Guatemala

Day 20 - Friday 29th July 2005 - into Guatemala

It was immediately clear we were in a different country when we reached Guatemalan immigration (and it wasn?t just that Spanish was being used - much of western Belize seemed to use dual languages anyway), but everthing seemed much more chaotic. We filled out the required immigration forms, but as we have protective clear plastic covers on our passports the immigration official also wanted us to pay 20 Quetzales (about $3US each) because he "coudn?t" swipe them electronically. But, as encouraged by our guidebook?s author, once Ian asked for a receipt this additional charge was eventually waived. (We did see various other tourists handing over various amounts in all sorts of currencies, all of which simply went on to a little pile of notes under a coffee mug...)

Once sucessfully in Guatemala, we needed to change more money as we wouldn?t see a cashpoint for several days. The exchange rates on offer seemed pretty terrible, but we did need Guatemalan currency! Over a lunch snack we bumped into a Belizean tour guide, who confirmed that these rates were the best we were likely to get - he even brought over a money changer to us and got the same rate himself. We didn?t really have a plan of how to get to El Remate, our destination for that evening. We decided we should try and find a bus (known throughout the country as "chicken buses" as a result of their passengers?not infrequent hand luggage!). But after following our guidebook?s instructions and asking a number of locals we failed to even find the terminal, so eventually opted for a passing "colectivo" minibus instead. This turned out to be a good option, as for an extra $1US or so each, we were in relative comfort and were dropped in the centre of El Remate, rather than a couple of miles away, where the public bus would have left us.

On retrieving our backpacks from the roof of the minibus (we would have to get use to leaving our packs out of sight on buses from now on...) we were accosted by a group of 5-6 year olds, who were keen to help us find some accommodation. Unfortunately after almost 2 weeks in English-speaking Belize, we couldn?t speak much Spanish at all, so the kids?continual chatter was something of an annoyance. Even more so when, after about an hour, we still had not settled on a place to stay. A couple of our preferred choices from the guidebook were fully booked, another provided little more that open-sided huts, more suitable for shelter from the sun that to spend any time in in the wet season. Eventually we settled on a place a little up the hilside, with great views over Lago de Peten Itza from the terrace.

We selected one of the better looking lakeside restaurants and once again Ian ordered something without knowing what it was. Fortunately it turned out to be a very tasty chicken, rice and beef dish, which was lucky!

Day 22 - Sunday 31st July 2005

Hooray! A lie in. After a good, filling and bargain breakfast at a little streetside "Comedor" (Comedor Susanas) we packed up and started wandering along the road south in the direction of Flores, our intended destination for the night. Almost immediately we were picked up by a minibus to Santa Elena (just across a causeway from Flores itself) and arived 30 minutes later. We planned to catch an early bus the next day to Guatemala City, so looked (unsucessfully) for the bus terminal. We were more sucessful locating an ATM, but only at the fifth (and final) bank noted in our guidebook.

We turned down numerous offers of tuk-tuk rides to Flores and walked across the causeway (Flores itself is a town / island in lake Peten Itza). After checking into our hotel and dumping our packs, we orientated ourselves with the town by walking around it slowly twice (which took less than an hour!) and then sat down for a lakeside beer and lunch.

Back at the hotel we bumped into a British girl who had just broken her foot and was hoping to get back home for it to be reset. We chatted a bit, but there was nothing we could really do to help her. We relaxed on the upstairs terrace overlooking the lake, watching a storm brewing on the other side (in the direction of El Remate). Once again Nikki was confident that we wouldn?t get caught by the storm, but only about half an hour later we were sheltering from torrential rain in our room and delaying heading out for Happy Hour drinks just down the road. We bought a couple of cheeky beers at the hotel reception to see us through and, once the storm appeared to have passed, headed out for Happy Hour, where we got 4 beers for Q30 instead of Q8 each (what an offer! - we later noticed that everyone else seemed to be drinking cocktails, so we assume they were the real bargain...). But we did get some lemon-flavoured peanuts - an interesting combination that intrigued Nikki!

We found our chosen dinner spot, but the recommended dish of the day was off (or all sold, we couldn?t tell) and we had to order something twice as expensive...

Day 23 - Monday 1st August 2005 - onward to Antigua, Guatemala

Up, packed and out for an early breakfast before our long bus journey to Antigua (via Guatemala City). After much wandering around Santa Elena again and several requests for directions, we found the bus terminal (nowhere near where our maps showed it) and were pleased to have arrived only 5 minutes before the 7:45am bus to Guatemala City and get seats. However, the bus eventually left 40 minutes later (there was supposed to be another bus at 8:30, but presumably not that day...). Oh well, at least we had started our 8-10 hour (!) journey to the Guatemalan capital.

