The reason why we are here - Guatemala part 1

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Guatemala is with Mexico the number one reason why I wanted to come to Central America for a long time. I met quite a few travelers during my South America trip who told me great tales of this country so I hope it won't disappoint.

Antigua

Antigua is easily and by far the prettiest town we have seen so far. Everything is perfect from the cobblestone streets, to the well preserved houses, the ruined churches, monastery and convents. Antigua was for a long time the capital of all of Central America but the location wasn't chosen wisely. The reason for the many ruined churches is that Antigua was pretty much destroyed by an earthquake a couple of hundred years ago. The Spaniards realised the mistake of choosing this location and moved the capital to Guatemala City. Antigua was supposed to be razed and the building material to be recycled. Luckily that plan wasn't executed very well and the town is now by far the most visited in Guatemala.
A lot of travelers get stuck here intentionally to study Spanish or unintentionally due to the many bars and restaurants and the overall good vibe of the place.
The setting of the town is spectacular in itself it is surrounded by many volcanoes. One of them was active at the time we were there and we were interrupted during our first breakfast when a huge ash cloud rose from the crater. It does this every couple of hours but it's over within 10 or 20 minutes and clouds often cover the summit. On the second night we saw the same but this time we could see the glowing red magma being shot in the air. Luckily the volcanoe is in a safe distance and the eruptions not that big. It's a reminder nonetheless that anything could happen in these parts of the world.
Apart from this kind of entertainment we spent quite a few hours walking the city and exploring the churches or what's left of them. These are good places to play hide and seek as Kellie discovered when she lost Dillon in one of the convents we visited (he is getting very good at this game). We also spent quite a bit of time in art markets waiting for Kellie to make up her mind...
There are also a lot of great restaurants to explore and we were very happy to stumble over the "Traveller's menu" restaurant as they had shepherds pie for Dillon and a ginormous cocktail for me in stock.
To walk off all that food and booze we went on a volcanoe trek. The Pacaya volcanoe erupted last in 2014 but these days is dormant... for now at least. The hike up is quite steep and there is the constant temptation to use one of the many horses on offer but we persevered and hiked. On top you can see the now solid lava flow from the last eruption which we inspected close up. Then came the highlight of this tour. Roasting marshmallows using volcanic heat. In some areas of the lava field the crust is quite thin and the guides dig a hole into the ground to get closer to the heat. The marshmallows are held into the hole and the heat that is emitted from the earth did the rest. Quite efficient and we ate many crusty and guey marshmallows that day.

Swimming in a volcanoe - Lake Atitlán

On to another volcanoe although one that is well and truly extinct. Lake Atitlán was formed about 83000 years ago when a rather large magma chamber collapsed. Must have been quite a volcanoe as the lake is up to 350 metres deep.
These days is a very pretty lake surrounded by a very steep and forest covered rim. As usual there are other volcanoe present. The lake boasts 3 at its shore.
As it takes a good hour or more to drive down the rim on steep windy and pothole ridden roads the main mode of transportation between the settlements are lanchas. Lanchas are fibreglass long boats with engines that are oversized for the purpose they serve. We did a couple of trips between the settlements, spend an afternoon at a pool in a nice resort and generally enjoying scenery.
Kellie got adventurous and booked herself into a sunrise tour to a famous rock formation. I have no idea why people are so obsessed with sunrises as it involves getting up early. What's wrong with having a beer while watching the sunset at an hour when you are awake anyway? She seemed to have enjoyed it though.
In the meantime Dillon and I had a sleep in, visited a very good coffee shop, I sampled excellent Guatemalan coffee and Dillon locally grown hot chocolate. All that rounded off with pancakes and crêpe. Beats any sunrise if you ask me.
For dinner we weren't very adventurous and went twice to an excellent local BBQ place where we feasted on chicken, sausage, tacos and burritos all washed down with Horchata. Horchata is a drink made of rice which tastes delicious.

After that we went back to Antigua to explore the city a bit more, spend and afternoon in their chocolate museum/factory and then on to Honduras to see the famous Mayan ruins of Copan.

Well be back in Guatemala in no time. Until then...

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Photos

Booom
Volcanic ash from the local volcanoe

Roasting marshmallows
Using heat from the volcanoe

Crumbling church
Most churches in Antigua are in this state as they were destroyed in an earthquake

Making tortillas
They are the staple food and usually accompany any meal

Marshmallows anyone?
Heat from the east roasted them