After our week in Xela studying Spanish while John’s infection healed, it was time to head on out to our next destination in Guatemala, the lovely Lago Atitlan. We had planned to do a lot of hiking and other active pursuits here, but those plans had now been halted by […]
Dealing with a Nasty Infection in Guatemala
It was only a matter of time before one of us got hurt. I (John) had some sort of bug bite on my leg. Perhaps it was a spider bite or maybe just a mosquito bite-gone-bad. We’ll probably never know. Whatever insect did this to me; my leg was not […]
Back to School (Volver a la Escuela)
Our Need for Spanish School in Xela Guatemala During previous trips to Mexico, most people spoke decent enough English in the popular tourist destinations we’ve travelled to. So we mistakenly thought we’d be able to get by fine in our first few Mexico destinations and hopefully we’d slowly pick up […]
Hiking Volcan Tajumulco: Summiting the Highest Mountain in Central America
Under the cloak of the night sky we were completely lost, clinging to the side of a mountain cliff with no ropes or harnesses, shivering cold in below freezing temperatures, and unable to breath the thin air. Surely we had to be close to the mountain’s summit but the moonlight […]
Cruising the Rio Dulce in Guatemala
This post is ruining the continuity of this blog. I just realized we never posted about our journey down the beautiful Rio Dulce to Livingston. So lets rewind just a bit, shall we? To get to Livingston you must take a boat. Our route took us right on down the Rio Dulce. […]
The Long Journey From Semuc to Xela and Hiking Nebaj to Acul
We were in Semuc Champey and needed to get to Quetzaltenango (AKA “Xela” for short). It appeared the most direct route was through the Northern Highlands of Guatemala. Alternatively there were tourist shuttles that we could take on a more Southerly route through Antigua and then connect to Xela. We […]
Extreme Adventure in Semuc Champey
Semuc Champey seems to be in the middle of nowhere in Guatemala as there are no major cities within hours of driving. It was a long full day of travel just to get there and then our first day in the area was rained out a bit so we waited […]
Tapado Recipe from Livingston Guatemala
While in Livingston, Guatemala, we spent the evening with Mega, his sister and family learning how to cook the staple Garafuni dish of Tapado, a delicious seafood stew in a tasty coconut broth. Although its a stew, the dish is extremely hearty, filling, and eats like meal. Serve with a […]
The Eccentric Garifuna of Livingston Guatemala and Hike to Los Siete Altares
Livingston, Guatemala lies on the country’s Caribbean coast and although it is not an island, it is only reachable by boat. No roads connect it with the mainland, giving it an island flair. We took a lancha a few hours down the beautiful Rio Dulce to get there. One thing […]
Roaming Around a Flooded Flores, Guatemala
We did enjoy our visit to the quaint island town of Flores, Guatemala which lies in Lake Peten Itza. But we thought one full day here was plenty of time unless it’s being used jumping off point to visit nearby Tikal. The town is gorgeous; there are some decent restaurants […]
Roaming Around the Magical Mayan Ruins of Tikal
We had visited eight different Mayan ruin sites while in Mexico. Some were quite impressive but after seeing the fourth or fifth site, we kind of got ruined-out. So since being diagnosed with ruin-fatigue, we were actually very much considering bypassing Tikal and going a different route into Guatemala altogether. […]
The “Spectacular” Tikal Sunrise
Tikal is an extremely impressive Mayan ruin site set in the Guatemalan rain forest. We were told the sunrise over the rain forest from atop one of the pyramids was something absolutely not to be missed. So we stayed at a lodge on site and woke up at 3:30 AM […]
Blindly Swimming Our Way to Mayan Remains: Actun Tunichil Muknal
We were primarily using San Ignacio, Belize simply as a point to stop at in between other destinations. But we were delighted to discover all the awesome recreation the Cayo area had to offer. From cave tubing to waterfalls to horseback riding all in the mountain jungles, there was a […]
Beer Around Belize
Ah, beer in Belize! Just the mere mention of Belikin brings me back to warm Caribbean waters lapping up against the dock and tossing back a few. Belikin has a near monopoly of the domestic beer market in Belize so can often be synonymous for beer in Belize. Meanwhile Belize craft […]
Cheap Eats in Caye Caulker, Belize
We dined out at well over 20 meals in more than a dozen restaurants on the small island of Caye Caulker, so we got to try a number of different places. Many people remark that Belize, and the Cayes in particular, are more expensive then elsewhere Central America. This may […]