Hola Again!
How´s life? Jenny, Matt, and I are alive and well. We´ve been up to a lot over the past 2 weeks or so. Right now we´re in Flores in northern Guatemala, quite close to the Mayan city of Tikal. After San Pedro la Laguna we headed West to Quetzaltenango (Xela), Guatemala´s second largest city. It´s a bustling place. We didn´t spend long in the city though. We went on a trek with a group called Quetzaltrekkers - they´re a non-profit organization run by volunteers that take people on treks around the surrounding mountains and volcanos. All of the money they get from clients goes to an orphanage, school for street kids, and a clinic. I´d love to come back down here to work with them and learn the ins and outs of their project. I think it could be implemented in some other developing nations too. Anywho, we did the 2 day Santiaguito hike with them: a trek to the base of Guatemala´s most active volcano. It was a "blast!" Some exciting parts were crossing a rickety, Indiana Jones style bridge with wooden planks missing here and there while suspended over a massive gorge created by the last major eruption in 1902. From the middle of the bridge, you could see two halves of a church, hanging from the edges of the cliffs on either side of the 40 - 50 m wide gorge. At night, while camping out under the volcano, we watched a couple of eruptions with lava flowing down the side of the volcano. Jenny thought we were going to die.

After Xela, we made our way to Coban, via Huehuetenango, Sacapulas, and Uspantan. Not many people go to Coban via this route because there´s not much of a road. It was quite an adventure.

We then relaxed in Semuc Champey, one of Guatemala´s parks. The highlight here was a spelunking tour of the caves with Domingo, the local guide. We must have used up at least 3 of our lives here. We were told to simply wear our swimsuits and sandals and not to bring anything. Armed with candles (no helmets or flashlights) we swam, crawlded and climbed our way through the dark labyrinth . . . And we didn´t have to sign a single form! I love this country!

We´re now in Flores, looking after Matt. Poor Mateo´s had to get a handful of shots at the dodgy Guatemalan clinic. I even had to give him a piggyback back to the hostel beacause he was so sore. Once he´s better, we´re headed to Tikal and then into former British Honduras (Belize). We won´t be there long though . . . probably less than a week. We just can´t wait to go to Honduras.
Take care.
We´ll be in touch!
Ben

San Pedro

Hello again! I hope all is well. Thanks for the comments and e-mails. Matt, Jenny, and I have been in San Pedro la Laguna for the past couple of days studying Spanish and living with a Mayan family. It´s a bit of a hippie town, but our school and family are on the outskirts so we don´t see any of that. Guatemala is having a bit of a freak currency crisis right now. We´re still not sure what is happening, but after endless trips to the bank, we´ve managed to get some money out of the ATM. They´ve mostely been empty. Things are great now. Lago de Atitlan is beautiful and the people hear are friendly. Central Tz´utujil (the Mayan langauge spoken around here in San Pedro and surrounding town) is very much alive. Although, it has a lot of glottal sounds that I have no idea how to produce. Right now we really need to concentrate on Spanish. We´re headed up the volcan on Saturday (it{s right out the back door), and after helping our family in their coffee field on Monday, we´re heading West to Quetzaltenango. We´ll be in touch.

Na´an (Tz´utujil for Adios)
Ben

Antigua

Hello all!

I've got to be super quick! (very little time to write). I hope you're all well. Matt, Jenny, and I arrived in Guate last night, and we're in Antigua right now. Look it up - it's a UNESCO site - very beautiful, but full of other North American/European tourists though. We thought we 'd stay here for at least a week of Spanish language school, but we're heading out tomorrow for a smaller, quieter (?) town called San Pedro de la Laguna on Lago de Atitlan, which is in the highlands. It has the cheapest accommodation in the country and some of the best Spanish language schools . . . you can even take courses in some of the Mayan languages! Way to much fun! We're having a great time and we're safe and well. I'll write more when I have the chance in San Pedro. (We'll be there for at least a week - probably longer).

Adios,
Ben

¡Vamos a Guatemala!

Well, I've finally got a blog going now. Talk about procrastination . . . we leave for Vancouver in about 6 hours, and on Friday, my sis (Jenny), my bro (Matt), and I fly to Guatemala City (aka: Guate), where we'll begin our long anticipated trip throughout Central America. Uni was so busy during the Fall term that we haven't had too much time to plan. But in a nutshell, we hope to spend time in Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador (at the very least) during the next 4 months. Along the way we hope to learn a lot about ourselves and the people in these countries and lend a helping hand where we can. I thought I'd set this blog up to help keep in touch and share the adventure. Whenever possible, I'll post photos and updates, so feel free to drop by from time to time.
I hope you all enjoyed Christmas and New Year's!