Destination: Guatemala

Photos: 69 DAYS ON

Mon, 2 Jun 2014 | By jugap | Photo Gallery

69 DAYS ON

Mon, 2 Jun 2014 | By jugap | Views [438]

Well since I was last writing we have had a relatively quiet time. After leaving Antigua we journeyed to Lago Atitlan - a lake that was once a volcanic crater and it has many little townships dotted around it. Whilst there are roads around the lake a ... Read more >

One Man's Trash

Thu, 22 May 2014 | By mommaliz | Views [176]

The van doors opened to the smell of hot feces and the sweet smell of decaying trash. All around us were mounds of the city’s discards. High piles of old plastic containers, diapers, bulging black trash bags, broken furniture, and metal parts ... Read more >

Tags: dump, guatemala city

Photos: 58 DAYS ON

Thu, 22 May 2014 | By jugap | Photo Gallery

58 DAYS ON

Thu, 22 May 2014 | By jugap | Views [346] | Comments [1]

Guatemala is now our "home". Our first stop was Flores from which we went to Tikal Ruins (1.5hrs).WE elected to do the sunrise tour. That meant we left the hostel at 3am to sit on top of a ruin for sunrise.However due to low cloud we didn't see the sunrise ... Read more >

The Chickens Cross the Road

Thu, 15 May 2014 | By myrahassaram | Views [352] | Scholarship Entry

Right when I handed my taxi driver sixty quetzals for dropping me off at Calle 41, two men opened both the doors next to me. They looked at me but spoke to my driver, their Spanish too quick for me to understand. One man yanked my backpack out of the ... Read more >

Tags: 2014 Travel Writing Scholarship - Euro Roadtrip

Offensively Curious

Thu, 15 May 2014 | By katie_trecartin | Views [258] | Scholarship Entry

On my first day in Guatemala, I was surprised and somewhat embarrassed by my utter fascination with the indigenous Mayan population in the country. I was constantly (and ignorantly) eavesdropping on conversations in the local languages. Attempting to ... Read more >

Tags: 2014 Travel Writing Scholarship - Euro Roadtrip

Language Barrier

Thu, 15 May 2014 | By sara_in_transit | Views [263] | Scholarship Entry

It’s 3:15 AM, and we are sitting on a curb as we await our vehicle of choice: a shuttle bus, destined to transport us from Antigua, Guatemala to Leon, Nicaragua in just 15 hours. Although we had been promised a 3 AM departure, morale is high. Well versed ... Read more >

Tags: 2014 Travel Writing Scholarship - Euro Roadtrip

Coffee

Thu, 15 May 2014 | By travelbugg91 | Views [193] | Scholarship Entry

I’ll never forget the day that I prayed before Father Gregory Schaffer, gazed into his hazel eyes through his large-lens glasses, and bowed my head over a chipped mug of steaming Arabica coffee – the best coffee I have ever tasted. In San Lucas Toliman, ... Read more >

Tags: 2014 Travel Writing Scholarship - Euro Roadtrip

Local Medicine

Thu, 15 May 2014 | By mystictrails | Views [230] | Scholarship Entry

My stomach churns, my head pounds and I’m hot all over. Job, my partner, is also green. We’d been travelling 3 months in Latin America, eating questionable street food and brushing our teeth with dangerous tap water, only to get sick now? That night was ... Read more >

Tags: 2014 Travel Writing Scholarship - Euro Roadtrip

On the bus… literally

Thu, 15 May 2014 | By walkingonthebackseats | Views [248] | Scholarship Entry

Matteo, my travel mate and I got on another bus, from Escuintla, right after the Guatemala border, to Antigua, our first stop in this new country. The vehicle was an ex USA school-bus: a gorgeous rectangular tin painted of a shining red in the background ... Read more >

Tags: 2014 Travel Writing Scholarship - Euro Roadtrip

That something that eludes us

Wed, 14 May 2014 | By josaaba | Views [325] | Scholarship Entry

Especially if you are there to discuss the reality of Latin American countries, and to discuss peacemaking, It feels like a little lie locals are telling you just to give the impression their country is somewhat 'special'. The taxi driver that picked ... Read more >

Tags: 2014 Travel Writing Scholarship - Euro Roadtrip

Sunrises and Ceíbas in Tikal

Wed, 14 May 2014 | By jhmot | Views [234] | Scholarship Entry

I had arisen to thundershowers and lightening bolts, howling monkeys, and wide-eyed owls hidden in the grass of my pathway towards Tower IV. It was the madrugada, the wee hours of the morning, and the forest was heaving green and blue, dumping buckets ... Read more >

Tags: 2014 Travel Writing Scholarship - Euro Roadtrip

Lakeside Wonderment

Tue, 13 May 2014 | By laconejita | Views [229] | Scholarship Entry

San Pedro, Guatemala is a small town situated around the deepest lake in Central America, Lago Atitlan. The lake is actually a gigantic crater formed by an ancient volcano, there is even rumored to be an ancient Mayan village lurking in its depths. Furthermore ... Read more >

Tags: 2014 Travel Writing Scholarship - Euro Roadtrip

Trust The Cowboy-Hatted Man

Mon, 12 May 2014 | By mickyyoung | Views [1516] | Scholarship Entry

“Quiche, Quiche, Quiche” is all I could hear from the ayudante amongst running toward the bus, bagless, in the chaotic bus depot of Quetzaltenango. My bag was with another man, a local, in a red plaid shirt adorned with a cowboy hat. My bag was hurled ... Read more >

Tags: 2014 Travel Writing Scholarship - Euro Roadtrip