Up another volcano!

More crazy fun and games. Someone decided that it would be a good idea to climb one of the local volcanoes, Volcan Agua (3776 meters!).

Unfortunately the photographs are all stuck inside my phone and it doesn´t want to give them up at the moment. So you´ll have to use your imaginations and my excellent prose.

We left Anitgua at about 6:30am and jumped into the back of a pick up truck which took us up to base of the volcano. The streets round here aren´t exactly flat so it was a bit of an exciting trip.

We were dropped off in a small town and started out walk up. After about an hour we reached the base of the clouds and took a bit of a breather. We then started to climb up through the clouds. Occasional the mist was so thick that you could barely make out the path and at one point we lost the path and started some fairly hardcore bouldering up the mountain side until we regained the path.

After about 2 hours of climbing we broke through the clouds into brilliant sunshine the air got pretty thin at this point and it was a real struggle for us to keep going (definitely not as fit as I used to be). Another hour of climbing and we reached to crater of the volcano. Some mad maniac has actually built a shack there and lives in the volcano crater!

We spent about an hour or so having lunch and walking around the crater. There are a huge number of radio antennas on the rim and a few maintenance staff live up there. It´s actually quite a mess. But the views are amazing. I have photos of the clouds from above with volcanos poking up through them. The clouds also started to break up a bit so we could look down onto Guatemala city and Antigua which was pretty amazing.

Coming back down the mountain seemed to take forever so I´ll skip over it as it was a bit boring.

To get back to Antigua we took a chicken bus. I´ll write more about these another time. But it was certainly an interesting experience...

Tomorrow a bunch of people I´ve been hanging out with are heading off home or onto other destinations. And it´s my birthday on Saturday. Woe is me.

Sunday - Tikal

Another early start - 4am to catch the bus to Guatemala city and catch the plane to Tikal to visit the mayan ruins. Unfortunately as you can see from the above picture (which is a view from the top of the highest temple of another temple) it was a bit cloudy and damp.



The actual ruins are huge. But, according to our guide they have only uncovered 15% of total area. It's quite an impressive place but the mayans definitely seem to have been outdoor types. The temples are huge, but don't seem to have many (if any at all) rooms.



Our guide only spoke Spanish, so even with our immense grasp of the language, much of the ruins are still a mystery. However, the above picture is of some big cheese's palace.



As you can see from the above picture, we came well prepared for the damp weather with... The pink ponchos cost us Q70 at the airport. The rather stylish green number came in at only Q20 at the actual site. I can't help thinking that we got a bit ripped off at the airport.



Here's a picture of the temple you can see in the first photo close up and below is a picture of two people who seem to be stalking me. Everywhere I go they pop up from behind some ruin or market stall. Hopefully we'll catch up some time over Christmas as well.



The flight back was quite exciting. I don't think I've been in such a small plane since my days of flying to and from Holland.



It wasn't scary at all, honest...



I think I'll have to take another trip to the ruins at some point to get some decent photos.

Thursday 7th - Dia de Diable

Stange happennings in Antigua. Tonight is some festival for the day of the devil. Big bonfire with a statue of the devil on it.

Friday 8th December - Off to the beach

Friday afternoon we decided to head off to Montericho beach for a day or so. We´d booked a place on the shuttle bus the day before but apparently that had broken down so the guy turned up in what I think was his own car. Everything started off ok, 3 passengers in a car is pretty much fine for a long trip.

Then he picked up another person, 4 passengers, bit cramped, but still ok. Then he tried to convince another person that a ride in the trunk would be a good plan...

Finally reached Avalluda and jumped on the ferry through the mangrove swamps to Montericho.

Unbelievably hot. And black sand when the sun has been shining on it all day is a little bit toastie on the feet. Had a few swims in the sea, but the waves are incredibly violent here so after about 10 minutes you have to crawl out and go for a rest.

On Saturday we got up at 4:30am for what was billed as a nature tour of the mangrove swamps - but turned out to be pretty much what we´d experienced the previous day on the ferry.

More fun in the sun and swimming and then it was time to head back to Antigua ready for our early start on Sunday. Met an interesting fellow on the ferry back who filled us in on all the various gangs in Guatemala and what was currently happening in the city. Fascinating stuff...

Wednesday 7th

Sorry for the long silence. Things have been a little bit hectic.

Wednesday night we all went into Guatemala city to watch Municipal play Qetzal (sp). The home team Municipal) completely stomped on the opposition and this weekend they got through the finals.

Was nice to see a football match with almost no police presence.

Was also interesting to take a trip into one of the worlds most dangerous cities between 15-30 murders a day!

Apparently there are two main gangs. One based in El Salvador that has 50,000 members and another based in Honduras that has 30,000 member! They are currently having a small war. Didn´t feel too dangerous though...