Guatemala

I know this is way over due, but it is about time that I give a brief update on our 2 week trip to Guatemala.

As most of you already know we were robbed at gunpoint within our first hour of being there. A nice little welcome present. Because we were carrying everything we had on us at the time our camera was also stolen. So the following pictures will primarily be from flickr and other peoples blogs.
After our little "incident" we went straight to Antigua which is filled with great architecture, good shopping, and lots of tourists.


Some of the highlights of our trip included hiking the volcano. It was really amazing and really hot. The volcano is active so we were able to stick our walking sticks in the flowing lava.

A lot of our time was spent traveling in chicken buses. It is always amazing to play the game of how many people you can fit into a moving vehicle.

Lake Attitlan (gorgeous lake - if not a little on the dirty side - nestled between two volcanoes)

The following pictures are from Tikal - the Mayan ruins. Probably the coolest thing Ive ever seen in my life. Luckily our friends let us borrow their camera for the day so we do have some pics.



It was some kind of religious day for the Guatemalians of this area. As we were on the temple a large group came to do sacrifices in front of it. It was amazing to watch. The people made circles around the fire as they shouted at it and threw alcohol in it. Later that day everyone gathered in the main area for dance. Here is a pic of them behind us on the ground.

This is Tyson climbing back down the temple - about 10 stories up and extremely steep.
All in all we had a fantastic time. I think we both agree that we would go back again. Next time I would be a little more cautious for sure. Also, I would spend some time there learning Spanish in one of the homestays. I think the biggest thing that we missed out on was being able to just talk to people and make friends with those who were local. But we still had many cultural and very memorable experiences.