Guatemala has the finest rums in the world

My friend Mike Jones turned me onto the finer rums during the last 5 years that we have known each other. In my opinion the best of the lot was the Zacapa Centenario. A 23 year old rum aged in a white oak barrel. As another friend Frank Owens would say there are not enough O's in smooth to describe it.

Well during our trip to Guatemala I was more than excited to have the opportunity get a Zacapa on the rocks at most any decent bar or eatery we went into. Here is a little info and history on my favorite rum from the Zacapa web site. http://www.ronzacapacentenario.com/

Many Rums claim to be the best rum in the world, but only Ron Zacapa Centenario has earned that honor. For five consecutive years Ron Zacapa Centenario was awarded First Place Gold Medal Premium Rum Category at Caribbean Week's Rum Competition. This unprecedented accomplishment was recognized by the judges in 2002 with the awarding of a newly designated "Platinum Medal" created specifically to honor Ron Zacpa Centenario and memorialize its accomplishment.
Unlike other rums, Ron Zacapa Centenario can rely solely on its awards and the statements of others to claim its place in the "History of Rum." Ron Zacapa Centenario is the "Benchmark" by which all others are judged, having been awarded 98 out of a possible 100 points by The Beverage Testing Institute in 2001 - the highest rating ever awarded - classifying Ron Zacapa Centenario as "Superlative."
When we say that Ron Zacapa Centenario is the "Number One Rum in the World," we are only repeating what has been determined by others. Ron Zacpa Centenario has attained a place in the History of Rum that may never be equaled.
You are encouraged to review the brief History of Licorera Zacapaneca and Licoreras Industriales de Guatemala; read Statements made by "The Ministry of Rum", Tastings.com (The website for The Beverage Testing Institute) and Luis K. Alaya, rum expert and author of "The Rum Experience, The Complete Rum Reference". You can view the Awards earned by Ron Zacapa Centenario and visit our Store where we have collected unique items to enhance your rum experience and express your loyalty for Ron Zacapa Centenario.

Volcano Pacaya

Cindy and I love to do things but I would not call eithe of us incredible athletes or even in great shape (I often state I am a shape but not in shape).

All of that aside we both have wanted to see an active volcano. After missing it in Hawaii in College with my Dad and not being able to go up or see it due to weather in Costa Rica we got our chance in Guatemala.

Guatemala has 38 volcano's and three of them our currently active. We booked a guide for Pacaya. Our day started at 5:50 AM with our hotel pickup and a couple hour drive (should have been 1 but our bus drive looked for a missing couple for an extra hour... ugh).

We finally made it to the base camp and paid the park office (Pacaya is in a national park). Our guide was 28 years old and made it clear to us that it was not a competition and we could take our time.

Cindy and I with our group of 6 other adventurers spent a couple of hours climbing up the mountain. We started off in damp and cloudy weather and we kept hoping with every gasping breath up the hill that the skies would clear. The climb was tough but we did not give in to the pressure of the few local guys with horses that followed us asking "Taxi" and made the trek with our own feet.

Just as we came out of the woods and up a grassy clearing the clouds moved out of the way and we saw the top of the Volcano. From that point on we were not tired and quickly made our way to the top of a side crater. As we got just below the rim we were amazed at the difference in temperature. From this point we moved toward a lava flow were we got to walk on the flow. It is amazing what the lack of contigency law suits will allow. In what can only be described as a truly Central American experience we walked on the 2 day old flow and as our guide took us out to the edge we were amazed to feel our feet getting warmer and warmer and we could literally see red lava moving around us and of course under us. Our guide had a walking stick of wood he picked up on the way up the hill and he delighted in showing us how it bursted into flames as he pushed it down into the cracks around us.

Needless to say it was amazing but in hindsight not something I would advise viewers to try at home. We moved off the flow took our pictures, checked our shoes and then made our way down to the bottom no worse for the wear.

Here are some quick facts about Volcano Pacaya
Location: 14.38N, 90.60W Elevation: 8,371 feet (2,552 meters)
Since 1965, Pacaya has been erupting nearly continuously

Were back and with plenty of stories from Guatemala

It was a great trip. In fact the next few articles on the blog will be dedicated to the specifics of the trip but here is the overview of our trip.

We left on Thursday AM and made our way to Guatemala City. From the air as we landed I was struck by two things how sprawling this city of 3 million is and how rugged and hilly the land of the city was. In fact it is pretty amazing through out Guatemala how they maximize there hillsides for living and farming.

We stayed the night in Guatemala City and stayed in Zone 10 (the kinda of rich and safe zone). We found a Sushi bar and had an amazing dinner and then strolled around for a while. The next morning we had some time before our two o'clock transfer to Antigua so we hit a mall and a salon for a hair cut etc. By then 2pm was here and we caught our bus to Antigua. It was a great drive with a quick stop by an organic coffee plantation and roasting facility so we got to check out that process and try and buy some coffee.

