Rio Dulce

Day 1 – Travel Day

Back on the road again, today we would be traveling from the top of Guatemala to the east. Our destination, Rio Dulce. Nothing of real note in Rio Dulce but it’s the jumping off point for the boat cruise that takes you to Livingston, our intended destination. We would be arriving too late to catch a boat so had booked a night’s stop-over in a hostel.

A 10 minute tuk-tuk ride took us to the bus station in Flores. No more mini buses though, this time we would be getting a Pullman, with air conditioning, leg room and hopefully a head rest. To date, none of the buses in Guatemala have had head rests, meaning that in the unlikely event of falling asleep, you soon wake yourself up by doing that annoying nodding dog thing!

 

 

The bus turned up and was a delight, all mod cons and we were soon sitting back and enjoying the scenery once again for the 5-6hr journey.

You can imagine our surprise when some 3hrs later, with Glenn taking advantage of the headrest and snoozing next to me, we entered a town and the Bus driver announced we had arrived, it was only around 1pm.

Pushing off the usual advances of agencies trying to sell you trips, hostels, and onward travel as soon as you step off the bus, I consulted my sat nav to find our hostel, a 5 minute drive away so we hailed another tuk-tuk.

Again, there wasn’t a great deal of choice hostelwise so we had booked a backpackers with average reviews as we thought it would just be a bed for the night. The Tuk-Tuk took us over a bridge and the driver pointed out various places of interest.

It was pleasantly and surprisingly nice. Rio Dulce is a safe harbour for hurricanes and full of yachts and yachtty types, with the odd down trodden traveller roaming around trying to get a job as crew on one of the many boats.

Our next nice surprise was that our hostel was directly on the water with lovely views of the Rio. If you ignore the huge bridge overhead with juggernauts flying passed, it was really quite nice.

 

 

 We checked into our room which was a little ram-shackled with a lopsided floor, but DID have a shower and loo, liking these little surprises.

 

 

 At a loss for what to do, we headed downstairs to have a ‘welcome to Rio Dulce’ beer. Here we noticed that you could book the boat trip to Livingston.  Glenn made the arrangements and the boat would be picking us up directly from the hostels dock the following morning, perfect.

 We then decided what we should do for the rest of the afternoon, choices being: wander back over the bridge and explore the town, or, chill out on the deck with a cold beer and watch the boats go by, we opted for the latter and spent a lazy afternoon blogging, reading and chilling.

 

 

 We had dinner in the hostels restaurant, I can’t exactly remember what we ordered but it did  involve corn tortillas (again).

Flores / Tikal

Day 1 – Another Long Travel Day

Today we were continuing with our whirlwind tour of Guatemala and were up early to pack, grab a quick coffee and then wait for our mini-bus to take us to Flores.  As usual we had to wait anxiously for the bus to turn up outside our hostel.

A mini-bus did not turn up, in fact it was one of the collectivo jeeps which we had to climb into the back of, standing and clinging on for dear life as we hurtled at speed over very bumpy tracks, our feet leaving the ground every few seconds.  As we went from hostel to hostel picking up more people it became very cramped and more uncomfortable. 

 

The one amusing thing that happened was when a stupid young French couple came on board with full beakers of coffee.  Once we had ensured we had moved as far away from them as we could, we were amused as the jeep bounced along at speed to see them trying as best they could to keep liquid in their cups, pretty much like ‘It’s a Knockout’ (One for our older readers!!).  In the end, I think they gave up and ditched them.

 

When the bus turned up we were unhappy to see that once again we were the last people to get on therefore had no choice where to sit on this cramped bus without air-conditioning.  I did slightly better than Shell, a seat without any leg-room, whilst Shell had a fold down seat that was half the size of a normal seat, meaning she had to roll up her top to pad the bar that was digging into her back.

The drive was going to be a long 8.5 hours long with a couple of comfort breaks, the first one at the McDonald’s that we had visited on the way in.  So we grabbed some breakfast there, Egg McMuffin’s had never tasted so good and the service was so quick it was untrue.

