green bellies

ok, sooooo way back in August I went to guatemala to visit JB. It was a BLAST!!! Ever since then i've been meaning (and promising) to blog about our trip...and so finally, here I am.

Highlights:
- RUINS!!! There are ruins all over antigua. It's amazing. This one church had a main section with three domes, each dome top was gone but had been covered by tarp. There was something romantic and broken about the whole scene.
- VOLCANOES!!! Antigua is surrounded by them -- which was pretty cool. But what was absolutely fantastic was Lago Atitlan - which is a wonderful lake ringed by three volcanoes. I could see them from my bedroom window. It was uber neat.
- LIGHTNING! Phenomenal. On our first night at the little resort we stayed at on Lago Atitlan we hung out on the porch talking, telling pirate jokes (yarr!) and watching the lightning. It was soo relaxing. Our second night we hung out in the outdoor hot tub (literally a pool with a heating stove in the middle). When the lightning got 10 counts away JB made us come in. Something about water + electricity = bad...
- AMEX RULE. This was key. The water in Central America just isn't that good, which typically means no fresh fruit or salads. However, JB decided that any restaurant that accepts American Express credit cards is probably going to serve water/foods that are american tummy safe. So far, it's proved to be a good rule!
- TV. Tela Novella's are a riot. Really too much fun! Camerone. Caliente. Corazon.
- JB = Jote-Be. This was probably my favorite new thing. His name in Spanish is "Jote-Be" (Hota-bay). It's hilarious to me.
- HOTELS -- ok, we stayed in two awesome hotels. In antigua, Panza Verde. This hotel was just gorgeous. The food was delicious. The atmosphere was cool. Buena Vista Social Club plays there on Thursday and Friday nights. Sweet. At the lake we stayed at La Casa Del Mundo. To get there you have to take a boat. We had grand plans of kayaking, visiting the other towns on the lake and relaxing by the water on one of the terraces. The last one was pretty much all we did. The sunrise and sunsets were just amazing.



Check out the rest of the pictures:
Antigua
Lago Atitlan

P.S. Thank you JB for kicking-off birth-month celebrations (in september!!) with the wodnerful cube-photo-gift!! and congrats on running your 1/2 marathon today. You ROCK.
P.P.S. Why green bellies?? Avocados!! Yummy. yummy. yummy. Legend says the guatemalan's have green bellies from eating so many.