Antigua, Guatemala

Trip Start Oct 09, 2006
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Trip End Jun 15, 2007


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Thursday, December 21, 2006

Antigua, Guatemala

Jeeeez.... don´t know where to start with this one.

We got ourselves a shuttle bus from Coban to Antigua. That sounds all fancy doesn´t it.... in reality tis a Hi-Ace van that you share with about 13 other tourists! The journey down was supposed to take 4 hours, but once again it took longer. This journey was made even longer by one of the tourists on board. Now, we ain´t goin naming names or anything but lets put it mildly.... really and truely and totally and utterly annnnoyyyyyyiinnng! Wouldn´t shut the F up the whole way! Nuff said about that!!!

Ok lets start with where we were living for Christmas. The first thing we did upon arrival in Antigua was find ourselves a place to live for the festive period. Now, all along we have said that we wanted to spend Christmas around other travellers and get that homely feeling that you can get from some hostels, however, what actually happened was exactly the opposite. We found ourselves a lovely hotel, complete with TV in the room for those Christmas movies, and it was cheaper than a room in the hostels. We ended up being the ONLY people staying in the place, yup.... the sole residents. It was brilliant, the owners decided to shut the doors for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and they gave us the keys to the hotel. We had a free run of the place... superb!!! The Guatemalans big day of family celebration is Christmas Eve and the owners even made us some of their local dishes.. tamales... yummy!!! By golly did we score on the accommodation front!!!

Christmas Eve
11 Thumbs up for Xmas Eve on an active Volcano!
11 Thumbs up for Xmas Eve on an active Volcano!
 We were up nice and early on Christmas Eve.... 05.30am to be precise. The reason for this dawn start... to do something that is a normal yearly routine for the both of us... hike up an active volcano !!!!!!!! We took a tour to the Pacaya volcano near to Guatemala City (click here to read about this volcano) and hiked up to the top. It was absolutely amazing.... ranking up there with the Great White Shark Cage diving in South Africa. Even though there was no fresh flowing lava, you could still see the red lava flowing in a few cracks in the rocks. The heat was unreal, and you could really feel it through your shoes. We could not get to the actual crater as the mountain was giving off the odd rumble and belch of smoke. An amazing way to spend Christmas Eve morning.

It being Christmas and the time of Santa Claus visiting, we had to make sure that he was going to call to us. Therefore, we went to the market and spent the evening on a shopping spree... spending a MASSIVE €30 on presents for ourselves!
Christmas Eve is THE day for Guatemalans. Tis Christmas Eve that they have their family Christmas dinner. So, being in Guatemala.... we had to have our dinner too. We went out for dinner and got ourselves a good old Christmas dinner... we had turkey and stuffin and cranberry sauce... absolutely savage stuff!

At midnight on Christmas Eve the entire sky lit up with fireworks! It is amazing really, to put it simply the folks here LOVE their fireworks. Every single night that we´ve been here there have been fireworks lighting up the sky. Every house seems to have them and sets them off, be it from their back garden or even out on the streets!!! The ambulance service must need a constant supply of spare fingers!

Christmas Day
How class was it that Santa Claus visted us !!! How did he remember us in Guatemala ?..... The man is a flamin legend!!

We went to mass in the main cathedral in Antigua and it was absolutely lovely. We then rang home to see if Santa had visited everyone and wished all the family a Happy Christmas!

45 "Christmas morning...Yey..Santa came!!"
45 "Christmas morning...Yey..Santa came!!"
 The rest of the day was spent..... IN DA PUB! We had bought ourselves flashy santa hats and we wore them... like right muppets... for the entire day! We actually had our first game of pool on Christmas Day since leaving home !!! We had a great day and we even got another feed of turkey and stuffing with lovely mashed spuds... not like home though. We paid a visit to the token "Irish" bar, and laughed at the way that there was NO Irish music played until we requested some! Once again we made eejits out of ourselves by getting up and dancing (as we always do) to "Jump Around".... still wearing the flashing Santa hats. A superb day.... but by golly did we suffer for 2 days afterwards!


We´d like to take this opportunity to wish ye all a really Happy Christmas and wish ya all an even better New Year.

