tacumba

Made it to Tacumba and went hiking in Impossible national park.  The view was beautiful and of course on our way back the clouds came in.  The hike wasnt too hard.  We saw the national bird and lots of picaya and coffee plants.  Picaya is a huge produce out here.  We were sad to see our guide was paid $8 for a tour which we paid $25 each for.  Its sad to see.  Today we woke up early and went to lake coatepeque which was very pretty.  Then on the way back we stopped to go shopping at the market in anhuachapan.  A wonderful few days.  I am sad to go and see my trip through central america cut short but excited to go to my next stop.. Patagonia Chile.  It is going to be a long weekend of travel starting early tomorrow morning and hopefully arriving afternoon two days later.

Ataco

Arrived in ataco yesterday. Cute little town. Heading to Tacoba and park impossible and mama y papas today. Hopefully hiking next couple of days.

Juayua

Went on a 6 hour hike to waterfalls today. About 7 of them. We are really trying to learn to not ask leading questions. We asked if we could leave at 7 am. The person said yes. Well we were ready at 7 but the guide didn't come till 8am. It was a fun trek through trails and coffee farms. We walked through waterfalls and streams as well as up and down them. They didn't even tell us we would get completely soaked.

Juayua on Ruta de Flores

Made it to juayua today for their weekend food festival. Had fun walking around tryin food. We tried corn pancakes with sting cheese. And corn on the cob they call crazy corn (elote loco) that has mustard ketchup and cheese on it. Getting up early for some waterfall hikes tomorrow. Just tried some hot chocolate I bought from a lady at the market that made discs of chocolate right in front of us and wrapped them in paper. I will try again but with milk this time as I think it will be better. The weather up in the mountains is so nice. It gets nice an cool in the evening. Bumped into a couple I had met earlier in the trip. She recognized me as the girl from the states who looked Asian but had a fence name. I had already bumPed into someone else from that same night recently. It's interesting to see how many people you keep seeing on the gringo trail.
On another note I met a German couple with 4 kids travelling the world.. On bikes no less. Their website is globalmobilfamily.com

San salvador

Went to the modern art museum today and the museum popular a small museum that has exhibits on these clay sopresas "surprises" they started as clay eggs with figurines or surprises inside the eggs. They are really adorable. Also tried tamarind ice cream from the ice cream guy today and it has strawberry sauce on it. Took the chicken bus from the beach. Yesterday when we went to the market at la libertad we did see a woman with a chicken on the chicken bus. The market was so much fun to walk around. I bought hot chocolate that comes in thes soft discs and a papusa that was excellent. Papusa are from el Salvador thy are sold on almost every street corner. Tomorrow we had for the lakes.

Antigua

Antigua is a cute town. I went on a hike up another volcano today.  Volcan Picaya This one had steaming fumeroles. We toasted marshmellows over the holes. It was beautiful.

Some interesting observations.. a family I was staying with put sugar in the baby formula in the bottle. Things have so much sugar here. Also for some reason here they say after a meal in Spanish Bon appetite instead of before. 

Lago chikobal

I hiked lago chikobal this weekend. It was beautiful. There is a fresh water lake in the middle and when you get to the top you can look down at it as it's a deep crater then there are around 300 steps to get down to the lake in the middle. A fog rolls in at 11 everyday so when we hike to the top again we couldn't even see the lake anymore.
The bingo game the kids play here include pixies and a word describing the picure. I had to laugh when the little girl called out drunk man as one of the space and then again later when she called out kittens black man. I can't imagine a game inthe states like that.

Xela

It's independence day here so we have been celebrating here. There are parades and bands and fireworks and lots of people.

Xela

Woke up early yesterday for a hike up indian nose for a sunrise view of the lake. Then took the bus to Xela. Arrived at Spanish school and settled into a casa with a guatemalan family.  Then went with the school to a fair with rides and games and food.  Today had my first class.  There are many festivals and activities here as its independence day here tomorrow and this is the city where the celebrations are biggest. I really like this city and dont want to leave already. 

San Marcos and tzununa

Walked to the market today in San Pedro. Then to a boat to another town across the lake called San Marcos which is a Colleen town with yoga a massages and is believed to hold some special energy. Then hiked with another couple to the next town called tzununa where we had some amazing views of the lake and took the boat back to San Pedro where I am staying. Leaving tomorrow xela.

Lanquin, sumac champey, lake atitilan

Tikal was great then headed to lanquin were I stayed in an amazing place with a wonderful view of the mountains. Took a day trip to go hiking and into the caves and waterfalls in sumac champey. Now am in lake titian and it is a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains.

tikal

animals in tikal

fox

locust

allspice leaves and berrys. the berrys can be eated and the leaves can be rubbed on skin as insect repellant

cicada

Tikal.. beautiful ruins

Cenote and flores

we couldnt see this cenote from the bottom cause we missed closing time by 10 minutes

road trip to vallodalid and cenotes

vallodalid

vallodalid roadtrip

church in vallodalid

cool chair in vallodolid

baby racoon trying to excape from its box on the boat from Caye Caulker

Flores Guatemala

watching to the sunset at lake at flores

flores lake

flores lake

lots of tuk tuks in flores

finally found some street food

watching boats on lake in flores

some kind of childrens show

children in costumes asking to be photographed

wild turkey

can you see the clear path to the right.. its leaf cutter ants that cleared the way

tarantula

night dive cozumel

The diving in cozumel was very nice but the dusk dive was truly breathtaking!

below are a few photos and videos, I need a new camera as my camera is not always recognizing the card for some reason and the lense isnt always opening fully now. 

sponge

pictures yucatan mexico

Whale Sharks off Isla Holbox

Dinner in Tulum

Dos Ojos freshwater cenote caves in Tulum

Diving cenote Tulum

Flores

Arrived in Flores and going on a tour with a couple others tomorrow to see the Tikal ruins. Then the next day heading out to a small town. I am now on the gringo trail so we keep bumping into the same people as we are all going the same path.

Blue hole belize

Made it to blue hole Belize. While it's not the best dive it's so world famous and one on many peoples checklist of dives. One more dive here then off to head inland to see the famous ruins of Tikal.

Caye caulker

Long travel day but everything worked out beautiful for me. I woke up and decided not to take the first bus but to relax and have a big breakfast. Then I walked to the bus station and thought there wasn't another bus for an hour nut one was leaving in a few minutes. Then after a four hour bus ride I arrived in chetumal where I wakes to the ferry and caught the ferry and only had to wait about an hour but was talking to others heading to the same island. there are two ferry boats and the first one that asks wanted to charge me Doyle what the send one asked and the cheaper one has priority at immigration so we got to leave and arrive first even though they technically leave at the same time.
So I arrived this morning at the bus station at 930 and arrived here around 730 in the evening or 630 with the time change.
Caye caulker is really nice though is covered with backpackers. It is also another island with sand roads and only golf carts no cars. Very small and easy to walk around. Planning on diving tomorrow.

Cenotes

Went on two cenote dives. Then took a fun road trip with a couple friends to sumola cenote near dzinup then stopped by valladolid city and looked around.