Marriott Guatemala City

Did not sleep that much despite the wonderful bed and fluffy pillows. Woke up at 0430 and despite several attempts I did not manage to sleep any longer. But took it easy and went for an early breakfast - nice breakfast buffet! Also had time to finally reconnect to the internet and send a job application. Surprised however, about the instability of the wireless network at an esteemed establishment like Hilton. When I mentioned that upon checking out ...

... continuous uphill hiking. We had the option to ride horses, but Lauren decided against it due to her previous experiences.

Along the way, our guide pointed out strange plants, ant nests, and beautiful views of three nearby volcanoes. Finally, we got to the upper regions which look a lot like I imagine the surface of the moon to look. Everything was grey-black volcanic rock, and it was shaped in whatever form it had ...

... to the other ferry terminal only slightly embarassed. We pass some stores that are selling beer that we are missing ... but don't have time to stop. Oh well.

The ferry looks full. It wasn{t. We pile in with all our gear in the front. Nothing too crazy happens on the journey.

We are heading across the lake to a resort that Lynn has stayed at before. She´s sharing it with us so we can experience it´s ...

... tout ce qu'il ne faut pas faire!! Après un changement, on arrive à Antigua saines et sauves mais secouées. On choisit un resto typique en attendant qu'Ana nous récupère quelque part en ville. Une fois à la maison, c'est la course, on a juste le temps pour une lessive avant de retrouver toute la famille d'Ana au resto à Guatemala city.

... of all we went to the local limestone cave. Not too exciting as caves go. It's deep, cavernous (funnily enough) and is full of bats and HUGE mutant spiders i have never experienced before. At about 6.30pm we wait at the cave entrance because as the sun sets the bats come out looking for food. But its not just a few, it's hundreds and they all fly past your head. It's like being in the goonies. I wasn't too happy about that. Paul thought it was great.

... set off. Not at any speed mind you as he said that he needed to keep checking his breaks, the car Kangarooed every few meters as his foot flattened on the break.. the road was flat. With a little bit of encouragement from me we set off at a normalish speed. The road did suddenly descend steeply into the abis :) and various hairpin turns. There were also emergency ramps for those cars who's brakes had over heated, so that ...

... moved into the medium pool. This morning Tom and I went on our separate ways for a couple of days. He set out to climb the highest volcan in Central America for 2 days starting at 3 am. I don´t think I can cope with another volcano and another early start, so I´m heading for the small town of Chichicastenango for a look round. One difficult thing about Guatemala has been that none of the ATMs accept debit cards. My credit card expired ...

... glow of the lava was amazing and kept eveyone warm! It was so hot, you couldn't get too close - some people brought marsh mallows to toast, but unless you'd bought a 6ft stick, there was no way you could get close enough to toast them!! The lava really was incredible to see, moving down the mountain. It sounded really quite bizarre too - it made a kind of clinking, cracking sound. We decended by torchlight and headed back to Antigua at ...