Lago Atitlan Trek - Day 1

After a few beers last night, and the most amazing curry I have ever made (lentil, chickpea and banana!), I got up bleary eyed and emotional to say goodbye to my housemates. Living in such a big group of people has been so lovely, and I'm not sure that I can go back to cooking meals for any less than 10 ever again!!! Predictably, I spent a good hour in tears saying goodbye to everyone!

Then the four of us, T, his brother and his friend set off for the Quetzaltrekkers office for the start of our trip. we took a bus for about 40 mins outside of Xela, and then clambered out in a tiny, dusty village to begin our walk. As always, the weather was gorgeous and we had a really nice walk, climbing steeply up into the mountains and then descending into a small village in the valley to spend the night.

We pitched our tent overlooking some of the most amazing scenery ever, and then settled down to a dinner of soup and pasta, finished with marshmallows roasted over a real fire - Quetzaltrekkers special treat.

We were all suitably exhuasted and went to bed really early. However, sleep was not destined to be ours. At 1am, we were all awoken by the most surreal sound in the world. It seemed like a thousand or more dogs had started barking in unison. They would do this for a minute and then switch to a really strange, high-pitched howling. The sound echoed through the forests and around the mountains, giving the impression that there were thousands upon thousands of wild dogs all taking part. It felt like they were privvy to some secret information, and that this was their method of sharing it with one another. It went on for an hour, and then completely stopped. It was the strangest thing I have ever heard.