28/7/23
Today, I had another bougie hostel breakfast before heading out to do a walking tour, only the fifth one I’d done in the six months! On the tour, there was an English guy with an Irish gal, a solo Egyptian girl, and me. The tour guide knew about Wales having many castles, and I told him it was to keep the English out. The Irish girl looked bemused, the English boyf not so much!! We walked around the beautiful colonial town fora couple of hours before the tour ended in a park. I asked the Egyptian girl Salma if she had plans, and since she didn’t particularly, we went for lunch together. We went to a bustling local cafe and had yummy food before we headed up the hill to a viewpoint overlooking the town and the hills beyond. We talked about many different things including culture, religion and travel, before going out separate ways. Salma, it was a pleasure!
I had a few bits to do before my volcano hike the next day. I wanted to book my bus to leave Guatemala to go back to El Salvador (where my flight was going from) and find a tour to Lake Atitlan, the Lake Garda of Guatemala. I found a small office, no more than three people wide, and booked both! I was to be picked up at the crack of dawn for the tour! I headed back to the hostel and chilled with coffee and cake, and my book. I headed back out later in the search of salsa but arrived too early for dancing. Instead, I sat with a cocktails and watched a guitarist for awhile before heading home to get an early ish night.
29/7/23
Today was Volcano Day! I had got a packed breakfast from the hostel and waited for my lift to come. There were three other people from the hostel waiting, two Dutchies and one Swiss guy, all of whom had been travelling together before. We chatted a bit before the bus came, and then we were off. One of the Dutch girls was very hungover! We arrived at the office an hour or so later and got our backpacks and warm coats. Then we were off, starting the climb immediately. There were probably around 16 people in the group with of course, the Dutch and Germans (always a staple), the Swiss guy, me (the Brit), two people from the USA (one quiet guy and one loudest hilarious chica), a Colombian couple, a Australian couple, two friends from Montenegro and Croatia and two girls from Honduras. Off we went. Up, up and away.
We made a few stops along the way for the group to re-group and to eat. We had a lunch stop, where most of us had chicken, and the stray dogs were ready and waiting for us when we arrived. One nearly had my hand off jumping for chicken skin scraps, and another tried to lick the chicken that was still on my plate!! We arrived at the camp around 15.00, were assigned tents, and then rested and chatted. I was trying to decide whether to do the extra volcano with the hope of seeing the lava cascade UP CLOSE. So far, I wasn’t exhausted, so I figured I’d do it as I’d be more gutted if I didn’t go and then missed an eruption than if I went and nothing happened. So that’s what I did.
We set off at around 4pm. First, we had to go halfway down the volcano we’d climbed up and then climb up another one. In the group that was going, there were four guys (US, Swiss, German and Dutch) and one other chica who was also Dutch. Somehow, before I’d even got out of the camp, they were already going at pace! This pace turned into a jog, and then they were gone, always at least a hundred metres further down the volcano than I was. A kind soul gave me his hiking pole (not particularly useful when running) and so I was able to use two to prevent me from sliding down a steep, slippery surface with a permanent drop on one side. Whenever I reached the group, they were itching to be off again. No-one had told me that the second volcano hike wasn’t, in fact, a hike but a sprint (or at least a hilly trail run)! It was too late now! We carried on up the next volcano, stopping at the top just as the rain came pouring down. A guy we passed as we were going up gave me his jungle bucket hat with a string under the chin for the rain (gracias chico). It was a most fetching look!!
At the top, we quickly gave up on the idea of seeing lava as the visibility was so poor, we couldn’t even see that we were right next to a volcano at all, never mind an active one! We headed down, muted and wet. It was getting dark, and I completely lost everyone many times. Due to this, I had to spend some time with my head torch, scanning the ground and looking for the path! When I caught up, the squad was off like a shot. It wasn’t personal, everyone just wanted their dinner! We had been hiking for most of the day since 8am and now it was around 8pm!
I was in need of sustenance. While I tried to power on, I was lacking energy, and my balance was becoming more questionable, which was concerning to me given the drop and the high winds. At some point in the final twenty minutes, I demanded that the guide who had come to check on me, ask for another guide to go with the fast folk so I could ear and drink something and breathe before finishing the last little bit. Surprisingly, he agreed. I got my sugar levels up and arrived back to the camp to find the squad tucking into dinner. The people who hadn’t hiked the second volcano had long gone to bed. It was close to 9pm.
Bizarrely, I tried to eat dinner but couldn’t. Possibly a first for me! Instead, I drank three hot chocolates with marshmallows and called it a night. I hadn’t weed since leaving the office that morning (I’m sure my kidneys were thriving)! I went for a wee and then layered up joggers over leggings with two thermal tops on for bed. Sleeeeeep.
30/7/23
It was fairly important to have got some rest early yesterday since today we were up before dawn. We had some more hiking to do before the sun came up. Within forty minutes, we were up. Up on the ridge looking at a 360′ of volcanoes with a couple of lakes thrown in among the pink clouds. Glorious. I was enjoying the views and chatting to the Aussie couple when a hubbub stirred. The volcano was erupting! Grey smoke rose up into the pink clouded sky. It was beautiful!
