"Life's a Beach"

Today we visited the ruins of the ancient Mayan city, Tikal. Leave it to the Kinnons to leave something as important as this until last. To be perfectly honest, I was a little worried that I might by psyching myself up too much. We've all seen the travel posters for Guatemala, right? The giant temple in the main Plaza gleaming in the sun, ...

Having just suffered through the agonizing trip from Atitlan to Rio Dulce, the scant four hours to Flores seemed like a hop, skip and a jump to us. The drive was easy and uneventful and we arrived in Flores earlier than expected with plenty of sunlight hours to walk through the town. Flores is pretty and very well kept, the homes all painted ...

This morning we all slept in and woke to a rainy day. Well rested and now a bit bored we decided to ignore the weather and hire a "lancha" to take us to see the nearby Garifuna village, Livingston. By the time we were ready to leave, the rain had abated and we set out on a lovely day on the water. From the marina we took a ...

With a long drive ahead of us, we had our last breakfast at Hotel Dos Mundos, carefully packed all of our purchases from Chichicastenango into the back of the truck and made our way back through the mountains toward Guatemala City. Our car has certainly taken a real beating on these twisting, plunging roads, as has our patience. A colorful ...

Good news! Rob is on the mend and today he was feeling up to a boat ride across the lake to explore some of the smaller villages, specifically Santiago and San Pedro. We hired a lancha and set off to enjoy a beautiful warm day. It was overcast as we started off across the lake which made the volcanoes surrounding us seem very ...

When we awoke this morning, Rob was feeling a bit better but not enough so to risk a day on the lake or wandering around remote hillside villages. After our complimentary breakfast, the kids and I decided to explore the Atitlan Nature Reserve located just a few minutes away by Tuk-Tuk. The focus of this visit was undoubtedly the "Cables ...

This morning Rob woke with what would be an uncomfortable and somewhat restrictive stomach issue. He and the kids decided to hang out around the pool at the hotel while I went out to explore this pretty lakeside town. It appears, much like any popular lakes in the US, Atitlan doesn't really get going until the folks from Guatemala City and ...

Up to this point on the trip, we have been fairly restrained in our souvenir purchases, in anticipation of one big blowout shopping day at the world famous market in Chichicastenango. On our way, we made a short detour just west of the Cuatro Caminos and made a visit to the tiny hillside village of San Andres Xecul, to see what may be the most ...

This was one of those days that where everything just seemed to conspire against us. Now ten days into our trip, we have become accustomed to getting ourselves completely turned around and lost. It seems that no matter how many maps we consult, we aways end up having to stop and ask for directions several times enroute. This day would be no ...

After a quick breakfast in the hotel's posh and popular restaurant and dropping off our laundry at a nearby full service lavanderia, we headed south of Xela to investigate the nearby towns of Almolonga and Zunil. I had heard on good authority that the locals' vegetable market at Almolonga was something to see and a completely ...