Guatemala celebrates my arrival

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Hola!

Not much of an entry I'm afraid, mainly for the reason that I'm yet to actually do very much. After a shockingly bad flight (Iberia don't think it's necessary to give you televisions for 11 hour flights) I got into Antigua, Guatemala about 6pm on Monday evening.

They must have known I was coming, because I was greeted with fireworks, and other forms of celebration. Bizarrely, the only thing they'd forgotten was the "Welcome to Guatemala Stewart" banner. Some would say that this is because they were not actually celebrating my arrival, but were celebrating Guatemalan independence day, but I know otherwise.

So I've spent my first day proper wandering round Antigua, its a lovely city, all cobblestone streets and colourful buildings, set against a backdrop of 3 volcanoes. It also happens to be the tourist capital of Central America (lots of people come here to learn Spanish). So although my day wandering around taught me that my Spanish is nowhere near good enough, and I need to get lessons, I'm not going to do it here, because I know I'd just end up speaking English outside of them, completely defying the point. There's a few other places where its possible to do lessons, I'll go to one of them.

One thing that has struck me here is the number of guns about. Police and security guards all carry them, but thats not all. Just on my way to the internet cafe, a chap holding a massive shotgun stopped me for a chat. You can be sure I was extra friendly!

Anyway, thats all for now, heading up Volcano Pacaya tomorrow, and when I next write, I'll hopefully have lots for to tell you about, and some pictures to go with it!

Hasta la Vista

Stewart

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