We had assumed that today would be a short diary entry, but apparently not...

The bus stopped frequently, at one place Ian bought some pastry snacks and both there and elsewhere street vendors would pass through the bus selling food and drinks. At one stop we noticed that the driver had ordered lunch, so we did likewise.

Unfortunately, of the four dishes on offer there was nothing we could recognise and we didn?t understand any of the Spanish descriptions provided! so, we took pot luck and both opted for "something" of beef (the same dish the driver had). We really should have checked in our phrase book before ordering as when Nikki did check we discovered we had beef tongue! It didn?t taste as bad as we first feared, but we were not going to eat it all and tucked into the rice and salad instead. Shortly, the driver finished his meal and headed over to the petrol pumps for a cigarette (!), so we chose to stay where we were. But suddenly everyone else seemed to be back on the bus and the bus was leaving. We hurriedly made to join it, but were told that the bus was just going to the local town and would be back in 20 minutes, so we could stay there and finish our meal (at least that is what we thought we were told). Immediately after the bus had left us behind, Nikki started worrying - after all, we had left our backpacks on the bus. There was nothing we could do other than hope we had understood correctly! Fortunately it seemed we had as after a while the bus returned :-)

Many hours later we arrived in Guatemala City (the journey had taken about 10 hours), but at least it was still light, just! We had almost forgotten about the 3 turkeys that one passenger had brought with him in plastic shopping bags, all the way from Santa Elena - they had been so quiet all day!

Our guidebooks were full of warnings about the safety in Guatemala City, particularly in "Zona 1" which was where all the bus terminals are located. So we made our way along the 5 blocks to the terminal for the Antigua buses and jumped straight on one, which was filling with commuters. Now, when we say "filling" that doesn?t really convey the scene. These buses are old American school buses, so have small tightly packed double seats, but in Guatemala each double seat has room for at least 3, if not 4 people and the conductor is not satisfied that the bus is actually full until 20 or 30 more people are also standing in the aisle! Anyway, on this occasion we had a seat (or at least part of one between us!)

After a hair-raising journey (we didn?t expect such an old bus to be able to corner at those speeds!) we arrived in Antigua, now well past dusk. We couldn?t tell whether we had been dropped off at the bus terminal or not, so asked a local. She looked at our guidebook map and said we had not and gave us directions to the town centre. A quarter of an hour later or so we were lost again (there appeared to be almost no road name signs in Antigua). We asked for more directions a couple of times, eventually realising that the first two sets of directions had been incorrect! But at least we now knew where we were on our map. So we headed off to find somewhere to stay. The first couple of places we tried were full and the third a bit pricey for a basic room. We eventually ended up at a decent place not even a five minte walk from where the bus had dropped us (which did indeed turn out to be the bus terminal!)

We needed to get something to eat pretty much immediately and again ordered the cheap dish of the day, which was again unavailable, so once again spent more than anticipated.

Day 24 - Tuesday 2nd August 2005 - Day 1 of Spanish School, Antigua, Guatemala

A bit of a lie in and a good breakfast at a pretty little courtyard restaurant. Now it was time to select a Spanish school.

Day 25 - Wednesday 3rd August 2005 - Day 2 of Spanish School, Antigua, Guatemala

We both thought we had been offered juice at breakfast, but we were served eggs - we definitely need to get to school!

Day 2 at school was certianly still very tough, but a distinct improvement on the first day. Nevertheless, after 4 more hours Ian needed a beer, so we headed for a cheeky pre-lunch drink. However, we mis-judged how big Antigua is and were late for our first family lunch - oops! In the afternoon, we visited an old colonial church and convent and the ruins of the old cathedral that was destroyed by a couple of earthquakes in the 18th century. We treated ourselves to some cookies to eat whilst doing our homework, which we tried to finish before dinner. Dinner was again a fammily affair, which despite our limited ability to communicate, was good as we not only got the same food as the family (which was always palatable and occasionally very good), but also got to listen into some authentic latin american spanish conversations. After dinner and finishing homework, we had a couple of drinks and crashed out - I didn?t remember school being so tiring!

Day 26 - Thursday 4th August 2005 - Day 3 of Spanish School, Antigua, Guatemala

School again. We definitely feel that some progress is being made, but we?re not sure how much we?ll actually know by the end of only 5 days.

After lunch we had agreed to join a visit to a local macadamia plantation - a trip organised by the school. As it turned out, we were the only ones on the trip (it is a small school after all) and we were accompanied by two teachers. We really should have realised that this trip would be another opportunity to practise our flaky Spanish, but we hadn?t and our conversational ability was still pretty limited (especially without our notes!). We travelled on another packed chicken bus and at the plantation opted for the tour in English. Nikki was even given a quick facial (using macadamia oil-based products). Earlier in the day we had opted to use a laundry service for the first time, and so we picked up our clothes in the afternoon - they were cleaner than we had been able to get them for a while! Then back home for more homework and a family dinner again.

