This country is soooooo beautiful....!!!
I had to think this again and again when we were climbing up volcano ACATENANGO yesterday - Juan Carlos, Maria, Ersilio y yo..... pretty tough climb, but super-beautiful and totally worth it... (see my pics)and even on SAT afternoon when I was just driving from Antigua to the capital I had to think the same - yes, Guatemala is still a very poor 3rd world country, but also very very beautiful at the same time....and when I leave here in 10 days, it´s definitely gonna be with a lot more great memories than bad ones....!!!and yes I know, I haven´t made it to many of those other countries and places that I had planned to visit and see on this trip.... but do I regret having stayed in Guatemala for 3 months...?? POR NADA - DEFINITELY NOT...!!It was really great to spend all this time here, get to know this country and its people and culture.... and yes, I met some really nice people here and spent some great times with them... muchas buenas memorias....and I will still see the rest of Central America (and South America) next year, and maybe even come back here to visit.... xxxxand HAPPY HALLOWEEN for tonight by the way....!!! :)have a good one.... ;)
Back in Antigua....and safe here.... (far enough away from hurricane WILMA...)
So I had another few really nice days in Mexico with Antonio, his friends, Monika, and some other nice people I met there..... lotsa sunshine and beachtime in CANCUN, Playa del Carmen and Isla Mujeres - yeah, I know, hard to believe when you see the news about hurricane WILMA there now....How super-lucky I am on my trip all the time was really proved once again...!!!I left CANCUN on Sunday night very late to travel back to Antigua de Guatemala..... nightbus from CANCUN to Chetumal, another bus from there to FLORES.... yaaaaiiii - back in Guatemala !! Met this English girl Rosa on my bus to FLORES, she had lived in Antigua from NOV last year till March and was on her way back there too....funny - she had actually been Jose's housemate and of course also knew a lot of the same people there that I used to hang out with..... yeah - small world...!!So when we got back to FLORES we decided to take a flight frmo there back to GUATE City at 5pm to safe some time and another night (8 hours) on a bus or a stay-over in FLORES.... the flight with TIKAL Jets was quick - 30mins - reasonably priced - $ 65 - and actually pretty good..... Sebastian was so sweet to come and pick us up from the airport and we were back in Antigua around 7.30pm..... yyaaiiii - kinda felt like coming back home.... !!I'm staying at the same place again, even have my old room again (luckily the guy who was staying there for 2 weeks left exactly the day before i got back...!! :)and yes - all is great here again...!!Beautiful sunshine and pretty hot here at the moment.....great to see everyone again.... dancing in SIN VENTURA on TUE and LA CLAVE last night was great..... aaahhhh - I really missed Salsa and dancing while I was in CANCUN..... and my students here are happy too that they're gonna get another German lesson again tomorrow morning....yesterday it was also Revolution Day here and a National holiday..... but it was nothing like Independence Day a month ago....6 weeks left of my trip now.... let's see what's still gonna happen.... I hope you're all safe and happy and healthy..... wherever you are.... como yo.... hasta pronto....xxx
y columnas tambien.... everything so wwwwoooowwww...!!!
Iguanas and ruins in Tulum.... :)
Beautiful places in Mexico....!!
so, as per my last post - on FRI we went to TULUM.... didn´t see all of it cause we got there a bit late (they close at 5.00pm and don´t let people in after 4.30pm anymore) .... but still was really impressive and beautiful to see the ruins on la playa there.... then we went to ARRECIFE and I ended up with as many Mosquito bites as never ever ever before in my whole life...!! Not even after MONTERRICO I had that many...!! the beaches and area there are really, really beautiful as well.... but don´t think I wanna go back there very soon - and get bitten again....!! then we went to PLAYA DEL CARMEN for some really nice Thai food - yeah, almost as good as CAFE FLOR... ;) - and walked along 5th Avenue, the beach y la muelle for a while.... looks all really nice there too..... even though I only saw it by night.... and today I went to ISLA MUJERES.... very beautiful small island about 30mins boatride off the coast from CANCUN..... great beaches there...!!! much nicer than las playas in the main Zona Hotelera in CANCUN..... beautiful clear water as well..... and cute little villages.... I guess I´ll go back there for another visit some time this week..... but first I gotta go and see CHITCHEN ITZA on TUE and the ruins there.... and the weather here is still great and hot and sunny.... and I´m still safe here and we´ve not been hit by any more hurricanes....!! and I still hope the caminos from here to GUATE are all fine too and haven´t been totally destroyed.... but they have another week to clear it all up for me.... ;) hasta pronto again....
sunset on ISLA MUJERES....
Beach-hut and playa en Arecife....
