We met Frank walking through the jungle on Little Corn Island. For $1.50, he offered to climb up the tree and cut two coconuts open with his machete for us. You don’t turn down coconuts, and you sure don’t turn down a man with a machete in a jungle.
Along with Antigua and Lake Atitlan, most visitors to Guatemala will include the famous Chichicastenango market to their itinerary, and with good reason. The Go Beyond series looks beyond this bustling market to reveal one of Guatemala’s most charming towns. Read on for what you might miss if you only visit the market.
Estelí is located in Nicaragua’s Northern Highlands and the country’s 3rd largest city. The town was heavily involved in conflict during the Sandinista revolution of the 70s and 80s and still is one of the towns with the most support for the Sandinista FSLN party. Estelí may not feature the same colonial architecture that Granada or Leon are famous for, but the city is famous for its intelligent urban art.
An amazing year is coming to an end – our first as full-time travelers! Rather than rattle off a list of everywhere we’ve been, check out our year in pictures, from the pre-trip ‘planning’ phase to our current location of Honduras.
Crossing from Guatemala into Honduras, the first thing we noticed is that we had left the Mayan culture behind. Immediately gone were the colorful indigenous trajes. The Honduran women dress fairly similar to women in the U.S. or Europe. Many of the men, however, wear a stereotypical cowboy outfit – leather cowboy boots, jeans, a fancy leather belt, button down shirt and of course the indispensable cowboy hat.
Check out these colorful chicks! An Easter custom in the Middle East and Asia, we found baskets filled with multi-colored chicks here in Copan, Honduras in celebration of Christmas.
Lake Atitlán has been described as the most beautiful lake in the world. No matter where you visit, the views are stunning – the sprawling lake, the green mountains and the looming giant of San Pedro Volcano.
Please don’t go to Todos Santos, Guatemala. Life in this authentic village in the mountains is much as it has been for centuries, no hordes of tourists here. A trip to Todos Santos is about absorbing authentic village life. That’s why we ask you, please don’t go to Todos Santos (which you really should) – and if you do go, please do so quietly and keep it to yourself…
Semuc Champey is a series of natural ponds 300m (985ft) above the Cahabon river in the region of Verapaz in Guatemala. The natural limestone bridge above the rushing rapids below houses cascading pools connected by several mini-waterfalls.
It’s not like I woke up one morning with the burning desire to climb an active volcano, but in a country like Guatemala, with more than 30 volcanoes (many of them active), volcano climbing is the norm.