A giant amoung midgets

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Over my last border crossing, there I was in Guatemala my penultimate country. Had the my first experience what would become the norm here the struggle for cash, none of the ATM´s never have any cash in them, one of the biggest banks here fell in at Xmas when the main men ran off with all the cash to Mexico, as you do! My first cash strapped destination was Flores, up in the North, where I got up at 3am to head to Tikal, some more Mayan ruins. I thought I had left silly o´clock at BMI, but seems not. It was worth the early rise though and the falls in the slippy mud in the dark to climb up one of the temples before sunrise and see Tikal appear from the dark clouds. As the sun came up so did the volume of the surrounding jungle, amazing sounds as the jungle woke up with Howler monkeys, toucans, insects and parrots all saying good morning. After being ´ruined out´ through Mexico I was truly amazed by what I saw, it was a magical experience that morning that sadly could never be captured on camera. It was so nice to be in the park so early with only a few other tourists around and still many animals so had a good look around and climbed the bloody steep pyramid's before all the porty Americano´s arrived.
Being only a tiny touristy island on a lake I made my next move, bus to Rio Dulce to take a boat to the tiny Caribbean port of Livingson a mix of Caribbean, Hindu and Guatemalan cultures. I met a really nice Slovenian couple on the boat, I may have only met 5 Slovaks in my little life but they have all been wicked, we thought we had just got on the boat but it turned out to be a tour stopping off all the time, great but some of us hadn't eaten since brekkie, hurry up!!! On arrival dumped the bags and head for what would become a popular spot for us, a restaurant Tilingo Lingo, gooood food but you did have wait a bit but the free mojitos helped numb the hunger. On arrival we had been met a couple of local guys wanting to sell us a tour of the town, thinking we might be being hustled we said we would decide in the morning so we decided to go, turned up paid and off they went. Thankfully they came back, but we did wonder, not that we couldn't have found them tiny place and big characters. So our tour took us to the local Church, very colourful cemetery, a tasty beach and the 7 tiered waterfalls.
After some deliberation of where to go I flipped a coin and head for Coban, not sure it was my best plan. Just didn't like it, the bus ride was quite amusing,
I went for the fast big bus instead of the chicken buses that stop every 2 feet, only to hear a chirping coming from a handbag where a little head popped out. She must read Heat and have got the tiny dog confused with a chicken as the accessory that you put in your handbag.
I checked into a nice hotel for hot water and a TV, what luxury!! Only to find the fight going on outside my window was more intersting. I think it was that point I decided I would leave the next day. So on the bus again to Antigua, jeeze what fun! The fella on the bus overcharged me saying my bag was taking a seat (on an empty bus) then claimed I didn't pay him when we arrived, luckily my Spanish is good enough to argue! All hassle aside Antigua, about a hour from Guatemala city, is a really cute cobble street place with an active volcano overlooking it, it reminded me of Cusco, didn't stop quite as long though. Did the necessaries that you cant get in the rest of the county, had the worst nights sleep thanks to the 2 worst dorm roomies Ive had in 12 months and head out for Lago A%%%%% an old volcano that exploded to make a huge lake, so pretty. I head for San Pedro, only to find it full of hippies, and it smelt, though it might have been the hippies. OK so it turns out it was coffee, they where drying it in the sun, boy did it smell, but i figure well worth it, good coffee. I took to the water and head out on to the lake on a kayak, was so nice and chilled if a little to strenuous for a very lazy me but worth it for the views. It was Valentines day in San Pedro and lucky me had a date, well about ten in fact, I somehow got singed up for speed dating even though I was after the barman. So with free drinks to keep up game, ´buzz' "you have three minutes". Needless to say I didn't find the love of my life, but we figured travelling is speed dating the amount of people you met in a short time. Poker was the game of choice by the lake and that I can happily oblige with, have become quite taken with it, great another vice! So we head to a bar with poker night only to bump into a fella I Had met on the bus to the Nha Trang full moon party in Vietnam back in May. He told me he had bought a bar by the lake and tah dah, there he was.
With a sore head the next day I head for Quetzaltenango, locally known as Xhela (pronouched shayla) a nice enough town bu the hostel was FULL of hippies, great, also the easiest place to get lost, silly side Allys with no names and lots of numbers. I wen to see some of the small local Mayan villages including the local farming one, wow what veggies, puts Tesco to shame with size and taste. From there head up into the clouds to a natural hot springs, soo nice to feel the heat after countless cold showers, then on to a local glass blowing factory. It was all with recycled glass and they sell to all over the world, currently working on an order for Good ol´ England. They let me have a go, and it looked good to me but if you get a dodgy glass soon dint blame me!
From one town with a silly make to another, this time to Chicicastanago, known as Chici, for the famous market held every Sunday. I arrived a day early and scoured the town for Premiership footie, yer as likely as you would think nothing. Was really good to see it all getting started and set up and as two tourists said "it will be so touristy tomorrow". True yo form it did, I was up super early to see the action, including many a turkey being sold before I had even had coffee, only for the first tour to arrive an hour later! What rime where they up!!! So I got all my shopping done and head for the bus, wow, packed wasn't the word. The chicken buses (old American school buses) are made with 2 kids on a seat in mind. so imagine three, even four adults on each seat. Needless to say i didn't get a seat, but it was OK as I wasn't so much standing as squeezed between people unable to fall due to sheer volume of people. With the bumpiest ride into Chici and the busiest ride out, I was glad it was my final chicken bus.Antigua it was. No not the Caribbean Island as has been mentioned. So I settled into the ´Jungle Party´ hostel, only mentioned cos lights out at 10 and certainly no party after (which as since been graffitied on the wall along with some rather deflamatory words about the night guard,( who was REALLY nasty) i have since leaned by email). So I filled my days in Antigua eating well, oh the French Crepes and oh the French man making them.... oh sorry, and drinking well and basically chilling out lots. Did manage to do something active, went up Volcan Pacaya and saw all the hot lava. We walked over all the old cooled lava, rather precarious, and got closer and closer to the heat. You could see the hot lava underneath, it was crazy and it got hotter and hotter as we went on. We were at the top for sunset, with an awesome view over Guatemala city and the lava glowing in the dark. Stunning.
So my last night was celebrated in a very un- Guatemalan fashion, but the HUGE G&T´s in the Irish bar had to be had. As for the "after party", interesting and the late night tacos even more so! So my last day was spent lounging and recovering till my flight.

Goodbye Central America, you will be missed. Even if only because I was tall there

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Photos

Blow baby blow
Me making my glass

Burn baby burn
The lava we got only feet away from up Volcan Pacuya

Coffee anyone?
The smelly stuff its self drying in the sun on the shores of Lago Atitlan, but I must admit it made a good brew.