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Lake Atitlan – Hippie town and an extra few days in Antigua
It was time to move on after my longer stay in Antigua. I decided to follow the Gringo Trail and visit Lake Atitlan. Lake Atitlan is a lake in a massive volcanic crater in Guatemala’s southwestern highlands. Ringed by steep hills, it’s known for its Mayan villages and volcanoes. It is home to a primarily indigenous community. If you’ve ever wondered what happened to the Mayans, it’s not that they disappeared — come to Lake Atitlan and you will be surrounded by them. And each town has its own signature style of clothing. It is also home to more than a dozen different towns. Tiny villages, big cities, Gringo heavens,…
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My Acatenango Volcano Overnight Hike – What was I thinking?
I met a lovely Norwegian girl on my bus trip from Belize to Guatemala. Her name is Tune-Lisa but I quickly nicknamed her Tuna. I asked Tuna what her plans were during her time in Guatemala, and she started telling me about this hike up a volcano that she had booked. She told me that you would be able to see a volcano erupting and that it looks pretty cool at night. This piqued my interest, so I promised Tuna to look into it and that I might join her. I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t able to see any live lava in Hawaii, so this was a…
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Antigua – Hablas español?
Next on my journey through Guatemala was Antigua. Antigua is a small city surrounded by volcanoes in southern Guatemala. It’s renowned for its Spanish colonial buildings, many of them restored following a 1773 earthquake that ended Antigua’s 200-year reign as Guatemala’s colonial capital. I quickly fell in love with this town for multiple reasons. 1. I had my own room and it was affordable. You think that isn’t something to fall in love with, but if you are backpacking for months and months and you sleep in dorms for the majority of time, having your own room becomes quite special. It was so nice to be able to unpack all…
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Flores and Tikal – Welcome to Guatemala
How time flies. I just arrived in Guatemala. More than 3 months in and Guatemala is my fifth country. What did I know about Guatemala before arriving. Pretty much nothing. I’m not big on research. I tend to go with the flow and usually you meet lots of people that tell you what the places to see are when you get there. It was no different here. I started in Flores. Flores is just over the western border from Belize. There is the city of Santa Elena and her smaller sister island city connected by a causeway – Flores. Both are on the 2nd largest lake in Guatelama, Lake Peten…
