Central America - Costa Rica to Cancun: 3/20/11

Hola Amigos,

I finally got a chance to upload my photos! What an exciting couple days it has been! We havent been doing too much here in Antigua, just exploring the city, shopping, and eating well. There are so many nice restaurants, I would like to stay another day just for the food! We did some shopping a couple days ago at the Artesan mercado. I was feeling a little homesick and it was the perfect cure. I got these beautiful handmade leather Guatemalan shoes for about $17. We also collected all the flags for our backpacks. The mercado was beautiful with so much colour and amazing art. I wish we could have bought some but then we would have to carry it around for the next couple months. I was still feeling terrible stomach pains, so I decided to stay in while everyone else went out to the bars. I was feeling a little sorry for myself about my camera, and homesick still. I decided to try my camera one more time, afterall, my luck cant be that bad, can it? And guess what? It worked! I was so happy I welled up with tears, what a perfect day! It would be such a shame not to have my camera in such a beautiful city! I fell asleep feeling a lot better.

Yesterday, Greg was getting a little restless, so we booked a tour to go up Volcan Pacaya yesterday. We ate lunch at this delicious deli the day before and deicded to go there again yesterday to get some sandwiches for the journey. We got 4 sandwiches and an Aranciata San Pellegrino (my favourite at home), for about 115 quetzals (about 14 dollars). Everything is pricey here in Antigua but we arent letting that hold us back from having a good time. On the walk back to the hostel we Greg found 100 quetzals on the road! Looks like lunch was free! We sat up on the rooftop patio of the hostel, and watched the beautiful Volcan Fuego puff big black smoke from the top. It was probably the coolest thing ive ever seen. At 2pm, we boarded the bus for our tour. We arent really tour type people but figured it would be safer to go in a group. We drove about an hour and half out of Antigua, and parked at the top. We walked for about another hour. The views were amazing!!! You could see all of Guatemala city, and the three volcanoes around Antigua. We got over this ridge and saw the most amazing sight Id ever seen. This hugeee volcanic crater with smoke coming from it, and what used to be a river of lava, from the eruption last May, which is now unfortunately covered in ash. It was still very cool to see cooled lava, and walk across it to the fumaroles where we got a chance to roast marshmallows. Greg and I were amazed! We ate our sandwiches up on this ridge and drank a mini bottle of wine, given to me by a fabulous french canadian lady at our hostel. We then got to climb into this volcanic cave created by the last eruption (our friends who went on the 6am tour didnt get this opportunity so we felt very priveleged). The cave was AWESOMEEEE but suuuper hot. Words nor pictures can explain how amazing the day was. We felt like Frodo and Sam climbing Mount Doom, except we got to eat pastrami sandwiches, drink red wine, and roast marshmallows at the top. Sorry, J.R.R., sounds like a better story to me. We climbed down during sunset which was stunning, although the volcanoes were covered in cloud at this point, so the pictures werent great. We took the shuttle back to Antigua where we celebrated with margaritas and burritos at what is now my favourite place to eat, Tacontent. We slept so well after such a great hike.

Today, we´ve decided to move on to San Pedro, Lake Atitlan. We got news from the spanish school we wanted to study at that it was full this week, which is a bummer. We should have booked in advance. There are a few other spanish schools we will try when we get there. We booked a shuttle for 2pm, since it is only $1.50 more than the chicken bus-panga option, and much safer and direct. So right about now we are going to check out the Sunday market in the parque central, eat lunch at tacontent, and I am going to get some cloth weaves in my hair for super cheap. Enjoy the pictures! I know it is such a feast for the eyes an a lot to take in, but the pictures dont even do justice. Keep in mind also, that this is not the real Guatemala. It is a very touristy, very wealthy town. I am looking forward to the more cultural, less touristy side of Guatemala, but I enjoyed it here, nonetheless. Well, we are off to the market, then to the lake! Happy Sunday everyone, wish you were here! XO

(The pictures arent in order, and I dont know why. And I dont have the time or patience to move them around, sorry)