Antigua (Santa Ana, El Salvador to Guatemala)

The Tica Bus arrived in El Salvadorian time which translates to nearly an hour late. We so enjoy waiting on the side of a busy main road at 6am but time becomes so insignificant when you travel long term. Only daylight and darkness dictate your days, not the hours and minutes that are so precious back in England. The journey was pretty uneventful when we did not even have to leave the bus at the at the El Salvador border crossing and at Guatemala we had to leave the bus but it did not take long to get our stamps at immigration and no fee was paid to either agency so happy days there.

Waiting to get our entry stamps at the Guatemalan border.

 At Guatemala City we had to change into a minibus at the Tica Bus terminal where we finished the last hour on this. Of course, as usual the minibus dropped us off nowhere near where we wanted to be so ended up walking to the hotel as no taxis were allowed in the city centre. We arrived at Hostel Antigua too early and our room was not ready so we went out to try and get some local currency. The first ATM did not work, nor the second, or the 3^rd, or the forth and by now we became worried that we had no money. We tried all the banks but with no success so tried the money changers who wanted 20% commission to give us an advance on our credit card. Now we were worried. Eventually we did find one of these 3^rd party ATM’s that are owned by a private company that did feed us our money for a hefty 4.15% commission charge but beggars can’t be choosers.

What a sawdust carpet looks like before the procession.

 Now we were wadded up and mobile we went straight to the bar to have a drink. We found this place just around the corner from the hostel called the Snug which was the size of a bedroom with a bar in the middle, adorned with the usual Irish paddy memorabilia to warrant having an Irish boozer status. It does not matter where you are in the world you always rely on a ‘faux’ Irish boozer to see you through the hard times. Inside were a couple of loud Americans stretching their ego’s as usual which was pretty annoying so we had one or maybe 2 and left.

A corner in the Snug made for me.

 Now our room was ready at the hostel but when we were shown to our room we were disappointed as it was the size of thimble. So, as you would expect, we went to complain as our booking with Expedia promised us a whole 15m squared. The receptionist became all flustered and reeled off the usual blocking moves to get rid of us, but, being veterans at this to and fro now, we persisted and she gave in and promised us a better room next day for the rest of our stay.

   After a broken sleep on a bed as comfortable as lying on planks of wood we headed out to get a SIM for the phone with Tigo, buy a tour of Pacaya Volcano , and book our next shuttle to Lanquin. We rewarded ourselves by going back to The Snug for a few evening drinks and meeting an Irish couple who we got talking to over a few beers and peanuts and swapped some interesting travelling stories.  They were only travelling for 3 months and were coming to the end of their travels and we were jealous of their daily budget as they reeled off their experiences. 

   Next day we swapped rooms to a triple room which was a lot bigger. In fact the bathroom was bigger than our old room. The hostel also had a lovely rooftop terrace where we watched the local volcano named 'El Fuego' (The fire) blow puffs of hot gas and ash into the atmosphere at its peak while eating breakfast. This volcano is the most active in Guatemala, so much so that is is illegal to climb it due to the constant lava flows and rocks being blown out the crater. It makes us wonder why you would want to build a big town like Antigua at the base of such an active volcano? In recent history the town had been razed and lost many of its old buildings due to earthquakes being on an active fault line.

The view of El Fuego (on left) blowing off steam as we ate breakfast on the roof.

We had run out of money already so had to queue up at the bank to get some more as the withdrawal limit was £100 on the ATM but we found one inside a Citibank which allowed us a £200 withdrawal but still charged us the extortionate usage rate.  We rolled around town after that for the morning taking in the beautiful old colonial cobbled streets, popping into the odd interesting doorway which would always expand into a majestic courtyard of some sort selling some kind of tourist tatt.

Even god and his servants needed a refreshment delivery at some point.

 After lunch at Subway (I know, what a cop out, but so yummy) we were picked up at our hotel for our tour of Pacaya. An hour and a half minibus ride ensued to reach the volcanoes base where we paid our 'entry fee' and were introduced to our guides. We had a group of about 12 of us, mostly very young fit whippersnappers eager to go, one old yank and us. The walk up was one of the most torturous things Kathy and I had done for a long time. The air was thin from the altitude we were at, we also had become very unfit due to our 'hammock' lifestyle, and to top it all the incline was something a Llama would baulk at in its intensity. The path started out OK but soon turned into volcanic ash which would swirl up and fill your lungs as we gasped for air and our hearts started pounding trying to supply our legs with the required oxygen. The group had to keep stopping to let us catch up, even the old yank was giving it a go, egged on by his kids but in fairness he did look that he was going to collapse and have a heart attack at any moment as we approached the summit of the climb, breathing like he was on a respirator. After about an hour or so we reached the viewpoint and saw the smoke puffing out the crater.

No one told Pacaya that smoking was bad for you.

 A brief eruption also happened which was unnerving as we were so close but this was apparently normal as this was the second most active volcano in Guatemala. We then descended into the lava fields which was like a black moonscape, complete with swirling gases and low cloud. There the guide cracked open a bag of marshmallows and we 'cooked' them on the heat of the lava rocks with sticks he supplied which was a good laugh and gives you an idea just how active this volcano is.

Cooking marshmallows on the hot lava field.

Then we had to climb out of the lava fields which was another killer climb, me and Kathy suffering now with tiredness, hauling ourselves up into the swirling low cloud which had built up which gave it an eerie persona as we walked into the obscurity. We were so happy we had a guide as we would have never have found our way out.  Eventually we started to descend and half way down it turned pitch black as night very suddenly fell which made the decent difficult with me ending up on my arse a couple of times due to over tired legs. Back at the hotel we were so tired we could not even be bothered to go out for dinner or go for a beer at the Snug so settled in with a pot noodle and some cans that we had stashed for emergencies like this and the latest instalment of 'The Walking Dead' on the T.V.

No one tackles live volcanoes like Daz 'Rambo' Johns.

    After a rather late and lazy start next morning, spending a bit longer admiring 'El Fuego' shoot its load over breakfast, we decided to do the town in earnest today. Starting with the market which was huge and engaging, where we bought half a kilo of strawberries for 50p then went up to a viewpoint overlooking town which was called El Cruce  Del Christo or similar, which was an easy climb but the heat was a killer. Beautiful views though at the top though so worth it.

Great views over Antigua from the viewpoint.

 Then we descended to a recommended cafe called 'No Se' ( Don't know) which was overpriced and lacked any atmosphere so somehow we ended up in the Snug again after doing most of the town with some cool beers. More money was withdrawn also as our next destination had no ATM's in town,in fact no banks at all for foreigners which was a steamy jungle village called Lanquin.

What a sawdust carpet looked like after the procession had passed.