Day 27 - Friday 5th August 2005 - Day 4 of Spanish School, Antigua, Guatemala

Last day at school before the weekend. Ian had a better morning, speaking a lot more, albeit somewhat hesitantly! During our mid-morning break we even managed to arrange (in Spanish) for some repairs to be made to a pair of Ian?s shorts.

After lunch we shopped for some basics - it?s unbelievable how many pharmacies there are in one small town! We had intended to have an afternoon snooze, but instead found ourselves at Cafe Sky, which had a fabulous view of Volcan Agua, towering over the town. At first we were the only ones on the roof terrace and Nikki was enjoying watching the clouds, but we had obviously started a bit of a trend and we were soon chatting to some other language students from the UK and the US.

We just had time to book a trip to climb Volcan Pacaya before dinner. With no school tomorrow, we forgot about our homework and headed out. We ended up in a bar with a ladies? night, where Nikki made the most of free rum and cokes for a couple of hours whilst Ian had to pay for his Caipirinhas.

Day 28 - Saturday 6th August 2005 - Volcan Pacaya

A painful 5:15am alarm! - our trip to El Volcan Pacaya (one of only 3 active volcanoes in Guatemala) was due to leave at 6am. Given that we had opted for the bargain basement tour (which turned out to consist of a bus and a guy leading us up the mountain) we were pleased that there were only about 20 of us on the trip.

Rather alarmingly, a couple of times on route to Pacaya, the bus (not a chicken bus - hooray!) doors swung open, but by 8am we were safely in San Francisco where the ascent began. Some people set off at a rapid pace and Nikki was soon struggling, but we plodded on at the back of the group avoiding the persistent offers of a horseback "taxi" ride up the slope. After the steep start, the route improved until we had left the forest behind. The enormous cone of Pacaya loomed just ahead of us (at least it did when it was not completely shrouded in cloud). The last 30-40 minutes of the climb was the toughest, largely climbing up volcanic sand / rubble. However, we eventually made it.

No one was allowed right to the top, but rather just to a "view point" about 100m lower. Apparently you can sometimes look up from there and see lava shooting out of the top of the mountain. But there was so much cloud that we only occasionaly got glimpses of a vista down the mountain side. We were also very wary of the high winds that could have easily blown someone over the edge. Nevertheless, we eventually did see a small amount of red hot lava seeping out of the side of the volcano, turning black as it cooled and rolling away down the mountain side.

The first bit back down was in deep volcanic ash, which was best negotiated at speed whilst holding onto each other for added balance (an experience somewhere between skiing and moon walking!). The rest of the way down was much easier and although we realised that on the outward trip, we had probably had some of the more safe and comfortable seats on the delapidated bus, we were safely back in Antigua for lunch.

We found a recommended Asian resturant and decided to try it - we certainly felt we needed a change from typical Guatemalan fayre of chicken, rice, beans and tortilla... It was pretty good, but a bit pricey (actually only about 12 GBP for both of us - but we do have a budget!). Back home for some much needed rest, but after dinner we were out on the town again.

We found a great deal on litres of beer (2 for 40 Quetzales - about 3 GBP), but after a couple decided on a change of scenery. However, just around the corner we got caught up in a mini fiesta, with half a dozen or so peaple in costume and dancing around (one on stilts, which was impressive). The fiesta ended with a large number of firecrackers being set off just above the heads of those gathered around and we all quickly ran away from them. By the time this had finished, it was raining heavily and we opted to return to our previous bar for more litres of beer and ended up staying until closing time.

Day 29 - Sunday 7th August 2005 - Antigua, Guatemala

Our homestay did not include food on a Sunday, so we had a lie in and then enjoyed a great buffet brunch in the centre of the town. Most of the rest of the day was spent editing the large number of digital photos we have already amassed! We chose another travellers? place for dinner and had to wait well over an hour for any food, but it did give us the chance to practice Spanish whilst we waited. Back home for Nikki to do her homework.

Day 30 - Monday 8th August 2005 - last day of school

Last day in school today. Nikki managed to cram in 2 versions of the future tense together with one of past tense in 4 hours! However, Ian wasn?t happy about how much he had forgotten over the weekend :-(

Thanks very much to Neil & Tracey Berry for "sponsoring" this part (Spanish School) of our trip!

