We arrived in Guatemala City in the early evening on Monday and spent 4 hours driving to Lago Atitlan, over an hour and of half of which was spent in traffic just getting out of the city and the nearby urban sprawl. Guatemala City is bonkers- pretty congested and lots of traffic, with tons of motorcycles weaving their way this way and that. A couple hours into the trip, after ascending through fog and darkness, we began to descend. The road down into San Juan La Laguna was CRAY-ZEE windy and steep, with seemingly endless  dogs running along its edges in the darkness. Our driver dropped us at our spot around 10:30pm. We were all exhausted and crashed pretty quickly. 

When we woke up in the morning, we were stoked to get a look around this super cool little village on the western shore of Lago Atitlan. One of the first things we noticed was that our little home, Casa Elenita, was right next to a coffee producer. Every day, there were men out raking the coffee beens to dry out in the open air, under hot, dry sun. One can walk just about anywhere in San Juan La Laguna in about 10-15 minutes, and the streets are abound with art, stores, tiendas, and vendors with street food and souvenirs. The streets themselves are, essentially, art installations, many with themes of their own. There's Calle de los Sombreros (hats), Calle de las Sombrillas (umbrellas) [which is also Calle de las Artes], and Calle del Cafe. Most of these were pedestrian only, which was a nice break from the constant traffic of tuk-tuks (more on them in a minute) and motorcycles (and the occasional car or truck), and they had some sort of canopy of (of umbrellas, hats, lights, etc). There is literally art EVERYWHERE. There are incredibly colorful murals on the walls of most every edifice, and even on the streets beneath your feet, and the vast majority of stores are either art galleries or selling local Mayan wares and clothing (or food). Speaking of food- we usually try to cook at our lodging as much as possible when we travel, but we barely ate at home the whole time we were in Lago Atitlan. Meals were often around $2-8 per person, depending on if it was from a street vendor or a sit-down restaurant. 

The southern end of the lake is lined with the silhouette of three volcanos, each rising up from the horizon in dramatic fashion. The western and northern shores are made up of interspersed small villages and there's a boat taxi system that runs consistently, taking people back and forth between them. On the second day, we took a boat ride to Panajachal, on the far eastern coast of the lake to go to a nature reserve there. Depending on how many stops on the way there or back, the trip takes 25-40 minutes, and the round-trip fare was about $5/ per person. Once in Panajachal, we took a tuk-tuk to the reserve. Tuk Tuks are like these tiny little three-wheeled, covered golf-cart-cum-motorcycles that are ubiquitous all over Lago Atitlan and other parts of Guatemala. A typical lift around one of the towns is between 10-20 Quetzales, or $1.50-$2.50. At the nature reserve, we saw a few spider monkeys and some coatis, and a mostly dried up waterfall (it is "dry season," after all). They did have a great butterfly garden, but having just come from Costa Rica where we were living among and working with a rich diversity of all kinds of exotic animals in lush bio-diverse landscapes, it was admittedly a little underwhelming from that perspective - but the animals weren't our main attraction. What drew us (me) to the reserve was the "bicicable" attraction. Like many tourist spots throughout Central America, the reserve had a series of ziplines, but we've done more than a few ziplines in our travels; the "bicicable," though, was something I had never seen before. They essentially have these super old bikes with no tires or tubes on the rims, and with a bar that secures the bike to the upper and lower cable, and you pedal the bike along the lower cable over a rather large ravine with the lakeshore just off in the distance. It was one of the silliest, most fun, goofy things I've ever done. I giggled the entire time. So worth it. Our boat ride back was at sunset and was an amazing finish to an otherwise lovely day.

On Thursday, we signed up for a Mayan Cooking and Weaving class in San Pedro La Laguna, the slightly larger town adjacent to San Juan. After a short 10 minute Tuk ride over in the morning, we met Anita by the dock in San Pedro La Laguna, along with another family (who happened to be from Arvada just a few miles away from us at home), and another couple from Israel. Together, we had ages from 3 to 53, and right off the bat, she had us enthralled, laughing, and completely engaged. She gave us options for everything and made everyone feel very comfortable. After going over menu options, we hopped into the bed of a truck (we had options to take tuk-tuks, but we chose the truck bed) and went to a local, off-the-beaten path market (pretty much only locals there, many of whom only speak the local Mayan language). She taught us some words for hello and thank you and all about the amazing ingredients as we walked around and shopped for the meal we would prepare. From there we hopped back in the truck and to her home and kitchen, which is gorgeous, open-air and overlooks the San Pedro bay on Lago Atitlan. We quickly got to it, unpacking groceries, cleaning, chopping, dicing, and beginning to cook for the meal. All of the groceries that would feed a dozen people (and then some) cost less than $40. Anita kept everyone busy, managing all of the different ages and abilities, and keeping things moving (we also had some meat eaters, some vegans, and other food restrictions- all were not a problem). Once the tamales were prepared for steaming, we paused for an amazing “snack” with fresh hibiscus tea, lemonade, guacamole, a radish salsa, and several other treats which we had helped prepare. Then, we got to making the desserts! When the tamales were ready, we all sat down (with already full bellies from the snacks) to an amazing lunch of fresh tamales and then desert of fried plantain chocolate donut balls (best I can do to describe them, but they were YUMMY). There wasn’t a single thing that wasn’t delicious. Throughout the day, Anita shared about her heritage, her own personal story (very inspiring), and local history and traditions. Once we were all full to the brim, we went downstairs to a weaving co-op that Anita runs and learned about the traditional weaving methods. All of her employees/ assistants and weavers in the co-op are or have been single mothers, and she has created the business(es) to help support those women and others in the community. She is an amazing woman and the experience was phenomenal from start to finish. Five stars doesn’t do the day justice.

