Big Bear, California

Back Home in San Diego

The trips were great, but now I'm a working stiff back in San Diego.  

But, I still have some empty pages on my passport...

Stay Tuned.  

San Pedro, Lago Atitlan - Guatemala

Lake Atitlan is a good sized lake west of Antigua. We went to a small town called San Pedro. It was very cool and had lots of restaurants and hangouts designed for backpackers. Aside from the sudden rainstorms, we had a very relaxing time.
San Pedro has been a very pleasant place to spend the past month. I've taken about 10 days of intensive Spanish classes. For four hours each day I would speak with my personal teacher about fascinating topics like "Yo quiero queso" (I like cheese). By the end of the time I'm now able to say: "Yo quiero queso pero el lluvia es fuerte en la tarde" (I like cheese but the rain is strong in the afternoon) My teacher was very understanding and did her best to seem interested in what I had to say. I couldn't blame her when she was covertly text messaging with her phone under the table, while I struggled to say: "Yo soy de Los Estados Unidos, y Yo no estoy hambre despues almuerza" (I'm from the United States, and I'm not hungry after lunch) However, after 10 days I think we were both sick of talking to each other. I ran out of things to say without repeating myself. Overall, I'd recommend this type of Spanish school because I'm TERRIBLE and I still managed to gain a basic comprehension and a useful collection of phrases.

These pictures with people are rare. Mayans hate it when tourists take their picture. They consider it an insult. So I only took pictures of large crowds and then ran away before they could get their machetes out. But seriously, the people here are incredibly friendly. I think that is why travelers often stay for so long. The people of San Pedro are used to seeing foreigners, but they don't resent us or bother us like in other towns. I'd describe it as a respectful coexistence.
This is the main intersection near the dock. Everybody walks through here at least five times a day. Each time you can count on a friendly old lady with a basket asking: "Quiere Pan...Pan de banana?" They are trying to sell banana bread which is pretty good.

Those are women washing laundry in the lake. Since they often bathe topless it would be a gross invasion of privacy to get a closer shot.

Lots of children fly kites in town.

A Jesus mural in the road

This was the view from my front balcony area.

Click on the panorama shots to see the bigger version.

It's rainy season. Almost every day around six or so it rains. But only for an hour or so. Not that bad.

This shot was taken from the roof of my hotel.

On our last day we did a zip line course. It was really crazy because we went zipping very very high up. Although we were confident it was safe, you still can't help getting nervous looking down at the trees 500 feet below you.

This picture can somewhat show how high up over the trees the zip lines hang.

This was a great time. Well worth the $30 bucks we paid.

Unfortunately, this was the final backpacking stop for Nicole. Like this butterfly, she too must stretch her wings and return to San Diego to work on her Master's Degree. That was the cheesiest thing I've ever written on this blog. Hope you like it Nicole. Thanks for traveling with me and making the trip a great one.

Antigua - Guatemala

Antigua is a very well maintained colonial town with more tourists than Guatemalans. I didn't take too many pictures of Antigua because every shot would be obstructed by other tourists taking their own pictures. Nevertheless, it was nice to have good food and a comfortable place to relax.

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We took a day-trip to Pacaya Volcano. It stands out from most other volcano tours because you can actually see red-hot rocks and poke it with sticks. The rocks we were standing on felt hot and warm air was rushing up from beneath us.