Birthday and Acatenango climb

My birthday turned out to be great! After dinner I was finishing a beer and thinking of heading out when I was mysteriously told to go outside and was greeted by Jaun Carlos (the father of the Family) grinning mischieviously whilst lighting a big row of fire crackers (they were LOUD!!)


They were thrown in front of the neighbours house!



Next came a cake with candles and then the traditional cake biting ritual with a face smushing as well

Thanks Betty!


And a couple of rounds of Mezcal to finish


Headed out on the town afterwards for some drinks with and to see some live guatemalan music with the guys from school.

Here are some more pics of various things around Antigua:

At school with my teacher Delia

At the reptile park with a cool but really stinky snake

The family (I´m the one up the back with the tiny head)

The day before I left Antigua I went on a hike with Liam and Andrea (two other students from the school) up Acatenango, one of the volcanoes overlooking town.

The one on the right side, Fuego is the one nextdoor with smoke billowing out

We started the drive out there at five in the morning (ouch) stopping for a quick sunrise pic on the way

And began the ascent through farmlandRainforestopen pine forestand finally misty moonscape

With some impressive views on the way up

As you can see the views weren´t great at the very top so after sitting around on the summit freezing our arses off for half an hour we attempted to descend. That is the guide attempted to seem like he knew where he was going. He didn´t. We wandered around in the fog getting more and more lost until eventually we suggested that we turn around, go back to the start and try again. This time our guide decided to leave us on the summit along with all of his gear in the blasting icy wind and try to find the path himself. After half an hour Andrea was starting to shiver uncontrollably and in a thin, wet hoodie at 3800 metres that is not such a good thing. We were just about to head down without the guide when he came trotting back in just his singlet, having taken off his jacket and fleece to mark the path?!?! and then creeping around in the fog until he found us again. For his sake I´m glad he did, this was no place to get around in a singlet!

The descent was fine after that and we actually made great time back to the trailhead, taking 3 1/2 hours to climb and less than two to get back down. Absolutely bucketted down though which was not a problem for me but the others didn´t have raincoats for some reason so they were not exactly having the time of their lives.

Pretty shattered after the tough climb at altitude we were looking forward to a nice meal and a snooze back at town when we were informed that despite being expressly told we would have a shuttle van to pick us up we actually had to wait nearly an hour for the local chicken bus. This turned into a two and a half hour journey of indescribable torture however there was a nice interlude of a lady falling asleep next to me with her breast exposed.

It was a day to remember that´s for sure...........

Antigua and Lago de Atitlan

Have been at school now for one and a half weeks and whilst I can kind of get the gist of written spanish to hear and speak it is still kinda tough. It`s a little discouraging too when we play group games and the other students are all way better than me........ still I know how to say ¨cheese is good¨ and ¨I like the table¨, very important phrases.

Being pretty much THE place to study spanish in Latin America there are heaps of other backpackers here and the nightlife is ridiculous (50 cent cuba libres anyone?) so staying focused on studying is not the easiest thing. I`m pretty much just trying to get as much of it written down as possible and actually learn and practise it later on as I travel.

The view from Cerro de la Cruz, a hill above town

Mi Casa

Cheeky neighbourhood kids, at least they`re not inside on the computer all day....

Antigua was the capital of the spanish colony in Central America from discovery through to 1773 when a massive earthquake destroyed the entire city, which was one of the most beautiful in the Americas at the time. Rather than keeping the capital in such a volatile area (there were and still are many other earthquakes, and there are three huge volcanos close by) the city was left mostly in ruins and the government shifted to present day Guatemala city. Most of the current buildings date from just after the earthquake when the city was partially rebuilt but on a far more modest scale, with very few buildings over two stories high and all with very thick walls. The enormous churches were stripped of their riches and mostly left as they fell right through to the present day, most streets have a large ruin of some sort on them. All of this means that Antigua today has a very even, historical look with every street lined with modest but still very pretty houses and shops from the late 1700s, cobblestone streets (sometimes doubling as rivers), nice little parks and the occaisional ruin here and there. Being Guatemala`s prime tourist destination it`s also very clean and suspiciously free of stray animals.....

One of the many ruined churches

Local ladies washing clothes in the town washing well

The only downside is that it pours rain every afternoon and also at random and sudden points throughout the day, meaning a fool like me who always forgets his umbrella gets soaked at least once a day..........

On the weekend I bussed over to Lago de Atitlan to have a look and a night out and was really impressed. The lake is in a huge ancient crater surrounded by steep mountains and three big volcanos, all covered with thick jungle, with several small towns on the shore.

Vulcan San Pedro

The dock in San Pedro with boats to Panajachel and the road out of town. Note the indio`s nose in the background....

I stayed in San Pedro (it was the cheapest) and after sneaking in a nice afternoon stroll along the paths that wind through the farms around the lake I headed out for dinner and a few beers. Afterwards, with everything closing at 1am me and an english guy bought some takeaways and followed a local down a sloppy track to an ¨afterparty¨ with ¨muchas chicas ¨. In Guatemala apparently this means two guys drinking in their kitchen so after half an hour of broken spanish and awkward silences we politely necked our beers and got the hell out of there. The next morning a baby chicken walked into my room. I was on the second floor too, weird......

Today being my birthday I`m about to go out and grab a nice expensive meal, then possibly take a nap, and then head out on the town for still more beer. I think two weeks in antigua is about enough for my liver.......