Things You Need With You When Traveling to Guatemala, Or Any Foreign Country for that Matter:

1.)    Candy – For eating, and occasionally giving to little kids
2.)    A CD with Madonna’s greatest hits or lots of cheesy love songs that everyone knows the words to – this sounds gay, but it’s essential
3.)    Duct tape – Brought a roll this time and used it once, but once was enough
4.)    Infection spray, Bactine, bug spray, bug bite healer – you need lots of balms and salves
5.)    Energy bars – not energy drinks, because you can get those anywhere outside the States
6.)    Sun cream, cocoa butter, Crisco – whatever you normally use when you go out in the sun, you’ll want to bring some of that with you
7.)    Extra underwear for accidents brought on by uncomfort with the cuisine and/or the local driving habits
8.)    Something to kill spiders
9.)    Earplugs in case there are monkeys, birds or jaguars outside your window early in the morning
10.)    An indifference to seeing shotguns

Trevor Hansen, Reed Hansen, Aaron Reed and Clay Fletcher just returned from their week-long trip across Guatemala, which spanned the country from Rio Dulce in the North (near Belize), down to the Pacific Coast, and finished in one of the most beautiful lakes in the world, Lake Atitlan, outside of Guatemala City. There are lots of Guatem-hollas! to throw out to the people that made this trip happen, particularly the Hansens, the Mora family, Supra and Red Bull. Look for the article in a spring issue of Alliance, and the video to be on Pull next season.