Santander Plaza Hotel Guatemala City

In het kader van de aanrestaurader hierbij een nieuwe aanvulling van Antigua. In een underground magazine van een plaatselijk café, waar we tevens beide een nieuw Hollands leesboek hebben gehaald uit het inpandige boekwinkeltje, lazen we eigen samengestelde top 10 van café´s en restaurants. Onze voorkeur ging uit naar Como Como, een restaurant met een Belgische keuken. Nadat we gepiekt en gesteven waren besloten we ondanks de dreigende lucht zonder jas of fleeze op pad te gaan. Bij het plein ...

... us celebrate Brittany's 21st birthday. There are 16 of them staying in a famous writer's house less than 50 yards from ours. We went swimming, listened to music, and played card games under the tiki hut for the majority of the night. The highlight of the night was seeing one of the active volcanoes spew magma. The skyline was dark but we could see in the distance red magma coming out of one of the many active volcanoes in Guatemala. It was an awesome night!

... which community they belong to. The designated path the floats take through Antigua is festively decorated with alfombras (carpet/mat in Spanish), mats made of either sawdust and coloured chalk or flowers and pine branches. It's really an amazing time. The Saturday before that first Sunday I went up to Santa Catarina with Marta (host-Mom), the first town to bring parade their float down to Antigua. I was really looking forward to it, but the ...

... He will though - he´s German. When we got off the bus, we were immediately confronted by children selling walking sticks. Sticks are for wimps. I couldn`t think why I´d need one. Other than to beat Franz. The guide gathered us round and explained the trek - in Spanish. I got a nice English couple to translate. We were the panther group, we should listen to what the guide said and stick together at all times and ...

... that its more appropriate for Americans to applaud on take off. Anything that manages to get that much lard airbourne is a minor miracle. The airport was chaotic. We wanted to go straight from the airport to the town of Antigua because Guatemala City itself is not really for tourists. I asked at the tourist information how to get to Antigua. The lady said to go outside and find the man holding the sign for the shuttle bus, but to make sure that ...

... charlar sobre la criminalidad que existe en nuestros queridos paises...



A la mañana siguiente, siguiendo las sugerencias de nuestra querida host tomamos un par de Guajolojets y llegamos al buen Panajachel, sacamos las fotos y agarramos un barquito para cruzar el lago, ya del otro lado buscamos un guajolojet para regresar a la mortífera Guate city, 5 horas después estabamos con todo listo para abandonar al buen vecino del sur..........

... way. By the time we reached the lava, the sun had gone down so the glow was intense. After a short time trying to capture the bright lava with poor my camera skills, we began the descent, using flashlights, and trying not to fall too often. At the end of the day, I really appreciated the hot shower (solar heated!) and comfy beds in the Yellow House in Antiqua. Next stop, the Sunday market at Chichicastenango!

After a long Taxi ride with a driver who didn't seem to know where he was going we arrived at the hostel to a huge family thanksgiving meal. Was pretty good to actually chat to some people who live here rather than just other travellers, plus after almost 24hours without food, a (pretty damn good) Thanksgiving meal was definately a bonus! Bit weird to come half way round the world to eat roast turkey, mash and stuffing but no complaints here. Next Stop: Flores / Tikal National Park

... a slight freakout once I was in the hostel - cried with relief at not being dead and had to take a tranquilliser before going to bed. I thought I might be stranded in the mountains all night - I would have been at least robbed there if not worse! thank god I had the sense to get off the chicken bus before dark and also that I was so ruthless about taking a tiny backpack - it is small enough to bring it into the buses with me ...

... running today. Guatemala City was never particularly nice, but the news coming out these days is even worse, rampant crime and such. Few travelers stop there any more. You don’t need to. Antigua is less than an hour away and is much nicer. I tell the cab driver to take my straight there. It’ll cost no more than what a five-minute ride in Athens costs after midnight. FIRST I’ll go to Antigua, and then I’ll go to the coast.