Valentine's Day in Guatemala/ Under Construction
In and around Central America / Caribbean
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Our blog is under Construction....
For our first Valentine's Day, we moved in together. That set a high bar for future Valentine's Days. This year--our second VD Day--we agreed that a trip to Guatemala would be a big adventure and invited nearly everyone we know to join us.
Why Guatemala? Well, Mike loves the Colonial Highlands in Mexico--Guanajuato, Patzquaro, and San Cristobal de las Casas in particular. He has traveled throughout Mexico a great deal--about 40 weeks total between traveling, internships, teaching English and being a tour guide or assistant tour guide for his dad, Steve. Steve's travel agency led many tours through Mexico and Central America as well as the U.S., Canada and Europe.
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Besides the touring business, Mike’s family lived in Central America in the 70s--Nicaragua and El Salvador. During that time, Steve and Kitty (Mike's mom) traveled with their troop of four boys, ages three to nine, from Salvador to Tikal. Imagine traveling on dirt roads through a swampy jungle in the mid-70s in an Orange VW Camper. Further travels in Guatemala found Mike's family on the shores of Lake Atitlan in Panajachel--this was when there was still a beach there. Apparently, the sand has since been used up in cement construction projects around the lake. Anyway, one of Mike's childhood memories is of being on Lake Atitlan and listening to Robert Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face."
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So, this trip was to be my introduction to the Latin America that Mike loves and a chance for his family to revisit beloved and well-remembered places. But it wouldn't just be Guatemala, we had to include El Salvador, too. Six of us made plans for meeting in Guatemala City: Mike and I, Mike's dad and mom (Steve and Kitty), and my mom and her husband (Terry and Roland). With this combination of parents and lovebirds, our friends and family who stayed behind speculated that Mike and I would tie the knot while on the trip, but that was never the plan.
We visited many wonderful places, viewed specatular sights, ate delicious food, and marveled at cultural differences on our trip. Places like the Mercado Central in Guatemala City and the ruins of Tikal and Ixchemi near Tecpan, sites like Lake Atitlan in the early morning light and live turkeys in bustling Chichicastenago on market day, tastes like pupusas at a family friend's outdoor stand in San Salvador... The following blog entries and pictures tell the story. Be sure to check out all of the photos and click on any links that catch your fancy. We've tried to be informative and a bit entertaining in the telling.
Route taken and entries written by mo and tg
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1
The barking dog
The logistics of our trip proved tricky: Mike and I would arrive in Guatemala City and go to Tikal on our own. Upon returning to Guatemala City, we wo... Continue reading »
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2
Hearts, flowers, Tikal, and roosters
The alarm went off in time for 6:50 breakfast at Hotel Dos Lunas, then we were off to the airport, where we waited to board a plane to Flores. Mike an... Continue reading »
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3
To market, to market
Our flight out of Flores left 10 minutes early and we were surprised to be on a big 747 instead of a little puddle jumper again. The flight was quick-... Continue reading »
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Hey, hey the gangs all here! Antigua!
We thought that it was 4:45AM, but really it was 5:45AM and the hotel's driver Victor roused us from bed and let us know we had better go to the airpo... Continue reading »
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5
A side trip to Iximche Ruins
We made arrangements to rent a Mini Van (and hired a driver) in Antigua to take us to Lake Atitlan and asked the driver if we could stop off a... Continue reading »
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6
In the Lake of Luxury: Lake Atitlan
After the ruins near Tecpan, we got back in the van (including the three students) and drove to town. The girls departed and we stopped for a bit of t... Continue reading »
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En lugar majico
A huge travel day for our group.Getting luggage down to the boat, then the boat ride, then getting on our private shuttle then going to Chichicastenan... Continue reading »
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Market Day in Chi Chi: Live turkeys
Mike was really interested in visiting Chichicastenango, Chi chi. Years before Mike had visited a Church near San Cristobal de las Casas, in the... Continue reading »
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our memories and observations and advice
Mike did an incredible amount of planning to prepare for our trip and our trip went very smoothly because of it. Here are some of his tips for locatin... Continue reading »
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