The first night in Guatemala we stayed at a little boutique hotel. It was very cute and only $60 a night so we totally enjoyed it. The next day we moved to our timeshare at Villa Antigua. I would not recommend this place. It is a little to club med for our tastes and while it was a time share swap and adequate we spent very little time at the place instead opting for other places to eat and basically just staying out and checking out the town and surrounding area.

Some of our tours included a trip to Lake Atilan, Chichicastenango market, climbed active volcano Pecaya, local fabric and village tour, jade jewelry factory, saw some of the many ruins of churches from the 1500 and 1600's and of course ate out and shopped for local handicrafts which are nearly too numerous and beautiful to mention.

We spent one day and night at a friend of ours daughters mountain hostel called the earth lodge. www.welcometoearthlodge.com . Excellent views and food from this backpacker getaway. We did some hiking and just enjoyed the quiet and while mixing with people from all over the world. Of the 20 hikers and us staying the lodge we got to meet people from Israel, Iceland, Denmark, England, Canada, South Africa, Japan, Columbia and of course the good old USA. Great people most of whom are traveling for the whole summer doing the backpacker thing in Central America.

Finally we had to say goodbye to Antigua and made our way back to Guatemala City for another night and another great Sushi dinner. Then a quick flight the next day to San Salvador and then direct to Roatan.

It was a great trip but were glad to be back home.

90 Days is up were off to Guatemala

Part of living in Roatan Honduras is we have to leave the country every 90 days till our residency is complete. Well its been 90 days since we moved here and a lot has definitely happened.

Today we are on our way to Guatemala to do two things, check out a new country and to get our visa renewed by going in and out of Honduras.

Were pretty excited about the chance to Guatemala. We left Roatan this AM at 8 and are now in San Pedro Sula were we had a planned 5 hour layover which gave us enough time to get a cab and have him drive us around San Pedro so we would have our bearings about this town for a future shopping trip. San Pedro is one of the two big cities in Honduras and you can get whatever you need here.

Now back at the Airport internet cafe we are awaiting our flight to Guatemala City where we will stay tonight. Tomorrow we head out for the Antigua area of Guatemala. Antigua was the capital city of Guatemala from 1570 to 1770 and is a UNESCO world heritage site due to its unique colonial architecture.

The area around Antigua also has great volcano's, bird watching and other sites so were stoked.

Be on the lookout for the trip report and pictures soon.

Mike and Cindy

Roatan Update for week of 4th of July

My friend Dave Carmichael told me when I moved down here how jealous he was going to be of my new "Relaxed" Life style.

Daves world for me sounded great but I knew it was BS. And after 90 days I am sure of it. Never the less the busy we experience here is somehow more interesting and calming than the busy I have had before.

Here are some of the busy stories from the last week.
As you can see in the photo one possible mode of transportation on the streets of Roatan is a 4 wheeler. Gene my partner and I took this one out for some test rides and I have to say it was nice to relive a little bit of my youth when I used to ride these things in Missouri. I might just have to get myself one.

We also have had some interesting happenings at our office. A lot of people asked me is Honduras safe? I always said yea as safe as you can be I suppose. Well stupidity is all over the world. Gene was manning the office on July 4th and our mall has 24hr security. The security guard walked by, Gene waved and then a few minutes later Gene heard a gun shot. He thought that sounds like a gun shot but it can't be. But it was he thought and sure enough as he walked out our office door he saw the guard sprawled on the stairs bleeding. The guard had shot himself in the leg with his crappy 38 revolver. Gene and a few other people cut his pants off and found that the bullet did not go through his leg so they put a towel on his leg. The guard did not know how to call his boss or anyone so they put him in a cab and sent him to the hospital. 2 hrs later a new guard showed up and I gave him the gun (now with 5 bullets) that the other guard had left on the ground and we all felt protected again (ha ha).

Just another day in Paradise.

Nueva Perritas

We adopted two island dogs and as you can see Cindy and I are in love with them. We got a brother and sister and named them Butch and Betty.

Butch earned his name, he is a little smaller than Betty but walks with a distinct strut that says I am in charge here. The walk reminded Cindy of the bulldog on the Bugs Bunny cartoons and that dog was named Butch or Spike best we can remember so we went with Butch. We picked the name Betty because it went with Butch (were not that creative).

Jazz the matriarch of the family unfortunately is not excited. Even though we have been giving her more and more attention she will have nothing to do with the new pups. We had hoped she would socialize with them etc. but so far when they come near her she goes the other way. Hopefully it will get better.

Butch and Betty will be outside dogs and were getting a dog house made for them already so when they are old enough they will move into it. There job going forward will be to bark and let us know if and when we have visitors.

Gene DeMarco has arrived!

Cindy and I are excited to report my Partner and friend Gene DeMarco has arrived in Roatan. As you can see from this picture he came packing and ready to work.

Within 12 hours of landing he was hard at work at Roatan Life Vacation Rentals and now things are really rolling with another great set of hands.

You can contact Gene at gene@roatanlifevactionrentals.com or better yet book a vacation rental and come on down to see us in person.