Best of the Worst (and Best) Part I

December 24 was a landmark day for us - 25% of the way through our fantastic trip! To mark the occasion, we give you the first installment of our four part series entitled "Best of the Worst (and Best)".

Food (Lori´s favorite category)

Worst Meal

• Lori - Continental breakfast at hell-hole cafe in Panajachel with flys and army of children relentlessly buzzing around us. This one has blocked the name of the establishment from our memories.
• Dan - Free breakfast at San Francisco de Quito. Juice had added protein from not so normal sources

Best Breakfast

• Lori - Amazing 10-fruit salad in Quito below the Amazonas Inn.
• Dan - Yellow House Hostel in Antigua, Guatemala. The pancakes were to die for.

Most Phenomenal Baked Good (of all time)

• Lori - Sensational lemon iced doughnut from German Cafe, San Iganacio, Belize. I still dream about it...
• Dan - Best banana bread I think I´ve ever tasted in Antigua, Guatemala, and we don´t even remember the name of the place...sigh

Accomodation

Freakiest Creepy Crawly

• Lori - Face to face moment with humongous hairy spider on bathroom door in Panajachel. What the heck was the name of that place?
• Dan - Fist sized grasshoppers on the windows of the Jungle Lodge in Tikal, Guatemala...shiver...

Most Miserable Sleep

• Lori & Dan - Hands down, the Jungle Lodge, Tikal. The power goes off at 10pm and the couple next door goes to town. No fans, no light, noisy hanky-panky through the walls and lots of big things hitting the windows from the jungle. aaagh!

Best & Worst Shower

• Lori - Best: Amazonas Inn, Quito, the pressure will sand blast your flesh off, and the heat will scald whatever is left behind. Awesome. Worst: San Francisco de Quito, one pathetic trickle of water + a burning desire to wash my hair = no good.
• Dan - Best: Amazonas Inn, Quito, better than any shower I´ve had in NA. Worst: Yolita, Galapagos Islands boat tour, cold, rocky, small.....awful.

Hilite

• Lori - Norte Seymour Island in the Galapagos. Stark scenery, huge sea birds and the sensation that I was at Pacific Rim.
• Dan - Arriving in Antigua, Guatemala. We had been somewhat stressed by several travels through Guatemala country side and on the move for quite a while. Our overnight from Flores had left us exhausted. Antigua was incredibly beautiful and peaceful. Arriving there was a big release of nerves. Getting breakfast at our accomodations, the Yellow House, also helped.

Lowlite

• Lori - Observing Dan´s lowlites.
• Dan - Its a toss up between being ill and having to go to the bathroom so bad, but throwing up in the middle of the Central Square in Antigua was a bit of a rock bottom moment. The following 3 days of sickness wasn´t much fun either.