I'm not dead...

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Ok you probably all know that I'm not dead seeing as I still update Facebook but figured it was time for a round up of the last few weeks where this blog has been laying as dormant as the volcanoes around Antigua

So lets go way back to Christmas weekend. For the weekend decided a trip to El Salvador to lay on the beach and do some surfing was in order. This tour I decided I'd go just myself, though I am friends with the guy who runs the tour, and hope the other randoms would be cool. Well it was a family of 4 Americans from Florida and three people in early 30s from London. The British people were cool and friendly. The Americans were not. Within 20 minutes of having to listen to how Obama is a Muslim appeasing socialist and how awful the health care systems of Canada, Australia and the UK are from people who have never experienced it apart from Fox News lies I stopped biting my tongue and told the two adults to shut up because they were so full of shit. Seriously 20 minutes into a 5 hour drive who brings up politics?! Thankfully these Americans never spoke to me again which was perfect as they were your stereotypical idiots who couldn't speak a word of Spanish and expected every local to magically understand English. Anyways enough ranting about them. So the drive down was interesting. It was a long drive cause a bridge had collapsed on the main highway so we had to take a detour but the Guatemalan countryside is beautiful. From fields of corn and beans to volcanoes on the horizon I couldn't ask for better scenary on the way down.

So we make it to the Guatemala/El Salvador border and have to jump out the air conditioned car to have our passports checked. OMG it was like being back in Brisbane on a hot summers day. Was not expecting it at all after the moderately warm temperatures in Antigua! So passports were checked and yo visito las playas was said as my reason for coming to the country and we were good to continue. Unfortunately Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua all have an agreement for passportless for locals and visaless travel for foreigners so didn't get a stamp from El Salvador just like I won't in Honduras or Nicaragua. What I did get was an exit stamp from Guatemala and a reentry one when we returned. I'll get another exit stamp when I leave in a few weeks so I'll have a few Guatemalan stamps which I'm pretty sure is going to make me look like a drug trafficker when I make it back to the US.

So finished our drive to Playa El Zonte which was where would spend the weekend. Again it was ridiculously hot but the hostel had a pool and obviously the beach right next to it. So the next 3 days consisted of sunbathing/burning, body boarding for me as I decided I couldn't be bothered with surfing and lots of drinks and food around the pool. For Christmas all the guests at the hostel cooked up a big communal dinner which was good. When I say Christmas though I mean Christmas Eve as Latinos celebrate that day rather than Christmas itself.

Now lets fast forward a week to the next big weekend of the year...New Years. My Aussie friend Glen who I've been living with and I decided we'd hit Lago de Atitlan for the weekend. We left on the Thursday for the town of Panajachel, known as Pana to just about everyone. Again driving through Guatemala is just a beautiful experience, this time we were in the highlands so it was towns dotted over large valleys and sweeping mountains. Arrived in Pana to our hostel (that looked more like a prison with all the barbed wire all over it, but hey our door locked, unlike our friends from Antigua who were randomly staying at the same place despite us not being meant to meet them until the next day. Friday was a very unsuccessful day in Pana for Glen and I. We tried to do many activities but everything was either closed or busy so I'll just get straight to New Years Eve. On the day of NYE we rented a motorbike for $40 for the day and heading in the complete opposite direction of where they said we could go as much better things to see than what they said to go see. The roads around the lake are bendy, full of potholes and full of crazy chickenbus drivers flying down them. We got some of the absolute best views of the lake possible however and the day was fantastic.

After returning the bike to Pana we needed to get a ferry across the lake to the little town of San Pedro. All good. Until the ferry ran out of petrol in the middle of the lake...So after waiting for a boat to bring us petrol we finally arrived much later than we had organised to meet our friends. NYE was hectic as usual. Lots of alcohol, partying and the like. We had heard about a party in Santiago which you needed to get a boat to. Most our friends stayed in San Pedro but Glen, Kate and myself persisted and at 2.45am finally found the boat. Got to the party and lets just say for me it was like stepping into a time warp. Huge soundsytem blasting psytrance all night long in the woods. Though in my old age I really don't have the energy to go all night like I used to! Still was a fun night. Made my way back to San Pedro on the 6.30am boat and had a nice walk to our hostel which was a bit out of town. Seeing as it was now daylight finally got to appreciate the stunning views this $7 a night place gave.

After spending the remainder of the day in San Pedro we hopped on a shuttle bus back to AntiguaAs I hadn't slept I got myself some valium from the pharmacy knowing that it would knock me out for the entire journey, of which I'm glad. Apparently at one point we had over 18 people in a 10 seater van. True Guatemalan style. What should have been a 3 hour journey took nearly 6 cause we also picked up hitch hikers. Luckily I slept the entire way 😊 Back in Antigua we all had a nice quiet drinking session and some food and then it was off to recover from what was an awesome weekend.

Anyways I'll update my blog again soon!

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Photos

Playa El Zonte
The beach right next to the hostel in El Salvador.

Lago de Atitlan
The lake.

Atitlan
Gotta get a picture with me in front of it.

Huge Sombrero
Just trying on the local clothing.

Atitlan From the Mountains
Found the perfect lookout on our motorcycle journey.

The View!
View from our Hostel!

Riding on the Highway
Me on the back of the bike crusing on the Pan American Highway

Off to Catch Some Waves
Making my way out to sea.