Day 22: Bus from San Salvador to Managua, Nicaragua 

We left the hostel this morning at 3:45AM (3:45AM!!!) by taxi to go buy bus tickets to Managua. We caught the 5AM Tica bus for around $30. The bus ride its self was pretty boring. The Tica buses are quite nice with TV’s and nice reclining seats. Tica only does direct buses and there were only 10 or 12 people on the whole bus with us so we all had plenty of room to stretch out, which we for sure needed after our sleeping arrangements last night. One oddity, one of three Salvadorian guys would take turns riding in the assistant’s seat up in the driver’s cabin and the assistant was sitting in the back of the bus in the “regular” seats. Read the rest of this entry »

Day 21: Bus from Flores, Guatemala to San Salvador, El Salvador

Bought a ticket yesterday for today’s long bus ride at the same tour agency that we got our Tikal transportation from. We paid $30 each and made sure to ask (three times) that it would be a direct bus on a Pullman (the big “Greyhound” type, not the reconditioned old school bus, aka “Chicken bus”). However, like most things, the 9 hour “direct” bus turned into a 12 hour stop-every-quarter-mile-or-so-to-pick-up-more-passengers-than- there-are-seats ride. Read the rest of this entry »

Though we didn´t have much time in Guatemala (unscheduled visit) we packed in quite a bit of action while we were there. We fell in love with Antigua (and its coffee), hiked an active volcano, stood so close to flowing lava that the heat would burn your skin, and probably best of all we walked… alone… through the great ruins of Tikal. Read the rest of this entry »

Day 20: Flores, Guatemala

Another rainy day but we went to Tikal anyway. We arrived by shuttle around 7:30AM. A guide is not required (they cost extra and go very, very slow…but they do give lots of interesting facts) but it’s good to buy a map for a couple bucks when you purchase your ticket ($20US). It turned out to be even more spectacular than on a sunny day. Read the rest of this entry »

Day 19: Flores, Guatemala

After a pretty awful, smelly bus ride we pulled into Santa Elena… at six in the morning… in the rain. Funny enough but the local market was already bustling, rain be damned! As soon as we got off the bus we were accosted by the usual hoard of yelling taxi drivers. We grabbed the first one and headed across the causeway into Flores (an island town in the middle of a lake). Read the rest of this entry »

Day 18 – Travel day – Panajchel, Guatemala to Flores, Guatemala

We decided to cut out of Panajchel. It’s pretty boring and very touristy, very much not our kind of place. So, we bought a bus ticket up to Flores to see Tikal (the whole reason we came to Guatemala). Read the rest of this entry »

Day 17: Panajchel, Guatemala

Very sad to leave Antigua this morning. We can’t wait to come back! Took a 7AM shuttle bus to Panajchel to check out Lake Atilan. It was full of very rude, old Americans, a few Germans, and us (smack in the middle and quite unhappy about our obnoxious countrymen (and women). Read the rest of this entry »

Day 16 – Antigua, Guatemala

Slow day today, working on the website and getting some posts caught up after we were Internet-less for the past week or so. The hostel we are staying at has some nice high speed Internet so we are make full use of it, but we end up getting caught up on news and gossip more than post writing.

View from my desk (hammock) at Hostel 5

We did leave the hostel for a little bit today to keep our sanity. Walked around town for a bit and got some very good ice cream. Read the rest of this entry »

Day 15: Antigua, Guatemala

We absolutely LOVE Antigua! It’s pretty much one of the greatest places in the world. The atmosphere is very casual and relaxed and just generally very comfortable. Read the rest of this entry »

Day 14: Antigua, Guatemala

Got into Antigua around noon and after checking into the a really cool hostel (Hostel 5, $7 per bed with breakfast and in-room unlimited WiFi included!) we grabbed some much-needed lunch at Piccadilly’s (not very local, I know haha) for a surprisingly good price. We heard the bustling down then street and just had to check out the huge outdoor market! Read the rest of this entry »