Rainy Season Updates

Hey there everyone. Pics on the left are updated and the map too though we will be on the move a bit here soon.

It's been a while since we've updated, and while there's always something happening, sometimes there's a good bit of nothing too which is the way we like it. After three and a half weeks in Xela, we were itching to do some hiking. We went way out into the mountains to a town called Nebaj, where an allergic reaction and a brief detour to the Nebaj Medical Clinic foiled our plans for our 3 day trek (everything's fine Moms). Nebaj was great though for culture and it had almost no tourists. While everyone got healthy, we left the mountains and, 4 buses and a boat later, we took haven on Lago Atitlan in San Pedro, one of our last stops after 2 great months in Guatemala. The lake is beautiful and rung by volcanoes, we've done some hiking and kayaking but mostly just put our feet up in our hammocks and enjoyed the culture, cafes and restaurants.

Hammocks are especially important after 4pm. They are one of our vital tools for suriving the rainy season. When you look at our pictures, it may be hard to tell that there are many aspects of the traveling experience the camera doesn't quite capture. What it's like traveling during rainy season is one of them. For the first 6 weeks of our trip, we did not see a drop of rain. Then one day, it rained... a lot. Then, it just kept raining. Here in Central America, they really have 2 seasons unlike at home... here it's rainy or dry. Temperature has more to do with elevation than season, so the seasons are defined by how much rain we get.

So why are the hammocks so vital? Because the best part of the rainy season is predictability. By 4pm, it's going to be raining, and you´d better have a hammock under some sort of tin or thatch shelter in which you can pass the rainy afternoon. It's become ingrained into our internal clocks that between 3pm and 7pm is rain time and the body just seems to know that it's about time for the afternoon siesta.

There are challenges when traveling during the rainy season. For one, outdoors activities are often wet and muddy if they happen at all. There's also the constant challenge of how to keep your bags dry, which starts with your rain cover, assuming the "Ayudante" puts your bag right-side-up on the roof of your old school bus (a dodgy proposition at best), and ends with prioritizing your electronics and books in various plastic bags. If you have a really bad day, there's the swarms of mosquitos that attack from the mud puddle next to the road or the millions of termites that hatch next to your cabin after the afternoon downpour.

But the rainy season isn't all gloom. It's predictable... for the first part of the day it's sunny, virtually every day. The rainy season also keeps the tourists away, except for crazy ones like us who relish in the good deals on hotels and empty restaurants that result. In addition the rain makes everything grow, and the incredible mountains and farms that line the Guatemalan countryside are green and lush rather than dry and parched. So while the rain is often a symbol of gloominess, here it's a staple of daily life.

Our next step is heading to El Salvador sometime in the next few days, more updates soon!