Today is our last in Antigua for a time. Of course the day is gorgeous. The sky is brilliant blue. The volcanoes are clear of clouds. So, I’m watching Fuego puff it’s puffs. Agua sits to the south stretching upwards like the earth slowly trying to invade heaven.
Soon we will go find bus tickets for our journey south. We leave Guatemala behind, something seen, something done, future fodder for small talk with strangers.… Read the rest
Travel
2/7/2015 Antigua
So, we hiked up Volcano Acatenango on Thursday. Climbing up a hill made of dirt and gravel it was most akin to. Each step was always accompanied by the fear of a slip. 26 footfalls raised a cloud of powder in our line of 13 tourists from around the world. We hiked up for 6 hours starting in farm fields going through forests into the clouds.… Read the rest
1/29/2015 Antigua, Guatemala
We’ve been having tons of fun here since our first day. I can’t remember what day we arrived on. The day after we arrived we found a lovely place for the right price. Since then we’re enjoying our practically private rooftop patio and finding delicious restaurants. On Tuesday we went on a walking tour. We learned, really just confirmed, that Antigua has little in common with the rest of Guatemala.… Read the rest
1/28/2015 Antigua, Guatemala
We had a bit of a plan when we arrived in Antigua. We were going to look for a place to rent for a week. We figured it would be cheaper than paying a daily price for a week. We had lunch of Fish & Chips to try to recover from the bus ride. The fish wasn’t even breaded, I’m not sure if that is proper.
… Read the rest 
1/25/2015 Antigua, Guatemala
Hey look at us! We made it to Antigua. Yesterday was interesting, to say the least. We awoke at 6 and packed our bags. 7:30 found us outside the hostel restaurant waiting for the owner to get the front door open. He lost his keys. The unlocking somehow involved a rope and was successful. The owner appeared to be an Aussie who didn’t speak a lot of Spanish.… Read the rest
1/23/2015 San Marcos La Laguna, Lake Atitlan
I took care of the laundry today. It involves walking down the path to the Holistic Center and Laundromat and paying a woman 50Q/$6.54. Magically, 8 hours later I had a bag of clean, folded laundry. The whole process was transcendental. I was utterly calm. I found myself in another realm and was able to eat an entire pizza for lunch.… Read the rest
1/22/2015 San Marcos La Laguna, Guatemala
We made it to San Marcos La Laguna! We even have a place to stay. The ride was by mini bus and involved a lot of curves, rocks, speed bumps, holes, etc. We arrived at dusk and made our way to the hostel. A pedestrian walk way leads everyone through an odd assortment of shops, holistic clinics, hotels, and restaurants. English is the easy language here.… Read the rest
1/21/2015 Quetzaltenango (Xela), Guatemala
We’ve been here for a day and a half. It’s a working city. It’s been fun. We’ve been walking around looking around. Yesterday we went to the mall and MegaPaca in the morning. Jill finally bought a little jacket that should keep her warmer. I found some nice shoes for hiking up volcanoes and such. In the afternoon we went to a hot spring called Fuentas Georginas.… Read the rest
From 1/7/2015 Él Madresal Mexico
We are in El Madresal on the Pacific Ocean. This place is amazing and terrible. It is kind of a resort but extremely rough around the edges. The sunrises are spectacular and sunset is not to missed. It’s 6:20 and I’m watching the morning light grow in our cabana. I think the power turned off at 6 AM. It turns on around 6 PM.… Read the rest
1/1/2015 San Cristobal de Las Casas
We jumped on another shuttle early on Tuesday in Antigua and rode all the way to San Cristobal. It took another 12 hours. Riding in cars for that long isn’t very fun and curves make it worse. Jill cooked some oatmeal before we left and we packed it to eat at a more reasonable hour. It was a little awkward on the bus, pouring coconut milk on a mountainous road never works well.… Read the rest