wanderlust

Back To Guatemala: Tikal Ruins

/ brittanyherriot / 1 Comment

DSCN5853

My tuk tuk pitched out into traffic and jolted to a stop at the first set of lights. As it turned green, the motorcycle beside us lurched into a cat wheel, shooting ahead of us, the scooter next to him bolted after him, and our tuk tuk picked up the rear, gears grinding, engine struggling as it coughed to life and chugged through the intersection. Each gear shift was a screeching protest from the stressed engine. We puttered across the bridge and made our way from Santa Elena into the beautiful and quaint Flores. Cobblestone streets in abysmal disrepair took over for the pavement and we bumped our way along to my hostel, Los Amigos. Continue reading →

Semuc Champey; Where The River Hides Beneath The Earth

/ brittanyherriot / 2 Comments

IMG_5781

Ah Semuc Champey, the treasure of Guatemala. How many times did I Google you and stare in wonder  at your picturesque beauty? Too many to count. You were the main reason I returned to Guatemala. How could I say I traveled this beautiful country if I had not rested my eyes on the fabled Semuc Champey, meaning ‘where the river hides beneath the earth’.

As I write this, I’m sitting in my rustic little ‘A’ frame thatch-roofed hut.  The front end, opposite the door and where my bed is positioned, has a three foot high railing and that is all- it’s left entirely open. The rain is hammering down, the torrents coming down in waves, thunder is reverberating in the distance and the occasional flash of lightening sends a blaze of light into the hut. It smells of wet jungle – moist vegetation and damp earth. I sit shrouded in the opaque protection of my bug net and once again I am astounded that this is my life. Continue reading →

Laguna De Apoyo; Land Of Spectacular Sunrises and Gluttony

/ brittanyherriot / 3 Comments

DSCN5397

Laguna de Apoyo is a crater lake located a short distance away from Granada, and was one of the hot spots that was mentioned to us over and over again. A friend from home had even messaged me and told me I absolutely had to go there as it was her favorite place in all of Nicaragua, so I was pretty excited to get there. We took a short 45 minute shuttle ride; our bus meandered up the hills to climb the old volcano and then winded back down to reach the lake that filled the old crater. Our hostel was called Paradiso and was a sister hostel to Oasis so I knew to expect good things, but I was totally blown away. Continue reading →

Lake Atitlan: Santa Cruz

/ brittanyherriot / 2 Comments

DSCN4804

I took a shuttle from the quiet city of Antigua for the two hour drive through the mountain country side to reach Lake Atitlan. The drive was captivating and I couldn’t take my eyes from the road, starring out bright eyed as the sights blurred past me: mountains surrounded us on all sides, farms were scattered here and there, hardy crops of maiz perched on steep slopes, the occasional small village, and now and then plumes of smoke from small rubbish fires dotted the distance. As we got closer and closer to the lake the land became more mountainous, the roads became steeper and cliffs began to form as we hugged the hillside, looking over precariously steep drops with no guardrails. Continue reading →