Holiday Inn Guatemala City

... have gotten a cup of coffee had it not been for the plane suffering for too low water pressure. At least they showed a movie, and much to my surprise they kept showing it until we had landed and were at the gate. <br><br>The ride went well, except for a little bit of turbulence. Even though I do not suffer from fear of flying, you do think about it twice when the person next to you makes the sign of the cross across his chest while we are taxing ...

... to Tuesday 8th September 09<br><br>The following day we went exploring. My neck still wasn´t great. I think a combination of sleeping funny on it and then the horrendous trip the next day did it no favours. We found ourselves a Spanish school starting the next day for five days, changed accomodation for somewhere cheaper than the Black Cat and had a potter around the town. <br><br>Antigua is beautiful. You can really see how people coming here end up ...

I headed off early to a small town called Spiacate (a small surfing town on the Pacific Coast) using the lonely planet as a road map. Highway #11 looked like a substantial road to take! Mistake number one of many for the day. I took my time driving down the windy road passing gorgeous towns set high up a long the volcanoes. The road went from windy and steep, to dirt, to pot holes, to un-passable for Wesley. <br><br> After driving for 1 1/2 hours along the amazing ...

We land. Clear customs. Blaire gets a black and white stamp, Steph and I both get colour. This bothers Blaire for the next two days. It doesn´t help that we continue to remind her of this fact.<br><br>We gather our bags and head our. Ashik is waiting there for us (he flew in earlier from Vancouver). Well mostly me since he ...

... an issue. What is recommended is to use the yellow taxis. The same we used earlier, however they only come if they're a called from a cell or house phone. Of course we didn't have any, so in order not to ride a white taxi, we asked to some nice people at the Palacio Nacional if they could call the taxi for us. Even though they were wary at first, they did the favor to us. We were so grateful!<br><br>When we got to 4 Grados, found out that ...

... at the Convento de las Capuchinas, which supposedly has the most beautiful ruins in Antigua, but I arrived after it closed at 5pm. Heading south on 3 Avenida, I spotted El Carmen. El Carmen used to be one of the finest churches in the city but the numerous earthquakes to its toll when finally the top half of the facade collapsed after the quake in 1976. Further south. there is a small park, which did not impress me. However the two buildings that ...

... Volcano towering over town very well even if there werent any clouds inthe sky. We had a great time anyway, but we had to leave sooner than expected because Semana Santa (Holy Week) was starting soon and the hotels were all booked and if they werent, they cost double the normal rate. So we headed into the hills for Panajachel, where I'm writing this now. This post is a little late, I know, but we've been pretty busy lately. Well, not really.

... days before leaving for this trip we were extended an invitation to visit our friend Jorge's family.  So after negotiating with a taxi driver we were able to get a 25 min fare for about $2.50 each. The Chanquin family has been very gracious and has accepted us with open arms (Juan Carlos Chanquin our friend from Miami made all the arraignments). It feels great to have a sense of family around us in a country neither of us have visited ...

... a block away, on Callejon Camposeco, was the lovely Casa Cristina - given a mediocre review by Lonely Planet and I'm really starting to question their criteria because this place was stellar! And they had wifi! And cable TV! And a beautiful roof terrace! And it was $22! Unfortunately, the room was only available for one night. I really didn't feel like trying to find a third ...