ANTIGUA - Guatemala

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Tuesday 7th September

We awoke 5am to get to the Flores airport 3 miles away in San Elena for our turboprop plane to take us to Guatemala city airport. Looking out from the departure lounge and seeing our wee plane being refueled left nothing to the imagination for the flight that lay ahead. Take off and landing seemed a short while as we hardly got as much height as you would normally get from a jet plane. It was good to see Flores from the air as it looks smaller than we thought.
Flying into Guatemala was a sight to behold. 3 million people live here and its a sprawling city wedged in between 3 volcanoes. To be honest we both didnt see any nice parts or any green belts of such, all in all a pretty grim city from above. We waited a hour for our shuttle bus to collect us and take us too Antigua. The quicker the better as we're both feeling out our comfort zone here and thats just the airport!

We had a free tour through the city i suppose when you look at it as the driver had to drop off some passengers at two different bus stations within the city so we got the chance to see what we weren't missing in Guatemala city. Traffic jams, polluted air and shanty like areas make you wonder if this is a third world country. Every petrol station, bank, fast food store and supermarket had two armed guards with shotguns posted at their doors!

We climbed out of the city, and climbed further yet until we cleared the city and then it all changed. This is the real Guatemala. There are some breathtaking and beautiful scenery. Lush green vegetation covered the land before us as we ventured onwards towards Antigua.

As we cleared the brow of the last of many hills we saw Antigua nestled in the valley of some gorgeous looking extinct volcanoes. Coffee plants and corn feilds on either side of us we glided down into the village. We have arrived in colonial Antigua!!

We booked into el hostal 3 days earlier than planned and they were cool about it and made us very welcome. The room was nice and simple and the bonus was its cooler than what we've experienced over the last few weeks. Free breakfast and free internet. 😊
We had some refreshments and went for a walk round about town. Its like a colony, the streets are in a perfect grid system and its easy to get around without getting lost and if you do get lost its not hard to find a memorable building for guidance. We headed for the central park and sat and talked about guatemala city and what were going to do to make up the 3 extra days we have accumulated by flying here.

We got back to the hostel and emailed our tour company to find out the situation with the roads as i had seen on the local news that the roads are still blocked in lots of places and two bridges had been swept away as well as fatalities. We may be hampered again and could well be staying here longer than planned. Fingers crossed we don't add more days to the schedule.
The room felt good when we bedded down for the night. Single bed each and low temperatures! Being higher up in altitude has helped us settle in quicker. bliss!

Wednesday 8th September

The free breakfast was scrumptous! I had pancakes and fruit whereas Jill had granola, fruit and yogurt.
We have booked a zip line tour above the jungle for later on in the day so the morning was spent catching up with emails, blogs and postcards. We also had time to nip into the daily market to find a new pair of flip flops!!! I managed to get a nice pair of leather ones which i haggled from 8 quid down to a fiver. Result!!...we'll see how long these ones last! Antigua is lovely as it has some really old churches and cathedrals, some of which are ruined as this region has suffered with bad earthquakes over the years. There is a great atmosphere in the town just now as Guatemala is celebrating independence on the 15th of September and there are schools doing marches through the streets and flags being waved all over the town and country.

We got picked up in an old army truck which added to the adventure on the long climb up the mountain towards the zip line base. The base was situated within a coffee factory and it also boasted a very nice looking hotel and restarant. Armed guards patrolled the roads here and there's a road block before and after we leave the grounds of this area to head even higher up the mountain for our zip line tour. We climbed really high to the point my ears popped and i saw a sign saying 1600 metres, 1800 meters then finally 2050 metres then we stopped and wearily stepped out the opposite side of the truck from the drop! The adrenaline was pumping now even more so when they started strapping harnesses and helmets on us!! Ah well, our insurance covers extreme sports!

We were given a quick safety lesson on do's and dont's and we were now standing on platform 1 of 7. 😊 Basically its a rope slide that your hooked onto and when you jump the platform your on your own and travelling quite quickly to the other platform where someone is there to slow you down and make sure you stop in time! The first 3 were good fun but they were getting longer as we got closer to 7. The first 3 were about 60 to 100 metres long. By the time we got to the last one it was 225 metres long which doesn't sound long, but when your about 200 ft off the ground 2000 metres up a mountain its a different kettle of fish!!
What a buzz. On the way down we saw the large area's of coffee growing. I'd never seen a coffee bush before now, they look like green grapes!! There were lots of exotic plants and flowers to see too and loads of butterflies and creepy crawlies. At the hotel we had the opportunity to try some coffee and man, i tell you i like my coffee but i'd never tasted anything like this before. I had a marachino coffee which was a bit like a cappachino without the daft froth but just fresh whipped cream with fresh melted cocoa on top. mmmmhmmmm!! What a hit i got off it aswell as i bugged jill all the way back to the hostel with my hyperness!! Jill had a Cocoa which was equally as tastey!

We had chicken burritos for tea and watched a movie in the communial tv in the courtyard of the hostel which we've found is the best way to learn spanish as all the english speaking films have spanish subtitles.

Thursday 9th September

We've a volcano tour booked for 2pm. I had tortilla with egg and tomatoes for breakfast. Fine!! Jill had the pancakes.
I chilled out on the hammock and managed to finally finish my book i was reading which i then dumped it in the library here for someone else to enjoy. That's a wee bit more room in my hand luggage!

The bus came half hour late for us and it was the start of a nightmare trip to be fair. 2 and a half hours in a hot overcrowded minibus which could hardly get going up the hills and to make matters worse we had to drive through shanty towns which looked really dangerous and dirty. Rubbish pilled up at the side of roads, dogs eating cats, horrible smells, crazy assed drivers, constant smell of diesel and wild dogs in their hundreds all added to a bad journey. Did i mention that our driver and co driver were armed with shotguns?
I hope the volcano lives up to its reputation.
We arrived at Pacaya volcano. Still active and last erupted in May 2010. The lava can been seen from where we got off the bus but most of it was black and dried up. However as we trekked across it the heat, steam and sulphur air was all around us and we stopped at a couple of spots that we could see lava underneath the rocks. It's hot here and some people have brought along mashmallows and are baking them in the lava and eating them. Daftys!!
We headed back to base and we saw a field of ripe pineapples for the first time! Cool. We had a quick stop at the landowners house to eat as much as you want pineapples. They are very sweet and full of flavour. yum! We're not looking forward to the journey home i can tell you as its now dark and we've accumulated an extra passenger for some bizzare reason. So now the bus is rammed full and the exhaust is scrapping the ground and the transmission is away to pack in!! I just noticed, the speedometer does not even work and the
warning lights for oil and engine are flashing like disco lights!. Oh and hundreds more wild dogs are constantly roaming in front of the bus. By now the headphones are on and eyes are closed...get me out of here!!! 3 hours later we arrive back at the hostel at 10pm, traumatised and ready for bed.
Well, you live and learn!! We can look back now and laugh about it. you have to! 😊 Mind you on a positive note, i checked the emails and our road has reopened so we'll be moving on in the morning.

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