Of Lava and Beaches

So long time since any update. I blame it on Tom´s stank, this is what happens when you only bring 3 t-shirts. I look at the title of this thing as I try to convey the last five days, and I can actually say magical...magical in the sense that we´ve somehow managed to survive through one week here.

After a night in the barbed wire compound known as Hotel Aueropuerta, we decided that we were way over our heads to try chicken bussing it to Antigua, and better judgement hooked us up with a shuttle that was far safer and faster than anything Tom and I could have gotten ourselves into. We ended up quikcly finding our saviour and base of operations, Black Cat hostel. Recommended by a guy I met in Alaska the cheap cost (8-10$ a night plus breakfast), not to mention a plethora of english spoken was hard to beat. We spent most of the first day walking around town, checking out churches and generally trying not to be overwhelmed.

A few gallo´s (think a cheaper corona) and we found the confidence to move onto bigger and better things. We found some cool folks at bar at the hostel and made our way to the local gringo bar to catch the red sox game. From there we decided that salsa was in order, and off to La Sala. As we walked by the packed dance floor bouncing live salsa music though the fear overtook us. We are white and though I can kinda dance by American standards, there was no way in hell I could even get a spot on the floor in Guatemala. So we decided to pass on by, and head back the only two and half blocks to our hostel. We were somewhat nervous about waling around at night as we had been told if you´re going places, make sure to be with a group. So seeing the Policia on the corner only a block away from the hospital, we were like ¨yes, safe!¨. Oh how wrong we were, suddenly the policia start walking towards us and next thing you know we are spread eagle with our hands on the wall getting the sunset rubdown from the local pigs. Fishing hard for a bribe, our complete misunderstanding or non-comprehension of spanish finally benefited us. They eventually got so tired of ¨que?¨and ¨no hablo espanol¨that they finally let us go without one quetzal out of our pockets. Legs shaking uncontrollably we made the last block home safe.

After a morning of sleeping in and finding the local market, we found the local tourist area and signed up to take a little tour. Turned out to be the best decision up to that point, of our short trip. We got a sweet tour of a local museum of mayan and local music and instruments, and then walked around the self guided tour of the local coffee plantation. The thing was in spanish, but I think I caught most of it. The coffee thing, was absolutely amazing. My dad would have been in heaven! An interesting night at the local ¨lover´s¨cafe (great atmosphere if you were on a date, not so passionate if you´re staring at Tommy in soft candlelight across the table), but fun nonetheless.

Saturday Morning we fought ourselves awake at 5:30 in the morning to head to Volcan Pacaya. This hike was absolute madness. It was like a zoo trecking up this Volcano. Aside from the 25 or so touristas, there was a ton of locals pedaling sticks for the climb and rides on the horses up the steep muddy rutt of a trail. Calls of ¨Taxi Blanco, Taxi Negro¨ wrang throughout the jungle. After pack muleing it up the mountain for about an hour we found orselves at the top of a gorgeous vista staring out at lava fields not 14 days old. Huge huge mountain, can´t stress it enough. You could see some of the live lava flows, and I thought that´s as close as we were going to get. All of sudden though our guide is leading us right down to the flow. God bless not being in America. No way in hell in the states you would be allowed to just walk up within as close as you could humanly stand to a live lava flow. It was mind blowing. We have some sweet pics of Tommy stabbing the lava with a stick and the ensuing backdraft that follows, but who knows when that will get up. A guy was even roasting marshmellows on the dang thing. Quite the experience for sure. That afternoon we made our way to the market, where I quickly realized I suck at bargaining. After getting relatively gypsied on some gifts for people I finally realized my errors, and got out of there until I learned a little more about the cost of goods.

The next day we made our way to Monte Ricco. We´d had enough of the rain, and had heard good things from my sister´s friend, who suggested it. Montericco is like the local beach for all the folks from Guatemala city to party at on the weekend. So when we got there Sunday morning, we quickly found the place packed to the gills with hungover locals. The first place turned us away (though we would later find, they were completely empty that night), and we made our way to Del Fin. We walked in to find some pretty meager accomidations, but we thought we were hard core and could deal with it. 5 $ a room how could you beat it? After four hours in the place though with mangrove slat walls, incessant chirping parakeets, mosquitoes, and blaring local reggae-ton, we were at our wits end. A walk further up the beach led us to our savior and the nicest place we´ve stayed at so far. Cafe del Sol had private, secure rooms, clean, with a private bathroom for 10$ a day, which was more than worth it. We quickly moved out of Del Fin, (luckily getting out money back) and spent the rest of the day chilling like villians at our own private pool. We were literally the only guests besides a honeymooning coulple up front. That night we had a few beers with 24 year old half Swiss half Guatemalan manager of the hotel, who stands to be the next Donald Trump of Guatemala. The kid has vision and the means to do it too, an inspirational dude.

Monday we got up early for a tour of the local mangrove forest, and the rest was an all day beach extravaganza. The sun came out, and it was all we thought it would be. We found some people at the spot that first turned us away, and ended up wasting the day away throwing the disk, trying not to die while swimming in the ridiculous rip tides, playing soccer with some local kids, and what seemed like a never ending game of volleyball with some other backpackers and and the local fisherman. My team ended up holding court for at least an hour and a half, and my shoulders have the sunburns to prove it. Tommy ordered some amazing local fish at the restraunt, and I ended up with some tasty fresh shrimp alfredo for 7$. One of my favorite days thus far.

Today we spent the rest of the morning lounging in the hammocks reading, and enjoying the sunshine. Then made our way back to Antigua before we head out tomorrow for San Pedro de Lagoona on the lake.

Well, sorry for the length. Maybe we´ll keep things more frequent, in fact hopefully. Thanks for the comments, they are fun to read. We are seriously trying to get up some pictures!