Antigua and Lava-Roasted Marshmallows

The route to Antigua was not as direct as I had hoped so we needed to detour to the Honduran town of Copan which was right near the border. This town is actually worthy of a visit itself as it is where the Mayan ruins of Copan are located. I had seriously considered going to visit the ruins there but after several discussions with people who had already gone I decided not to. The reason was that I am scheduled to go to Tikal which is known as THE Mayan ruin site to visit. If I was to see Tikal there would not be a strong reason to see Copan unless I was absolutely fascinated by the Mayans... which I was not. Copan was also pretty pricey to visit too! So we arrived in the pretty little town and booked into a hostel for the night along with purchasing a ticket to Antigua, Guatemala, in the morning.

At the time my companions were Alex (Eng), Emilie (Fr Can), Polly (Eng) and Olivia (Eng). We were all still exhausted from the previous night´s party and the day spent travelling so we all crashed into our beds early. The shuttle in the morning picked us up at 6am sharp and we proceeded through a relatively fast border crossing. 6 hours later we arrived in Antigua where we checked into the Black Cat Hostel. It is a bustling place with a narrow bar and restaurant that is simultaneously used as a thoroughfare to the street and as a social gathering place. My dorm was a bit cramped for space and moving around was difficult as there were so many bags and items strewn on the ground. Alex and I grabbed some lunch (nachos and a ton of guacamole) at the Travel Menu restaurant and then walked through town. Antigua was very busy and wandering tourist groups were plentiful. In terms of the architecture it was fairly similar to Leon and Granada but thankfully the weather was far milder. Antigua was also the first capital city of Guatemala until an earthquake destroyed most of the town way back in the conquistador days. The town was rebuilt but there are still some preserved ruins from that quake which are dotted around town.

One of the ruins of the original city

The town archway towards the convent

Impressive design on the convent

The fountain in the middle of the town square

Loads of tour agencies combined with a heavy American presence and people trying to sell you stuff at every turn reminded me of Cuzco in Peru.

The thing most people come to Antigua for is to experience the history of the town and to visit the active volcano Pacaya. I had read up about the history so only needed to walk the streets and visit the monuments. What I was excited about was to go see some lava! A tour was booked through the Black Cat travel agency for the next afternoon.

Riverdance and Irina arrived in town that day too from Tikal in the north. We had dinner at Las Palmas restaurant and spent ages recounting our experiences up until that point. After dinner we went walked around town looking for a nice bar to relax in. We first went to Cafe No Se which had a very bohemian feel and gave out free popcorn! After a cheeky drink there we moved onto a few other places, none of which were too appealing until we got to Cashba which was pretty fun.

A spooky shot

The breakfast at Black Cat Hostel was pretty impressive considering it was included free in the $8 per night room charge! I tucked into a mammoth omelet with cheese, tomato, bacon (it actually tasted like the real deal!), onion and a side of fresh fruit.

At 2pm we were picked up for our Volcano tour. The shuttle took an hour and a half to get to the base of the mountain. I met yet some more Norwegians and proceeded to show them my full range of Norwegian vocabulary (mainly swear-words).

Something I didn´t expect to see: A newly-wed couple cruising around in a stretch hummer

Our guide's name was Carlos and he only spoke Spanish. The first section was a gentle walk through some cloud forest until the terrain opened up into a desolate ash-covered wasteland. Yet again this was just like Lord of the Rings with steaming vents and sharp volcanic rock walls. We found a lone dog wandering around there too!



It was a short scramble up the loose shingle to the lava viewpoint. The stuff was actually flowing quite briskly! We moved ever closer until we were less than 3 metres from a small lava river. The heat was intense, much like being right in front of a large bonfire. I opened up the pack of marshmallows I had bought earlier and stuck it on a branch provided by Carlos. Reaching out to roast them over the lava was not too easy as the stick was pretty short! Nevertheless I still got a nicely melted marshmallow to eat. As I am not the biggest fan of these sweets I gave away the rest of the pack to the other tourists around. Walking around the lava rock was pretty treacherous as it was not too stable and often very hot underfoot. The smell of burning rubber informed me that the trainers I was wearing were indeed melting!

Yup, that is a river of lava

Alex and myself warming ourselves up

It literally felt like a furnace standing there. I persevered and got myself a nicely roasted marshmallow

After hanging out for a short while longer it was time to return. The rain started coming down at this stage and I had forgotten to bring waterproof equipment. I was very wet and grumpy when I got back in the shuttle. Even though we were all pretty exhausted after a long day, people still found the energy to dress up for a Saturday night out. Mathieu and Martin had arrived too from Honduras and already had their 3 litre coke bottle with rum. I arrived in the middle of a men's fashion show that was being run by Black Cat. It was amusing to see guys dressed up in bikinis and push-up bras and the winner, from Australia deserved it as he shaved a heart in his chest hair. We drank hard and fast and went to O'Reilly's Irish bar. After a bevvie there we decided to move to the adjacent Cashbar where all the locals were queuing up. Mathieu and I were intercepted by a local journalist with cameraman who wanted us to comment (in Spanish) about our impressions about Guatemala. The question is directed at Mathieu who promply screws up his face, and points at me saying that I can speak Spanish. I am drunk and try my best to form a coherent sentence. What comes out however is: "How the f*$k do I say I think it is a very cool place???"

Nice one Adam. You have now sworn on Guatemalan TV. Way to promote yourself!

Anyway the reporter still wants to hang out with us in the club so we follow him in, pretending to be important foreign actors at the door. The ruse kinda works as we only have to pay entrance for one person. Also, when Mathieu is confronted about his 3 litre rum 'n coke bottle, he thinks quick and urgently says that it is required for his diabetes and he cannot be without it. The bouncer somehow buys this ridiculous story and let's us in with a bottle of our own booze.... sweet. The reporter then pairs us up with random locals and we just hang around looking a bit dumb.

Afterward we move back to O'Reillys and hang out with our friends. As everything shuts down at 1am, the party moved onto the street. Amidst a lot of jokes and horsing about, Mathieu somehow attracts the attention of the police and is pinned up against the wall and frisked. I turn and laugh at him but am subsequently also pressed against the wall and frisked. My wallet is checked as are all my pockets for what is apparently a drug search. Once he was satisfied we were clean he let us go so we could carry on with our drinking.

The next morning I felt pretty rough. Thankfully I had nothing to do that day so I could happily relax in the hostel and in the park and do some reading. I was getting stuck into Richard Dawkins' book "The God Delusion", a very interesting if somewhat controversial read.

Martin, Mathieu and myself visited the local marketplace and played some arcade games against the local kids. They kicked our butts most of the time! I also bought a nice new pair of Havaianas flip flops to make them my 5th pair of the trip.

Things got a bit aggressive when Mathieu and I faced up in a game of arcade Tekken

After Mathieu kicked my butt, it was time for Martin to take over

That evening we felt like a bit of salsa! La Sala was offering free lessons so I joined in with Mathieu, Andre (Guatemala) and Julia (Nicaragua). After the short lesson the real pros got involved and once again I was very impressed. It was a bit difficult to dance yourself when you felt like a clumsy ox around these experts. Mathieu had another bottle of rum 'n coke to keep us motivated.

Andre (Guata) and Julia (Nica)

Once again, the rum ´n coke was out

Salsa! Julia and a local salsa pro (despite what you may think, this guy could really move it!)

Mathieu showing that he is definitely not a pro

I was on a shuttle early the next morning to Semuc Champey, a short 6 hour drive north.