Hotel Regis Panajachel

... had gone wrong and it very sadly had all started to wash up onto the San Pedro shore. The locals were in the lake trying to fish the green, slimey sludge out with sheets and nets but it will take them forever to do this, they need help from the local council for a proper pump and filter (I very much doubt this will happen though). It will, without doubt affect tourism if it's left in this condition and this is a real shame as the inhabitants of the village are lovely ...

... Mujeres Ixkoqa Tzolojya in El Tablon; and Vicente with the group Artesanas Tzaput in Choa Cruz. These are the groups comprised of indigenous Mayan Kakchiqel and Tzutujil women, --the majority of them widows or abandoned-- who are working toward selling their products and creating a better life for their families.<br><br>With regards to volunteering with AUDA, I find that it is definitely a challenge to do everything I want to do. I still am eager to ...

... it was just a small collection of yoga retreats and holistic healing communes and not much else, except for some cliff-jumping for the those looking for an adrenalin rush after so much yoga and meditation.<br><br> I decided that I was chilling enough in San Pedro so there was no need to transfer all my things across the lake, which in retrospect was the best decision. That afternoon we (well 6 of us as Dave was now doing 6 hours of Spanish a day and staying with ...

... since it is both popular with tourists and expats. We don&#8217;t intend to stay here longer than a night, but we are going to do the zip-wire canopy tour situated near here tomorrow morning (think Go-Ape but cheaper, through rainforest and next to a huge volcanic lake!!!! :D I&#8217;m tres excited!..Anwen is slightly less so but I reckon she&#8217;ll love it once she&#8217;s up there and she&#8217;s said she can&#8217;t let me do it and not do it herself ...

... which is on the shores of Lake Atilan. The drive here was quite dramatic - driving along a road that is still very much being built, jostling for space with crazy chicken buses (think us-style school buses, but decorated in crazy colours/balloons/lights and crammed full of people) which were belching out thick black smoke. We turned off the main road and steeply down hill to the town on the side of the lake. The setting is quite something; the lake is one ...

Travel day today. Up mega early - just after 6am so all of us could shower and pack up in time for our 6.40am departure. We had ordered everything last night so as soon as we rocked up they were ready to go. Back in our boat with our bags we motored back to the town of Rio Dulce. As we were getting out of the boat Karla put her bag on the jetty but it overbalanced and fell in the water... Julia screamed and backed away, Karla was in shock and I quickly grabbed it ...

... us for a 45 min (a little scary on the roads, we passed a semi truck by an inch) drive to Antigua. The sweetest man, who loves God and talked to us about serving God and for some reason about having babies... or so we understood. He said he would pray for us on our journey, which was nice to hear! Our hotel is small but nice. It is safe and right beside a garden where we hear ...

... cloudeed in these big rolling clouds come up against the side of the volcano and guess what happens, nothing there clouds hitting mounds of rock what did you think was gonna happen. It was to bad though, we could hear the eruptions. The whole way there there were these 2 dogs that followed us up the guide says that they do that everyday hard way to get a few scrapes of food. The next day we went to the hot springs after ...

... realisation that I had to face a 3 hour bus journey (and the roads are not good) and an hour´s boat trip with a dodgy stomach. Tom, however, has packed a first aid kit to wonder at - everything from insulin to tampons. My first aid kit consists of half a packet of paracetemol and a second hand plaster. Thankfully Tom´s immodium saved the day. The boat trip over the lake was the biggest surprise I´ve had since I found ...

... over- they change only slowly. Panajachel has had its share of problems over the years, mostly in the form of crime from outsiders coming in looking to prey on tourists, but they have no place to hide fortunately. Then there was the flood raging right through the center of town a few years ago. But mostly it&#8217;s still nice, perfect climate and beautiful scenery, reasonable costs and ample services, everything in fact but the girl&#8230; oh well&#8230;