Due to circumstances beyond my control, as so much here is, I did not meet Anna Colleen at the bus station in Guatemala City. I arrived a good two hours later than I planned to, and when I got there she was nowhere to be found. I could only imagine what had gone through her mind as she presumably waited for me, alone in a strange city. Fortunately, there was a hotel next door to the bus station that had internet access, and, resourceful person that she is, she had the presence of mind to send me an email with … Continue reading →

One of the benefits of travel is that one gets the opportunity to ponder life’s big questions. Sometimes you are reminded of them in the oddest places. I wondered whether there might be a wall map inside this travel agency with an “X” on our location that said “Why are you here?”

The water park, about an hour and a half down through the mountains towards the Pacific coast west of Xela, was great fun. With lush tropical landscaping and lots of good water slides, it very well done (a descriptor that is seldom applicable to things here). In fact, it was as good as any water park I’ve been to in the U.S., and maybe even more fun since safety seemed to be less of a concern. This is Guatemala, after all. It ended up being an outing for quite a few of us–my godchildren and their parents, and a couple … Continue reading →