Escape to Guatemala June 10-28

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Hello Everyone! So it has been about 4 years since my last blog entry. A lot has happened since then. After returning from my last trip to Argentina in summer 2009, I began graduate school in clinical psychology in Baltimore, Maryland. 4 years down and 1 more to go. To say it has been a long road would be an understatement. Next month in July I will be starting the next phase, a 1 year full-time internship at a community mental health clinic in Denver, Colorado. Before I do that, I decided I needed a little vacation to rejuvenate. As previous readers of my blog know, I have a weak spot for Latin America. This time I will find myself in Guatemala for 18 days. Why? Besides the obvious answer of "Why not?" I decided upon Guatemala after some research and recommendations from other travelers. I had already been to many of the Spanish-speaking countries in South America, and the flight costs proved prohibitive this time around, even more than Europe (I am a graduate student, after all). Besides for Mexico and Cuba, I had not explored Central America so I thought this was a perfect opportunity to do so. After some research and word-of-mouth recommendations, I settled on Guatemala. There is much to explore, including lakes, volcanoes, old colonial towns, jungles and rivers, mountains, Mayan ruins and plenty of culture. Another added bonus is that I get to brush up on my Spanish a little bit. It's gotten a little rusty. I'll be using it in my work in Denver, which has a large Latino population, so a couple weeks in Guatemala will do the trick.

Between school and moving out of Baltimore, I have been too busy to do much planning for my trip. Over the coming days I will iron out an itinerary. Unlike my previous trips down south which lasted anywhere from 2 to 4 months, this time I have just 18 days. I know, that's still more vacation days than most people get in a year! This means that I will have to keep to a stricter schedule than I have before. I am leaving for Guatemala this Monday, June 10th. I wanted to submit this first entry now so that you all know to be on the lookout for future emails. Each time I post an entry, you will automatically get an email from Travelblog.org. Please add this email address:

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to your contact list so that the emails do not go to your spam folder. I hope to post entries 2-3 times per week, time and Internet access permitting. I have met tons of people over the last 4 years and have added a number of people to my subscriber list. I hope I did not miss anyone. I am excited that you will all be able to follow me on my journey.

Hasta luego,

Bernie

P.S. In case you have not seen the entries from my previous 2 trips, you can go here:

http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Bernie-D/

and read through some of them, since I am sure you have oh so much free time and absolutely nothing to do!

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Comments

[Folkert]

Thanks Bernhard!
Viel Spass und eine gute Reise...bin gespannt...

[Josh]

Go Bernie! Sounds beautiful. Hope to catch you in July.