Do not eat yellow snow...
... always a good rule to follow in the UK. In South East Asia the rule was, do not swim in the unusually warm patch, good advice again!
In Central America the rule is, do not sit on the red rock, which again you cannot argue with!! This is Volcan Pacaya near Antigua Guatemala and we went here on our first of three visits to Antigua. We had been to Volcan Arenal in Costa Rica but there you had to stand 800 metres back, here you could get close enough to light cigarettes off the lava, if you smoked, and some people were even toasting marshmellows! A few people came back with melted shoes so it was a good job the no sitting down rule was followed. It is the kind of thing you see David Attenborough doing that you never think you are going to get to do yourself!
We now find ourselves back in Antigua for the third time before we head off to Ecuador and the last leg of our journey through South American on Sunday.
After my last travel post some time ago when we were in Nicaragua we have been up to quite a bit. We continued our route up through Nicaragua, stopping in Leon which is another fine colonial city, though with a more authentic feel than Granada and with a lot more Nicas, and then heading up to Esteli near the Honduran border. Here we did a trek up into the highlands to see local village life before jumping back on the chicken bus to Honduras.
Our second brief visit to Antigua was proceeded by a visit out to San Marcos on Lago de Atitlan, a huge crater lake encircled by volcanoes and simply stunning. Swimming in the pristine lake while the locals wash themselves and their clothes was good until some tripped out hippy turned up, stripped off and started worshipping the volcano - exit stage left!
Yesterday, we returned from a couple of days stay up in Flores where we also went out to Tikal, some of the best Mayan ruins in Guatemala. We travelled with our new friends Richard and Amy that we met in Semuc Champey and had a great time together. Unfortunately the food was awful in Tikal itself but we did out best to redress the balance in Flores and failing that the Gallo always tastes good!! The sunset over Tikal was great, we were sat on top of a temple with a couple of Canadians and all you could hear were the sounds of the forest that surrounds the site. 
Howler monkeys and exotic birds providing the only soundtrack with an approaching thunder storm on bass. The thing with thunder storms though is they tend to rain and boy did it do that. One minute we were admiring the colours of the fading sun, literally the next we were soaked through to the skin by the hardest rain I have ever seen acompanied by the thunder and lightning striking around us. We saw quite a few trees that had been felled by lightning blocking our path on the way out of the site and the paths literally turned into rivers. It was an incredible experience to be out there and one I will never forget. The ruins themselves are also great and we went out early the next day to try and catch the sunrise only to find the whole site shrouded in mist. Once it had cleared though we spent a nice time exploring the remains of this corner of the Mayan empire.
On crossing into Honduras from Nicaragua we headed up to Tegus, the capital of Honduras. I have not found a single other soul who likes the city, including Debs but I actually really liked it. It is very authentic and you would struggle to find many tourists but it has a great location, nestled between mountains with some cool churches and squares. As long as you do not mind having a guard with a shotgun sit with you while you drink your coffee on the main square it really is quite a nice city. Our brief stop there was followed by our first visit to some Mayan ruins at Copan Ruinas, a nice little Mayan prelude to warm us up for our later visit to Tikal.
So yes, here we are, back in Antigua and ready to hit the sack and get some sleep before another early start for our flight into Quito tomorrow morning. As usual we have not decided what we are doing from there, maybe Galapagos if the funds allow, possibly Columbia if the stomach allows - am sure we will reach some sort of decision on the plane!
Do not forget the videos and pictures with a "no verbal diarrhoea" guarantee!!
In Central America the rule is, do not sit on the red rock, which again you cannot argue with!! This is Volcan Pacaya near Antigua Guatemala and we went here on our first of three visits to Antigua. We had been to Volcan Arenal in Costa Rica but there you had to stand 800 metres back, here you could get close enough to light cigarettes off the lava, if you smoked, and some people were even toasting marshmellows! A few people came back with melted shoes so it was a good job the no sitting down rule was followed. It is the kind of thing you see David Attenborough doing that you never think you are going to get to do yourself!We now find ourselves back in Antigua for the third time before we head off to Ecuador and the last leg of our journey through South American on Sunday.
After my last travel post some time ago when we were in Nicaragua we have been up to quite a bit. We continued our route up through Nicaragua, stopping in Leon which is another fine colonial city, though with a more authentic feel than Granada and with a lot more Nicas, and then heading up to Esteli near the Honduran border. Here we did a trek up into the highlands to see local village life before jumping back on the chicken bus to Honduras.Our second brief visit to Antigua was proceeded by a visit out to San Marcos on Lago de Atitlan, a huge crater lake encircled by volcanoes and simply stunning. Swimming in the pristine lake while the locals wash themselves and their clothes was good until some tripped out hippy turned up, stripped off and started worshipping the volcano - exit stage left!Yesterday, we returned from a couple of days stay up in Flores where we also went out to Tikal, some of the best Mayan ruins in Guatemala. We travelled with our new friends Richard and Amy that we met in Semuc Champey and had a great time together. Unfortunately the food was awful in Tikal itself but we did out best to redress the balance in Flores and failing that the Gallo always tastes good!! The sunset over Tikal was great, we were sat on top of a temple with a couple of Canadians and all you could hear were the sounds of the forest that surrounds the site. Howler monkeys and exotic birds providing the only soundtrack with an approaching thunder storm on bass. The thing with thunder storms though is they tend to rain and boy did it do that. One minute we were admiring the colours of the fading sun, literally the next we were soaked through to the skin by the hardest rain I have ever seen acompanied by the thunder and lightning striking around us. We saw quite a few trees that had been felled by lightning blocking our path on the way out of the site and the paths literally turned into rivers. It was an incredible experience to be out there and one I will never forget. The ruins themselves are also great and we went out early the next day to try and catch the sunrise only to find the whole site shrouded in mist. Once it had cleared though we spent a nice time exploring the remains of this corner of the Mayan empire.On crossing into Honduras from Nicaragua we headed up to Tegus, the capital of Honduras. I have not found a single other soul who likes the city, including Debs but I actually really liked it. It is very authentic and you would struggle to find many tourists but it has a great location, nestled between mountains with some cool churches and squares. As long as you do not mind having a guard with a shotgun sit with you while you drink your coffee on the main square it really is quite a nice city. Our brief stop there was followed by our first visit to some Mayan ruins at Copan Ruinas, a nice little Mayan prelude to warm us up for our later visit to Tikal.Between our second visit to Antigua and Tikal we spent a few days near Semuc Champey. Semuc Champey is a beautiful limestone bridge with pools of turquoise water frequented by locals and tourists alike. It is a very relaxing place and I did my best to bring the back-flip to the Guatemalan world. I think I need a bit more practice myself first!! Having a high concentration of limestone also meant that there are an abundance of caves so we did a dusk trek to a local cave to see the bats as they swarm out at night for a spot of dinner. It is quite incredible to be stood in a middle of a cave with a thousand bats flying inches from your face!
So yes, here we are, back in Antigua and ready to hit the sack and get some sleep before another early start for our flight into Quito tomorrow morning. As usual we have not decided what we are doing from there, maybe Galapagos if the funds allow, possibly Columbia if the stomach allows - am sure we will reach some sort of decision on the plane!
Do not forget the videos and pictures with a "no verbal diarrhoea" guarantee!!
