guatemala//

we recently went on a trip to guatemala with some friends, and it was definitely one for the books. we had so much fun exploring such a beautiful place together.  the whole country was unbelievably green with mountains and hills covering a good portion of the land.  our first stop of the trip was lake atitlan, which, by the way, was the most perfect shade of blue i think i've ever seen.  the lake is surrounded by huge volcanoes that make the whole landscape look like something you couldn't even dream up. i'm telling you, this place was unreal. we wandered the streets around the lake and ate some yummy traditional food, which sat pretty well with our stomachs for the first day ;). that night as we went back to our hotel, it was pouring rain. i'm talking flood-the-streets-soak-you-to-the-bone, rain. but i'd say it made for a great start to the trip. {prepare yourselves for photo overload, sorry :)}

lake atitlan

foggy top view of the lake

yummy horchata and jaimaica with breakfast

our next destination, was retalhuleu. kenzie, our friend and her husband who invited us on the trip, served her mission there. so we went to pay a visit to hermana veronica and her sweet little family who had a nice surprise of cake and pepsi for us. their adorable little boy, kevin, brought out a whole stack of family pictures and explained to us in spanish who everyone was in each of them. as josh and i tried to respond with the 4 some odd spanish phrases we know, we kept getting confusing looks from the cute little boy, as if he had absolutely no idea what we were trying to say haha. on another note, we were all giants in guatemala. 

our friends ryan and kenzie with veronica and her family

cute little kevin

next we headed to monterrico, the black sand beach. we had read reviews that the sand gets "too hot" to walk on after a certain hour in the morning, but we just thought everyone was being wimpy. so we got to the sand and the boys took off their shoes, and they screamed like little girls sprinting the whole way down to the water. haha. it is not a lie. that sand was BURNING. and the water! it was as warm as a bathtub. and of course, the beach itself was beautiful.

up next was antigua and pacaya volcano. antigua is this old spanish city with cobblestone streets and the famous clock tower arch. such a fun little place. we loved walking the streets listening to the locals play music on the wooden xylophones and scouring the markets that were filled with the most beautiful woven textiles and fabrics. pacaya is one of only 3 active volcanoes out of the 300+ that are in guatemala. i think it's safe to say that the scenery of the hike up to it was one of the prettiest we've seen. you can see volcanoes and green hills every way you turn. and there is something so strangely beautiful about fields of volcanic rocks. 

streets of antigua

santa catalina arch

volcanic rocks for miles

roasting mallows on the smoking lava rocks

pacaya volcano

next, flores. this awesome little island in the northern part of guatemala. it only takes about 5 minutes to drive around the whole thing, and i grew quite fond of it during the time we spent there.  we spent the first evening on a little boat ride around the lake surrounding the island, and our sweet tour guide victor even let the boys drive the boat!

the next morning we made our way to tikal national park, the crazy incredible mayan ruins that are tucked way back in the jungle in the northernmost part of the country. this place, i can not even begin to describe how mind blowing insanely beautiful it was. it. was. unreal. smack dab in the middle of the jungle, built thousands of years ago, and dare i say probably the coolest thing i've ever seen. i almost have no words. the jungle is so full of life, and so unlike anything we've ever seen before. creatures of all sorts flying and buzzing around, monkeys swinging above our heads and howling SO loud, and creepy crawlies on every square inch of space. and the temples. so incredible. they're massive. and yes, so so beautiful. (i know, i've said that about everything). but these were seriously so cool. and to go on top of these temples and just see jungle for miles and miles is something else. you must go here. 

view from on top of the tallest temple