Hotel Meson del Valle Antigua Guatemala

... ll miss him. He and Rose were terrific at finding us places to stay and Jim showed us around all the places he had visited in the past. Friday and Saturday we just walked around Antigua and did some shopping. Terry was looking for a long embroidered "fala" from Huehetenango. She had seen a very expensive one in the primo shop in Antigua and we saw some others in ...

... from the ride.<br><br>No agenda is holding me back until tomorrow afternoon when I meet my travel buddy in Quetzaltanango. That mouthful to pronounce is called Xela by the locals and is pronounced Shayla. This tongue twister name translates as Land of the Quetzals, and I know you are at chair's edge as to what a quetzal is so I will save you the anxiousness of wondering...it's the brightly colored national bird and the name of the currency as well.<br ...

That is what our Spanish teacher Paulina said to us when we were rushing to espanol class a couple minutes late that I really took a liking to- mostly because that's one thing I really want to work on during the year: relaxing. Ha, that sorta sounds silly, but its true. I felt immediately more relaxed upon boarding my flight. The last couple months felt more like a stagnant waiting period and now I'm finally ...

... next morning to try and see if we could do Volcan Pacaya that day. Volcan Pacaya is a volcano about an hour and a half from Antigua that is famous for its river of lava running down the hill. The backpacker thing to do is to take up marshmallows and cook them over burning lava. Some people have even taken up sandwiches to toast and others have even barbecued steaks! Unfortunately the day was not going to be the Volcano day as rain was threatening and the clouds were ...

... one step up, slide two back part of the trip. We can&#8217;t get right to the crater, its dangerous and very cloudy anyway. But we do get to the lava and the guides encourage us to prod it with a stick to make fire (again British Health and Safety would never allow this&#8230;its great fun). Some people have had the forethought to bring marshmallows or sausages to toast.<br><br>We decide to climb a bit further up the scratchy cooled down bits of lava to a ...

... awash with beautiful white sands (st Vincent sand is black from volcanic residue), lovely bars overlooking the stunning tropical blue seas&#8230; but we missed the ferry by half an hour, and the only other one that day would have given us a gran totale of 30 minutes on the island. So off to the local beach&#8230; got some rays, warmed up, headed into the water, went out swimming&#8230; and got stung by a jellyfish. Get out, sit ...

... tijdens een tussenstop hebben we nadat de ijsboer door de bus was geweest een presentatie van een zeer gezond drankje gehad (wat niemand vervolgens kocht...hahahaha).....tijdens het rijden ging regelmatig de achterdeur achter Mies open (Schrik!!!!) en klom er iemand over hem heen om zich in het middenpad te laten vallen en vast zat.....twee uur gratis fitness om je bij iedere bocht vast te kunnen houden....Heleen had haar gladde ...

... that are afraid to get on them. Chicken-buses are very inexpensive, only 3 cents in Canadian currency. They are a quick, cheap and uncomfortable way to get around. I prefer to walk everywhere, but when it's a long road or I'm in a hurray the bus is my mode of transportation. The alternative is the bumpy ride in a tuk-tuk, the three wheeled covered "taxis" (I term I am using generously), which cost about a dollar. I am ...

... works for the family, does cooking, cleaning, etc) lives in the community. We took a packed chicken bus ride there. All was fine and well until I started to feel not so great; I seriously almost vomitted on the bus! Don't really know why, it seems really random and inexplicable as to when I get motion-sickness. Anyways, it was pretty cool ride. I was the only white person on the bus. Something I'm sure I'll elaborate more on later are ...

In Antigua angekommen mussten wir erst einmal feststellen, dass hier einfach alles super teuer ist. Also haben wir uns auf die Suche nach dem Markt begeben, um dort leckeres und guenstiges Essen zu finden. Hier haben wir unsere erste Pupusa-Erfahrung gemacht... Pupusas kommen eigentlich aus El Salvador und sind kleine dicke, meist mit Kaese gefuellte Maisfladen, aehnlich wie Arepas in Suedamerika. Sie werden mit verschiedenstem Gemuese, Salat, Krautzeugs und Saucen bestrichen und sind ...