Our last days in were spent walking around town some more, shopping, doing homework, and hiking up to the Mirador (viewpoint) that overlooks the lake from above San Juan La Laguna. Overall, our week in Lago Atitlan was a big highlight of the trip overall. Nicole had been to Guatemala 20 years ago, just after we started dating, but had only passed through Panajachal, but we would all happily return. Guatemala, in general, is very different from time we've spent in other Central American countries, and is rich with ancient history, colonial architecture, and pride in the Mayan culture. We are very much digging it so far. We next spend about five days in Antigua, then a short trip to Tikal. Stay tuned!

Antigua is the once-capital of Guatemala, and it's easy to understand why. Surrounded by five volcanoes (two of which are active), and rich with ancient and colonial history, it's a pretty cool little town. As I think many people are prone to do, we often fall into the "could we live here?" conversations. Antigua is a place that sits firmly on that list for us. It's a simple town, and super easy to navigate on foot or just about any other way (Tuk-Tuks are prevalent though not quite as ubiquitous as they were in Lago Atitlan). Quite a bit bigger than any of the little villages in Lago, Antigua has a big, beautiful central plaza with a gorgeous fountain surrounded by grand, historic buildings. There is a mix of Moroccan influenced Spanish-colonial architecture, and all of the main roads in the central district are cobblestone- something we love. Something that I've often heard about Antigua is how colorful it is, and that is so true. To make it pop even more, we were fortunate to have many beautiful blue sky days as a backdrop. Every edifice glowed bright in colors from across the spectrum and there were flowers everywhere. We were planning to stay at a hostel just on the edge of town, but in a late-night search while we were in Costa Rica, I found a little apartment just across the street for the same price; one thing we've learned is that staying at hostels is not typically cheaper than an Air B&B when you're traveling with four people. We were so stoked with this place. Everyone had their own space, it was comfortable, had a pool, and also had a shuttle into town. Most of the time, we just walked the 15 minutes into town because it's just so cool to walk around --  but a few times, at the end of a day of a lot of walking (we've been some serious walkin' fools), and loaded with some fresh groceries or the like, it was really nice to use the shuttle. 

Our first day in Antigua was Miles's Birthday! Can you believe this cat is 16? Well, he was bummed to not be home to get his license, but we made it so he at least got to drive on his birthday :). If you've been, you know that all over Guatemala, there are towns with "-tenango" at the end. There's Chichicastenango, Quetzaltenango, and one of the volcanoes is even Acatenango. When we were planning the trip, we found that just outside of Antigua, there is now "Hobbitenango." It's basically a little village they've built to look like the Shire. Well, it so happens that Miles is a huge Tolkein fan, so being in Antigua and getting to this mystical place for his birthday quickly became an anchor point for our planning. To make it even better, we got to drive ATVs up the road to Hobbitenango, and Miles got to drive with Nicole on back! He did great and we had a good time driving to and from. Hobbitenango was pretty bumping when we got there. It was a Sunday, and it's apparently a pretty big tourist attraction, so there were lines for some of the things, but it's mostly just a bizarre little thing in the middle of kind of nowhere Guatemala that is kinda like, huh? We got to play hobbit mini-golf, take pictures with Gandalf, and explore the shire. 

On a side-note: Back home, Miles loves to indulge in a treat from Wendy's. Okay, he's not the only one, but when we saw a Wendy's just off the main plaza in Antigua, we knew we'd pay a visit during his birthday week. In the pictures, you'll see a size small, and a size large frosty. The large is literally the size of a small in the US, and the small was maybe half a kiddie size back home. This was so reasonable and just the right amount for a tasty treat! Related, there was also a Starbucks near the plaza, and it had one of the most beautiful courtyards full with gorgeous painted murals and flowers everywhere. Some of you might know that I haven't been on caffeine for maybe 12+ years, but I do love me some coffee, so typically drink decaf each morning. This has become a family joke when we travel in Central America, because NOBODY has decaf coffee (I typically bring it along). However, Starbucks typically does!

