Actualización

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All is going well in Antigua, though my Spanish could be better after 10 weeks of lessons! However my good friend Corina is leaving on Thursday which is very sad. A few weeks ago Corina and I went to Lake Atitlán, a large and very beautiful lake about 50 kilometres from Antigua, surrounded by three volcanos on its southern flank. After getting a shuttle to Panajachel, we decided to get a boat and stay in San Pedro, one of the villages on the shores of the lake. After a stunning boat ride across the lake, we arrived in San Pedro and found a hostel for 35 quetzales (about £3) each. We had a relaxing afternoon and evening, having found a great hostel to hang out in with a pool, and a bar with low tables, cushions on the floor and lanterns. The next day we got up fairly early to go horse riding, which gave us some more great views of the lake.

Since then we have spent a few weekends in Antigua, broken up with some mountain biking a couple of weeks ago. I was utterly exhausted after the 4 hours, which started on single track paths where the earth was dry and dusty and liable to slide away underneath you. Corina and I both fell off a few times! Later back in a village we had to ride up a massive hill and then several more kilometres back to Antigua. Corina annoyingly thought it felt great 'to be so exhausted from exercise' whereas I wanted to cry by the end!

Yesterday we just arrived back from the village of Mataquescuintla in the Jalapa department, up in the highlands, where we went with a friend to stay with his family. The family were all very friendly, but my Spanish isn't good enough yet to keep up with how fast people talk in normal social situations...I need people to talk slowly for me which can make things a bit difficult! Soon after arriving we went further up into the mountains in a pick-up truck, to a place where they do zip-lining in the forest. This was great fun though scarily high! After a meal with the family and a night of card games and dancing, the next morning they took us in a 4x4 to a lake that tourists don't know about, which was very serene and great to see. We then went to their cottage in the mountains for a meal and more cards and guitar playing, which was fun but the coldest I've been in Guatemala! Also my attempt to sing 'Yesterday' along with the guitar and someone who couldn't really play the tune probably sounded horrific! Back in Antigua, hopefully there will be some fun nights out to say goodbye to Corina (probably at our usual Tuesday hangout Monoloco - you can't say no to 33p a drink for ladies!)

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