Steve and Glo's travel blog
exploring the world since 2001Panamá City
We spent a couple of days in Panama City after leaving Guatemala. We didn't really get much of a feel for the city as it's quite large and modern, with lots of high-rise buildings, so it felt like any other city really. Plus it was way too humid so the kids were super grumpy whenever we tried to do anything...
We visited the Panama Canal, which is an engineering marvel but also incredibly boring to watch. Everything happens so slowly that it's like watching the grass grow. oh well, we can say we've seen it.
San Pedro la Laguna
We spent 2 wonderful and lazy weeks by Lago Atitlán in the town of San Pedro la Laguna, which is perched on the lake and underneath a huge volcano. Every evening there were terrific thunderstorms generated by the mountains.
We stayed in a little house in the Corazón Maya Spanish school, and did 3 hours of lessons each morning while the girls played. They had loads of fun playing with Xija, the owner's grand-daughter, and dressing up in traditional Guatemalan trajes.
From San Pedro it was easy to take excursions to nearby towns on the lake, and to go swimming and kayaking while gazing at the volcanoes.
We had a great time around the lake and look forward to returning again sometime in the future.
Gallery contains 18 photos
Antigua, Guatemala
After Mexico we hopped on a plane and headed to Antigua, Guatemala.
Antigua is a cool old city with cobble-stone streets and great views of the volcanoes from most angles - thankfully the local volcanoes are dormant and the city wasn't badly affected by Volcán Fuego.
We did a tour of a local coffee farm and the girls got to toast and grind their own coffee by hand. The smell was so amazing that even Glo enjoyed a cup!
Yucatán Peninsula
After nearly 7 months inland, we decided it was time to hit the beach, so we flew to Cancún. We were pleasantly surprised that it wasn't *too* over-run by Americans, and we actually heard lots of Spanish being spoken.
We also spent a few days in the beachside town of Akumal, and visited the ruins in Tulum. To be honest that was a bit of a waste of time, as it was so hot and humid the girls didn't enjoy it at all (aside from the ice-cream at the end). Another day we tried to swim in a cenote, but there were so many mosquitoes we couldn't even get out of the car. Poor Clementine is a mozzie magnet!
Gallery contains 12 photos
