Mercure Casa Veranda Guatemala Guatemala City

Last night the weather started getting bad so we decided to bag three days of hiking and head back to the US. This trip has been nothing but good and I didn't want to end things on a bad note by spending three days in the cold rain. Nights up there in the highlands are cold enough for multiple blankets and something more than a windbreaker. As much as we would have liked to have done the hike, I know I can always return in the future so no ...

... Encuentros and Chimaltenango I sat next to some girls who - get this - starting talking to me. Turns out they are going to uni in Guate to be elementary school teachers. There was one turn somewhere between Chimaltenango and Antigua that hit me pretty hard, just with the memory of seeing it before. <br><br>It's funny how you don't notice things you are looking for. When I arrived in Antigua, I had to think about which hostels were there, where they were and which ...

In the morning we stopped for a guatamalan breakfast at a place off of the main square that used to be a huge colonial home with plenty of courtyards. I got the banana pancakes, Afterwards we climbed up the La Cruz which is an hour hike above the city for a great vista of Antigua. We then caught a van to Panajachel which was a dump, we made the decision to jet over the San Juan immediately. The boat ride on lake atitlan was surreal even though ...

Group projects, final papers, tests, Global Studies Final and "A Day" finals approached. This is what constituted my trip between Hawaii and Guatemala. Who ever knew that the voyage across the Atlantic could be so long... and yet, so short? Global was first and I was scared to see the cumulative test that would come from that class. All went well though and after studying like a madman again, I got an "A" on the final and an "A" in the class. I had a couple of panic attacks ...

... the increasingly poor social conditions lead to more crimie, which then depresses foreign investment and tourism. The Civil War (interesting oxymoron) only ended in 1996 after 36 years of mass murder, rape and pillage, and the country is still struggling toward the ever-elusive ideal of a true democracy. The country holds the unenviable position (along with Haiti) at or near the bottom of rankings for basic ...

... Flores i guatemala um kl 14. Flores er mjog nalegt gamalli maya borg sem heitir Tikal. Vid aetludum ad reyna ad skoda thaer en tha hefdum vid thurft ad gista i Flores. Thessi ferd var ordin allt of long svo vid akvadum ad taka frekar naeturrutu til Guatemala City. Sigga var auk thess buinn ad skoda thessar rustir adur og thetta er ekkert svo olykt odrum svona borgum sem vid hofum skodad. Vid tokum thvi 9 tima rutu kl 21 og komum til Guatemala City um 6. Thadan var okkur svo ...

... Eventually a guy overheard us talking about our predicament and pointed us to a place he knew. This turned out to be a "gentlemans club". If this is the type of thing that gentlemen enjoy, then Im afraid that Im no gentleman. We left promptly. Sorry that I havent got any photos from inside the bar - they werent too keen on that sort of thing. One final thing about Manhattan. Its an exciting place - but it stinks. Theyve got a real sewage ...

... charlar sobre la criminalidad que existe en nuestros queridos paises...<br><br>A la mañana siguiente, siguiendo las sugerencias de nuestra querida host tomamos un par de Guajolojets y llegamos al buen Panajachel, sacamos las fotos y agarramos un barquito para cruzar el lago, ya del otro lado buscamos un guajolojet para regresar a la mortífera Guate city, 5 horas después estabamos con todo listo para abandonar al buen vecino del sur..........

... for lunch at Burger King and purchased some minutes for my cell phone from a street vendor. I am the only one at Dos Lunas right now. One other guest is expected. Lorena and Hank, the proprietors, are in Holland getting married. Some of Lorena's family is looking after the hotel while she is gone. I am going to look for something to read and will probably order pizza delivery for dinner.

... about $100/wk will cover room, board &amp; tuition). We definitely saw more tourists in this location then our beach spot. My favorite part of the town was definitely the architecture, with the iron works around the windows, plants &amp; flowers growing up over the walls and hanging in the windows. The boys will particularly enjoy the main fountain the the parque central as it is of women with water coming out of their nipples, it is definitely amusing.