Hotel San Luis de la Sierra Huehuetenango

... cool. We even saw some<br>monkeys! (And a tarantula, ew). The coolest part was being able to<br>climb to the top of the limestone pyramids -- on either teeny tiny<br>steps or very freaky ladders. Without even thinking, I just started<br>climbing up this one that was so steep you had to climb back down<br>backwards. When I got to the top, I thought I was going to have a heart<br>attack. What was I doing up here? Am I on crack?. But, I made it! And<br>from the top ...

... a lot of fluids and noises! He also<br>was getting a little too close to me, so I made a water bottle barrier<br>between our legs. Done and done. At one point, the bus stopped, and<br>though we initially were only lamenting<br>the lack of a breeze to cover up the smell of our drunken amigos, we<br>then got kind<br>of scared. There were a group of men all holding guns standing on the<br>side of the road. Not sure<br>what that was about ...

... decision). As we started<br>walking away from Nebaj, Hacento told us that had fought in the<br>Guatemalan Civil War in these same hills. <br><br><br>The Guatemalan Civil War was the longest civil war in Latin<br>American history, lasting from 1960 to 1996. Thousands of people<br>disappeared, and tens of thousands of people were killed. In brief<br>(very glossed over version), the war started over land issues<br>and because Mayan indigenas were being ridiculously ...

... the experience would have been similar to the one I missed in Chichi, but this was really amazing. The guide lived with his wife and two young daughters. The house was mainly two rooms with a dirt floor and wood plank walls. All the cooking was done over a metal plate heated by firewood. The oldest of the two girls, Rebeka, was very curious about me and seemed to enjoy interacting. The youngest however, never stopped starting at ...

... town, and it was nice for a change not to be approached by souvenir-pushing folks. I was asked if I wanted a copy of the Prensa Libre (newspaper) or a Tigo tarjeta (cell phone credit).,<br>

... or three Kilometers. It reminded me much more Marruescos tha Mexico. Some people ofered us to change money and so we do, in order to take a "chicken bus" to huehue. At the beggining I thought it was just there, in la mesilla, but is the same everywhere in Guatemala (expect maybe in the Capital city): There is no bus sattion. The buses are there and some people ask you where are you going in order to take you to their bus. I am ...

... there was that unlike Momo there were actually some open restaurants ... hooray ... so it was good to fill up on some nice food - yummy pasta at an Italian restaurant , accompanied by very cheap Guatemalan wine (50p a glass). Upon tasting the wine it was easy to understand (a) why it was so cheap and (b) why Guatemala is not renowned for its wine making prowess.... sorry Guatemala I love so many things about you , but alas ...

The bus journey from San Cristobal to the Guatamelan border was pretty uneventful, the only excitement being at the border where I had to jump into a taxi with three Mexican women who just kept looking at me, speaking in fast Spanish and laughing a lot. I did pick up the word gringo a lot but not a lot else. The actual border crossing was a pice of cake and I was in Guatemala where I next had to find a ...

... that took us from the centre of town up to Cerro de la Cruz, a small hill with a cross that overlooks the city. After 4 nights in Antigua we made our way northwest to Panajachel, a small but growing town on the north side of Lago Atitlan, Guatemala's largest lake. Panajachel is one of the few towns on the lake that can be accessed by vehicle, albeit by way of a windy and very steep road that hugs the side of a cliff and that probably tests the brakes on the best of cars, much ...

... for 10 days (which we knew about before agreeing to stay there). Things with her dad didn't get any better' apart from one night when it was just him and us for dinner and he chatted non-stop, her mum was really lovely towards us the whole week. So after a week we decided to call it a day and move on to Quetzaltenango. More schools, bigger city and (hopefully) a better learning experience.