Volcanoes and cheesecake

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Today I went horseriding up the biggest volcano "Agua" the reason its called Agua is because about 800 years ago it erupted and then it rained for days and days and the crater filled with water and everntually broke and the flash flooding destroyed the old city of Antigua which is now rebuit and called Ciudad Vielo (old city) but after the flooding they moved Antigua (the old capital) to where it is now! and where i am now! interesting eh? the owner of the stables came to pick me up at 9am this morning and i was still feeling a little delicate from last night. Tim accompanied me and it was just the two of us and our guide Baltermore. We rode up through the coffee fields and maize fields. there were loads of avacadoe trees and locals working in the fields! very authentic! I think i took about a million photos, the views were just stunning. The guide was excellent, telling us all about the wildlife and vegetation, he also told us about his experiences in the revolution (he is my age) his family lived in the hill and guerrillas threatened his dad into going to the town regularly to get their supplies. they threated to kill his mother and family, i asked him when this was and he said 1995!! unbeleivable!

My horse was called Bob, after bob marley becasue he used to have a rasta hairdo. It was a bit like me, it walked either miles ahead of tim and the guide or was miles behind taking its time! i couldnt work it out! It also kept stopping to eat the maize, much to the horror of the guides and the farmers alike!! We rode really high up the volcano but the summit was too steep for the horses so we rode to a really tranquil place in a forset where there was lava that had solidified into like a rocky river. beautiful. It was totally knackering even though i was sat down most of the time! and now my bum is so sore it hurts to sit down for too long!Afterwards i needed a siesta (my favourite part of guatemalan life) and then i headed into town for some cheesecake (even better than oh laa! oh yes! no joke, this cheesecake s from another planet its just so fantastic and only 70p!!) and i needed to buy stuff for my packed lunch tomorrow. Im heading off to Peru and im going to stay in Lima for a couple of nights, just until the rioting calms down in La Paz, but i think thats pretty much over now, well at least its not being reported in the papers anymore. Then i plan to head to La Paz very early Tueday or wednesday morning and then catchin gthe chicken bus to Cocacbana on Lake Titicaca, by that time the girls should be there and we can make our way north. So this is my final night in my favourite cafe in the world. Ive just had a couple of cervezas and some nachoes and guacemole with Tim and some people i met at the cheesecake cafe today. i should keep this short as i still havent packed my bag and the shuttle picks me up at 9 tomorrow! aarrgghh!

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