Guatemala

Guatemala 

December 27th - Jan 1st 

Our Mad Dash through Guatemala
Well because we spent a little more time in Nicaragua and El Salvador than we thought we would, we had less than a week to see all that Guatemala has to offer. It truly was a mad dash but I'm glad we did it that way. We were able to see a lot before Matt left on New Years day.

December 27th: Bus from El Salvador to Guatemala City... then taxi to Antigua, booked our tours for the next couple of days and enjoyed the city.

28th: Lake Atitlan, day tour...visited 3 of the major cities: Santiago Atitlan, San Pedro and San Marcus got back around 6:30. Shuttle to Guatemala city, then we took the all night bus to Flores.

29th: Got to Flores then taxi'd to Tikal around 6:30 in the morning. Spent about 7 hours at the national park looking at all the Mayan Ruins. Then, spent the evening in Flores, then once again we took an all night bus, on which we did not sleep either time :)

30th: Arrived in Guatemala City again at 6:30am and then back to Antigua. We couldn't check in to our hostel til about noon so we booked a tour to Pacaya. After we took a Little Nap, we were off to Pacaya Volcano.

31st: Relaxing day, finally got to sleep in then spent the day enjoying the city. We went to the New Year's Party til about 2am then Matt left about 2 hours later!

January 1st: Matt left at 4:am!!! Sad day!

I told you it was a MAD DASH!!! Whew!

Antigua is the most popular colonial town in all of Central America. We were lucky enough to spend a bit of time there. It is a gorgeous town with tons of culture all around. We enjoyed just being in "parque central" and watching the people and buying little things from the families. We also enjoyed buying all sorts of authentic items in the markets!






First trip out of Antigua: Panajachel and Lake Atitlan. Lake Atitlan is just as beautiful as everyone says it is! We hired a private boat and were taken to 3 of the villages. We went to Santiago Atitlan, San Pedro and San Marcos. We loved it! We got to see a lot of really cool sights and did a little shopping as well.
Tikal is the ancient Mayan Ruins national park. We hired a tour guide and he took us around the whole park and told us a ton of really interesting history about the Mayan's and the structures there! It was amazing. I've never seen anything like it!


Temple V was really crazy. It had a the biggest ladder that I've ever seen that you have to climb to get to the top. It was so steep and a bit scary! It was no problem going up but then I sat at the top for a while and saw a couple people almost fall so the going down part was a lot more intense for me! But I'm safe! :) Matt wanted to stay at the bottom and take pictures.


Flores was a beautiful little island. It was perfect for a nice relaxing evening in the middle of our mad dash. We had some Italian cuisine and watched the sunset!


Pacaya Volcano
We had heard about this volcano with tons of lava, but you can never really get the feel of what it will be like until you're there! That lava was amazing...so I got a little picture happy! I loved it! Our group roasted marshmallows over the lava. Yummy!

Matt had to leave on New Year's Day because he was flying standby home and he had to be back to work by the 4th. It was hard being apart but I was glad that I could go to a Spanish school and live with a Guatemalan family. Breanna came out and stayed with me almost the whole time and Jess came out for a little while to experience Guatemala with us. We were able to go to Semuc Champey, and Bre and I went to Belize for a week before coming home! What an adventure! What wonderful memories!!!

El Salvador

El Salvador

December 22nd - 27th

We really got to travel in El Salvador much differently than we have ever traveled through any country before and it was all because of the the Parker-Lemus family. They were so kind! We met Mayte back when we were working for Vantage Point and backpacking in the Uintah´s and now her family not only let us stay in their house during our time there...but they treated us like royalty!!! When we arrived after our long bus journey, their chauffeur was there to greet us with a sign that said "Welcome Matt and Shauna." When we arrived at the house we were greeted warmly by the whole family and were offered snacks and fresh lemonade. This graciousness lasted the entire time we were there. They had maids that would wake us up each morning to let us know our breakfast was ready, and by the time we ate and got back to our room, our bed was made and the room was cleaned.

We were pampered the whole time. They planned each day meticulously so that we could see the best sights in the best possible way. We went to some of the finest restaurants in El Salvador and they were so sweet to cover all the costs. They took us to their beach house and let us stay at their lake house, for our own private Christmas getaway. Besides the amazing sight seeing that we got to do, we were also able to go to many family parties and experience some of the traditions they have. The Parker family and all of their extended family were some of the nicest people we've ever met in our lives. As we finally said our last goodbye's to all of the family at our last family get together, the grandmother turned to us and said "Next time you visit Central America, only come to El Salvador to be with us, you have family here now!" I think that sums up how sweet they are! It was definitely a Christmas to remember!

La Libertad Beach

Their beach house was amazing. They had these man-made pools in the ocean so during low tide you could be in the pools and watch the waves crash over the rocks! We also went over to the ocean for a while. They bought food and played music the whole time and made a party of it all.

Our Romantic, Christmas Getaway!
For Christmas they wanted us to have a nice romantic get away. We started by going to a really good Mexican restaurant with Mayte and her parents. After dinner they took us up to their beautiful lake house that sits at the top of an old inactive volcano called Guatepeke. Their lake house sits right on top of the volcano and also right by the lake. We spent the night outside enjoying the scenery then watched a movie before bed. The next morning a man that the Parkers hired to take us around the lake picked us up in his boat and we were off to see the whole lake. It was amazing to see how big and fancy some of the lake houses were, then to see the poor people out doing there laundry in the lake. It reminded us that not all people live like the Parkers do in El Salvador. After the boat ride we ate lunch and got ready to leave this little piece oh heaven. It was truly a romantic get away that we will never forget.

Lake inside the top of a Volcano Crater, makes for a really cool area.

The Parker family hired a private boat to take us around the Lake on Christmas! So we traveled all around the lake and saw the mansions and then the very poor natives doing their laundry in the lake. Talk about 2 different worlds! And a lot of the mansions are not occupied most of the time because they are peoples summer or vacation homes! It's crazy!

Christmas Dinner :P

Christmas evening with a beautiful sunset over the lake. How lucky are we right!

The family parties were definitely a highlight of El Salvador. They all started and ended the same way....with a hug and a kiss on the cheek from everyone that was there and yes there was a lot of people. We got to enjoy Mayte's birthday party, the Christmas party, and other family get-togethers. There was some sort of party every night we were there. There was great food and great music, especially the mariachi group that came on Christmas night. A group of 3 men showed up at the door at about midnight and began to sing, play the guitar and dance for about an hour. It was really fun to be able to experience that first hand.

Matt, Mayte, Me

Mayte, always crackin jokes! :)

View from their pool. (backyard)

Francesca

Teresa

Vanessa and her boyfriend

Here is Matt and I just eating this all up!

We were lucky to be adopted into the Parker family for the week we were there and will forever hold dear our memories of Christmas of 2009. We would have loved to stay a lot longer, if not forever! :) But we had one more stop before Matt had to head home so we headed out Sunday morning... next stop: GUATEMALA! :)