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Published: March 9th 2009
Cerro de la Cruz
Views of Antigua from the Cerro de la Cruz It's so sad to say goodbye to new friends!!
My last week went by in a blur of activities and multiple farewells. I still had to complete my last 8hr week and get in as many of the sights & activities that I had not yet done during my 5 week stay. (Where did all that time go? And why did I always leave everything till last mintue....AGAIN!!!).
Fiesta Time On the tuesday of my final week - We had a fiesta to celebrate the last day before the start of Lent, so I spent some of the morning making my own 'carcasons' which are essentially hollow eggs filled with pica pica (or confetti for you non Guatemalans), wrapped in paper & painted over with different colours. (We would be using these later that night to break over each others heads). I still had a full 8hr day to complete so I didn't have much time to do anything but run to the local market, find myself a bag of carcasons & an extra bag of pica pica for good measure. (hey why struggle to make when you can purchase - that's my motto!)
Then it
I did make it...
I had just gotten of the horse...so here I am all nice & refreshed... was a series of running - running home to eat my lunch; running to school to finish my class; running to the laundry to pick up my clothes (too late on that one! It was either go naked or wear the same thing I was wearing for the last day & half...not a good look at the fiesta...); running on the spot to stop myself from falling asleep while I tried to maintain my concentration at school; running back to the house to shower & change for the fiesta (Ooops - No water either...fabulous!); then most importantly - running back to the fiesta to finally put my feet up, have some MEAT (bbq was on offer - and at this stage I was starting to feel somewhat protein deprived. I really am a true carnivore devotee. One cube of beef or one chicken drumstick is no longer making the grade for me!), have my fair share of Cuba Libres & enjoy the party.....
I danced the rest of the night away, practicing my Salsa moves on whoever wanted to dance with me....Okay! I was fueled by copies amounts of Cuba Libres - but I did think that my dancing
skills were improving as the night wore on....I'm sure it was all my practice. The party moved on to the Sin Ventura night club, which was made even more enjoyable as a group of teachers were able to join us - a rarity given that most of them live 30-40 minutes outside the city and have a very difficult & dangerous commute home in the middle of the night. Luckily for me - I didnt have very far to go to find my bed - and it wasnt very long after that before that happened....
Pacaya Volcano Pacaya Volcano is the only active volcano near Antigua (2552 metres above sea level) so it goes without saying that I was going to try and climb it. If you read my previous blogs, it would come as no surprise to you to know that my level of fitness is terrible....that and the altitude were doing wonders for my athletic ability.
We reached the halfway point of Pacaya by car around 3pm. Local kids try to sell you walking sticks for Q5 which is a very good thing to buy as the walk is steep in some parts & very the
Its egg cracking time.....
I had an extra bag of eggs all for myself stones are very fine in others. We set of for the hike. I had my walking stick, hiking boots & my back pack all ready.....It was just a matter of making it all the way to the summit. But OMG! I couldnt do it....I was practically weezing. I had to take a horse...(I felt awful! as I was the only one in my group to do so....) but it was too difficult for me to do it. The altitude was getting to me and I could hardly breathe. I didnt want to slow the rest of the group down - so I was getting myself all stressed out over it. A horse it had to be....
We walked (and in my case rode) uphill for over an hour till we reached a ridge of the volcano. It was here that I was forced to say goodbye to my horse and set off on foot. This was then followed by a downhill run through very fine lava sand (mostly knee high) to get to the base of the peak (This was a highlight in itself as the run down is almost at a 45 degree angle). One down the bottom
it was then a matter of trudging back uphill through some very sharp lava rocks to reach the point where we could see the lava. Once we got there - it was amazing!. We had reached the summit at around 4pm so there was still a lot of light, giving the lava rocks a greyish hue.
Our guide didnt want us getting up to close to the lava, unlike some other tours who were able to get right up close and almost touch it - so we were based at a ridge rather far away than some other groups. We stood there watching giant boulders of lava rock falling down the mountain side gaining momentum & size as it made its way down - fabulous!. We stayed up on that ridge to watch the sunset over the volcano - The haze created from the heat of lava made the sun look like a bright red smudge through the clouds, while the change from grey rock to black & red hot lava was worth the wait, the hike and the cold!!
We slowly made it down the mountain after sunset. (This time I walked it on foot. Yeay!). My
group stopped every now and again along the journey downward to find tarantulas and to soak in the stars...(which in my opinion was far better than hauling arse down the mountain at break neck speed just to get back onto the shuttle bus as quickly as possible).
We eventually got back down the mountain and home to Antigua 6 hours later. Tired, dusty & hunrgy - our house mother prepared a late meal for us, then it was a luke warm shower and bed for me.
Playa de San Jose The thursday of my last week was going to be spent at the beach...We filled a chicken bus full of students & teachers for the 1.5/2hr journey to San Jose. I was finally going to see some sun...I was supposed to still have classes at the beach - but c'mon, as if that was going to happen. I did two hours, spending that time playing a game rather than actually doing anything worthwhile. That complete - we were free to run amuck in the beach. We spent the rest of the morning and afternoon catching the waves before we were told to get out of the water because
of the rips. We scrambled out and went in search of food (Anywhere but the ridiculously over-priced hotel that we were based for the day). We found what could only be described a restaurant shed along the beach front - dusted off the plastic chairs and basically over took the whole 'restaurant' with our group of teachers & students. Where else would you find very tasy prawns in a garlic sauce with rice & salad for the princely sum of $5 (USD)?
Procession de Santa Carolina Antigua is renown for their celebration of Semana Santa ('Holy Week') which is usually held in the first week of April sometime but as I wasnt going to be around for that - I decided to stick around in Antigua till sunday to see the start of their Lent Celebrations. This procession is usually preceeded by the making of 'carpets' along the processional route. Families get together to make these intricate carpets out of flowers, seeds, wheat & all manner of things and these carpets are lined one after another along the road. Some of them are so intricate - that from a distance, you would mistake them for a real carpet. Once
the procession passes through the street - They walk over the carpets, destroying them as they walk, only to be recreated again by the families that made them.
I followed the procession as it snaked its way around Parque Central towards the main Cathedral of Caterdal de Santiago. Dozens of men in rich purple robes, black robes & white robes lined the streets to assist in carrying the processional floats of Jesus, while women in black carried the floats for Mary. It was an amazing sight to see - the streets were lined with people, smoke was billowing out of a holder being carried by one man, making the whole atmosphere more surreal. Sadly I had to leave that same afternoon and wasn't able to see the rest of the nightly celebrations. Damn! 😞
Goodbye to all I met some truly wonderfull people during my time in school - I've traveled with some of them & am already planning future holidays with others...Spending 5 weeks in Antigua was one of the best decisions I have made during this year long adventure. My only regret is that I didnt make the decision to come earlier so I could spend
more time studying & traveling through Central America with the people I have met. Now to all of you - I say this as I hold my current glass of Cuba Libre, while the rest of you are either (a) back at work or trudging through the snow (b) still sitting in class or (c) traveling yourself - "Naydrovya", "Prost", "Kippis", "Skal".....and of course "Salud" to you all. Missing you all already....😱 😞
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MAAAAAN
I would die for Cuba Libre with you right now! WHY oh WHY do I have to WORRRRKKKKKK! It was soooo amazing to spend these 2 weeks with you! More to come! hugs