Guatemala

We arrived in Guatemala city which was suprisingly big and without wasting any time, got a local chicken bus to Antigua, another city 1 hour away but much smaller, more beautiful and very gezellig.



Antigua is renowned for its colonial buildings, Catholic churches, Maya artesan market and many good bars and restauramts. We had a lovely time strolling the old cobbled streets, buying wonderful souveniers from the markets and sampling lots of the good food!!!

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For the New Year celebrations we headed to the central park which is often in Central America the centre of life for a city, where people relax, eat and drink and have a good chat. The square was full of people, locals as well as tourists and visiting guatemalans which made a fantastic atmosphere. Shireen found what looked exactly like Olie Bollen but was a little disappointed when it came to the taste! oh well, it was worth a try.



We found a great spot and the fireworks were fantastic, with some very large bangs. It was all very impressive and we had a lovely evening. The next day we decided to make a memorable day for the first of the year so without much preparation we booked a ticked for the trip to Volcano Pacaya, one of the most active in CA. This was definately a challenge and we got more than we bargained for. The trek began at 2pm and we were in a group of about 10. The hike up to the 2nd stage was steep and lasted 1 hour. However the 2nd stage to where you can actually view the Lava from was another 45 minutes. And even steeper, on rougher terrain! It was definately a huge undertaking and half way into the 2nd stage clouds covered the mountain and we suddenly became very wet, tired and COLD! When we finally scrambled up to the lava it was unelievable. There was a huge 2m wide stream of lava flowing and the hardened magma which you would walk on was barely covering the lava that flowed beneath it!



It was crazy to think that your standing on top of something so volatile and dangerous and that you can get so close to the lava, close enough to touch literally! It was super hot like a sauna and amazing to experience. Needless to say we took photos quickly and got the hell off those rocks as it did not seem very safe at all. The trek back got worse, now it was dark as well as freezing cold and wet and lasted 1 1/2 hours. I got a horrendous cold and we were absolutely shatterred but it was all well worth it and an insanely cool adventure. Leaving Antigua we took an overnight bus to Flores in the north of Guatemala to visit world famous Tikal. An uncovered Mayan city deep in the jungle complete with Temples, wildlife and other incredible sights. It was built over 2000 years ago by the maya who were one of the world most advanced cultures. They made canal systems even that would make the dutch proud, build roads and pathways and developed a calendar due to their interest in astronomy. It was simply breathtaking. How they managed to build such wonderful structres is beyond belief. We walked for 5 hours to all the temples and sights, climbed a few, held a tarantula, saw monkeys, crocodiles and parrots and had one of the best days travelling so far. It was truly epic.