February 11-18

---

Well, we’ve had another surprise change of location! But first a little catch-up...

We were all set to leave Boquete for the west coast, which would take 2 or 3 bus rides, when the hostel owner, Ryan, told us he was heading that way anyways and would give us a ride. A couple of hours later we hopped on a boat from Boca Chica to Boca Brava, where a hotel sits on the tip of a beautiful island. We were a bit nervous about getting ripped off, since the isolation required us to eat at the hotel restaurant for every meal, but it was very reasonable and ended up being some of the cheapest days we’ve had so far. We saw some of the coolest animals there, including the Howler monkeys that woke us up in the mornings, hundreds of geckos, and an armadillo!

We explored the island a little and went sea-kayaking (at least 3 of us did. Just as we were going out Ben took a huge chunk out his foot on some barnacles or shells and had to miss out). We hung out on the beautiful patio overlooking the water, where we could see the fisherman bring in the Catch of the Day a few hours before dinner.

After a few relaxing days on the island we were ready to move on. We had heard some amazing things about Guatemala from some fellow travelers and were determined to get there, even though it’s a little further than we originally intended to go. We left Boca Brava in the morning and spent 8 hours getting back to San Jose, Costa Rica. When we arrived at 8 PM or so, we went straight to the Tikabus office, hoping to get some tickets for the next day. They could only find room on the 3 AM Executive Class bus the next day. This departure time took the total ride down from 3 days to 2 and it was only about $10 more for the class upgrade. This also meant we got meals, blankets and pillows. We staggered out of bed at 2 to start our nearly 20 hour trip to El Salvador, where we crashed in the bus station’s hotel. Another early morning and 7 hours later, we were in Guatemala City! We spent some time at the mall for lunch and banking, but again found it very "American." We headed out that afternoon to the neighboring city of Antigua, a major tourist center. Antigua is nearly 500 years old and used to be the capital of Guatemala before being destroyed by earthquakes in the 1700s. What’s left is a colorful cobblestone city with impressive church ruins and bustling markets every day of the week. We checked out the crowded market that day and unfortunately while shopping, Lindsay’s purse was slashed open and her wallet taken. Thankfully she kept her camera, passport and credit cards.

We got lucky again, and stumbled into a holiday. It was "Procession" or Parade on Sunday in Antigua. It appeared to be a combination of a Catholic holiday and a rug-making celebration, but we never got a full explanation. The parade had two giant floats, not on wheels as we’re used to, but carried by 30-40 people each! We spent the morning checking out the old churches and the rest of town, then enjoyed the celebration in the afternoon and evening.

We might be crazy, but today we climbed another volcano! This one was considerably less hiking. We took a bus most of the way up, then a guided tour showed us up for about 2 hours. Volcan Pacaya is an active volcano standing at 2552 m tall. We were able to climb down over the rock fields and see live lava oozing out of the cracks. It was so hot, like being in a sauna, and our shoes suffered some damage. One woman in our group’s shoes melted all the way through, and she was only saved by the leather soles!

It was another early morning so we had a quick siesta when we got back and are now getting ready for supper. Who knows where we’ll get to next!

---