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November 19th 2008

Published: November 25th 2008

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td impulse

lovin the hiking...

not so much the pack!

Ohla!

Our week in San Pedro for school was fantastic! We were perched on Atitlan lake, enjoying the scenery, living with a local family, learning Spanish, exploring the natural beauty, and I was even volunteering at the local school - yep, back to the same old tricks of teaching English to some local Guatemalans. It was actually really inspiring to spend some time with those kids - a wonderful bunch, and made me slightly more settled with my plan to go back to school for teaching... one day... :-)

After a week of the town, we were ready for a bit of adventure, so I chatted up my new friend and found the best places to check out... cliff jumping on the other side of the lake, and zip-lining! So, of course, we added them to our list and went on our way. The cliff jumping was great - it was refreshing and exhilarating... and relaxing - the perfect break from studying. And, we made plans to zip line on our way out of the town. It is difficult feeling to put into words... strapped into our harnesses and flying over the mountainous canopy, overlooking the lake, and jutting

chillin with the locals...

of all kinds...

mountains on the horizon. Spectacular. And requiring a bit of faith in Guatemalan ropes: I hesitated for a moment when we were gearing up, but it was actually in pretty good condition.

Once we were en route out of San Pedro, we had already decided the destination- Antigua, where the active volcano allows you to walk on the lava as you watch it flow, inches away! We arrived in Antigua on one of the local chicken buses (yep, the same old American and Canadian school buses painted up and overloaded that show up all over central America... and the same ones that contain Guatemalan magic... three adults to a seat, which means the two in the centre isle of the bus are floating). As soon as we stepped off the bus, we were targeted. We had one chance to jump on a tour that day, and so we took it, paying more than double what we should, but having the equivalent of a scalper set us up at a cheap hotel and lead us to the bus. We joined a group for the grueling hike to the lava, desperately trying to fight through whipping winds and volcanic dust lashing

zipling!!!

yeah baby!

at your eyes. The conditions were trying, topped many a tourist, but once there, everything was worth it... The lava was flowing under our feet, we could look down and seethe magma below in the cracks of the dry surface lava on which we were balancing and the heat rose, your legs burned near the open, flowing lava, and if you jammed a stick into it fire would spew out with an unearthly sound. This truly was one of the neatest things I have ever seen!

So, Guatemala for me was filling my days with hiking, adventures, and loads of nature. From the windy evenings to the mildly hot days - it is definitely a country deserving of a return trip. But for now, onwards...

Trish xx

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