It was already warm as I followed our guide, Douglas through Juayua’s cobbled streets to the path where the hike began. A few local street dogs bounced alongside us, ever hopeful of pats or even better, food.
San Pedro La Laguna on the shores of Guatemala’s Lake Atitlan is home to a unique mixture of Spanish students and traditional Tz’utujil Maya, helping it to stand out on the backpacker trail.
“After another hour or so, we arrive at what must be the highest pass. I see no signage, only vertical drops on either side of the road that mercifully fall off into thick mist after a few hundred meters”
Many consider sun, surf culture and endless sprawling coastline to be synonymous with Australia. Of course, it has all the above in droves, but it also has frosty winter mornings, ski fields and snow. As we enter the deep dark depths of British winter, I look back at a colder version of the world’s hottest country.
From across the dark water, it looked like fairy lights had been flung against the jagged mountain slopes. Forming arcs and triangles, occasionally broken by backlit towers, Kotor’s twinkles put on quite the show. “You see…” Slavko my guide explained, “The lights form the shape of an old man. He guards this city”.