Sitio Tres Antigua Guatemala

... founded here in 1609. The arch was originally built so the nuns could walk between the two halves of the convent without being sullied by contact with the outside world. The view of the arch looking south shows the Volcán de Agua which towers over the town. It was hazy so it's hard to make out the volcano in my picture. Though I understand that's normally the case, I'll try to get a picture that more clearly shows the volcano to post.

Antigua Guatemala, Western Highlands, Guatemala graybeard

... things I did after I bought my ticket back in January was email Alejandro. We`ve had plans to meet in Guatemala for 11 months now!! And it finally happened in Antigua! We missed each other at one bar, so I ventured out to another bar he had mentioned, hoping with all hopes that he would be there, and he was! We got to visit for about 2 hours until I couldn`t breathe out of my nose and had to go home, but it was so awesome to reconnect with him Guatemala. Gotta love those ...

... We recently found that you can climb to the roof and get a decent view of volcan agua and the surrounding area (you can also get a decent view of our next door neighbors ... about 10 cows that could use a bath). Our bedroom is defnitely enough for what we need and if it wasnt for the terrible smells from the farm next door that hit us on hot days, the rooster that believes every car headlight that passes by is the sun rising (the thing ...

... highlands cools everyone else down. High 70s during the day is such a nice change from the heat and humidity of Tikal, Guatemala back in August or even the Outback a few days ago. Just being able to walk around without turning into a stinking sweaty mess after ten minutes is awesome. Xela should be even more temperate.

Even though things are cool I needed to buy some water and found a convenience type store tucked away in one of those hundred year ...

... Although we did use a van for our major transportation, riding a bike and hiking through local towns really provided me with an opportunity to connect with and immerse myself in the culture. Guatemala is a beautiful country with a rich culture and scenic landscape that will forever stick out in my mind as a favorite from all my travels.

The final part of our trip included ...

... for one more day”. We can’t even count the number of times we had farewell parties and drinks for new friends who then popped up the next day, having decided it wasn’t quite time to leave after all.





So, on Monday, May 18, we left San Pedro. We had our own farewell party, and a final roast, at The Alegre the night before, then the next morning ...

... up to another three hours away on dirt road. So we pulled up stumps in this tiny little backwater town, in the middle of nowhere really to stay the night with the idea of heading off early tomorrow. Turnsout it was only like an hour to Semuc the next morning, but the road was pretty rough, so probably a great decision to pull up stumps at that stage of the night. 22nd May We drove to Semuc from wherever the hell it was we slept the night before. The road can best be described as a goat ...

... majotiy are from central america so the festivities are not put on for gringos, now I know some of you are saying festivities and easter may not go together( forget the easter bunny he has no place in central america apparently he is not even catholic) Easter is soppose to be somber but here it has a festive atmospher, more like a big party with a dose of reverence and self sacrafice thrown in for good measure. What is so important about ...

... the minibus, we were surrounded by children selling walking sticks, with filthy clothing and snot streaked faces. We bartered a 5 year old down to 2 walking sticks for 5Q (we aren't proud), and started the steep hike up the mountain. It was tough going, with a footing of deep dust and a steep incline. As we climbed, the wind got stronger and stronger, reaching tremendous force at the top. As we neared the top of our climb, the ...

... active volcano puffing away in the distance as well as a couple of dead ones.



It was still daylight when we reached the lava and as the sun set it got really really cold up there, but the glow of the lava was amazing and kept eveyone warm! It was so hot, you couldn't get too close - some people brought marsh mallows to toast, but unless you'd bought a 6ft stick, there was no way you could get close enough ...