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Published: April 28th 2009
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Our Accom in Rio Dulce
On the River. Guatemala Another week has gone by already and week two of the tour has been tiring but lots and lots of fun!! We stay 2 nights in each place so we are travelling every 2nd day by bus. Since my last blog we have been to Rio Dulce, Antigua, homestay in San Jorge, and then back to Antigua for our last two nights in Guatemala!
Rio Dulce was so nice aswell. Me and Adam had our own bungalow there. The place is only accessible by boat and to go anywhere from the accommodation, you need to go by boat or kayak. It was really nice there and there was a massive games room in the common area with computers, a tv with sky (we got to see the 2nd half of the Liverpool v arsenal match..so good but pity about the score!), and a pool table!! The first day there we all just chilled out and got drunk..it was funny, and then the second day we went to the hot springs and waterfall for a walk. It was lovely there, the water was really hot. Apart from getting nipped at by all the fish in the water it was enjoyable!
Night out in Antigua
Me, Katrina, Alex, Cambell, Adam After Rio Dulce, we got a bus for 5 hours with the coldest air conditioning known to man, and finally arrived in Antigua. Its so nice here. Very touristy, so there are lots of internet places and shops and more bars and restaurants to go to. It’s like a really big Spanish old town here, it’s a really pretty town! We had a great night out on Wednesday night being the only ones in the bar, we had our own fun!!
Up early and hungover on Thursday morning we took a minibus through the worst roads I’ve ever been on, for 3 hours to Chichicastanango, which is a big market town. Here we just had a wander around looking through the markets and seeing how they make their tradional clothes and bags that they sell. It was a really busy market. We had lunch here and then back on the minibus on the bumpy Guatemalan roads to the tiniest town ever called San Jorge. Here we all stayed with the local families for two nights. This was interesting!! Its such a different life to home. We were staying with a family that consisted of the mum and dad, their
Tradional Evening in San Jorge
All of the girls dressed in the tradional clothing of Mayan Guatemala five kids, two of which were married and the 7 grankids. They all lived in this house, although we didn’t get to meet them all. The mum/granny was only 52, but looked about 70! They have such a hard life there, it makes you realise how good we have it at home. They had no water at all during the day,only late at night and even then it was freezing cold. I didn’t shower at all while I was there, it was horrible!! The family were all really friendly. Only 1 son spoke English. They have their own Mayan language there but luckily enough they spoke Spanish aswell so my Spanish came into use there! It was great being able to speak to them and understand what they are saying!The first night there me, Adam, Campbell and Alex played a football match with all the local kids…it was me and the kids against the three lads, that was great fun. The kids all loved us and were hanging out of us for the rest of the evening constantly wanting us to take photos so they could look at them on the camera. It was great mixing with the locals. The
next day there we took a boat trip to some of the small villages around the lake, and on our 2nd stop, Alex and Campbell decided to jump of a high cliff into the sea leaving their bags in the cliff. When they came back up from their first jump all their stuff was gone-cameras, wallets, sunglasses and ipods. We felt so sorry for them. The rest of the day we spent in this town looking everywhere for the robbers, eventually giving up when the rain began. It p*ssed rain the whole way back then…first rain we’ve seen since we left! Back at our family home, the mothers had all prepared a traditional meal for us all,which was soup made from corn with some meat in it. All of the girls were dressed in the local tradional clothing which our mothers gave us to wear for the night, it was funny., The guys didn’t have any dressing up to do as the men don’t wear the traditional clothing anymore. Next morning we said goodbye to our family and headed back on the bumpy, windy roads to Antigua.
Back to city life here in Antigua. Were all worn out and
dying for a shower when we got back, then just chilled out for the day. Me and Adam went out on our own for dinner away from the group which was nice for a change, then met up with everyone later in a bar. Our tour leader’s friends were playing in a band in a bar down the road so we all went there for the night. It was a great night, and some really cool music…we had so much fun!
Today we had a lie in and hung around for a while before getting collected for our trek up Pacaya volcano. It was so cool. We hiked for only an hour and a half before we reached the flowing lava. It was amazing. Our guide for the hike was Spanish speaking, so being the only one there able to understand him, i became the translator for the day...so glad the Spanish is coming in useful!! When we got to where the lava was, we were about 4 meters away from it and our shoes were scorching hot from the heat of the old dried up lava we were standing on. We couldn't have gone any closer it was that
Sunset in Flores
Adam and Alex having a swim in the lake at sunset hot- it was like being in an oven! We took marshmallows with us so managed to cook a few in a few holes in the rocks 4 or 5 meters away from the flowing lava. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip so far!
Four new people joined the group today for the last 2 weeks of the tour- a couple from Dublin, a guy from UK, and a girl from USA…16 of us now!
So we are all packed up again and ready to leave at 6am in the morning for the next country…Honduras…
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