Santa Maria Volcano Hike (part 2)

If you haven't already, you REALLY need to read part 1 of this report before continuing on with part 2

http://www.travelwithkevinandruth.com/2013/02/quetzaltrekkers-santa-maria-volcano.html

Okay when we left you last it was only 6:20pm. We had not had any dinner, preferring instead to try and stay relatively warm and dry inside our sleeping bags in the tent.

Quetzaltrekkers Santa Maria Volcano (part 1)

We originally came to this area to do a six day excursion offered by the popular "hiking for charity" organization here in Xela...www.quetzaltrekkers.com. We figured we had a few extra days and that we should use them up by doing a warm-up hike!

It wasn't long before we figured that maybe we bit off more than we could chew...

A little info about the city of Quetzaltenango (Xela)

We continued on our walking tour yesterday morning and had to make our way back to the ATM to try and get some more cash. We had decided to do the overnight hike up the Santa Maria volcano and it was going to cost another 300 quetzales ($40.50) each. Plus, we wanted to get enough cash to pay for our 6 day hike next week. So we were crossing our fingers that the ATM casino was going to pay out!

Men's haircut, only $2.00!

That's right, the going rate for a men's haircut at a barbershop here in Xela is only 15 quetzales ($2.00)! And for the first time in almost 30 years, someone besides Ruth cut my hair. Pictures to follow...

Some great news to share!

We have mentioned in previous blog posts that we've been looking for a job for this coming summer. We're too young to be called retired, we're not independently wealthy, and we've never worked in a position that offered a pension plan. But we don't mind earning a living when there's a light at the end of the tunnel!

Send cash!

In Guatemala, they use the quetzale as money. There are approximately 8 quetzales to one dollar. We've had to make a little cheat sheet so we know how much things cost. Our problem yesterday was that we needed some cash!

From the border to Quetzaltenango (Xela)

Okay, when we left you in yesterday's post we had just departed from the border circus. From there, we had two choices. There's a northern route to Xela, and southern route.

In to Guatemala!

Well, we made it! I won't go into detail about the whole day yet because I want to save some for tomorrow morning's blog post and then we'll get back on schedule with our regular morning updates.

Puerto Arista to Tapachula

We decided that it wasn't worth the effort to try and post the blog first thing Monday morning and that we were better off getting an early start and trying to be as prepared as possible for our Guatemala border crossing tomorrow (Tuesday) morning!

Huatulco to Puerto Arista

Just a short update this morning, and sorry it's late. There is no decent internet here, and even though we do get a cell signal, the internet is slow as molasses, so no pictures!

Huatulco (day 3)

When we got up yesterday morning, we had sort of planned to move on. But we got a little lazy and before we knew it, it was past 9:00am and we hadn't lifted a finger to get packed up. So we decided to stay another day!

Huatulco (day 2)

This campground is a kind of a funny location. It has a golf course on one side, and a chunk of forest on the other, and then a big resort. On the other side of the golf course there are two more large resorts...a Barcelo property, and a Dreams resort.

Camping in Huatulco

There is really only one option for camping in Huatulco. But it's a pretty decent option if you don't need to be plugged in to electricity. We've been here before with the motorhome, and now we're here with the little blue car and the tent! Let me tell you how our day went yesterday...

Next stop, Huatulco!

We're heading further south (actually more east than south!) this morning along Mexico's Pacific coast. Not going far, only about 120 kms (75 miles) to the resort town of Huatulco. No idea where we're staying, but there is a campground there and of course we have the tent if we need it.

RV Parks in Puerto Escondido

We've been to Puerto Escondido with our 28 foot class A motorhome several times. But we've never had to find somewhere to park because we've always stayed with friends. We noticed the other day that one of the larger trailer parks on the main road didn't seem open this year so we decided to check out all of the possibilities here.