We then continued with our journey for a few more hours until the afternoon where we stopped for pit-stop two.  It was at a roadside shop/café where we had 20 minutes to stretch our legs and use the facilities.  At this point I thought it only right to swap seats with Shell, to be honest although the seat was uncomfortable I did get a bit more leg room.

The rest of the journey was about 3 hours and to combat thinking about how uncomfortable it was Shell and I plugged into our talking book and zoned out for the rest of the ride.

Late in the afternoon we finally came to the bridge that took us over a lake to the Island of Flores where we got off the mini-bus and went in search of our next hostel.  The hostel was a bit of an upgrade on previous ones and it was located right next to the lakes with nice views, however we had not upgraded so much as to get a balcony room overlooking the lake.  The room itself was very pleasant all the same.

Once unpacked we headed out to have a look around and find an ATM.  The small town was very quaint and we soon found ourselves in the main plaza, but no sign of the ATM, so we headed back towards the lake and soon found what we were looking for, cash!

 

Now that we had some more readies we headed around the side of the lake to where we found a lakeside bar with a good deal of buckets of beer.  So, we found ourselves a seat, then moved due to the amount of midges and then ordered ourselves a bucket!  Enjoying the view as the sun went down this then turned into two buckets.

 

After we had finished our drinks it began to pour down so we made our way across then road to what looked like a nice restaurant. We both opted to go for traditional local dishes, however when the food turned up although it was different we found it to be quite bland, no hint of the spices suggested on the menu.

After we had finished eating we headed back across the road as I had seen a couple of pop-up tents where the local ladies were selling various food, included what looked like nice cakes.  Opting for what looked like a nice dense moist slab of cake and then Shell persuaded me to get another one that looked a bit like bread and butter pudding.  Sampling both the bread and butter pudding one quickly went in the trash can as it tasted very much like fried fat, however the dense cake turned out to be banana cake and was delicious!

Having my fix of cake we then returned to our hostel for a relatively early night as we had to be up the next day for a trip to the ruins of Tikal.

Day 2 – Mayan Ruins

Waking up to a lake view was pleasant and our trip today was starting at a decent time so we managed to get a nice coffee and drank it whilst overlooking the lake.  As usual though, we had to sit around and wait for our mini-bus which as usual was late.

 

 After we had been picked up we drove around the island collecting a few more passengers before we drove to the airport where there was another pick-up for people who had just flown in.  most of the people were elderly Americans and for once we were the youngest people on the trip.

 The bus then travelled for about 30 minutes until we pulled up at a shop where the guide led us to a room where it had a scale model of the whole of the Tikal Mayan Site that we were visiting.  He gave us some brief history regarding the site, Mayan culture and the route that we would be taking once we got there.  After this we were then given 10 minutes to pick up some bits from the shop and use the facilities, being told that it might be quite bitey there, we picked up some overly expensive mozzie repellent (we had forgotten to pack  ours).

It was then a further ½ hour drive until we reached the entrance to the Mayan site.  I felt a bit sorry for the guide as two mini-buses had been merged into one large group and at the entrance there was a toilet break and loads of touristy shops.  It resulted in people wandering all over the place and the guide looking very frustrated as for him it was like trying to heard cats!

 Once he managed to get everyone back in one place we then started a very slow (due to the age of the group) walk into the park.  Along the way, we spotted some spider smonkeys and the guide stopped at regular intervals to give us information.  Apparently one of Guatemala’s biggest exports years ago was the gum from a tree he was pointing out, Wriggley’s used to harvest and export this for their chewing gum products. This stopped and they now make it out of synthetics.

 

 After walking for about twenty minutes through the jungle we came to the first of the Mayan Ruins, which was a large stone pyramid with sacrificial alters at the bottom that had been partially excavated.  Tikal is a world heritage UNESCO site the second largest Mayan settlement in Central America and is currently only 20% excavated.  The Guatemalan’s are continuing to excavate the site but it is a painfully slow process due to the jungle which has imbedded itself into these ruins.

