We arrived in Antigua late on Tuesday evening, and had a great meal in a really nice cafe called Rainbow Cafe. There are lots of great places to eat here, with fresh organic food being quite common, and lots of stores with used book shops at the front (I'm getting short of things to read, so hopefully I will pick up something good soon!) Some of the restaurants have really cute gardens in the back that you can eat in, lit up with fairy lights.
The next morning the majority of us got up early to hike Volcan Pacaya. We left at 6am so got to the volcano by about 7:30. It was about a 2 and a half hour round trip, although even the way back seemed to involve a lot of uphill! I've had a bit of a cold at the moment, so the uphill and height of the volcano were pretty hard on my chest, but it was a great hike. You can't actually get to the top of the volcano as it is active, but we toasted marshmallows at the highest point you can go! It was a pretty cloudy day today, and has been everywhere the past 4 or 5 days, so it hasn't been great for viewing the volcanoes from Antigua. We spent the rest of our day exploring the town and visiting some of the shops. Generally everything is starting to look a bit the same in shops here with a lot of beaded jewellery and fabrics, but I don't have any room in my backpack anyway!
Volcan Pacaya
Antigua
The next day involved our first experience of chicken buses, and we ended up taking 5 different ones during the day with very different experiences on them - the first one was like a party bus with a tv at the front playing music pretty loud, although later on in the day one of them broke down so we were sitting on a hill for about 30 minutes while the driver and money collector fixed it. All the buses are old American school buses and are brightly painted with different designs. When full you squish 3 people to each seat, and the drivers are pretty reckless.
Chicken bus!
Our first stop for the day was at Chichicastenango Market which happens twice a week. It is a huge market, although like most of the things here the stalls become very repetitive after about one street. I managed to pick up a few little things though for only a couple of dollars each.
The Market
After lunch we caught a few more buses to Panajachel where we spent the night. After a quick walk around the town most of us spent the evening in Pana Rock Cafe (the local equivalent of a Hard Rock Cafe), where we enjoyed the live band and good food and drinks.
The next morning we caught a boat for a tour of various villages of Lago de Atitlan (Lake Atitlan), which would also take us to our place to stay for the night. The first stop was at a really beautiful hotel on the lakeside where we had breakfast and just relaxed on the hammocks and enjoyed the views for a few hours. We then visited Santiago Atitlan where we had a short guided tour of the Church and visited the hidden Mayan Saint Maximon located in the village (which seemed a bit of tourist attraction, especially when the people looking after him for the year pulled out their smart phones and wads of cash they collect from visitors to use for decorations and parties!), but it was interesting to hear about. Our final stop was San Pedro La Laguna where we had a quick lunch before hopping over the lake (which was very rough that day) to San Juan La Laguna.
Tonight we were staying with local Mayan families in their homes. G Adventures are very involved with local communities and are very conscious about sustainability in their tours which is why they use public transport as much as possible. We had a tour of the village and visited an amazing art gallery which had some really beautiful pieces for sale.
Art Gallery
We met our families for the evening and then went back to their houses for the night. Me and another english girl (both of us speak very little spanish!) spent the evening with one of the people who worked for the organisation's family, although it was quite a confusing set up! There were five children (although we only met 4), who were her sister's children, but I am not sure if we ever met the sister, or if so only briefly in the morning. Her parents were also there and another sister. We were surprised to learn two of the sisters were are our age, as they seem to have so different responsibilities and just looked much more mature! The language barrier proved a bit tricky and awkward, as our Spanish phrases were so limited and they spoke little English. It proved easiest to say I was a ballerina, and at one point we thought we were going to visit our friends when we were actually taking a visit to see the lake at night, where we spent a couple of minutes and then walked back! The house was pretty basic, but our room was clean and the food was okay!
Volcano surrounding Lake Atitlan
The next morning we left to return to Antigua where we had an easy day as most of us were pretty tired. I spent some of the time at this great bagel cafe reading magazines (so excited to find American magazines in the cafe!). My cold was really bad last night, so after dinner I had an early night which was a shame as a lot of our group were leaving today!
The second half of the tour starts today, so I will be getting a new roommate and we are getting 8 new people. In the morning we are heading for Copan in Honduras. I'm excited for Roatan too in a few days and more beach time!
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