Starting off Central America with a bang

Travis and I left Guatemala City the same day we arrived, and by the time we finally found the bus to Antigua we were both immensely grateful that we would not have to try to fend for ourselves in said city any more.  It was crazy and intense and not really set up for tourists.  Luckily we met a nice lady who lived near the stop where we had to go to find the bus that would actually take us to Antigua and not just all over Guatemala City, and she took us under her wing and got us exactly where we needed to go. 

Antigua vista

So onto the chicken bus we climbed with and ever-increasing number of people, none of whom were gringos, which made us stick out, but also assured me that we were jumping into the culture and not just skating through.  After a very, very, VERY bumpy ride we arrived in Antigua, a small town with Baroque architecture and cobblestone streets.  Without much trouble we found the charming and earthy Hotel la Casa de Don Ismael, and went straight to bed. 

naked lady fountain

In the morning we wandered around the town, enjoying the rather interesting fountain, located in the central plaza, featuring women with water pouring out their nipples.  We then proceeded to wander around the city, enjoying the churches and the ruins (lots of earthquakes lead to lots of ruins), in the baroque style for which Antigua is famous.  The town really is nice and low key, but the best was yet to come.

In the afternoon we hopped on a bus to visit Volcan Pacaya, the most active volcano in the area, and one of the most active in the world.  After a brutal and long hike up the mountain we finally got to see the ash-covered peak, at the base of which was molten glowing orange.  Lava!  Travis hurried down the hill and proceeded to hop around the lava like a kid in a candy store, but the best part happened while we were enjoying our dinner.  Travis heard some cracking and we turned around and discovered a completely new lava spot peeking out from some old lava rock.  Before long this little spot cracked and crumbled and grew, and only minutes later the lava was pouring out of the earth in a bright hot orange flow and all of us tourists were taking pictures as fast as we could before we had to leave because the lava was seriously cruising and would go into all the cracks and crevices that we would have to cross to get back off the mountain.  I took some pretty sweet videos, because apparently this rarely happens for tourists, and Trav used the SLR like a champ.  Our guide had a little trouble persuading some of our group to abandon the lava, but we finally all left without incident and climbed back down the mountain (in the dark).  Then home again, home again, and a new adventure today.  Off to Panajachel.

Arch of Saint Catherine

Blog to you soon!

Erin

better view

giant fountain at La Merced

view from La Merced

STOP

Volcan Pacaya

from the mountain to the lava ash

an old flow

Travis is soooo happy

We walked right across them.

lava ripples

How the lava was when we arrived.

it's hot

nice facial expression

lava star

the ring of fire

Hot LAVA!

Antigua at night

The lava starts flowing.