Guatemala

Flying into Guatemala City...

Our first few days in Guatemala were spent staying in a tree house at an avocado farm in the hills outside of Antigua, which is about a 35 minute drive from Guatemala City. The crop visible at the bottom of the hill is coffee.

The cloud-covered hills are populated by Mayan descendants wearing traditional multicolored woven clothes and the landscape surrounding the farm is a lush vertiginous mix of delicate flowers and towering aloe-like succulents.

During our stay in Anitgua, we climbed the 8,373 foot active volcano Pacaya, which first erupted 23,000 years ago.

While we were climbing, a tropical thunderstorm broke loose and soaked us within seconds. Luckily, the volcano radiates so much heat towards the summit that we stayed warm despite the chilly cloud cover.

Several days later, we made our way to Chichicastenango, a town famous for its traditional artisinal and food markets.

We also visited a beautiful graveyard full of bright tombs with their paint chipping and peeling in the blazing sun.

Now on to Lake Atitlan...