 Whilst we stood looking at this first pyramid the guide gave us information regarding the place.  The Mayan’s had lived and built it from 800 BC to 12000 AD, continuously living here for 2000 years (take that you rubbish 100 year Inca’s!).  The classic period though is considered to have been between 600 – 900 AD, presumably when they had been on top of their game, building wise.

 

 From here we were led across to a standing stone which had carvings on it depicting one of the many kings.  The guide went on to explain that these were a memorial to remember the dead king and also give a written history to the Mayan people so the king would not be forgotten.  The inscriptions on the stone, when translated, gave details of the kings name and when he ruled.

 The guide then led us to a back of one of the larger stone pyramids which was really impressive and he gave more information regarding the site (at least to the people who could be bothered to listen, rude bloody Americans!!).  He pointed out on nearby building, the different styles of building and how techniques had changed during the settlement here, pointing out some classic period buildings with carving of some of their gods on them.

 

 At this point the guide explained that the walk was going to be a little tougher and pointed out an easier route for those who felt they could not do it.  Once a couple of people had opted for this we headed off and we had a small climb over some of the ruins to one of the main Mayan squares.  Here we got to see some of the royal residences which surrounded a grassy central area.  The guide took us round some of the ruins showing us inside some of the rooms, which incredibly still had the original wooded beams and lintels supporting them.

 

 After we had wandered round here for a bit we were then led through some buildings and we came out in the main square.  The sight was quite awe inspiring with two of the largest pyramids on either side, alters and other buildings surrounding a central grassy square.

 The guide explained a bit about what they thought would go on here and then he gave us 30 minutes to have a look around and climb one of the pyramids if we wanted to. We looked around taking picture for a while but passed on the climb as we wanted to save ourselves for the biggest one.

It was now baking hot so we found a seat under a tree in the shade and just sat and admired the view.  Whilst sitting there one of the native critters, a coati, wandered past completely unfazed by all the visitors.  I must say however there are a lot less tourists here than at other places we have been to like Machu Pichu.

 

 We all met back up with the guide and he then took us through the jungle and advised us to watch out for all the tree roots along the way.  As we walked we suddenly started hearing very loud animal calls and after checking with the guide he confirmed that these sounds were from the resident howler monkeys.  Although they became very loud unfortunately we did not manage to get any sightings of them, but it was pretty magical to be walking through a jungle containing ancient Mayan buildings whilst listening to the calls.

 Our final stop was at the largest excavated pyramid in the Tikal complex and the guide stopped here giving us ½ to either climb the pyramid or sit and take a rest here.  Shell and I had saved ourselves for this one so we quickly went ahead and started to climb the wooden staircase that led up the back of the building.

 The climb was not that bad and after about 10 minutes we found ourselves at the top.  The view from the top was wonderful, above the canopy with jungle as far as the eye could see.  Looking across this vista you could see the odd Mayan pyramid poking through which made for nice pictures.

 

 Once we descended and the guide had rounded everyone up we then had another walk through the jungle, spotting a colourful woodpecker along the way, to where we were going to stop for lunch.  There was a large dining area where we all sat down to have some lunch, we got chatting to an elderly English couple from Devon who were very interested in our travels.

 

 After dinner, we then had to walk back through the jungle to the park entrance where we all boarded the mini-bus to take us the hours journey back to Flores.

It was now late afternoon so Shell and I thought it would be nice to walk around the promenade that surrounded the lake.  As the island is only about ¼ mile in circumference this took all of ten minutes and we soon found ourselves sat back in the bar from the day before.

 

A couple of buckets later (not as bad as it sounds, only 5 small beers in a bucket) and we were feeling a bit tired so we headed back to the hostel.

Once back inside we suddenly realised we were hungry so I went out to see if there was anywhere that did takeaway food.  Reporting back to Shell that I could only find an Italian, she was happy with this so I went back out to get us some spaghetti.

