Hotel Primavera Panajachel

... processing time; most Guatemalans have a "manana" mentality; and also staying positive despite knowing that we cannot help everyone. Unfortunately, Guatemala's socioeconomic gap is enormous, and furthermore the disparity of wealth /living conditions between Ladinos and the Indigenous Mayan people is a harsh reality here in the Lake Atitlan region. So, even when I walk the main street of Panajachel, I see Indigenous folks--young and old, male and female ...

>tinkling high-pitched bell from the ice-cream cart, slowly pushed through the streets by a tiny hunchback man

>distinct acrid odor of burning trash
>sudden explosions of firecrackers at 7:30 AM
>rhythmic clapping and chanting along to 3 chords of the electronic keyboard at church
>murmur of ballads and reggaeton
>vibrating hum and ...

... Plus on s approchait de Coban, plus le paysage etait montagneux. Nous avons roule environ 2h dans des chaines de montagnes. La route etait tres "tumultueuse", mais le paysage en vallait la peine. La ville de Coban etait tres ordinaire, nous avons visite une fabrique de cafe et avons continuer notre route vers Antigua, une ville entouree de volcan.

Antigua

En arrivant dans la ville, nous avions une vue sur le volcan Agua ...

... ago that she would like to help the women of Mayan villages sustain themselves through fair-trade handcrafts. Now I am here to assist her with connecting AUDA with other fair-trade associations, increase sales of the handmade works, refreshing the website, among other projects. I will be meeting the indigenous women and cooperatives, and another goal is to create videos from interviews so that others can understand their situation.

Freida and ...

... On Monday, it was time to start Spanish school. Not having had much opportunity to speak Spanish the three weeks prior, Lisa and I were stoked to start putting what we know is sleeping at the back of our minds, to use! We even conviced the pequeñita to stay an extra week and learn some Spanish. The school we´re going to is called Sevilla. It is 100% Spanish immersion and one-on-one. This week Lisa and I took 6 hours of class a day with a two ...

... heure a laquelle je passe, il ne reste plus que des "paches". Allons-y donc; j'en prends 2, ce qui me coûte au total 10 quetzales, un ridicule euro. Elle me les emballe dans 1 sachet, puis 2. C'est tellement chaud que je ne sais pas par quel bout le tenir ! Arrivée a mon hotel, je deballe doucement mon premier tamal. Il est enorme ! Et surprise, pas du tout comme celui d'hier... Bien, bien meilleur, au contraire... D ...

... police station. I eventually found the obscurely located building and still had time to have some lunch at Y tu pina café. My shuttle left at 3pm for Guatemala Airport. From there I got a free ride from the owners to my hostal for the night- Guatefriends. Dinner was home cooked Country Chicken with dumplings which tasted very wholesome. The place felt like I was staying in someone's home, rather than a hostal.

... venturing into the mountains of Guatemala one more time in order to experience that sense of freedom that lingers in the air of Lake Atitlan. The rivers of Semuc Champey. The sands of Montericco. The hills of Chemelha. To the shores of Livingston. Off I go!

... and visibility was down to about 5 metres and it began to get quite cold. Eventually the terrain changed to loose sharp volcanic rock and out of the mist the feint glow of lava began to appear. A steep final 5 minute scramble up very loose rock brought is to the edge of a lava river. This was the furthest we were alowed to ascend as the lava moves relatively slowly here and further up near the crater there can be violent eruptions ...