After lunch we took a stroll up out of town to Cerro de la Cruz (Hill of the Cross), which offerred fantastic views over Antigua to Volcan Agua. Hector had recommended walking a litle further up the hillside to a monument where we rested for a while. Back in town, we checked out the picturesque (and expensive) Casa Santa Domingo, built on and around the site of some old coloniial ruins. Another quick visit to Cafe Sky before dinner - by now we were somewhat resigned to the fact that we wern?t great conversationalists, not least in spanish! - and then out for a drink to celebrate finishing school.

Day 31 - Tuesday 9th August 2005 - our last day in Antigua

We had arranged to stay with Maritza (and her family?s collection of smelly dogs) for one more night to give us some time to do some chores. Began by dropping off some more laundry (that?s so much easier than hand washing everything ourselves!) and then edited more photos at our now regular internet cafe. However, they couldn?t burn CDs, so we had to find another one as we wanted to send a copy of our photos home for safe keeping.

After lunch we checked out the Artisans market but avoided buying anything, which turned out to be very fortunate, as we had not realised the cost of sending a package back to the UK. We soon found out though and, after deciding that we probably could not get the (small) package home cheaper any other way, we paid the 369 Quetzales (about 28 GBP) charge. Somewhat ridiculously, the largest stamp available was 10 Q and therefore we had over 35 stamps to fix to the package!

After our final family dinner, we headed out for another Ladies? night. This time Nikki had to pay for her drinks (!), but only 2 Q (about 15 pence) for a simple cocktail. Once again Ian was more expensive, but he did enjoy several mojitos!

Day 32 - Wednesday 10th August 2005 - Panajachel, Lake Atitlan

It was a bit of a novelty to be packing our bags again, but we were soon on our way to the bus terminal, where we found a bus to Chimaltenango. Once there, our bags were unceremoneously dropped off the top of the bus, where Ian sort of managed to catch them. Fortunately nothing seemed to have been damaged. We had expected to catch a connecting bus directly onwards to Panajachel (Pana), so boarded the first one whose conductor said that was where he was headed. We were later dropped off by that bus and ferried onto another, but this third bus didn?t go to Pana either and we had to change once more. So after four chicken buses (but no chickens!) we reached Pana and it wasn?t even lunchtime yet!

On arrival, we were somewhat disorientated - the bus had entered town from a different direction to that we had been expecting, but we soon sorted it out and found a great little place to stay (Casa de Hespuedes de las Hermanas) for 60 Q (less than $10). We got to like Pana even more when we tasted our lunch from the streetside cafe Las Palmeras, very tasty and cheap lasagna and grilled fish.

We had decided to check out the Reserva Natural Atitlan and so headed there after lunch and took a short walk up through the forest to a waterfall and a nearby viewing platform where we watched the local spider monkeys for ages. We also saw a few coatis (member of the raccoon family) foraging around too.

Back to the hotel for a couple of beers in the pretty garden. Long ago we had had decided that even the best Guatemalan beer required its taste to be masked by some fresh lime, but we hadn?t bought any, so Ian went to ask the owner whether their little shop had any. It didn?t, but we were delighted when she picked a lime fresh from a tree in the garden for us! As we could, we went to a Uruguayan grill for dinner for excellent steak and then for a couple of happy hour cocktails at about $1 each, before heading home.

Day 33 - Thursday 11th August 2005 - Jaibalito, Lake Atitlan

After a really peaceful night?s sleep, we made a slow start to the day and enjoyed a huge breakfast at the cocktail bar from the previous evening! Unfortunately none of the cashpoints in Pana appeared to be working, so we resorted to changing a couple of our limited supply of travellers cheques (even then the only place we could find to change Mastercard cheques was a grocery store!)

Day 34 - Friday 12th August 2005 - Jaibalito, Lake Atitlan

Day 35 - Saturday 13th August 2005 - San Pedro, Lake Atitlan

Time to move on again and get back to budget accommodation! But first we took the opportunity to hike west along the lake path to Tzununa. We were fuelled by breakfast, particularly Ian who had been served possibly the three thickest pancakes ever - who said that we would only get beans and rice on this part of the trip?

We reached Tzununa after about 90 minutes, enjoying more fabulous views along the way. Apparently heading to the next village was occasionally dangerous, due to robberies, so we headed back to Jaibalito, picked up our bags and headed to the dock.

Almost immediately we picked up a lancha to San Pedro La Laguna, apparently a popular traveller and hippie hangout. Our guidebook had warned that street names were considered somewhat unnecessary in San Pedro and attemped to give directions for first timers. However, inevitably, we took a while to find our bearings and got a little lost before finding a basic but clean place to stay (Hotel Villa Sol). Now without our bags, and following a second reading of the guidebook?s directions, we headed out to find some lunch. Once again we failed to link the two parts of town (each near one of the docks), but did find a great (and popular - especially with the more hippie types) bar and resturant (D?Noz) where a huge soup and bread set us back only 10 Q (about 75p) each. Even though Ian lost half his garlic bread to an opportunistic local dog, we saw the size of everyone else?s portions and made a note to come back for dinner!).

