Northwest of Lake Atitlan is a city called Quetzaltenango, or “Xela” (from the Mayan name “Xelaju”) for short. This city in Guatemala is quite popular for language students as the classes are cheap and many schools provide a homestay option with a Guatemalan family to really immerse yourself with the local culture and forces you to use what you learn.

I went with a school near the central park called Utatlan. The tuition is …

While staying in Quetzaltenango/Xela, I ran into a friend who I met in Lake Atitlan who told me about this 3-day hike from Xela to Lake Atitlan that Quetzaltrekkers offers. Quetzaltrekkers is a non-profit organization that offers guided hikes in Guatemala. It’s ran fully by volunteers and the money goes directly to help children in need living in Guatemala.

When my friend told me about this hike I got really interested as I’ve never done …

The hostel I’m staying at now has good Wi-Fi so I haven’t used my Tigo USB modem for a couple of days now. Since I still have about a week of free Internet left, I decided to take the SIM card and use it on my Dell Streak Android phone instead.

My Dell Streak took the SIM card and showed “TIGO” as the network provider. When I opened the web browser I got a prompt …

I decided to continue my Spanish lessons in Lake Atitlan. I stayed in La Iguana Perdida in Santa Cruz La Laguna and signed up for the package of 5 days of Spanish lessons, 7 nights accommodation, and 6 days allowance of Q75 to spend in their restaurant.

The view from this hostel is just beautiful! I start my morning every day staring at the beautiful Lake Atitlan and the volcanoes.

My teacher actually lives in …

I wanted to check my bank account one day but the Internet at the hostel I was staying at wasn’t working. Then I saw a guy using his laptop in the dining area and I asked him if he was able to pick up a Wi-Fi signal. He told me he’s using one of these Tigo USB modems to get Internet connection.

Tigo is a mobile phone service provider and appears to be the main …