Blogs from Western Highlands, Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 3

In Xela (short for Quetzaltenango) I stayed with couchsurfer Irving. The first night we went for a drink with 3 other couchsurfers, that stayed with a friend of his. We drank a Guatemalan sort of aguardiente called "Quezalteca". There are different flavours. I liked the one with tamarinda. The following day, Irving borrowed a pick-up and we went to "las Fuentes Georginas". This is a beautiful place in the mountains, about 45 minutes from Xela. Hot water, coming from the Zunil volcano, flows into the pools. It's cold at that altitude so you can see the steam coming from the pools. Everywhere you look there is green around and it seems like a secret place, although it is frequently visited by touists. It was absolutely beautiful. When we left, we found the car with a flat ... read more

Dear All Greetings from Lake Atitlan, a stunningly beautiful high altitude lake in the Guatemalan highlands, surrounded by steep lush forested slopes, and flanked on its southern edge by three perfectly conical volcanoes – this could be paradise, it feels wonderful. I am currently writing this one from my hillside cabin at the Hotel Isla Verde, an eco-lodge perched up one of the lush forested Northern slopes of the lake, with a stunning full window vista right in front of me of the bluest of lakes, the bluest of skies and the hazy clouded peaks looming in the distance. The vista is framed by the lushest of vegetation, croaking cicadas and chirping birds. And the cabin’s attached private bathroom has a large completely open, glass-free “window” so you can do your ablutions pretty much in the ... read more

HE SAID... Today we were travelling southeast from San Cristobal de las Casas in Mexico to Panajachel in Guatemala. We woke early (5:30am) and prepared ourselves for the ten hour bus journey and border crossing into Panajachel. We’d heard there were national strikes and road blocks planned in Guatemala, and that these may delay our trip even further. At 8:15am we discovered the road blocks were definitely in place, and that our departure had been delayed until 12pm (we were originally meant to leave at 8:30am). It was better to sit at the hotel for three hours than sit in a hot minibus on the side of the road in Guatemala for the same amount of time. We headed into the city centre and had breakfast at Tonantzin. I ordered a cafe organico, while Ren had ... read more

Semuc Champey, Xela and some other nice places The first place I went to in Guatemala was the Maya site Tikal. Tikal is a spectacular place and I have decided to dedicate an entire blog entry to it. I will put that one up later on. Here in this the first blog from Guatemala I have collected photos I have taken in a few other places. First I am going to write a little about a small place called Semuc Champey. Semuc Champey is a popular tourist destination thanks to a series of natural pools located in a former riverbed. At some time the river found its way through cracks in the rock. The cracks grew wider and wider and eventually became a cave. More and more water flowed through the cave which made it grow ... read more

After the first few days of pissing around and getting drunk we began to get serious in San Pedro and find ourselves a Spanish school. Following in the footsteps of some of our best friends we sort out the Language hub, signing up for a week we moved into their rooms. Although a fun experience with great people, I smuggled to learn in that environment, there didn't seem to be a structure, planning, end game. Grammar was throw at me left right and centre and after every 4 hour session I would feel exhausted and angry with myself, on top of this I would dread sleeping in our room which smelt of damp and was filled with bugs. All in all it was time to move on. So we found a new school moved into a ... read more