We went straight from the airport to Coban on her first day. The next morning we headed straight to Semuc Champey to see some waterfalls and jungle. Honey was the photographer as I jumped off 10 meter cliffs, swung into rivers, swam through caves, and tubed down the river. Beyond those adventures, our hotel also didn't have hot water and we had to ride in the back of a pick up truck back to town!
On the third day we ventured over to Rio Dulce, a tourist town full of rich ex-pats living on their yachts and floating from port to port. The area was really pretty and we got to take a boat tour the next day to Livingston which is the port town where the 'garifunas' live. Honey felt bad for a dog who came to visit us and insisted on giving her a granola bar. The dog very much appreciated it but proceeded to follow us and started to get a little pushy.
Then we headed back to Antigua for a night before heading out to Lago Atitlan where we took a tour of three villages and got to see the damage caused by the algae bloom that has turned the beautiful clear lake brown and chunky. In Santiago Atitlan (one of the villages) we were talked into taking a '5 site tour' and despite my reluctance to do it, it was well worth it. We got to see the Peace Park where 13 people were killed on December 2, 1990 by the army that was occupying the town. We also got to see an area of town where 1500 people were killed at the base of 2 volcanos when landslides caused by Hurricaine Stan (2005) covered the town.
The next morning we were off to the Chichi market, this largest and most popular market in Guatemala. After a week of waiting, Honey was finally able to do some shopping for the artisan goods that she had been admiring all week. I was her translator/price negotiator...we were usually able to cut down prices by 30-50%.
Heading back to Antigua for her last couple of days in town, we went to the AWARE sterilization clinic on Friday then finished up with a few more souvenir purchases at the Antigua Mercado Artesenia and visited all of the churches/tourist sites in Antigua on Saturday morning. Unfortunately, Honey had to head back to the snow and 20 degree temperatures in Michigan today and I will be headed that way in less than three weeks!
