Boot) nach San Pedro bekommen. Und im Abendlicht und warmem, aber ganz schoen starkem Sommerwind ueber den See gefahren. Hier sind wir dann direkt angesprochen und zum Hotel San Fransisco gebracht worden, wo wir ein chilliges, buntes Zimmer mit Seeblick haben und Haengematte davor. Heute waren wir ... read more

OK, let me catch everyone up on what's going down in San Pedro. Sunday afternoon two guys from Australia showed up to take classes at Mayab´ Spanish School. One of the guys (Peter) is staying at the Puac household with me and his buddy Tom is staying two doors down. Peter and Tom had met a couple from Switzerland during their travels and they are all surfing their way down the West coast. Monday night was Peter's 21st Birthday so everyone went out to celebrate. Monday night Elena prepared dinner early so we could get the night started. We all met down at Nick's Place and sang Happy Birthday in Spanish to Peter, who is by far the youngest in the group by about 4-5 years. Peter thought it would hurt his chances with the women, ... read more