Nov 6, 2012 Just before nine a.m., Dale and I visit the vague square of dirt next to the Hotel Aaculaax, where a sign advertises kayak rentals. It will cost us 25 quetzales (three dollars) per kayak per hour. Neither kayak is high quality. Dale’s is one of those tippy...
November 5, 2012 As Dale starts the shower, built into the natural rock of a hillside above Lake Atitlán, a natural visitor drops in on him. A mouse falls from an unseen crevice overhead to land at his feet with a plop. The mouse is stunned for a moment, so Dale puts...
Nov 4, 2012 Today when my husband, Dale, and I leave our hotel, instead of turning left toward town, we turn right along the shoreline of Lake Atitlán. After only fifty feet, we spot the sign for the Reserva Natural del Cerro Tzankujil (Nature Reserve of Tzankujil...
November 2, 2012 “Aldous Huxley called Lake Atitlán ‘the most beautiful lake in the world’…until he went to the next lake,” Dale says. We’ve seen photos of the serene aqua caldera: formed by ancient volcanic eruptions, filled by centuries of natural springs and...
Nov 1, 2012 When death is always near, the living learn to laugh with it, to touch heaven and assure themselves it’s waiting. That’s my guess at why the Mayan town of Sumpango celebrates the Day of the Dead with a Festival de Barriletes Gigantes, or Festival of Giant...
Nov 1, 2012 By the time we arrive at the Sumpango cemetery at 9:00 a.m., it’s already packed. Food vendors gather at the entrance, selling delicious grilled elote, or corn-on-the-cob, and jocotes en miel, small round fruits soaked in syrup until they have a similar...
October 30, 2012 When I realize that Dale and I are the only travelers over forty standing at the mouth of Semuc Champey’s K’anba Caves, I suck-in my one-piece swimsuit. I feel more confident when I don my headlamp. Except for our Guatemalan guide, everyone else in...
In the middle of the night the Guatemalan sky unzips its pockets to spill a marimba of water on the tin roof of our wooden room. By morning, the downpour persists, offering both disappointment and relief: both “I forbid you to explore paradise,” and “I grant you...
October 27, 2012 Dale and I wake to the deep-chested roars of howler monkeys, males marking their territory in the darkest hour of the morning. It's 3:00 a.m. By 4:30, our headlamps bob through blackness, as we follow our happy-go-lucky, sexagenarian guide, Antonio,...
Oct 26, 2012 As Dale and I stand amid the ancient Mayan ruins of Tikal, I see why George Lucas chose it for a rebel base in the original Star Wars. This lost city strangled by rainforest bears no resemblance to other cities I’ve seen, living or dead. It’s as if the...
Cara Lopez Lee is the author of the novel, Candlelight Bridge, and the memoir, They Only Eat Their Husbands. She’s a winner of The Moth StorySLAM and is featured in many personal storytelling shows. Her writing appears in such publications as the Los Angeles Times, Manifest-Station, and Rivet. Cara and her husband love traveling, but their home is coastal Ventura, California, where they enjoy tending their Certified Wildlife Habitat full of birds, bees, and butterflies.
