The trip was, in a word, amazing. My vacations seem to keep getting better and better. If I ever do make it to Peru, I may very well die of a heart attack upon seeing Machu Picchu for the first time.

Upon my arrival into Guatemala City, I almost immediately boarded a flight with Grupo Taca Airlines to Flores (one hour). I spent two nights in Flores, and from there spent a full day at the ruins of Tikal. Holy shit. The most spectacular pre-Hispanic ruins I’ve ever seen, even better than Teotihuacan in Mexico. I ran into one traveler who says that Tikal is better than Machu Picchu because Tikal is hidden over so much land in dense jungle. Climbing to the tops of some of the ruins and seeing the tops of other temples peeking through the trees was a definite highlight. On the way to Tikal, I did a quick "jungle canopy" tour that involves 7 steel ziplines running above the forest floor. Fun! Incidentally, Flores is a cute little island town of about 2000 people. On Friday night the place was alive with locals hanging out in the small town square, playing soccer, etc.

From there, I flew back to Guatemala City and rode the "chicken bus" for 3.5 hours to Panajachel, on the shores of Lago de Atitlan (think Lake Tahoe, only warmer). I fell in love with the place almost immediately, despite a surprisingly large number of tourists and souvenir hawkers. Lake Atitlan was formed by a collapsed volanic cone (like Oregon’s Crater Lake), and is also surrounded by three more volcanoes. On Sunday, I took a shuttle for about 6 hours to Chichicastenango, a small-but-lively market town with a beautiful church and throngs of tourists. On Monday, I took a relaxing hour-long boat ride from Panajachel to an even smaller town, Santiago Atitlan, on the other side of the lake.

I did make it across the border for a rushed trip to the Mayan ruins of Copan (awesome, though not as impressive as Tikal), but most of the rest of my trip was spent in Antigua, Guatemala’s former capital and one of the most beautiful colonial cities in the Americas. Think cobblestone streets, no tall buildings, a lively town square, horse-and-buggy rides, and a surrounding countryside that includes 4 more volcanoes. The town has several beatiful churches which were destroyed in numerous earthquakes and left as is (I imagine it to be similar to a small French town destroyed after WWII). Antigua was mobbed was tourists—from both Guatemala and abroad—to take in the impressive religious processions and "alfombras" of Semana Santa (that’s holy week for you non-Spanish speakers). I stayed up all night to help build one of the alfombras (they are literally "carpets" built in the street and made out of colored sawdust). It was an experience I will remember for the rest of my life.

On my last day in Guatemala, I hiked up Pacaya, an active volcano about 90 minutes outside Antigua. The volcano was erupting when we reached the crater! This was a great way to end a great trip.