It’s nice to have another stamp in my passport. Driving through Guatemala to Anitua was a pleasent trip. I took a minibús and met a couple that lived on Roatan who were going to Antigua for a vacation. I feel that I need to explain my punctuation in that the spanish keyboards don’t translate exactly.
What can I say about Antigua? Arriving at night was very unnerving. I did not know but this is a city full of tourists with a couple of Spanish people mixed in. I had trouble orientating myself in the dark and all the hotels I came across were full. It wasn’t until a man who literally came out of the shadows offered me a room. He made me put a deposit for my room key and in the morning forgot about that he had to give me it back. Well after much discusión I now own a room key to a hotel room in the hotel Latin Americano. In Honduras where you see few travellers together in one spot. Here I am having trouble getting away from them. I landed a great price for my Spanish coarse and aggressively studied spanish for three days. I must say I picked up a ton, though after the classes my head was ringing.
Yesterday I climbed up the volcano Pacaya. What a sight! At the top you could look to the west and see three other volcanos lined up along the horizon. It was a killer hike and my legs are still numb but 100% worth it. We arrived at the top close to sunset on a clear day. Well not 100% clear but, at the top of Pacaya, we were above the clouds. Coming down through the night was also quite an adventure. After the long ride back to Antigua in a bus that moved as fast as a turtle, a group of us, who had to get to know each other on this excrutiating journey home, went to Rikki’s Bar and sampled again and again the Guatemalan Gallo beer. All foreigners go to this bar at least once when they come to Antigua. There is a sign on the bar Looking For Female Bartenders but I guess they had to settle for the only openly gay man in the city.
Another thing I’d like to say about Antigua is that it a beautiful city. In contrast to Guatemala city this is a paradise. Now, I don’t know if it has been proped up for the tourists or if this is an authentic colonial charm, but one thing is for sure it was a shock to bump into a domino’s pizza. Though I did not try it, I did cave and set myself up with a Big Mac. It was a bad choice considering all the excellent dining establishments in this city that cost next to nothing. The towns central plaza is a great place to people watch and is the life of the city. It is like a circus. Music, clowns and people just gathering together around a giant fountain. Beautiful.
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