So far San Pedro had been pretty quiet, and so it continued when it came to dinner. Eventually we chose pizza and pasta from a garden restuant on the track between the docks (we were starting to find our way around!). We followed this up with a few Cuba Libres (rum and cokes, with lime) at a ridiculously cheap happy hour.

Day 36 - Sunday 14th August 2005 - San Pedro, Lake Atitlan

Another lazy start. Wandered out to the hotel looking for some breakfast and stumbled on a church parade with a band and loads of children dressed up as various things such as cowboys, wise men, flowers and even fruit and vegetables. There were also a couple of "beauty queens" (aged 12 or so) at the back of the procession.

We investigated the other dock (the Santiago dock) and had a garden breakfast. We were still both really tired and headed back to the room for a post brunch doze!

Later, we wandered to the Panajachel dock, this time working out the shortest route across town (almost none of which involved using actual roads!) and booked ourselves on a guided hike for the follwing day. That was pretty strenuous(!), so we stopped for a beer and milkshake on the way back.

We had decided to go to the Alegre pub for the evening (inticed by their offer of roast dinner and a quiz night!). We thought that the quiz night would be a good opportunity to chat to some other travellers, perhaps joining forces for the quiz, but almost everyone was doing the quiz in couples. So we knocked back a few litres of Sol and gave it our best shot. We ended up marking the quiz answers of the couple on the next table, Sarah and Stuart from Eastbourne, and chatted to them for the rest of the evening (they are spending time sailing around the Caribbean, but had come inland due to hurricane season). Anyway, they must have been generous with their marking as we came third in the quiz and won ourselves a beer (to share!). We failed to get an early night...

Day 37 - Monday 15th August 2005 - Indian Nose, Lake Atitlan

...so the 5:15am alarm call was not appreciated. Nevertheless armed with hangovers (or at least Ian was) we readied ourselves for our walk with some sustainance in the form of cornflakes and UHT milk, classily presented in our blue plastic mugs!

A bit after 6am Pedro and Pedro led our group of 8 people and 4 dogs (although we didn?t think the dogs needed guides!) out of San Pedro. We passed through San Juan and then started climbing. We were taking it easy, but were pleased not to be the slowest. However, after about half an hour?s climbing, the two girls who had been lagging behind us quit, leaving us trailing at the back.

However, the views back from the trail over the lake were fab and worth going slowly to appreciate fully. After a couple of hours we made it to the "nose" (this and the surrounding peaks looked, from San Pedro, like the profile of a Mayan Indian) and enjoyed a sit down and a couple of cereal bars.

After about an hour at the top, chatting a little to our fellow hikers, we headed back down the steep trail and made it back to San Pedro in time for breakfast (well, by 11:30am at least). After a short siesta, we hit the internet cafe (this online diary, really does take time to write!).

We had a busy evening planned, first back to the Alegre pub for a starter of quesadilla and a couple of beers, then down the road to D?Noz for dinner and watched the film "Ray" on the big screen - it was packed.

Day 38 - Tuesday 16th August 2005 - Kayaking on Lake Atitlan and onto Santiago

Another lazy start and breakfast back at Little Italy (you can?t turn down a decent omelette with extras for only 12Q!). Ian had been keen to do some kayaking, so we hired a double (called "Nicky") and took it out on a 40 minute paddle along the lake to a small black sand beach, where we bumped into a couple from our Indian Nose hike of the previous day. Although the water was cold, we had a brief swim, before drying off and paddling back.

We tried another restaurant for lunch (Tin Tin), which served up a great burrito for Ian and a yummy falafel with pitta for Nikki. Then it was time to pack our things again and move on.

Once more we headed down to the Santiago dock, but this time actually to catch a ferry to Santiago Atitlan, the largest town on the lake and about a 1 hour trip away. We both fell asleep and were not quite prepared for the reception the boat got at Santiago, where it was surrounded by kids and tuk-tuks offering hotels and rides. Our plan had been to go to the tourist information centre and arrange a hike for the following day, but we found the sign to the tourist centre fixed to the front of a souveneir shop (and no tourist info), so had to work out another plan.

We wandered back to the dock and keen to avoid the "assistance" of the local kids arranged with a short guy called Miguel to take us to a backpacker hostel Nikki had found on the internet. It turned out to be a 20 minute walk along the lake and through fields of corn to the hostel, but although the rooms seemed fit for a backpacker hostel, the prices did not! Miguel offered to take us to many other places and we eventually agreed on looking at the cheapest one! It really was super basic, but at least clean-ish and cheap - and we had a private bathroom with a HOT shower! - but it came with plumbing that made the bathroom smell awful...

