Lots of Lava from Antigua

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We tore ourselves away from our familia and Rosalia's delicious meals to see Antigua on our way to Honduras. This city is supposed to be one of Guatemala's highlights. It's beautiful with bright buildings, jade museums, and a thousand hip, hip, hip shops, restaurants and bars. It's as cosmopolitan as Central America gets. However, it´s also packed with tourists and high prices. And not even the "Irish pub" has more than the usual Gallo beer. The Gallo people seriously monopolize the beer supply and the few canned Guinnesses are pricey since they're shipped from Panama.

We did stumble upon a few highlights here in the colonial wonder of Antigua... We saw the Free Hugs (Abrazos Gratis) campaign in the parque central, so we stopped for a squeeze. (Check out

&eurl for the original). We also met Jake's long lost brother, the soft and silky Golden pictured. (His name is pronounced Hah-kay en espanol.) We also finally tasted Pollo Campero, the equivilent of KFC in Guatemala that is now making its foray into the US via Texas. Cuidado, KFC! Because Campero not only has an established dessert and breakfast menu, but they also offer my favorite Latin dish, fried plantains. Delicious.

The second day of our stay, we climbed Pacaya Volcano with 100 other people and a 72-year-old guide who climbs it twice a day. The first 3K up was like climbing a tropical mountain, the second section was sliding down ash, and the third was through a trecherous field of lava rocks. Just when we were feeling like experienced Coloradan hikers with a leg up on the competition crowd, I had my first injury of the trip bashing my knee on a sliding rock. Trev took good care of me and we were finally able to use that long-awaited wedding First Aid Kit. We also saw lava that was so hot, we could´ve roasted marshmallows over it. Too bad we forgot to bring our smores ingredients. Next time!

With Lava,
Trev and Liz

p.s. Gracias, Mark!

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Photos

Styled out chicken bus
The last true adventure!

Pollo Campero
Guat's KFC, the food was better though! Plus I got to have chicken wings...mmm.

Abrazos Gratis (free hugs)
Liz takes advantage of the free hugs!

The local golden
He reminded us of Jakers and Penpal

The lava river
people were throwing marshmellows and anything else they could think of to burn into the lava.