The restaurant was very busy so I had to wait about 45 minutes until I got our food, allowing me to have another cheeky beer whilst I waited.  By the time I got back I found Shell anxiously waiting on the porch of the hostel, apparently worried as I had been so long, that or she was desperate for food!!

As it was valentine’s day we went back to our room and ate our spaghetti Lady and the Tramp style (actually I just made that up!!), before turning in .

Lanquin / Semuc Champey

Day 1 –  Travel Day - Welcome to the Jungle!

Being the brits we are, we were packed and ready 15 minutes ahead of time, just in case the mini bus decided to turn up early as god forbid should we keep people waiting! Despite 15 months of everything turning up late we haven’t unlearnt this habit. True to form and after a 45-minute wait, we boarded a very packed mini bus for the 9hr journey to the middle of Guatemala and to the jungle.

 

We were stuck on the back row, not ideal as you feel all of the bumps but we kept ourselves amused by listening to an audio book together, enjoying the amazing scenery (Guatemala seems to be made up of mostly jungle) and trying to avoid the water dripping on us from the air conditioning, at least we had air conditioning.

 We had a couple of comfort breaks, one at a McDonalds. There were no other choices so it was good to enjoy a guilt free Big Mac when you should be enjoying the local cuisine. We just had time to pick up some mozzie cream (needed for the jungle!) before we boarded for the 45 minute, very bumpy decent into the valley on Lanquin where we would be staying.

 We were deposited in the middle of town and found someone waving a plastic card with our hostel name, after showing us to a tuk-tuk, we were soon on our way with our bags crammed in the back, it seems our hostel was right on the edge of town.

It turned out that an Aussie couple who were on the minibus was also staying at the same place. 3 things I can recall about them. 1: they were only 2 months into their 12-month journey (lucky gits), 2, they were only paying a 5% fee to the estate agent to manage their home, I’m paying 15% (smug gits!), as a teacher, he gets 80% of his wage for a year whilst he’s traveling (gone off them now!)

Something weird happen whilst we were waiting to check-in. We were in the middle of the jungle so I had a long-sleeved top on. Suddenly I felt a painful burning sensation on my arm, we were in the middle of listening to smug gits story so I distractedly rolled my sleeve up and flicked a bug? Ash? off and decided to deal with it later.  Only when getting to our room did I see that I had what looked like a weeping burn on my arm, weird as my long sleeve wasn’t damaged but something had managed to crawl up my sleeve and do some damage! Weird! Ask and I’ll show you the scar when we get back.

 

 There isn’t a great deal of choice in Lanquin so hostels are a little pricy and basic, ours had a small very basic bedroom, shared bathroom, opposite a generator with an open sewer outside!

Hey ho, we went in search for a welcome beer!

 As we were on the edge of town, we decided to go to the hotel restaurant that offered a basic menu of grilled meat, chips, veg and warm beer. We decided instead to treat ourselves to a bottle of red instead and enjoyed that and the food whilst being entertained by a weird fluffy mammal running though the rafters. It looks a little like a possum but it’s not, we never did discover what it was.

 Day 2 – Pools and pedicures

What with the generator and the cockerels waking us at an ungodly hour, myself and a very grumpy Glenn went across for b/f. The b/f’s are huge in Guatemala and always served with around 5 corn tortillas (that get a bit boring after a while) so you fill yourselves up for the day.

 We were heading to Semuc Champey, famous for its amazing natural rock pools. To get there we had to take a collectivo, which is basically an open truck you stand on the back of and hold on for dear life as it careers up and down hills and breaks excessively.  Our truck had to make a trip into town first so we had a chance to get a glimpse of the village and village life first which was nice.

 

 We then headed for around 30 minutes up and down winding roads through stunning jungle scenery! This is what travelling is all about, hanging onto the back trucks, rumbling through dusty roads, passing, banana, coco and many other plantations, breaking for the odd chicken or small child, we both loved it and something we will never forget!