Anyone who’s hiked with me will know I’m crap at going down steep things! It was the same with this. I had lost my group before I’d even started down due to taking a final volcano pic – I couldn’t resist. A few people passed me and asked why I was hiking alone.. Oops! Eventually, one of the guides came to find me and showed me the way to the camp, which was just as well as I was a little worried about finding it alone since I didn’t think I’d need to pin it on a map or anything. When I arrived, I packed, and then I was off. I had been selected to go in the ‘slow’ group along with the two Honduran gals and the American girl who had hurt her ankle in the morning. I was pretty happy with this for some respite but was rather unhappy about leaving without breakfast! We set off.
At some point along the way, we passed a running man with a large backpack. He stopped to speak to our guide. It turned out he was the breakfast supplier. Shortly after we had passed him, we stopped for a breakfast of pancakes and jam. Then we continued on and were soon overtaken by the fast group, who had all taken to running down the mountain. Why were so many people so nuts?!
The slow contingent (me and the Hondurans, as the American had decided to run) continued onwards chatting. The sore knees were slowing increasing in the group, but we carried on. We finished together as a four, with our guide. We had a Corona and a snack waiting for us at the office before we all bundled into the van to go back to Antigua.
Despite the grimeiness, when I got back, I felt the most urgent thing was to eat. I washed my face and then went for food. I sat on a rooftop terrace on the shade and rested and ate. Then I went back to shower and nap. The rest of the day was gone before I knew it. I chilled in the hostel, on my fave sofa with a book before heading out in search of pizza and wine. On route to the pizzeria, I walked by the central park, where a bustling market was going on. I got various street food, including tamales, a corn based snack (with veggies and meat inside), which I hadn’t eaten since Ecuador in January! They were bloody delicious tamales, served with a delicious sauce. I ate various goodies after including a sweet corn and chocolate based drink. It was surprisingly good. I sat on a park bench for a bit amidst the market and read my book. After six months in mildy unsafe places, it felt very rogue to be sat in a park, alone, as a solo female after dark, but it also felt glorious. Antigua is beautiful and safe. What bliss!
31/7/23
Another early start today! The minibus was coming to pick me up around 6am to get to Lake Atitlan. Most people went to stay there for a few days, but since I was quickly running out of time, I could only do a day trip. It was better than nothing!
We arrived in a town on the edge of the lake in time for breakfast (my second breakfast of the day). It seemed some people knew what was included in the tour’s itinerary, but I hadn’t a clue! I spoke in my basic Spanish to the guide. The other people at breakfast were some chicas from Antigua and a US family with a Peruvian mother. They could all speak Spanish well. After breakfast, we walked into town and met some more people that were joining the tour. Most of the group was from the US – five teachers from New York, a mother-daughter combo, and a solo gal from New Orleans, Pamela. Then there was the US/Peruvian family, the Guatamalans, and a solo girl from South Korea.
We were apparently going to take a boat around a variety of towns around the lake. We set off in glorious sunshine to the first town, which was adorable. We walked through stalls on the streets, past vibrant street art, through cute church squares, and decorated narrow streets until we reached a honey farm. We had a tour there and the tourists bought many things (the backpackers not so much)! Afterwards, we went to a weaving cooperative, which was set up by a group of women that wanted to have their own income and increase the opportunities that their daughters would have. It was a good story and a successful business.
Afterwards, we moved towns for a coffee pitstop and then again for lunch and to see a particularly interesting church. While most of the grpuo went to a very toursity and expensive looking restaurant recommended by the guide, Pamela and I heade doff in search of something more genuine. We found a place with a solid menu, less pretty but cheaper and went for it. We ordered and shortly afterwards, a large local damily came in for lunch – we had nailed our choice! Our fresh fish lunch was delicious. Then we went via the market back to meet the others before headi g to the church. When the colonisers had brought Catholicism to Guatamala, they realised that they would have more success and less resistance in an indigenous community if the Catholic statues of Jesus, Mary and other significant people looked indigenous, and if the Shaman, a traditional medicine man was welcomed into the church. This was displayed in the church and still functioned across these two belief systems today!
When we came out of the church, the weather turned, and the rain bounced back up from the pavement. Within seconds, we were soaked. We made it back to the boats and buttoned down the hatches. Off we went, headed for the opposite shore. The boat set off at pace and stopped cutting through the water and was instead bouncing high off the waves. Water was coming in at the front of the boat. One of the other passengers screamed. The boat slowed, and the guide came forward to ‘crisis’ manage! We eventually were moving at a reasonable speed where the boat remained in the water more or less! After returning to land, I said bye to Pamela and then began the minibus journey back with the US/Peruvian family and some newbies.
I got back to Antigua when it was dark. I headed in search of a nice restaurant and again got waylaid by market food and a huge market style warehouse. I got some food and then wandered back to Central Park to sit and listen to a phenomenal improvising saxophonist with three saxophones with him! After an hour or so of listening, I headed home to sleep.
wanderingwelshie2 travels 