Hotel Spring Guatemala City

... with that day, the city seems to be rather uncreative with coming up with street names. Every street is named Calle 1,2,3 etc or Avenida 1,2,3 etc. and only are diferentiated by the "zona" these streets are in. So I walked around where I had gotten off the bus for about 2 hours trying to find these historical sites only to find out that I was in the exact opposite end of the city that I needed to be in. So I got on another bus (my third that day ...

... for me this evening. 3) The dog--Dasha is a 1yr old black lab with more energy than any puppy I have ever seen in my life. She is a barrel of fun and for some reason seems to think that I am a salt lick...as she will just sit for hours and lick my arm or leg while Heidi and I try to hear the audio on our movies, over the crowd noise that is far more prominent on our high-quality movies.

There is far more to say about Antigua (especially since ...

... to the side. Francisco really put on a grand show for us,,, saving the best for last!

I would certainly reccommend this man as the perfect guide. We were even invited to his family's home to meet his lovely wife, Marta, and their children. Marta's cooking specialty was tamales - which were delicious. We actually felt like one of the family by the time we left!

... got on a horse and started up the volcano. My horse was a white horse named Rambo and we lead the pack up the mountain. It was really scary climbing the mountain on the horse because the trails were steep and narrow. We all had a blast on our horses though and were happy that a guide leading each horse walked us up the mountain. We rode the horses through the mountainside that was covered with trees and ...

... to get ready for dinner. Had sand everywhere............. you know EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!! It was Italian night in the restaurant tonight food good all the waiters sang O solly meooo........... which was nice....... Other people on the table turn out to be from Grimsby as well... good times... Then watched a broadway tribute which was good and went to bed. Body still very very tender.

... also an unusually large population of stray, and possibly rabid, dogs. As usual we hadnīt booked accomodation. So despite it being late in the day, we trekked across town looking for somewhere. The first place we came to was a drab, ramshackle place, one street back from the lake. We were going to walk by, but a woman tried to shout at us in Spanish from the doorway. I was going to ignore her, but a couple of passing ...

... though. We are beginning to realise that our diet will mainly consist of chicken, beans, rice and tortillas. Plus everything also comes with guacamole. Itīs not so bad. Thought about getting a bus to the next town but itīs so complicated, especially with bags, that we gave in and paid for the over-expensive shuttle, door to door.

... up their home-made scaffolding. One, called Moreno, slept at the worksite last night to keep anyone from taking building materials that were not locked up. He had built a little house using cinder blocks and empty cement bags. The drive to Guatemala was very scenic. When crossing the border all we had to do was quickly show our travel documents. During the trip we saw a volcano erupt. We ...

... raised the funds for their school! So let's review: When I post photos of the construction phase on the website, you'll see the construction of the school and the people of the village by pictures online, ...AND ALL of the ...

... at the hotel and could not recognize it as it was completely boarded up, locked and fenced up. I rung the bell and nervously had to wait for the owner to examine who was coming in before opening the three locks on all three doors and gates that was separating me from him. What an experience. I took the chicken bus out of there first thing the next morning and the chicken bus terminal was quite a similar scary feeling. As one arrives to the terminal, they are immediately bum ...