Well first off I landed in Miami where the overhead announcement informed me that if I was transiting to Central America my bags would meet me there, as planned at Heathrow. However when I came to going through security I was told that this was not the case and I would have to pick my bag up and then check it back onto my connecting flight to Guatemala. I waited at the carosel for quite a while and couldn´t see my bag so thought I'd trust the previous annoucement and headed through customs without my bag. So you can imagine my relief when my bag actually turned up in Guatemala as planned!

I made my way straight to a line of taxis outside the airport and was taken to Hotel Spring in Guatemala city which I had pre-booked. I was very simple and clean with friendly staff so I was quite settled on my first night which was nice. I was so exhausted as it was about 2:30am in England I had been up since 6:30am! I dropped of to sleep very quickly and woke refreshed and ready to start myu adventures. The man on reception at the hotel helped me book a taxit to take to the chicken bus which would take me to Antigua.

This was probably the funniest experience so far. There was only me and one other lady on the bus when it set off which I thought was strange as I'd heard they pack everyone on pretty tightly. I soon realised why this was though. Basically there's a guy who hangs out of the open bus doors yelling the destination at passers by and if they show an interest in getting on the bus slows down just enough for them to leap on! I can only really describe it as friendly curb crawling! Along the way various vendors jump on the bus for a couple of stops to sell you newspapers and nibbles and then get off again further down the road. At one point someone came on to preach the bible to us for a while. I thought the whole journey was fantastic and loved the whole disregard for timetables.

Luckily there was a Canadian bloke on the bus who helped me get off at the right place and so I wandered through Antigua looking for the hostel I planned to stay at. It was actually very close to where I jumped of the bus so I didn't have to walk very far! It's a great little hostel with very friendly staff, clean rooms and bathrooms and free breakfast and internet thrown into the price. I felt a bit lonely that afternoon and was a bit unsure of myself but I soon got chatting with the other people staying there who are all really good fun.

That evening we all decided to go to a local football match at it was the team that our hostel owner supported. It was such fantastic fun. We all learnt the chants on the way there and then continued to sing and shout for the next two hours! Not great football but a brilliant atmosphere.

Yesterday I ventured up a live volcano (Volcan Pacaya) with the others from the hostel. The ascent was NOT FUN in the boiling sun and walking on gravel and sand which was not easy. However it was worth it to get to the top and see the amazing views and watch the sunset go down over the surrounding moutains and volcanoes. We were not close to the liquid lava abviously but the rocks were warm enough for soem people to roast marshmallows on! Even though you couldn't really see it in the daylight, the lava lit up the night sky and made the smoke glow a pinky red. It got very chilly after nightfall though so the descent came as a bit of a relief.

written by  veritykent on March 6, 2009 from Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala
from the travel blog: Up, up and away
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If you keep going south and end up in Panama stop by www.bambuhostel.com with a pool and relaxed atmosphere

written by  mike on March 8, 2009

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