Guatemala, where the heck is it?

I love to travel and this will be my first time to Central America. For the longest, I kept thinking Guatemala was in South America, guess I'm not smarter than a fifth grader. Guatemala is actually a country that sits at the northwestern tip of Central America. It's bordered by Mexico to the north, Belize and the Caribbean Sea to the east, Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the Southwest. Guatemala is just a little more than 40,000 square miles, that's slightly smaller than the state of Tennessee.

From what I have read, almost two-thirds of the country is covered by mountains, most of which are volcanic. There are some 33 named volcanoes in Guatemala, and my hope is that we won't be greeted by any of them personally!

Guatemala is a land of many colors and cultures. I am excited to spend our free day in Antigua, a small colonial city that for a couple of hundred years was actually Guatemala's capital city. That was until a series of devastating earthquakes which forced the inhabitants to flee. I look forward to walking those cobblestone streets and seeing the restored colonial-era buildings, the grand churches, convents and monasteries. I can't wait to smell the roasting of the coffee beans at the "coffee" museum. I'll tell you more when we're there and when I get back! Until then...