We solved our dilemma of how to undertake the hike we wanted (out to a viewpoint where you could see as far as the Pacific Ocean) when we arranged with Miguel that he would meet us in the morning and take us himself. After a brief wander around the centre of town we sat down for a beer at the dock. Tamara (a Yugoslav / Israeli, also from our Indain Nose hike) came along a little later and joined us. It was soon getting cold, so we headed back to the hotel and then out for dinner at "El Pescador" - possibly the town?s finest (and only?) restaurant, where surprise, surprise, we were the only diners.

Day 39 - Wednesday 17th August 2005 - Mirador de Tepepul

Cornflakes from plastic mugs again for breakfast. Then at 7am Miguel turned up - we had only given him half his money in advance, so we were reasonable sure he would!

He led us off at quite a pace, which was surprising given how short his legs were! On the edge of town we passed a cemetry / memorial for several locals killed in an incident during the civil war and headed past it through fields of maize and later coffee. We were hoping to see lots of birds on the walk but all we saw was a flock of green parrot-like birds flying overhead.

After about 90 minutes (of what Miguel had told us was a 3 hour walk) we arived at the Mirador, there we could see through the haze to our first glimpse of the Pacific on this trip. We got a much clearer view the other way, back to Lago Atitlan. Miguel took us a different route back, with a short detour down into a forrested valley, where we didn?t see any of the quetzals (Guatemala?s national bird) as they apparently like clouds and had most likely flown up the mountain to where it was still shrouded in clouds.

We?d not been able to communicate much with Miguel on the walk (due to our lack of Spanish) but we did ask him to take us to see Maximon (the evil saint, worshipped around here). We sort of knew what to expect and yes, in someone?s front room there was a 3 foot high statue being fed beer and rum whilst lit cigarettes were placed in his lips! After 5-10 minutes we headed back to the hotel for our bags and back to the dock, where once again we walked straight onto a ferry to Pana (somehow the tout sold us 15Q tickets for 10Q, which was fine by us). We took 2 of the 3 outside seats and enjoyed the view and the sun. We could see a dark storm over Pana as we approached, but luckily it moved west along the shore so we missed it. Ian also managed to squeeze in another snooze!

We had liked Pana so much previously, that we decided not to leave immediately, so returned to the same restaurant (Las Palmeras) for lunch and ordered the same food as previously. Then we checked into the same guest house (Casa de Huespedes Las Hermanas) and took the same room! Despite a lengthy internet session there was just enough time for a beer in the garden again (with a lime from the tree, again). We had a slightly disappointing Asian meal at Las Chinitas - it sounded much better on the menu - before catching the last hour of the Big Match. Yes, it was Guatemala vs Panama (a qualifying game for the 2006 World Cup). We were lucky to find 2 seats with a good view of the TV in our favourite bar which offered 2 for 1 caipirinhas. Ian coudn?t quite think of the right words to describe the sub-mediocrity on display, but the locals were getting very excited, especially when Guate won 2-1 with the last kick of the game.

Day 40 - Thursday 18th August 2005 - on to Xela

Day 41 - Friday 19th August 2005 - Market day at San Francisco el Alto

Up reasonably early, but neither of our 2 chosen breakfast options were open yet. However, we did find a good alternative (Cafe Los Balcones). As it was Friday, it was market day in San Fransisco el Alto, reputedly the largest market in Guatemala, and we walked to the Rotunda to catch a bus there. There was only one bus there, but luckily for us it was going to San Francisco - hooray!

Having arrived in the chaos of market day, we wandered somewhat aimlessley through the streets, all filled with stallholders and market goers. We kept on climbing through the town and soon found ourselves at the animal market at the highest point. Here a diverse collection of pigs, cows, chickens, turkeys, pigeons and (at least by the time we arrived) a single very ragged sheep were for sale. There was not a fence in sight and many of the owners were struggling to restrain their charges. As light rain started we headed back down the hill where many of the stalls were covered with tarpaulins. We wandered past numerous several fruit and veg stalls as well as othe selling all manner of items, including rather oddly, a large number of old fashioned sewing machines, and eventually found our way to the main square and the church. We had hoped to climb up to the top of the church's tower for a good view, but this didn't seem to be possible so we rested for a while inside, whilst the rain continued. During a break in the weather we headed back down to the bus station and almost immediately caught a bus back to Xela.

