Blogs from Guatemala, Central America Caribbean - page 351

Guatemala...I love it... De sfeer is hier zo geweldig....mensen zijn vriendelijk, natuur is prachtig en de ruines van Tikal waren erg indrukwekkend!! Na Mexico 3 dagen Guatemala in geweest. Om de ruines van tikal te bekijken. Geweldige steile piramides in de jungle. Wat het nog mooier maakt is dat er apen boven je hoofd rondslingeren en de toekans die af en aan vliegen. Na 3 dagen Guatemala...was ik al verkocht. Via Belize naar de caribian coast van Guate gegaan. Daar heb ik 3 dagen in een jungle lodge gezeten vanwaar ik met medereizigers kanotochten heb gemaakt en een beetje gehiked. Vooral de kayuko (native kano) erg onstabiel, maar wel geweldig vervoermiddel om wat van de omgeving te zien. De dagen zien er wat anders uit...opstaan bij zonsopgang en je bed in voor 10! maar bevalt me ... read more

All Saints Day and an incredible hangover after last night´s Halloween celebration...We thought it might be a great idea to go to Santiago and see the festival of All Saints Day. Two chickenbus rides later we found ourselves in the middle of a celebration on a graveyard. Us lutherans are used to that graveyards are quiet and dark and a little sad places, so boy were we surprised to different relationship the guatemalans have with their ancestors! A guatemalan man we met, told us that the indigenous population communicate with their ancestors through flying bright coloured kites on All Saints Day. The graves were painted in different colors and there were children running and laughing everywhere and it was truly a happy occasion. Families had picnics on the graves (which I personally wanted to see after ... read more

Last saturday, after a good breakfast by the lake in Flores wondering where to head next, the owner of our hostel came with this great offer to us: he could arrange transport to the airport in Flores, flight to Guatemala City and transport from Guatemala City to Antigua for only 40US$!! After asking around a little and finding out that this wasn´t anything strange as it´s lowseason and hurricane-season and everything, we decided to take the offer. Of course the plane was a small 14 passenger local plane but the local assured us it was "segurísimo"! And so it was! Only three hours after leaving Flores we arrived in Antigua, having travelled from one side of the country to the other, instead of a 11 hours bumpy busride.... The driver that took us from Guate to ... read more

So here we are, finally in Guatemala! In Palenque when we tried to find out how to cross the border, everybody (and I mean everybody) told us it wouldnt be possible without taking a "tour". Even the local tourist info only tried to sell us their own tours. It seemed it easnt possible to just cross the border without seeing magnificent waterfalls or ancient mayan-ruins... But after some research, we found the place where to take a colectivo to Frontera Corozal. We had to get up at 5am and packed our stuff and tried to get out. I litterally mean TRIED to get out of the hotel, but we couldnt! We were locked inside...All the windows hade "fences" and all the doors were closed, and no nightwatch...Feeling a slight panic approaching, we tried all the keys ... read more

October 10, 2005 (Seattle-Tacoma International Airport): Shannon here. Sean and I leave for Guatemala tonight on a red-eye flight to Houston, then on to Guatemala City. We’re sitting in the airport at Sea-Tac as I write. I can’t say that I really feel all that nervous; perhaps maybe a little anxious about finding a place to sleep once we reach Guatemala City. For those that are not aware, Hurricane Stan caused some pretty severe landslides in Guatemala - in one case burying an entire village. Sean and I aren’t really sure what impact that will have on the places we intended to go - the news reports are saying that there are thousands of displaced people. So we’re not exactly sure what we’ll be flying into. All told, though, Sean and I are pretty sick of ... read more