Antigua/Pacaya:- missing camera & melted bank card
Trip Start
Aug 21, 2008
1
59
Trip End
Ongoing
Antigua Guatemala,
Western Highlands,
Guatemala
Friday, August 22, 2008
Antigua is quite a quaint town however tourism has certainly had an impact on inflation (18Q for a beer!! almost $3 - not what I was expecting). I hit the hay early the first night to be ready for the 6AM journey to Volcan Pacaya. The trip had cost 60Q ($1=7or8 Q depending who you talk to) although the company failed to mention the other 40Q everyone had to pay on the day to enter the park (hmm - guess I better get used to that type of customer service!). The trip however was well worth the money - a 3km trip up a volcano to check out the molten lava..awesome....the climb was a bit intense intitially although I think this was intentional to encourage people to part with an extra $10 for a horse (noone bothered - if you are half fit you'll be OK although the first and last 15 mins were a bit daunting - I now have a taste of what Frodo and Sam had to endure)...
The views were pretty cool on the way up but the highlight for me was definitely seeing the lava and feeling its intensity. We had to wait a couple of minutes while a couple of Jewish American Princesses on a 'private tour' got their guide to take 600 pictures of them and the lava form every possible angle - 'You can take the JAP out of NYC but.....'
Finally, we all got or turn to take pix and I couldn't understand how the fabric of my pants retained the 'sauna-like' heat - later evidence proved it was actually my debit card which I had placed in the lowest pocket in my combats that had melted - doh! Oh well the pictures were worth it although perhaps the lack of food over the next few days may contradict this...
One final thing - I surpassed even MY expectations by leaving my camera on the minibus on the way back by accident. Fortunately the driver found and handed it in and I can now proudly say I have not lost anything so far on this trip - Watch this space!
Staying in Antigua tonight to catch a piece of the weekend scene before heading out on a chicken bus to el lago de atitlan
Love it...
Hopefully upload some pix soon
Comments
Only a camera?
Not bad, that's an improvement for you! Just make sure to have two sets of wallets/ID's etc. for when you lose one set.