“What if she doesn't like this place?”, “What if she doesn't want to sleep on a couch?”, “Where should we take her to eat?” I ask Pete all these questions almost simultaneously with a flurry of nervous energy behind them. He looks at me with an exasperated, furrowed brow and replies, “Natasha, It's Lindsey”

We usually prefer to be camped in the mountains, next to a river, or on a beach far from crowds. However, every once in a while we crave a little "civilization". Our new friends Vince and Lucy both live in Quetzaltenengo (commonly known as Xela), and said it was worth a visit.

On our trip to Asia we experienced four different languages, all of which are vastly different from western languages. One syllable can mean three to five different things depending on whether you say it with a rising, falling, or neutral tone. We did our best to learn how to say hello, goodbye, thank you, and beer, and how to count to ten in every language. We managed to get by with this and plenty of sign language, but we definitely weren't having many in depth conversations. So one of the things we were most excited about on this trip was learning Spanish.

We took it as a good sign that after another beautiful drive through the mountains of northern Guatemala a rainbow seemed to end directly over our destination, the town of Todos Santos Cuchutman.

Sometimes it feels as if we're letting our guidebook and the iOverlander app dictate our trip. They're both incredibly handy but they often seem to lead down an invisible predestined trail, so well trodden by the travelers before us that its deep indentations in the earth prevent us from veering off. 

After Las Pozas and Aguas Calientes, it seemed right to stick with the inadvertent river theme we had developed and head to Semuc Champey. It is by far one of the highlights of Guatemala's natural beauty, one of those places that is difficult to describe, and pictures don't easily do it justice. 

Oso, with his wavy blond hair and piercing brown eyes, is quite the handsome bloke. He spend's half his time with his front paws in our laps, and the other half whimpering over his unrequited love for Malta. This charming pup is one of the reasons that we stay longer than planned at this camp spot

Back in the spring we popped over to Guatemala for a few days so we could reset our visas in Mexico. That nearly ended in disaster, with us stuck between borders for several days. I hate to say it, because I want to love every country we go to, but for whatever reason we weren't all that impressed.