Posada el Refugio Antigua Guatemala

... cool pics though of 'Mars'<br><br>Next stop is Lake Atitlan, will probs stay for 3 nights then head back to antigua to catch a flight to Panama City where we will met up with Ros and Travis (Ozzie couple we've met) to do a 5 day sail from Panama to Colombia through the Carribean.<br><br>Number of times we said '****' = un-countable<br>Number of tines fell over = 0<br>Number of times we fed the Volcano dogs crisps = 3<br>

Hola Amigos, Me llama Andres. Soy estudiante en escuela español. Soy experto en español. Es muy facil.<br><br>aaaaannnnnddd thats about all the spanish I´ve accumulated in my first week. thats not entirely true, but it has been quite the up-hill battle. The most entertaining thing being that after struggling with a phrase in spanish for hours, saying it in English and realizing how simple of ...

... bar and ... HOT water! I had not had a hot shower since Boquete in Panama so this was a lovely surprise especially considering the 10 degree drop in temperature and the rise in altitude in Guatemala. <br><br>Al, Jules and I were totally wrecked and spent the day holed up in the hotel watching movies and sleeping. We did venture out later that afternoon to the internet cafe to check if Lynda had changed the flights over to fly to Guatemala City and if everything ...

... we just getting old and grumpy?). The breakfasts are free and fantastic and we also eat dinner one night which is nice. It has dodgy Wifi (you know the sort that if you balance on a chair holding your laptop in your teeth and your arms as antennas you nearly get a signal) but on a plus side the shared bathrooms are pretty clean and plentiful and it has a great backpacker atmosphere. I imagine its great for single travelers to meet people.<br><br>We ...

... I had only heard about &#8211; filthy rich men who buy boats, whiskey, suits and of course cigars. Fascinating! They read up on Antonio Banderas and Tiger Woods too! It was interesting to find all the countries around here are big on cigars with Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua also making their own &#8211; not nearly as good as Cubans though I was told by the British owner of the bar. <br><br>I tried Chilean wine, Hibiscus flower juice, fantastic crepes, and of course lots of guacamole ...

Hola,<br>We zijn vanmorgen na het ontbijt met de rugzakken naar het einde van de straat gelopen om met de chickenbus naar Antigua te gaan....de reisduur zal ongeveer drie uur zijn. Na de collectivo's van Mexico is dit de eerste keer dat we gebruik gaan maken van de Guatemalteekse variant......de chickenbus. Dit zijn oude amerikaanse schoolbussen welke op oude diesel rijden.<br>Nou Mo, deze is voor jou!!! Nadat de bus gestopt was werd ...

... the rest of the day. The hostel has a bar, TV and books so it allows to pass a great time. <br><br>The next day we woke up early in the morning, had the breakfast at the hostel (included) and headed for the city. We visited the most famous attractions such as monasteries, churches and museums. The amount of churches is amazing. Sometimes it seems that there are more churches than houses. The one i liked the most is the La Merced, a yellow ...

... volcanoes surrounding the town. The volcanoes have been very active lately and lava flows and steam are clearly visible. There have been several tremors in the past few weeks that remind me we are on active fault lines. Armed National Guards are always on the street, but occasionally I'm surprised by a pickup truck full of camouflaged soldiers armed with Uzis that suddenly careens to a stop beside me and they all jump out ...

Reminiscent of San Cristobal in Mexico, Antigua is a quaint town of cobbled streets lined with colourful houses. Accommodation is more on the expensive side (for Guatemala) but still reasonable. There are loads of young people here studying Spanish and where better to go to school amidst the backdrop of three active volcanoes! The first couple of days here we spent wandering the streets and visiting the markets and it was in a particular fruit market that the threat of a stomach ...

... to Jamaica as well. But there is also the smoking volcano in the background! We arent here for long, we drive on to Honduras tomorrow morning, so Im going to go and have an explore and make the most of my short time here. Well after Ive had a much needed shower because hopefully my room is ready now! Lots of love to you all, Tess x