Argovia Finca Resort Hotel Tapachula

... there was little in either of the two structures. Some small shops with the requisite t-shirts and souvenirs, a Jade “Museum” and shop, and internet café and a tour desk. In the middle was a performance space where, once enough people had walked off ship, they began to do some local dances. It was interesting, but not enough to occupy 12 hours of our stay.

After our first circuit of the shops we ran into Alan and ...

... end of a twenty minute journey, edging through the mangroves in the pitch black with only a quick flash of a torch to ensure we didn't hit anything, we ended up at a small jump off point. The guy from the boat called someone on his mobile and then led us up what felt like a maina street, however there were only a few houses and the floor was completely covered in black sand. After following the old boat guy for a few minutes we reached a turning ...

Hello, Friends!

So, this past weekend I climbed the great Tajumulco with the Quetzal Trekkers - and it was the highest I have been in my life! Tajumulco is at 4,223 m (or for us estadounideses, 13,854 feet). This makes it the highest point not only in Guatemala, but also all of Central America. This makes me very happy because my goal last summer was to summit a 14er in Colorado, but I never got around to it. So, because now I know I can safely and successfully ...

... was very cool - but wayyyyyyy tooooo cool for us.

We headed back to the hotel and picked up a bottle of tempranillo wine (Q75) and heard some more music and chatter. Turns out that there was a party at the hotel that we werent invited to - it couldnt have been that cool a party if we werent invited. So nistead, we had our own party on our deck in overlooking the lake and polished off a bottle of wine. Made for a good nightcap.

Alarm went off at 7am ...

... we in de boot en gelijk bij aankomst merk je het verschil met het rustige stekkie waar we zitten. Veel mensen die je spullen willen verkopen, je sandalen willen poetsen, je de weg willen wijzen of gewoon geld willen hebben. Na onze klussen in de winkelstraat gedaan te hebben zijn we op pad gegaan naar het Reserva Natural Atitlan, een soort jungle met een waterval, apen en andere boomklimmers en een vlindertuin. We hebben de ...

... was interesting to say the least, i think after 5 minutes i had seen a lady boy and a child of around about 10 absolutely trolled on the booze... but still there was never any real sense of danger. The only thing that cut our little tour short was the sudden down pour that if you dont recognise the first warning signs then you will be literally soaked, luckily we were in the main plaza and with a large covered terrace right next to us so we just dived in ...

We met a really cool australian guy who surfs, travels, and has a very desirable career and lifestyle. We met while getting on the bus in San Salvador and after the long bus ride, hung out in Tapachula at a restaurant across from the bus station with him for a few hours before his bus left. Good food, good beers and good company, then we parted ways and headed to sleep.

... out the significance of this month in Oaxaca, another interesting chapter in our life together. I (Annette) woke up after midnight when I noticed that the bus had stopped. Neal was awake but just barely. The bus had slowed, started up, then came to rest behind a semi rig. As far as we could see ahead, and, in a few minutes, the way we had come, was a long trail of taillights and headlights. The oncoming left lane had no traffic at all. In ...

...so, Tapachula...

My plan was to find a cheap hotel in town (evening flight in) and hop onto a 7am bus to Guatemala City the next morning. That was the plan...

At the airport taxi counter, there were two options...a taxi for M150, or a ´collectivo´ for a third of that. I wasn´t sure what the latter entailed, but it sounded cheap...turns out they just ram more people into a standard cab and drop you off in the ´center´ - if they find enough people ...

... this role before as he did it quite well. Because of the late hour I didnt feel like arguing with him so we gave him 10 quetzales (a dollar fifty). the main tip offs that he was lying were his whiskey laced breath, his claim that he had not planned to book a hotel until the end of his midnight hike up a mountain in a place he didnt know and the fact that for some reason he was wearing no shoes. Last weekend, we ...