Antigua

Trip Start Jun 13, 2003
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Trip End Aug 18, 2003


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Flag of Guatemala  ,
Monday, June 23, 2003

I left Honduras and headed into Guatemala. The border crossing was hysterical. It was the most unofficial looking thing I've ever seen. There were shacks on both the Honduran and Guatemalan sides, which housed the border agents. The road connecting the countries was separated by a long pole. This was weighted on one side by giant metal trash can filled with cement. And agent would let cars pass by untying the unweighted end of the pole, thus allowing it to raise up, and the automobile to drive through. And the border was sponsored by Pepsi.

I spent a few nights hanging out in Antigua. It was a great town and Guatemala is dirt cheap. My hotel room (which had 3 beds, and I slept in a new one each night) was $4 a day. I also went out to Volcan Pacaya and spent a few miserable hours hiking around up there. It was brutally cold and the cloud cover made it impossible to see a foot in front of you 01 Painting at Restaurant
01 Painting at Restaurant
 . This is why I almost fell IN the volcano at one point, because I couldn't see the plummeting drop right in front of me. My guide told me to be more careful. "Cuidado, cuidado." Yeah, thanks. Brilliant advice.

I did meet a couple of really cool people though that I traveled with for the next few days. My new friend Ramann was kind enough to share her umbrella with me, which we used to try to block the bitter wind from attacking our flesh. I thought about jumping into the volcano for heat.

However, the top of the tree line was gorgeous and looked very Alice In Wonderlandish.

From there, I was off to Lago de Atitlan.
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