Just because you are about to shit your pants doesnt mean you will get a refund

Dear god, I am a long way behind in these. It seems sort of pointless doing this now as most people know where I am etc. but to keep it all complete, I will quickly do a couple more blogs to complete the diary. So much has happened in the last 10 weeks or so that it is quite crazy. Some things have been good, some things have been bad, but all in all I’m happy to be where I am now. But more of that later.

After Josh pissed off home to go back to college and return to normal life, I headed up to Guatemala. Eventually I had to make it to London, and I initially was going to spend around 2 weeks in Guatemala and then 10 days or so in New York. Unfortunately for both these countries, I could not afford to grace them with my presence for very long so I became the whirlwind traveller, racing through Guatemala in 7 days. Of course I didn’t get to see that much, and nor did I try to, but I saw a country that I definitely want to return to some time in the near future.

I flew from Lima, Peru into San Salvador, El Salvador where I was going to stay one night. I was way too cheap to buy a lonely planet guide for the week I was in Central America, so I just had to wing it pretty much. Having useless Spanish certainly didn’t help either. I stayed one night in a shite hostel in San Salvador, but it did the job. San Salvador was abit of a surprise actually - I was expecting a pretty backwards city, but it was so Americanised I was shocked. True - I had just come from Sth America where there isn’t much American influence at all, but this was over the top. Every street had a Hungry Jacks, KFC, Macca’s, Pizza Hut, cinema etc. In other words, it was heaven.

I did not want to hang around long though so I hit up an early morning bus out of San Salvador to Guatemala City. From there, I jumped straight on a chicken bus to Antigua, which I had been told was one of the major places to hang out in in Guatemala if you’re a backpacker wanting to chill out for a few days. Upon arrival in Antigua I discovered that I had cleverly left my remaining debit card in the ATM in San Salvador so I was cardless (apart from my credit card which I didn’t know the pin of) and carrying around 300 US dollars that I had taken out the day before. Not impressed, and very tired, I stumbled into a hostel in Antigua (Jungle Party for those who want the info) and discovered that their movie of the day was in fact the very movie I had paid for at the cinema the day before. It just wasn’t my day.

I did manage to have a bit of luck though when I met two very entertaining Danish girls (the Danes always come through with the goods when you’re travelling by yourself I’ve decided) who provided a lot of entertainment over the next couple of days. Had a couple of nights out drinking with them, and when my irritable guts would allow it, I also ate with them and went out with them during the day. Good fun, and would love to catch up with them again some time in the future. I think Denmark is a place that I’m going to need to go.

I spent 2 days in Antigua just shlepping around, and then headed to Lago Atitlan, which is around 3 hours away by bus. Everyone raves about this as one of the most stunning lakes in the world, and they aren’t far wrong. It is huge, and is flanked by 3 massive volcanoes that seem just to rise out of nowhere. I spent two nights staying in a sweet little village called Santa Cruz on the eastern side of the lake, and then switched to another town, San Pedro for one night. Santa Cruz was a blast - stayed in a great hostel that was very rustic (another word for grunge right) but had a great family atmosphere to it, and an even better Saturday night drag party which lets just say, I got right into. Cant say I’ve worn make up since my Year 11 musical days, but it came out in full swing, as did the tennis ball breasts (my frame can only really deal with an A cup breast I think) and my lovely chicken legs.

With time running out, and the fact that I had to get back to San Salvador which was about 7 hours away hanging over my head, I had to leave the lake and head back to Antigua. I stayed one more night there, before rising at 3:30am to catch a bus to Guatemala City, then a bus to San Salvador, then a bus to the airport, and then a flight to New York City. Things weren’t looking good when I ran out of money and couldn’t get my credit card to dispense cash, but thankfully for me, and the duty free stores in San Salvador airport, the last machine in the airport worked for me and I managed to get cashed up.

All up it came to around 23 hours in transit which wasn’t much fun, but I made it to New York safe and sound, and my quick Central America sojourn had been completed. I really want to go back there, but whether time allows it on this trip or another time I will have to wait and see.

Next stop - NYC, and civilisation at last!!!!

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