The Big Trip: Antigua

So, we have been in Guatemala for two days and already I have had one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

Antigua is a great starting point for Guatemala and is the perfect place to acclimatise for a couple of days or so. Click here for a brief history of the town.

We arrived yesterday morning from Guatemala City and found our way to our hostel Casa Amarillo (Yellow House), a lovely little place on the NW of Antigua (dbl room inc breakfast $14). We spent the remainder of the morning just chilling and wandering the streets finding a great Menu del Dia on the way (Casa de los Mixtas Q15. ATW, the exchange rate is Q14 to GBP1). In the afternoon we took a police guided tour up to the Cerre de la Cruz, a crucifix positioned high on a nearby hill overlooking the town and with spectacular views of the volcanos. Although quite touristy the area around Antigua is still quite dangerous with attacks by bandidos not uncommon.

Today has been amazing.

This morning we took a tour around the local Azotea coffee plantation and museum which also included a fascinating exhibition of Guatemalan and Mayan instruments.

We got a lift back into town with the owner of the plantation who described what it was like for the coffee producers in Guatemala. The coffee produced here is some of the finest in the world, however, the locals don't see much of it as the best beans are all exported, mainly to the US market. The Guatemalan coffee producers like so many producers around the region are seeing their modest profits squeezed as the large overseas buyers impose crippling regulations in their quest for consistent quality at low prices.

So, all you coffee drinkers out there, try to remember to buy FairTrade as when you´ve seen the working conditions up close you can really understand the pressures these people are facing every day.

So, we get back to town with just enough time to grab some supplies before embarking on our journey to Volcan Pacaya, an active volcano an hours drive south of Antigua. We are doing the night hike up the volcano as we were told that it has been very quite active recently with plenty of lava flow action to see. However, we were not prepared for what was to come.

After an almost two hour fairly strenuous hike up the side of the volcano with just our headtorches for light we clambered over a ridge, through a fence marked 'Strictly No Entry´to see an awesome sight of multiple lava flows on the side of the volcano about 200m away.

I thought this would be as close as we could get but with complete disregard to all health and safety regulations the shambolic tour leaders took us on a treachorous scramble over days old lava flows to within feet of one of the red hot flows. The heat was almost unbearable and the sound of the flow was like the loud crackling of exploding popcorn as the red hot magma crawled past us down the volcano side. Needless to say I had to get up real close to get those pictures but withdrew after the smell of buring rubber reminded me of how close I actually was.

I took up an egg to fry like you see in the documentaries but it broke in my pocket.

Got back to the hostel at half midnight. Tomorrow we are going to head towards Panajachel on Lake Atitlan by the local chicken bus.

What could possibly go wrong...