Hotel Maria Elena San Pedro La Laguna

... to wake up. The sunrise was gorgeous- we had perfect weather and an even better view. It turns out that we were somewhere on the Indian´s neck, which was slightly disappointing but it was still worth the early wakeup call. We caught a pickup back into a town, which is quite a common form of transportation in Guatemala. The only way I know how to describe it, is it´s like a dangerous amusement park ride but REALLY fun! We got back to town around 830 and grabbed some ...

This morning we took tuk-tuks up to the National Reserve which is on a coffee plantation. We got suited up to use the zip lines through the jungle. It was a fairly long, arduous hike up the mountain to the start of the 8 zip lines. We saw monkeys and some animal they call Culia and I think we call a Culiamundi or something like that. After signing a release and having a short training session with the equipment we were on our way. It was exhausting going up but ...

... secluded community for about a week, and have been travelling with them ever since. Our days were filled up with going on random avdentures around the island, going on hikes through avocado farms, challenging the local kids to games of footballs (and making a bad name for gringos by loosing...badly), to rock jumping to kayaking. We have been living very cheaply, by cooking all over meals communaly, and we have had some epic pizza nights ...

... Adan made no effort to stop, I started galloping after it, weighed down by my bags, and with the lucky advantage of going down hill. The ayudante was leaning out the door and grabbed my bags from me, and then reached out his hand to pull me onto the moving bus. YES! I have ALWAYS wanted to do that. Ever since I saw them do it on the train in Leauge of Thier Own. Run and Jump Onto a Moving Vehicle...check. <br><br>Arrived back in Xela yesterday to run around and get ...

... 45 minutes hike to Jaibalito. It was a very small path and we had to climb upwards for some parts of it - quite difficult for Ben who was carrying all his luggage! The resident dog of La Iguana followed us as well, but we decided it wasn't safe for us to bring him into Jaibalito. Thus, Mieke, Hayden and Jarred returned there with the dog. <br><br>From Jaibalito, I decided to go with Ben and Ivan to San Pedro, where they had been staying at a place called Zoola ...

... We were served by a boy no older than ten and waited almost an hour for our meals, most of which were eggs, beans, and rice with tortillas. When they arrived Lynda found a dead bug in her rice and I found a long hair wrapped through a piece of scrambled egg. Our tortillas never arrived and they brought us some dry bread with margerine to placate us. Unsurprisingly we were not too taken with that place! <br><br>Our next order of business was to find ...

... guess in light of the $1,000 loss, the difference of $15 for a month isn't something I am going to be too picky about. <br><br>Passed another gringo-RFC weekend at the hostel. Culminated in going to shoot pool Sunday night with the loose confederacy of forgings that formed at the hostel. If you has asked me a month ago what I was going to be doing in Guatemala you would not have heard me say that I thought I ...

... ethos that I just can&#8217;t get my head around. But then I thought if there was one place when maybe I could go along with it and enjoy the tranquillity of the moment if would be with a lakeside view over a beautiful volcanic lake. We did 2 1\/2 hours of yoga this morning &#8211; under the tuition of a softly spoken dutch girl. I&#8217;m still not a yoga fan. I had to try and not giggle through the meditation &#8216;Ohm&#8217;s (the most powerful sound&#8217 ...

... by. The main village is up the hill away from the lake as the area just by the lake is the domain of the gringos and caters for all a traveller needs, laundries, bars, restaurants, hotels, hostels etc and loads of old crinkled and bent Mayan women selling amazing banana, chocolate breads and cakes. Up the hill there is a market and street stalls selling tacos, licuados (local fruit smoothies) as well as an over opulent church which overlooks the village.<br><br>After a great ...

... likely arrive to Panajachel first. Therefore, the commerce is much more developed here than in any other town around the lake. Panajachel is not the main community around the lake though. The largest one is called Santiago located at the other side of the lake. <br><br>When the van stopped we were immediately surrounded by people offering tours, shuttles, hotels, clothes, souvenirs.....well just about anything... Since we are planning to ...