Guatemala and Lake Atitlan

We drove to Guatemala City on Wednesday afternoon - the second time we've made the four hour overland trek and the first time we've seen death on the road

Dead pedestrian (or "peotone" in Spanish) on the trunk of the car that killed him.



...and another knucklehead who only woke up when we stopped to snap his photo - he had been sleeping in one lane of the Pan American highway!

Guatemala City is quite large, urban, busy several million residents with great restaurants near our hotel in Zona 10. Mark had meetings while Kathleen explored parts of the city; the embassy closed at 1:00 PM on Friday and we headed out of town...


We drove to Panajachel, the launch point for visiting gorgeous Lake Atitlan, one of the most beautiful lakes in the world. It's surrounded by volcanoes, inhabited by many indigenous people and, quite a few ex-pats who seem to have entered a time warp circa 1972...

Sunrise at Lake Atitlan

Lake Atitlan

We stayed at an Eco-hotel called Isla Verde, a lovely, out of the way spot with a private dock near the hamlet of Santa Cruz. A friend told us it has a "scorpion problem" (after we got back) but we never noticed the scorpions and figured...

the huge spiders we saw ate them all!

Isla Verde from Lake Atitlan

We attended a Woodstock-esque music festival on Saturday and immediately figured out where all the American hippie refugees now hang their dashikis and bell bottoms. The people watching was without peer but we didn't take photos so as not to harsh anyone's mellow, so you'll have to take our word for just how groooovy it was!

As a consolation, this is a photo of our bathroom at Isla Verde - yes folks, it's outdoors.

We said goodbye to Isla Verde and Lake Atitlan - the water taxi back to Panajachel was full and one of our fellow concert goers was also a passenger:Two of the volcanoes that surround Atitlan

Kathleen waiting for the water taxi

We had great fun in Guatemala and will certainly be back before long - next stop Costa Rica! Bye now

Tegucigalpa - March 2010

Hi All

We spent the last few days in Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras. As usual Mark had to work for a couple days and we tacked on some tourist activities. This morning we hired a driver (Jose - a really good guy) to take us to La Tigra national park, about 30 minutes from downtown Teguc.

Our driver Jose - hire him if you visit Tegucigalpa (504) 9940-7739, lousy picture but he's great!

                                                                   

We hiked for a couple hours on one of the moderate trails up the mountain; the cloud forest was exquisite and we barely saw anyone else the whole time. Alone with just birds and primeval vegetation for company it was perhaps the most peaceful time we've had since arriving in Central America.

A really huge tree on the trail - check out the amazing vineage

It's hard to describe just how much we miss the ability to go for a walk or ride our bikes - just not in the cards while living in San Salvador. We both so appreciate it more now when we can.

Mark under a mega-arbol











Ever seen a baby blue Mushroom before?



After La Tigra Jose recommended we visit Pichaco - a park high above the city, and it was well worth our time. Lovely and bucolic with lots of little kids and a stunning view of Tegucigalpa plus the largest Jesus statue anywhere in the region outside Brazil

Tegucigalpa                

Jesus Cristo Estatua

We really liked Tegucigalpa, cleaner and slower paced than San Salvador; we'll be back again soon