Mercure Casa Veranda Guatemala Guatemala City

... is usually the busiest, widest street in the city but on Sundays they block it off for people to walk, bike and rollerblade around. I had yet to see anyone jogging since I had been here (I thought because of the smog from the buses which could interfere with the heavy breathing associated with jogging) but it seemed everyone was out doing it today. Tomorrow I am off to Managua, Nicaragua via El Salvador (not Honduras as I had planned for obvious reasons).

... within 2 hours! Oh well got me a passport stamp :D). One of them was heading onto Costa Rica, he took the ‘mask’ photo which greatly amused airport workers who were walking by at the time! The other was flying onto Guatemala as well and coming to Antigua to teach English for a month – he was fresh out of sixth form and looked petrified. Anwen and I did a reassuring mothering style act until he asked if we’d been travelling before and we had ...

... en vriendelijke gids die onderweg veel uitlegde en liet zien. Dit leidde er wel toe dat we onderweg ingehaald werden door de mariposas (de vlindertjes), de tigres (de tijgertjes) en zo af en toe door een dikke Amerikaan op een mager paardje (oooh look at you all sweaty...poor people..you should have rented a horse!).
Na een wandeling van ruim 1,5 uur begon het landschap iets weg te krijgen van een maanlandschap ...Geen ...

... were when we had to go down steep hills along the path. It took us about an hour and a half to hike back down and we were happy to see the drink stand at the bottom. We tipped our guide by giving him a case of left over beer since we can't bring alcohol on the ship. He seemed happy about it. Afterwards we loaded back into our cramped taxi bus and drove to the port which was about an hour and a half away. We ...

... found out that the people that they hire to harvest the beans get 45cents a pound. They tend to bring the whole family to be able to pick more. The kids pick the bottom of the trees and the adults the tops. A little bit of child labour never hurt anyone?!? After dinner we found a bar that was playing 2 of the Six Nations rugby games. We watched Ireland beat Scotland. We were going to stay for the Italy-Wales game but we were too tired.

... street. But that night a group of random hippies decided to have a bongo party at the end of the street: loud drumming going on untill 3 am. And IŽd booked a trek up San Pedro volcano the next morning, meaning I had to be up at 4.30. I was not best pleased. IŽve always thought of hippies as inoffensive and harmless bearded weirdos. But playing drums outside a hotel until 3 am is unacceptable. I might shave off ...

... our local area. This is supposed to be the posh end of town. Maybe that is signified by the armed security guard in McDonalds. We pick a colourful looking place for tea and order blindly off the menu. It turns out to be a fantastic selection of meat and tortillas and homemade salsaŽs. Plus the local beer which is called Rooster. We are soon to learn that everything comes with these ...

... Happiness is an inside job." The reason to be happy is because it's your decision to be so or not! So get on out there and be happy! If you want it, it's right inside of you! Waiting to come out! Have too many reasons NOT to ...

... going through the Chesapeake, Hampton, Virginia Beach area, but it worked out ok. I did lunch at Hardees and had a sorry chicken sandwich. I ate half of it and then got back on the road. It got dark before I got to Paula's house and I had a little trouble finding the street. I kept thinking I was lost, but managed to go straight to it. It seems to be a very nice neighborhood and very ...

... is only reachable by boat from Puerto Barrios or Rio Dulce in Guatemala or from Dandriga or Placencia in Belize. No matter where it leaves from it is at least a two-hour boat ride. First of all the people are all Garifuna people of the Caribbean; they all speak English and creole and the food is more Caribbean influence than Spanish. The music is all about reggae and garifuna everywhere you go. It is a cool place to hang out but not very secure either and the locals are ...