 

 After pushing off the drivers rather insistent offer of waiting for us and asking for a return time, we made our way to the ticket office and paid a small fee to enter the national park. We made our way along a crumbling path until we came to a sign announcing Mirador with a path leading up. There was a local lady who had just come down and as I was about to follow Glenn up the path, she warned me that it was incredibly muddy and slippery and to take care. She said it was between a 30-40 minute climb!

 

 Glenn, hearing this and knowing I might have one or two concerns, hoofed it up the path ahead of me so I had no choice but to follow him! By now you know how unstable I am on my feet. The hot sticky 40 minute very steep, rocky and slippery journey was spent with me effing and jeffing, sobbing that there was no way I would be able to make it back down, and leering at Glenn’s back. When we finally made it to the top Glenn announced “well isn’t that view worth the hike?” to be fair it was, absolutely stunning but I wasn’t willing to admit it!

 We had overheard a woman talking about her trip to Semuc Champey earlier, she had said it was lovely but not worth the journey. Being on the road for so long, we do tend to take things for granted so wasn’t expecting too much but we were both blown away by it, absolutely stunning and the pics just don’t do it justice!

 

 Whilst there, a couple of people came along with a tour guide, we had noticed that there was another path down but it looked like it might be steeper than the one we had climbed. The guide assured us that it was a much easier path which made me cheer up a bit.

 

We also met a bloke from Manchester up there who had just visited the caves and told us it was the maddest thing he had done. I told Glenn that we would just concentrate on getting off this bloody mountain first before he would throw me into my next life threatening adventure.

 True to the guides word, the path down was much easier and we were soon scrambling over rocks to get a picture of the waterfall before heading to the pools themselves for a well earnt dip.

 

It was amazing!  We had been to rock pools before but these were by far the best, the water wasn’t too cold, not too many tourists and the scenery was stunning. I swam to the shallows and noticed that little fish started to come along to nibble my feet. You know the tanks you see where silly sods pay a fee to have a fish pedicure? It was those fish! It tickled but was strangely nice and as I hadn’t had a pedicure in all our time traveling, I settled in for a bit of beauty treatment.

 

I called over to Glenn to join me and, given his gnarly hardened skinned football feet, they zoned in on him, he must have had about 10 on his big toe alone. With little crys and yelps of “I don’t’t like this, make them stop” from Glenn, I laughed so much that I may have let out a bit of pee! (payback for Mirador!). But after a while he got used to it and we must have spent about an hour there chatting, enjoying our foot treatment and being grateful that we had made the trip.

 

Once we had dried off, we followed the trail to some more stunning pools and waterfalls before making our way back to the entrance. We would have stayed longer but it was now late in the day and we wanted to see what the caves were all about.

 

 We grabbed a quick drink at the entrance and then made our way over a bridge, towards the caves. It was around 4pm so we had just managed to catch the last guided tour. We were told to strip off to our swimmers and to hand over all of our valuables as we would be getting very wet. We were introduced to our guide who didn’t speak English, handed a candle each, a candle, no helmet, no life vest, just a candle! and then made our way to the path.  

 

 As we started our assent, an Aussie guy came running along who wanted to catch the last tour, we would be glad of this later as we made him go first. Given it was a steep climb up, I didn’t think he would appreciate my wobbly bikinied bum in front of him so let him go ahead.

 At the mouth of the cave, the guide opted not to give us a safety briefing and instead lit our candles, gestured to keep our arms up and in we went.

 Aussie first so he could find the submerged rocks that you crashed into, Glenn second and then me. We were soon up to our necks in water and then out of our depth, pulling ourselves along with ropes or trying to swim with a candle in your hand in pitch black.

 Now, I’m probably the stronger swimmer out of the two of us and more confident in the water, as a result Glenn struggled a little more than me and doused his candle twice!. Vengeance is sweet, Mirador Glenn, Mirador!

