antigua, guatemala

My shuttle from Honduras to Guatemala went smoothly. We departed early, and arrived by midday in hot, picturesque Antigua.

I didn't stop in Guatemala City, but an hour in traffic through it was more than enough for me.

Passing through Guatemala City we saw hundreds of police officers littered throughout the streets. Not too sure what was going on, but it must have been quite a large event to require so many police.

volcanic viewing from my hostel

You could easily wander around Antigua taking pictures the whole day. It's a great place to visit. And even though tourists are rampant in this corner of the country, there's more than enough locals and culture to balance things out.

This is a great place to shop for souvenirs. Bargaining is expected here, and vendors do their best to lure you into their shops. Once you start talking with one, it's tough to get away, so if you don't plan to buy anything, it's better to avoid eye contact in the first place!

Care to rent a phone…call?

One of many pimped out chicken buses.

One of the most famous sights in Antigua - the Santa Catalina Arch.

I went crazy over the textiles here. Colour-madness is pretty much always a good thing!

Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de la Merced y Convento

 Iglesia y Convento de la Recolección 

A guard called me over & chatted me up, then showed me a few locked off areas of the grounds. I'd just seen him do the same with 2 other female tourists there. Guess we all gotta get our entertainment somehow!

bullet holes

Back to the hot streets of Antigua.

In the afternoon I joined a tour to Parque Nacional Pacaya.

Pre-trail, kids surrounded us, yelling 'stick! stick! stick!' trying to sell us walking sticks. These other guys followed us half of the way up the trail by horse kept offering 'taxi' service up the steep trail.

A few dogs accompanied us.

The hike was steep in parts, but it wasn't as strenuous as I'd expected. It also helped that the sun wasn't too strong here and that breaks were plentiful.

We had great views of dried lava flow from active Pacaya which has already erupted twice this year.

Apparently there are 333 volcanoes in Guatemala, though only 33 have been declared.

There was a steep downhill section to get closer to the volcano and a lot of people slipped on the loose rock as they made their way down.

A man in our group from Ottawa guessed I was from Canada. He said the MEC pants were a dead giveaway.

poser

And then we roasted marshmallows over the hot volcanic rock.

Heading back, we took a slightly different route to get back onto the trail.

Nothing feels better than a shower and a change of clothes after you've been out hiking - even if you were just gone for several hours. At that point, your hostel bathroom and dorm can seem more luxurious than a five star hotel.