liz came for semana santa this year! she loved it so much that she's already planning semana santa en panama (2013). success! here's a quick run down:
friday, march 30th: liz arrived about noon. we met her at house, showered, changed, opened up our gifts from the states and our easter baskets, re-packed and then left for the bus terminal. 4 hours later we arrived in lovely Copan Ruinas and trekked to our bed and breakfast, Casa de Cafe. Howard is incredible, and since the b&b was vacant, split us up into two beautiful rooms. we loved starting off our back-packing adventure in luxury! after settling in, we walked through the peaceful, cobblestone streets to dinner at Mary's Comedor for pupusas. Delicious lorroco and ayote pupusas!
saturday, march 31st: canopy tour...the new one! happy hour dinner at Twisted Tanya's. Drinks at the German bar. Liz met a "friend", well he though he as a "friend", at least. That means that the rest of our time in Copan was spent as a (much chattier and active) foursome. We missed our trio a little bit :) Slept at Iguana Azul hostel.
sunday, april 1: the shuttle to guatemala was booked, so we stayed in copan one extra day. not such a bad thing, just sad to miss Monterrico's black-sand beach and turtle hatchery. the mayan ruins. Sunset dinner at a new rooftop terrace restaurant. Slept at Iguana Azul hostel.
monday, april 2: 5 am shuttle to Guatemala City. drama at the border, the honduran side of course. money troubles..we weren't able to use our debit/credit cards anywhere (banks included). we didn't have any cash, so we had to beg a very nice taxi driver to escort us around the city as we searched for an ATM that would accept Honduran or US cards. we are definitely still in Central America. goodness. backpacking is not backpacking without a little adventure, right? well our very long travel day ended us in Zona 10 (business class) and the Real Intercontinental hotel. needless to say, we received quite a few stares as the three of us: dusty, windblown, sweaty, tired, and carrying very large backpacks entered the revolving front doors and took our first few steps across marble floors to the granite reception desk. not exactly what anyone was expecting that monday evening. well, the very ritzy first-class hotel did indeed have an international atm, so we could pay our taxi driver for our 4 hour run with him. we decided quickly to stay at this hotel. perks: no more traveling, comfortable, bed, Jacuzzi tub, steam shower, rooftop pool, complimentary breakfast, within walking distance of anything we'd want out of a capital city in Central America. cons: ? can't remember. after we cleaned up A LOT, we embarked out for a night on the town and found a delicious Mayan restaurant. the ambiance was the best we experienced the entire trip and the food and wine were delicious. thanks Liz for treating us to a night of luxury.
tuesday, april 3: chicken bus to lake atitlan, about a 4 hour trip. Guatemalan chicken busses are much roomier, cleaner and efficient than in honduras. thanks for that! we arrived in "pana", the hippest, most happening town on the lakeside. we ate a quick dinner at a mayan family's house/restaurant and then took a tuk-tuk to the marina, where we caught an hour long "lancha" or rickety, old fishing boat, to the opposite side of the lake, San Pedro de la Laguna. we found our hotel, "Mikaso", pretty easily, and after switching rooms to one that didn't smell so strongly of sewer water, enjoyed a dinner on their rooftop restaurant. the rooftop bar/restaurant was what sold us on this hotel. very peaceful and wonderful views of the surrounding volcanoes, lake, and mountainside villages.
wednesday, april 4-friday, april 6: fun at the lake! shopping, walking, horseback riding, reading, lazy days, sleeping in, delicious meals...awesome!
friday, april 6: supposed 2 hour shuttle to antigua. well, our shuttle which was supposed to leave at 2 pm was about an hour late (bummer), empty (AWESOME), and unable to navigate good friday traffic once we reached antigua (major bummer). we heard that one million people were migrating to antigua for the holiday, we were only 3. we were definitely at a disadvantage :) the details of that night are pretty fuzzy now. there was darkness, good friday processional, thousands if not millions of people-everywhere!, a lot of walking back and forth looking (unsuccessfully) for our hostel, plenty of annoyed guatemalans as we had to politely but forcefully move our way through the crowds, "con permiso"....good news? we found our hostel (eventually...by 10 pm that night). bad news? it was pretty nasty, not what the website promised at all, dark and loud. since we were crabby and exhausted we decided not to do anything about it, just complained about the rate having doubled since we reserved. not much we can do on friday night, good friday at 10 PM. oh well. backpacking adventures continue...
saturday, april 7: rooftop breakfast with a view of volcanoes: pacaya, agua and something else very hard to remember. day of shopping, roaming the city, lunch at Epicure (delicious, thanks Howard!) and finding some Trader Joe's goodies...seriously. Jason and I had a romantic dinner at a mountain top restaurant at sunset...well romantic until the food poisoning set in and i was throwing up outside in the beautiful gardens. gross. backpacking adventures continue...
sunday, april 8: EARLY morning volcano hike of Pacaya...peaceful drive back to Antigua, chocolate making tour at the Choco Museum (the same one from Granda, Nicaragua), more shopping, taking pictures, and dinner (with another of Liz's friends... this time a local, much better!) at a super tiny and agin, delicious guatemalan restaurant. howard gives the BEST recommendations!
monday, april 9: 3 AM scare... none of us woke up to our 3 alarms set. we woke up at 3:10. our first-class bus "left" at 3 AM. i went into comando mode instantly: jason...throw on some shorts! run down the streets! yell for "Hedman Alas"! Keep running until you find the bus! liz: pack the bags! carry them down the stairs and stack them outside! sarah: find the tickets! pay! turn in the key! pack the bags! mentally devise three alternate emergency plans for us to make it home today, in time for work and liz's flight home tuesday! meet liz and (hopefully jason with the bus) outside!....3:20ish...the most incredible site we could imagine...jason pulling up in a shuttle bus, marked "Hedman Alas". thanks to God, they were running late, and circling the city looking for us. panting and relieved, we piled into the shuttle for the one hour drive to Guatemala City where we would transfer to the larger first-class bus to San Pedro Sula. my legs didn't stop shaking, nor eyes stop twitching until we were on that first-class bus headed for home. backing packing adventures continue.... :)
monday, april 9: the afternoon. we made it home by 2 PM and liz and i walked the city a bit and headed for Guamalito so she could pick up some last minute Central American treasures. Jason walked and picked us up our favorite last minute dinner, Chicky's Mex. yum!
tuesday, april 10: a VERY TIRED first day back of teaching. liz met us at school to give us a (tear-filled) hug goodbye, and then off she went. the time went much too quickly. i love you larm...i'm sooooo blessed you can now picture us in honduras, and that you loved it! only wish you and Elo could join us next year :), but we'll take another trip to Panama. one more year of this and we're reunited again sister! love you more than the sun!
and now... the pics. you deserve it if you've made it all the way through this long blog post :) https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/107299224727339466941/albums/5731287845121668689
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