Guatemala.

Soo many puntastic t-shirts in Guatemala, guat a great place.
We've been so removed from proper internet access for the last month that we haven't been able to update the blog sorry. I'm actually amazed that there is cellular coverage at all in the middle of the Guatemalan jungle.
We got into Panahachel on lake Atitlan after managing to figure out that we were on a bus to the wrong San Pedro in Guatemala, being dropped on the side of the road on top of a mountain with some vague Spanish instruction s on how to get to the lake. Two 'chicken' buses (1950's bluebird buses with crazy paint jobs, crazy passengers and even crazier drivers) later, after dark, and with a storm blowing in we went hunting for accommodation in Pana...
The next three weeks were spent living with a local family across the lake in San Pedro while we studied Spanish. Its incredible how fast you can learn a language when its all you hear, speak and study. The family were lovely and so good to us, feeding us well (probably too well...) and really helping with our learning.
All the pics are again out of sync, I can't figure out how to reorganise the seemingly random order the get uploaded in, doh.

Us with the family.

These are little cabanas that we studied in at the school.

Jumping off the viewing platform at San Marcos with our French Canadian buddy Peo.

The view from La Nariz del Indio (the Indian's nose).

The dock at Panahachel, this was our first look at the lake and volcanoes.

Three volcanoes from San Marcos. From left to right, volcanes San Pedro, Atitlan and Toliman.

Another shot from La Nariz.

Laura watching the sunset at San Marcos. 

A 'chicken' bus, or camioneta in Spanish, shot from the back of a ute, the other common form of transport in central America.

Volcanes Toliman and Atitlan from the top of volcan San Pedro.

A nice tree.

Us with Peo above Santa Clara.

View from the top of San Pedro. Its a solid hike, 2km of altitude gained in 2 hours or so on steep nasty trails. The 3.5 km altitude messes with your climbing abilities. Our guide was 71 years old and climbs the volcano every day, drinking nothing but coffee... Mayans are tough.

After the lake we headed to Antigua for a few days. Its a beautiful little city of ancient streets and buildings with the backdrop of a huge active volcano. There's only a few buildings left from the 1600's which haven't needed rebuilding due to constant earthquakes.

Antigua, you can just see the volcano through the clouds.

One of the original buildings still un-repaired.

Pupusas, tortillas made with meat cheese or beans inside. They're awesome, and this lot cost about 2 or 3 dollars all up.

Us in the ruins of the cathedral. Its being repaired but its been demolished 3 times from earthquakes, most 'recently' in the 1700's.

Note the earthquake induced 'al fresco' feel.

For about a month leading up to semana Santa (Easter) they have daily parades which last for hours and stop the whole city. Central America is seriously religious.

Ahm, yep...

Maya-catholic artwork gets a little creepy.

Last destination in Guatemala was Semuc Champey. We spent 15 hours getting there after a demonstration closed the main highway and the bus broke down. On the plus side we spent the time with some great New Yorkers, Ellen and Adam, and a really sweet Italian girl called Stella.

As we only got into Semuc at midnight, one of our first daylight experiences was heading into the caves.

The caving was all done by candle light with a guide and friends from the hostel. It involve a lot of one handed swimming, climbing, jumping, sliding and cursing each time you doused your candle.

Victory!

The view from our hostel.

Some local muchachos.

Cacao. Here's what your fancy chocolate looked like originally.

Semuc Champey is a freak of nature. An underground river feeds a series of huge crystal clear pools linked by waterfalls. Set in the Guatemalan Jungle with amazing animals (including howler monkeys, who were a little camera shy), it's an incredible sight. We spent two days exploring and swimming here.

The river actually flows under the pools. Apparently it was as crystal clear as the pools until a month ago when the government began damming for a hydro plant.

From the mirador.

The hostel, called utopia, was awesome.

Phew, finished, hopefully we can keep up from now on and avoid massive entries like this. Currently in Nicaragua after a week in el Salvador. On our way to pick up our van...