Antigua , Guatemala

I´ve made it! After a quick transit through Guatemala City in my private shuttle, I arrived in Antigua at 22h on 27th Sept. I opted for the luxurious and the safe option of booking a mini bus. My reward for doing this was to pay an extra 5 USD because the driver supposedly didn´t have change (after an exhausting 20 hour day travelling i really could not have cared!).

I have been staying in a quaint hotel called Casa Rustica which is situated 2 blocks away from the main square. Keeping with my (still) luxurious habits I went for a private room with shower which can sleep another 2 pple !!!

It has felt extremely odd to be surrounded by the odd cowboy or the mother and child in traditional dress and I am trying as best i can to soak it in. I am in Guatemala!!!

Antigua is a beautiful city situated approx 40 min from the Guatemala City. It is an easy city to stay in, the architecture is rich and colonial in style, the streets are all cobblestones and you only need to glimpse upwards to be mesmerised by the massive volcano watching over the city.

People have been extremely friendly and courteous , a smile being the only requirement to make contact. There are many travellers here, a lot of americans learning spanish or even older travellers wanting to discover Central America. Surprisingly I also noticed a lot of white women with babies , this i can only assume are western couples looking to adopt a local baby (this was confirmed to me later on).

If I made a list of the odd things I noticed this could include:

• Very long queues at the bank (this happens on a daily basis)
• Children wear school uniforms
• People love ice cream
• The exchange rate is 1USD to 7.5 GQT and breakfast cost 25 GQT at the hostel
• They have McDonalds and Burger King (both are very posh!)
• The winner of the Latin American Pop Idol was decided yesterday and he is from Guatemala (and is now a national hero!)
• It rains at least once a day and usually in the afternoon
• I can understand the accent (woohoo!)
• Travellers seem to be wearing Croks shoes thingies nowadays (aargg!)
• Instead of putting butter on grilled corn on the cob use lime and salt instead (yes like tequila!) it´s yummy.
• So far, I´ve met a french reporter called Ronan who was covering a piece on the guerilla wars in Northern Guatemala and the displaced refugees coming home (fascinating!) , two american women who thought that drinking red wine at 8 am was a good idea, some young american graduates that work in socially responsible investing (pretty cool!) and a father who is in guatemala waiting to adopt a child.

Next post - How I survived climbing the Pacaya Volcano.