We were a little concerned that our bus had not taken our usual route into the city but were eventually relieved when we were dropped in Xela, but unfortunately on the far side of town (actually we were at the bus station! but we hadn't been there before). It took us about 10 minutes to find our way past all the old buses spewing noxious diesel fumes at us, and then it was another 20 minute walk in steady rain back to the centre and lunch - great for Nikki's cold!

At least we had made a good choice for a lunch venue. We had fabulously filling 'menu del dia' at the Cafe Segrado Corazon for less than $3 each. As Nikki was still struggling with her cold, she planned to rest for the rest of the afternoon. But once back at the hotel, the heavens opened and we both sat in our room reading, playing scrabble and watching the rain.

When we were hungry again it was still raining heavily, so we chose to go to the closest resturant (Cafe el Arabe) for some middle eastern food. By now we were both under the weather (in more ways than one!) and athough the starter of humous and pitta bread was very good, the rest of the meal was disappointing and expensive, so we headed back home (in the rain, again) and finished our game of scrabble - Nikki was victorious! - just!

Day 42 - Saturday 20th August 2005 - Los Vahos, near Xela

We had decided not to force ourselves out of bed at 5am to climb Volcan Santa Maria, but rather hoped we would feel better soon and climb another day. So we had a lie-in and headed for Cafe Enano's (the 'dwarves' cafe - presumably because the ceiling upstairs was at somewhat less than head height!) We ordered from the menus and received something not entirely dissimilar. The unwritten bill however, bore no resemblance to the menu's prices! Having sorted that out, and reduced the bill by about 20%, we stopped briefly at the hotel before heading out for a walk.

We were heading to Los Vahos, a natural hot steam 'baths'. Our route took us along our road all the way to the edge of the city and then up past a view point and further. The directions in the guide book were somewhat spartan, so we didn't really know where we were going. After a while of climbing and then walking along a pleasant path through fields we were uncertain whether we were still going the right way. With Nikki's cold, we didn't want to get lost in the rain that looked like was on its way, so Ian approached a boy lazing in one of the fields and got some directions. We headed off, but one of the boys companions (Victor) obviously didn't have much to do and followed us to make sure we went the right way! To start with he just hung behind us and then he suggested a short cut over a hillock and through a field of maize. Eventually we reached the school, from where the route was much clearer and he headed off. We called him back to give him a small tip for his help.

After another 20-30 minutes we passed a few spots where the road was literally steaming and soon reached Los Vahos itself. Our guidebook described it with reference to a cave, and it looked only a little better! For 20Q each we got a private 'changing room' separated from a shower room by a plastic curtain, which was separated from the 'steam cave' by another curtain. Basically the house here had simply been built on the spot where steam naturally came out of the mountain and each of the steam rooms had a couple of holes in the floor where the steam entered. Consequently there was no temperature control! and Nikki couldn't stand the heat for more than a couple of minutes, rather enjoying the only marginally less intense heat in the shower room. In any case, when we left after about an hour Nikki's cold seemed to have benefitted from the whole experience!

The rain we had seen on the mountains near the city on our way to Los Vahos reached us on our way back to the hotel and, waterproof jackets notwithstanding, we were thoroughly drenched. The main street near our hotel had turuned into a quick flowing river about 3 or 4 inches deep! We chose to dry off in Cafe Baviera over a couple of irish cream cappucinos and yummy crepes, then back to the hotel to get a shower and some dry clothes.

After a couple of dissapointing dinners in Xela, we had decided to go for pizza today, surely a safe bet. And Guiseppe's Gourmet Pizza was great! We shared a huge pizza and sucessfully arranged, in Spanish, for olives to be swapped for jalapenos. We were also pleased to see that this was one of the busiest resturants we had been to so far and that most diners were locals. The beers were cheap too! After that, we popped into Salon Tecun, just off the main square for a post-dinner drink, but could only find outside space, and it was too cold, so we left after one.

Day 43 - Sunday 21st August 2005 - Traditional Dance Festival, Totonicapan, near Xela

We had seen a number of posters advertising an annual dance festival at Totonicapan (Toto), the first as far away as our Hespuedes in Pana. So we had planned to head there and see what it was all about.

After a quick breakfast at Utz Hua, a small place near our hotel, we walked out to the Rotunda again to catch a chicken bus. Once again there was only one bus there, but once again it was going in our direction! Hooray!

After about 90 minutes (and a scenic tour of numerous local villages!) we arrived in Toto (quite a while for only a 30km journey). Once again we didn't really know where we were going so followed the crowds up one of the calles (streets) and soon came to a busy plaza. We wandered around and saw a number of different sections, each with its own dance taking place. It was all very bright, busy and colourful with the dancers wearing masks and costumes. To begin with, we didn't really know what was going on, but still took lots of photos.

