is it hot in here?

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My journey to Guatemala greatly resembled my journey to Auckland - Fly from Lima to Cusco, hang around for 3 hours. Fly from Cusco to Panama, run across the airport only to find that I actually had masses of time. Fly from Panama to San Jose - a hitherto unknown break in my journey. Arrive in Guatemala an hour later than anticipated, having missed the last shuttle to Antigua. Luckily for more money I was able to jump in a cab. The driver´s knowledge of the city layout was shaky at best, but he managed to find the hostel I was aiming for - a small door with an even smaller sign and no lights on. I knocked, tentatively, signalling the cabby to wait. Seconds later the door was flung back and an English voice proclaimed "the owner´s not here but there´s a bed if you want it". I did.

The following day, then, you may have expectrted me to wander around a bit, get my bearings, laze about. Not so. After a morning conversation with James (the English voice), I headed straight for a travel agent and booked myself on Antigua´s star attraction - a trip up the active Volcano Pacaya at sunset.

It was an experience not to be missed. After an hour´s walk uphill (which, at the quite sedate height of 2600m made me feel fit again) we were looking down at the crater, and being informed that it had erupted 5 days ago. 45 minutes later we were on the crater, poking our walking sticks into the lava and watching them catch fire (the soles of my hiking boots are now slightly the worse for wear...)

Antigua itself is a very pretty little town, but pricey.Not finding anything else which caught my eye, I left the following day for Lago de Atitlan. It was probably the first time since India that I had been on a local bus - not a tourist bus full of locals but a metal seated, luggage on the roof local bus. Guatemala is much more fertile than Bolivia, and instead of driving through desert we were surrounded by lush forest. Mountains rose out of the greenery - knowing they were volcanic heightened my sense of adventure.

The journey was longer than I had anticipated and I had dressed inadequately - arriving in San Pedro barely able to extricate my hands from my armpits. As it was now dark I would have to wait til the following day to see what San Pedro had to offer, but the lake was small enough that I could see all the little towns dotted around its edge - a magical sight under the star-strewn sky.

I checked into a hotel room with 3 beds for $2 a night, and despite the time (7.30pm) read a little of my book before falling into a deep sleep.

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