Next on our schedule while in Antigua was a trip we had been planning to climb Volcan Acatenango (ah-ka). Now, the climb up Acatenango isn't supposed to be anything special and sounds like a bit of a slog, but the main reason people climb Acatenango is for the view - not only are you about 12,000' above sea level and above the clouds at the saddle, where most people camp, but from there you can watch Volcan Fuego, just next door, erupt, shooting hot lava into the darkness while you roast marshmallows over the lava "vents" all around camp (because you're also camping on an active volcano). Apparently, it's been blowing off almost every few minutes for over twenty years with only a couple of short pauses. Then, a couple of days before we were to head up, I got a hankerin to do a little research about gear and stumbled on a thread where I learned that Fuego had stopped erupting one and a half weeks prior. It's a pretty expensive overnight trip, as you pretty much have to use a tour company, and being from Colorado, high mountain peaks above the clouds can be had for free, but watching an active volcano erupt from just a few miles away (as the crow flies) sounded amazing and was definitely our main attraction. After a lot of hemming and hawing, we ultimately chose to forego the hike up Acatenango (other than a small gurgle on February 13th/14th, it has now remained inactive for the longest period since 1999).

The decision not to do the hike emphasized another big bonus of the place we stayed - it was decent space to get some work done (homework, adulting-work, trip-planning work). We knew our next week and a half in Central America would be pretty busy and we seized the opportunity to buckle down. We also took a walking tour of Antigua which was cool and we learned some new things about the town, but it was not what we were expecting. I think our guide had a couple of screws loose and I found him very difficult to follow as he kept interrupting himself. For example, at one point, he walked us to the courthouse and started to tell his parents’ wedding story. He got so far as to say, “my parents came here with me and my siblings to get married.  They told them they needed witnesses, and my mother said,” then, he abruptly stopped and said, “do you know how you call a big cow?” Then we left the building and started walking again. We still don’t know if his parents ever got their witnesses nor the punchline to the joke, if it was a joke. That was literally how the whole tour went.

Still, it was good to explore some new parts of Antigua and learn what we could when he actually completed a thought without interrupting himself. In particular, he brought us to a great local market which also is where all of the "chicken buses" parked. Nicole had been telling us stories of the "chicken buses" she rode with her friend Alex when they came here 20 years ago. These are essentially retired school buses from the US that then become popular transit in and around Guatemala. They've changed a bit in those 20 years and are now heavily decorated, painted, and clad with colored LED lights ablaze at night. Pretty fun.

Overall, we really enjoyed Antigua. After 5 days here, though, we headed to Guatemala City, left some bags at a hostel, and hopped on a small plane to Flores, which is just about an hour from the Ancient Mayan City of Tikal, our next stop, and last in Guatemala.

Tikal was super cool! We arrived at the Jungle Lodge Hotel just outside the entrance to the park late in the evening, got settled, and rested for a big day ahead. The next morning, after breakfast, we went for a self-guided exploration hike into the park. 

While the ruins we saw right off the bat were amazing, we were also lucky to be just a few steps behind a family with a tour guide and he was super generous with sharing information, providing advice, and not getting annoyed that we were totally free-loading off of their tour. Tikal is an ancient Mayan city, capital to one of the most powerful kingdoms in Mayan history. Mayans inhabited the area as early as 800BC, and spent nearly 1800 years thriving in the area until there was a drought (and likely disease) that drove them to abandon the area in the late 10th century. Once home to over 100,000 inhabitants, there are over 3,000 structures throughout the national park, and they say only around 5-10% have been excavated- which is crazy, because we saw A LOT. Everywhere you look, there are huge hills and mounds that ancient trees and jungle vegetation is growing out of. Each of those hills has another, unexcavated structure beneath. 

An hour or so into our exploration, we climbed over 200 stairs to the top of Temple IV, which was really eye-opening. From the top of the temple, above the trees, we could see the tops of several other temples and structures poking out of the jungle below, giving us a real sense of the expanse of the ancient city, and just how many of these grandest pyramids were constructed throughout the metropolis. Once back down, we headed to the Gran Plaza, once the center of the entire city and sprawling outskirts. This area has two of the largest structures in the park, both facing each other, the Temple of the Jaguar, and Temple of the Mask (believed to be for the Jaguar King and his Queen, respectively). The temples are flanked by great acropolises where extended royal family lived and merchants worked. Just next door to the Gran Plaza was also a HUGE playing field surrounded by structures making up "stadium" seating where Mayans would come to watch the "rubber ball game" (there are rubber trees all around the jungle); the goal of the game was to keep the ball bouncing, moving it past the opponents' "end zone" using no other body parts than the buttocks and the knees. This was apparently a very popular game all throughout Mesoamerica and the athletes were often considered dignitaries and friends among royalty.

In the Gran Plaza, in addition to the amazing architectural relics, we also saw a few Toucans, spider monkeys, and some tarantulas. After a few hours of navigating around on our own, we headed back to the lodge for lunch and a little rest time. 

Around 4pm, we met our guide and another family (from Chile) for a guided sunset tour of the other half of the park. After seeing many other structures and hearing some fascinating history (e.g., every structure in the city is perfectly oriented to cardinal directions), we watched the sunset from atop one of the temples, then came back through the main plaza. It was incredibly peaceful in the waning hours, with very few other people in the park. The moon was ablaze in the sky and the "Planet Parade" of Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn were all visible above the Temple of the Jaguar. We enjoyed a quiet walk back to the lodge in the dark. We left the next day to head back to Guatemala City for the night, and then caught a flight for our last stop in Central America before making the long journey overseas: Roatan, Honduras.