Hotel El Atlantico Rio Hondo

... the unique feature here is that even now, four years later, the lava is still flowing.<br><br>After hiking up through the forest, we crossed through the clouds and stepped onto black volcanic ash. From here, we continued another 30 minutes up. Although you can´t go to the crater, you can go close to the lava. The first sight of close-up lava sent everyone scrambling for a closer and closer look. Althought the air ...

... tortas (with seven kinds of processed meat) cooked right there in front of you, Bob Marley on repeat over and over and over...and...<br><br><br><br><br><br><b r><br><br> ...cheap Termidor and Clos cask wine, the heady, scented markets, the old man who sat on the corner and shook everyone's hands as they walked past, the ATMs that never worked, Eliseo, the lake, the volcano, The Alegre ...

... the thermal conditions, the wind was whipping and all it takes was a sudden gust or a poorly placed step and you are a toasted human...No thanks. <br><br>My horse guide was a little disappointed that I did not hire the horse for the return journey, but I knew going down was much easier that going up. As it got dark, I discovered that my flashlight did not work. Fortunately a German, Elsa, shared her light. It is amazing that ...

My homestay family - and housemates - are making me feel like family! They surprised me with a special luncheon at home, a rose in my room, and lots of birthday hugs, and drinks in the afternoon at Sky Cafe - beautiful sunset views of the city. I'm now able to navigate my way around Antiqua with ease - provided the cobblestones don't trip me up! Typical of Spanish Colonial towns the streets are laid out ...

... the closer we got the dust turned to small volcanic rock and then larger rock as we walked the last bit to get closer to the lava that could be clearly seen from afar. At the near summit we bumped into another group, there were a bunch of Barcelonaian girls I have met at the coffee plantation :) it is amazing how traveling you seam to always re meet people along the way. The guide took us a certain way and then left ...

... flying over what I realized was Guatemala. The classroom, where we'd been learning all about Guatemalan history, culture and customs, became really, really distant. Reality set in. When the plane touched down, I tried to stay as focused and calm as I could. But ask anyone, I was bursting with disbelief that I was actually, finally in Guatemala. We made our way down to pick up our bags (mine arrived, safe and sound). We then searched out our driver and got into his van ...

... midnight, walked in, then walked out and then after that stared at us through the window for a bit. Creepy! Anyways, my small group called Fuertito helped build a house for a family. Everyday we went to work, we would see the family, play with the kids and work on the house that will eventually be a realized dream for them. We did a lot of grunt work like hauling up blocks and buckets of sand and rocks ...

We saw 449 patients yesterday and over 500 patients today. I am officially spanished out, but at least I am learning new stuff every day. I hae so much more to say about it, but Im just absolutely exhausted right now. Okay now, that Ive had a little rest I can tell you all what we have been doing for the last couple of days. We Get up at 530, have a devo at 6 eat breakfast at 630 and try to be on the road by 710. It takes an hour to get to Puerta de Golpe, and half of it is on a highway and ...

... the pool and just relaxed the rest of the day. Everything seemed to go by pretty fast, and I cant seem to figure out if it was the Gallo or the fact that I went to bed around 830 so that I could wake up at 530 and feel rested. Either way it was a pretty good day and it beats the hell out of biochemistry or anatomy lab.