CANCUN is soooooooo much nicer in the sunshine...!!
so yes, on my first 2 days here in CANCUN - TUE and WED - it was very wet and grey and rainy.....not soooo nice.... and not really what you expect from CANCUN.... but it´s hurricane season at the moment and I guess rain is much better than having hurricanes here.... ;)and I could use those 2 rainy days to just relax a bit after my monster-bus-journey from Antigua..... catch up on some Internet stuff and chat with some friends..... go swimming on la playa in the rain - yeah, that was fun too.... ;) spend some time driving around Cancun..... and just talking with Toño´s Mum.... and all in Spanish !!! sssiii, muy bien.... :)and everybody who had heard or read about the storms and floods and disasters in Central America (Guate, Mexico, El Salvador, etc. etc.) and was worried about me - just to let you know - I´m fine and safe here and all is okay in CANCUN....and if some of the bridges that need to be crossed to get from MEXICO back to GUATE are no longer, then I might have to get stuck here for a few more weeks as well.... ;) but yeah, today it was beautiful and hot and sunny here and a perfect day for la playa....!!! super-nice white sand and beautiful crystal clear blue-green water.... siiiiiiiiii - eso es el mar del Caribe for you...!! :)but on the beach I actually also saw some of the damage and torn down hotels that the last hurricane had left behind a few months ago.... and Toño also told me that the beach used to be about 10 metres wider before that happened.... wow - a bit tough to imagine...!!hhhmmmm..... so last night we also went dancing here at MAMBO CAFE.... really nice place and reminded me a lot of the COPA in NYC.... good music as well..... and finally dancing on a wooden floor again.... yyaaiii.... :)y mañana Toño has a day off y vamos a ir a TULUM and PLAYA DEL CARMEN.... yaaaiii tambien....with lotsa love from Cancun.... y hasta pronto....xxx
I AM IN MEXICO....!!! finally....
2 great months and 2 days in Guatemala....!! Much longer than I had planned, but I had such a wonderful time in Antigua that it wasn´t very hard to stay that long..... and even now it was hard to say Goodbye to some super-great friends and some wonderful people..... and I know I´ll be back there soon.... :)too bad that ANETA was getting stuck in that place right now, when I finally had to leave for a while.... bad timing.... wish it could have happened a week before.... oh well....so, after 2 more fun nights dancing in SIN VENTURA on FRI and SAT - hey Seb, really great all the stuff that you learned in the last 2 weeks.... ;) - and a very nice and relaxing Sunday - just a bit too wet and rainy - I left on SUN night with a the night bus to the capital and from there to FLORES..... got there at 4.00am on MON morning after a very sleepless night cause they were playing super-loud music on the bus pretty much the whole time of the journey....aaahhh...annoying.... but at least the driver didn´t fall asleep that way..... and was just speeding over totally wet and curvy roads.... how fun.... ;)so I was really, really tired when I got to FLORES and didn´t feel like getting into a taxi on my own to look for a hotel and stuff, so I decided to go straight from there to CANCUN..... the ruins and TIKAL are still gonna be there on my way back from MEXICO if I wanna see them....from Flores it took another 8 hours to CHETUMAL.....but a really nice bus ride on an almost empty bus with lotsa space to myaelf..... and I got to see Belice City and other parts of that country as well..... looked really nice.... and maybe I should stop there too on my way back...then from Chetumal another 5 and 1/2 hours to CANCUN, and I finally arrived at the ADO station here at 10.30pm last night.... still super-tired.... but finally in the place where I was supposed to be over a month ago....!! :)Toño´s Mum was so sweet to come and pick me up from the bus station cause he had to work the whole night at the hotel.... luckily they don´t live very far from the centre of Cancun and the bus terminal..... and I even had enough energy and some time to read my emails - yes, finally a 24 hours I-Net connection at "my house" (for a while) again - take a shower and then just fall into my bed..... aahhh....I slept so well.... :)then today was a bit rainy and grey here unfortunately..... but very good to relax.....went to a really nice French place with Toño for lunch.....then we just drove around CANCUN for a while before he had to go back to work....and then later I just walked around a bit on my own from their house to PLAZA de las AMERICAS...!! super-big and very American shopping mall here....wow - even though it was soooo rainy and cloudy here today, it wad still really hot and humid and I think I´m gonna need another shower pretty soon....big hug from Mexico..... more news will come soon....xxxx
one day without my watch..... or - there really are some nice and honest people in Guatemala..... smile... ;)
so I lost /left my watch last night in BAGEL BARN cause I had taken it off while I was doing some stuff / emailing on Seb´s notebook and just put it to the side cause it was uncomfortable to type with it....
lotsa rain here in Antigua last night and we had a little powercut in the whole city.... so we left the place in the total dark and pouring rain and I only realised that I didn´t have my watch anymore when we had already been at Adrian´s place for 45 minutes or so..... Seb was so sweet to drive me back there over the flooded roads that left quite a few cars stranded..... real adventure..... cause we didn´t have the 4 x 4 Jeep that night.... pero no luck.... no watch.... the lady there had no idea.... and after all the malas cosas that had already happened in the last 24 horas that didn´t even surprise me very much.... oh well, no mas POP Swatch para mi.... :( but then I decided to check with them again after my German lessons this morning and on the way to buy my ticket to Mexico..... and guess what...?? THEY HAD REALLY FOUND IT LATER LAST NIGHT AND KEPT IT FOR ME....!!! unbelievable...!! I was so happy...!! really thought I would never see that watch again and would have to check the time on my alarm clock for the rest of my trip.... but yeah, there really are some very nice and honest people around in Guatemala.... aaaahhh - I love this place - BAGEL BARN - even more now...!!! And not only for its wireless internet connection.... ;) and by the way Seb, muchas gracias again for letting me "go crazy" on your computer there once more.... I´ll pay your coffee anytime for that service.... ;)
Images of Antigua.... Calle Arco by day and night..... and Parque Central....
