Quickie (with pictures NOW!!)

So, we´re getting ready to head back to the states to spend some holiday time with family and friends, and we´re starting to wrap up the first stage of the Guatemala experience.

Besides giving the cabaña it´s first true top-to-bottom, behind the rafters cleaning (gross), one of the must-do activities on our list that we took care of this week was hiking Volcan San Pedro. No pictures right now, I´ll upload after-the-fact. We live at the base of the volcano, so it´s kinda sad that it took us until Dec. 3 to finally do it.

It was tough, but amazing and well worth the $12 park entry fee and well-before dawn wakeup (not a morning person). Unlike Volcan Santa Maria, which was a longer hike and taller volcano, the trail up San Pedro was pretty much straight up - very few switchbacks. It was tough going on the way up, and worse on the way down. Still - kudos to the park and the municipalidad. It was one of the best-maintained trails I´ve ever been on, with perfect stairs everywhere where the going got steep (which was pretty much everywhere).

View of Santiago Atitlan and Volcán Toliman from the summit.

Guy from the municipalidad, my new hero.

Despite Stacy doubting herself before the hike, and despite both of us being absurdly tired by the time we got to the bottom (I fell on my ass once from just losing my attention span, which is actually pretty typical, and towards the bottom Stacy almost fell over from laughter - the I´m-so-tired-I-don´t-know-why-this-is-funny type of laughter), it was one of the best experiences I´ve had in Guatemala. And it may have even sold Stacy on hiking...maybe even backpacking when we get back stateside?

Se rie de cansado.

The mountain was incredible, shifting from coffee fields to lush, high altitude forest with 400-year-old trees, and the views from the top were amazing. The lake is even more awesome (both in a rad, dude, and awe-inspiring sense) from that height, and even though the town of Santiago was across a bay, it felt like we were looking down directly on top of the buildings and streets below. If you make it San Pedro, and you´re able, hike the volcano. If you make it to Guatemala, but not San Pedro, hike a volcano.

Anywho, we´re both looking forward to being home for the holidays. Cant wait to see family and friends, and looking forward to break from third-world living. Thanksgiving here with a few friends was great, but seemed like just a tease in some ways. A week from Tuesday we start the trip northwards to Cancún (spring break!!!! and cheaper flights), and on the way we´ll get a chance to kick the bucket list again with a visit to Tikal...until next time, and happy holidays to everyone, even though there might be another entry between now and then.



-Kevin