After a while, Nikki managed to buy a programme with some explanations of where each dance was, which village the dancers were from and what the dances depicted. This helped a bit. As we watched, it became clear that the dances were more "dramatic narratives" than "dances". This was particulary the case for the dance of the shepherds, where one dancer played an adulterous shepherd and the other dancers spent the whole dance whipping his legs! (The programme commented that the "adulterer" often had to spend several days in bed after a performance, recovering!)

We continued onto another plaza and saw many dances including the dances of the Mexicans, Monkeys, Conquistadors, Moors and the Christians, Deer and Cowboys...

After a couple of hours, guess what? - It started to rain - again! Having rejected lunch options at various market stalls (largely because we saw that raw meat was being dragged over cooked meat all the time) we stumbled across the American Coffee Shop for a very cheap lunch (but, due to some difficulties in ordering, not much food!).

Our bus back to Xela today took us to the right side of town and we soon headed out again (despite the rain) to try and find a guide or tour for a hike the following morning (Nikki still wasn't feeling fully recovered, so we had opted against the "difficult" climb up Volcan Santa Maria). After walking around for a bit with no success in increasingly heavy rain on what was, after all, a Sunday afternoon, we decided to abandon the hiking option and leave Xela the following morning. So Ian went to check on the times of direct bus departures to Guatemala City.

Somewhat fed up and completely soaked, Ian chose a Mexican restaurant for dinner (La Taqueria), hoping for a hot and spicy meal. However, as it was still cold and wet, it was unfortunate that most of the restaurant was in a semi-open courtyard! The food was also a litle disappointing, but at least Nikki managed to use her Spanish skills to arrange for us to take out a litre of beer. As Nikki still wasn't drinking, Ian drank it all during our card game, and still won!

Day 44 - Monday 22nd August 2005 - Xela to Chiquimula

Back to Los Balcones for another good breakfast. A quick stop in a book exchange to get Ian a new read and then a few minutes of very cheap internet use before heading to the bus terminal that Ian had checked out the day before, for the 11am departure. Unfortunately, the 11am departure shown on the departures board was from Guatemala City to Xela, not the other way around, so of little use to us! The bus we wanted didn't leave until 12:30. We checked out another bus company, hoping for an earlier departure as we really didn't want to spend a night in Guatemala City, but their next departure wasn't until 12:45. So we "chilled out" for a while in a sunny, if busy, plaza. Eventually we boarded the bus for the 12:30 departure. It was a fairly uneventful journey, notable (despite being a "direct" service) for stopping for anyone who looked like they might even just be thinking about going our way...

We had chosen the bus company so that we would only have to walk about 200 yards between bus terminals in Guatemala City, so we could really limit our time there again. Our next destination was Chiquimula and there were only 2 bus companies going there, but remarkably their terminals were on opposite sides of the same street. As a result, as we approached, we were mobbed by about a dozen guys, trying to get us to use their company's service. It had been a long time since we had felt this popular! In any case, we bought our tickets in the first office and got on a bus leaving only 5 minutes later.

This was definitely a more comfortable bus than the Xela to Guatemala City service and we didn't slide around so much around corners, but it still stopped for everyone. The scenery heading south was great, but after a couple of hours night started to fall. Despite the dark, Nikki was kept entertained by plenty of lightning all the way to Chiquimula although it didn't actually rain until about 10 minutes before we got there. On arrival we were dumped on the side of a street (not at the terminal, as we had been expecting) in the pouring rain.

We checked where we were on our map with a couple of locals and rushed through the rain to the Hotel Hernandez (the Hotel Las Palmeras, our first choice, turned our to be rubbish!). Despite it already being 9:30pm, we even managed to find our way to the Hotel Chiquimula, where the restaurant was still open for dinner.

Day 45 - Tuesday 23rd August 2005 - onto Honduras

We had a decent breakfast in Hotel Victoria, followed by a couple of cheap but uncomfortable hours on the internet, before heading to the "bus station". With a little direction, we found it hidden between the market and a residential street. As we approached there was some argument between a couple of bus company employees as to which bus we should get on. It was decided for us that we would get on the second bus, the "directo" to the border. After a yummy lunch of banana danish pastries Ian had picked up from the bakery next to our hotel, the bus finally departed. We had rightly assumed that a directo service meant that we didn't have to change buses, but after passing the same bit of road at least 3 times as the bus dropped off and picked up school children from lots of rural villages we wondered how long it might take to actually reach the border.

We eventually arrived at the border at El Florido, although it wasn't immediately obvious. We soon managed to locate the immigration office, but were slightly confused by the fact that the Guatemala exit office was past the Honduras entry office! Anyway we paid a couple of more or less official fees and headed into Honduras.