Guatemala - Antigua

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We navigated our way through Guatemala City with the help of some strangers. Hopped on-board a “Chicken Bus” aka old US school bus (the ones you see on Snoopy cartoons) and spent the next few hours squished in a tight space while being assaulted by offensive odours.

We arrived late to Antigua, Guatemala’s old cobblestone capital. A helpful man showed us to our desired budget hotel. We tried to negotiate a better price to fit into our budget. No luck. They directed us across the street to a much darker and dirtier location owned by the same person. ¨Oh yes please, we´d much prefer to sleep with cockroaches, thank you¨ As if!

We were very tired and didn’t want to haggle any longer so we said yes to what they offered us. As we settled in, we mutually decided that this place was not what we needed, especially considering we had just spent the last 2 nights washing ourselves with a bucket of water.

We made our way back to the first hotel and Katharine pleaded our case, saying that we didn’t want the help from that nice man and without the commission that he received we could have afforded to stay here (hmmm, ok spanish was nearly there...) The owner agreed and we got our way….$10 including laundry.

After a restful sleep we found our way to the Rainbow Café. A gourmet breakfast, coffee and some books kept us occupied for a couple of hours. The rest of the afternoon was spent catching up on email. Ok, only some of the emails, not yours.

That night at the café there was a lecture on sustainable development which was very informative and thought provoking.

We met up with Cedric, the Swiss guy again and toured the city by night, since we had not yet seen it.

We met a lovely couple from Switzerland and went for dinner together. They all spoke English on our account putting us to shame.

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