Loads of Love
Mike and Sarah


 

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01 Volcano..White blanket of cloud of Valley 01 Volcano..White blanket of cloud of Valley 02 Mike on the Volcano 02 Mike on the Volcano 03 Mike & Sarah - Volcano happy! 03 Mike & Sarah - Volcano happy! 04 Mike and the Lava 04 Mike and the Lava
05 Lava spill from April 2006 05 Lava spill from April 2006 06 Mike and the volcano 06 Mike and the volcano 07 Now that´s a hot rock! 07 Now that´s a hot rock! 08 Hot lava running under where we walk! Cool! 08 Hot lava running under where we walk! Cool!
09 Mike Heats UP! 09 Mike Heats UP! 10 Mike wishes he brought the Galtee Sausages! 10 Mike wishes he brought the Galtee Sausages! 12 ´´Hi ho Hi ho, it´s off to work i go!´´ 12 ´´Hi ho Hi ho, it´s off to work i go!´´ 13 ´´I´m on Top of the World..& the grounds hot!´´ 13 ´´I´m on Top of the World..& the grounds hot!´´
15 Step carefully!..don´t fall through the cracks! 15 Step carefully!..don´t fall through the cracks! 16 ´´Mike, this lava looks very like cow dung!´´ 16 ´´Mike, this lava looks very like cow dung!´´ 17 Now that's the Xmas Spirit! Antigua for Xmas 17 Now that's the Xmas Spirit! Antigua for Xmas 18a Step 1- Mike sees steam coming from crack 18a Step 1- Mike sees steam coming from crack
18b Step 2 - Mike ´accidently´ puts water in crack 18b Step 2 - Mike ´accidently´ puts water in crack 18c Step 3 - Mike starts to look Mischievous! 18c Step 3 - Mike starts to look Mischievous! 18d Step 4 - Guess what he´s thinks of doing next! 18d Step 4 - Guess what he´s thinks of doing next! 21 Hot Lava River flows underneath us..cool! 21 Hot Lava River flows underneath us..cool!
22 River of cooled lava 22 River of cooled lava 23 ´What a laugh..walkin on lava on Xmas Eve! 23 ´What a laugh..walkin on lava on Xmas Eve! 24 ´Tis Rosemantic alright....´ 24 ´Tis Rosemantic alright....´ 25 Mike..lava...steam 25 Mike..lava...steam
26 End of the lava river - don´t worry it´s cold! 26 End of the lava river - don´t worry it´s cold! 27 Lava river stopped here in April 27 Lava river stopped here in April 28 Lazy people took a horse instead of a hike! 28 Lazy people took a horse instead of a hike! 29 Sarah at the Market shopping for Santa pressies 29 Sarah at the Market shopping for Santa pressies
30 ´´Where´s Wally...I mean...Mikey!´´ 30 ´´Where´s Wally...I mean...Mikey!´´ 31 View of Volcano from the town 31 View of Volcano from the town 32 D´you think we´re safe here Mike? 32 D´you think we´re safe here Mike? 33 Mike tries to blend in! 33 Mike tries to blend in!
34 Mike has a run-in with a woman from´The Matrix´ 34 Mike has a run-in with a woman from´The Matrix´ 35 Mike in the Market...closing time Xmas Eve 35 Mike in the Market...closing time Xmas Eve 36 Sarah subsequently knocks the bus down! 36 Sarah subsequently knocks the bus down! 37 Sarah in the cobbled streets of Antigua 37 Sarah in the cobbled streets of Antigua
38 Mike under the infamous arch in the town 38 Mike under the infamous arch in the town 39 Mike catches the Xmas Fireworks 39 Mike catches the Xmas Fireworks 40 Mike in Central Park - Even the trees dress up! 40 Mike in Central Park - Even the trees dress up! 41 Mike..lights..Firecrackers...Xmas is fun here! 41 Mike..lights..Firecrackers...Xmas is fun here!
42 Sarah outside the central church in the town 42 Sarah outside the central church in the town 43 Sarah with Central park Xmas Trees 43 Sarah with Central park Xmas Trees 44 The hotel leave us a little gift for Xmas 44 The hotel leave us a little gift for Xmas 46 Mike & Sarah start their Xmas Day 46 Mike & Sarah start their Xmas Day
47 Mike & Sarah play pool to start Xmas day nicel 47 Mike & Sarah play pool to start Xmas day nicel 48 "Cheers! It´s Christmas day!" 48 "Cheers! It´s Christmas day!" 49 Sarah subsequently wins! 49 Sarah subsequently wins! 50 Video- Us Singing Jingle Bells for ye! 50 Video- Us Singing Jingle Bells for ye!
51 "Yipee..we got our Turkey & Stuffing!!" 51 "Yipee..we got our Turkey & Stuffing!!"
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Comments

marywhite33
marywhite33 on Jan 2, 2007 at 08:04AM

happyyyyy new year!
Just wanna say yer Christmas Day sounds so savage! :-)

Back to work with a bang!

Laters,
Mayors X

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