It was all going quite well and I was enjoying it (Shel not Glenn) till we reached a small waterfall with a rope you could climb up through the water. Aussie went first (we are not stupid!) and it looked a bit of a struggle so we both took the ladder route instead. The ladder was fine but very slippery and led to a crevasse at the top which you had to walk across with gushing water, slipper rock and about 20cm wide, if you fell you wouldn’t recover in a hurry if at all. No helmet and a candle for light, scary!

 We made it through and then more swimming, rope pulling and shin crashing through the cave, hitting our heads on (I think) stalactites and tripping over stalagmites and relighting Glenn’s candle occasionally until we reached the end.

Here, we were told we could climb up a jagged rock and jump into the water. Fuck off! Aussie did decide to do it however, he clambered up, jumped in and survived.   Glenn, (I think trying to get some kudos back after the candle dousing) decided he would give it a go. He climbed up, taking care not to rip his back on the cave ceiling, and jumped. He survived!

It was now time to turn back and retrace our footsteps, strangely it was harder than the journey in! imagine climbing down a metal slippery uneven ladder in pitch black!. Luckily for me, Glenn was in front of me and helped me find my footing but when we reached the crevasse again we both broke out into a sort of a nervous giggle, it was madness!

We made it to the mouth entrance and hugged each other (Aussie included) and congratulated ourselves on still being alive. It was at this point we noticed our frazzled hair and black smoke stains from where the candles had burnt us. We were so shit scared we hadn’t noticed we were setting our hair on fire! It was also at this point we noticed the signs to enter at your own risk and the company would not take responsibility for any accidents.

 

 There was a option to do some tubing after this but as it was now late we thought it would be cold so headed to the road to find a collectivo.

 One came along pretty quickly but was packed so the journey wasn’t so pleasant on the way back as you had to hold your arms out rigid otherwise you would be slammed against the bar or into the next person, the driver was a bit heavy on the breaks too!

 

 We headed to the restaurant for a very well earned beer before returning to the room for showers.

 Our choice for dinner was grilled meat, chips but no veg, they had run out! In the middle of all this vegetation they had run out! We enjoyed that with the half bottle of wine they had left before retiring to our room and going to sleep to the sound of the generator.

Antiqua - Part II

Day 1 – Volcanos – Indians Nose - Geology Lesson!

It was a very early start today as we had booked a trip with an English geologist that takes you up the mountains and explains the volcanic history of this area,  we had been recommended this trip by a couple in the Snug Bar.  So, it was a 4am wake up alarm and once ready we had to wake the night watchman in reception to let us out of the building.

We walked to the top of the path and waited for Matt to pick us up, he turned up in his 4x4 just after 4.30am and he introduced himself and his dog, spike, who liked to come along on these tours.  Getting into his jeep we then drove for around 20 minutes along bumpy roads and passing small villages, where Matt gave us information about them and the trades they traditionally did there.

When we entered one of the villages Matt parked up and we got out whilst he got prepared for the hike, this included putting on a very large machete which was slightly worrying.  Although he said it was for protection he said he has never had any problems or been involved in a machete fight!! (there are reports of being attacked on some of the hike trails around Guatemala)

Leaving the village, we started off on a dark path and started to climb to The Indians Nose, which was a large mountain overlooking the lake and when viewed from a distance it had the profile of a face. Walking along with torches to illuminate the way we gradually started to climb with Spike chasing back and forwards past us, Matt was very informative along the way.

Climbing for about 45 minutes we reached a point known as the Indians Moustache where we stopped for a breather.  Matt told us this is where most of the organised tours stopped but you didn’t get a full view of the lake and we were going to the top.

After a small rest, we then headed up for about another 20 minutes until we reached the peak, The Indians Nose, it’s odd that the tour parties don’t come this little bit further (there were only three other people here).  Once at the top Matt produced a flask of coffee and then he let us settle down to watch the sunrise over the lake and volcano’s, of which there were several.

 

As we sat there enjoying the view we suddenly saw the nearest active volcano’s blowing out a few puffs of ash, although it wasn’t quite the eruption we were hoping for, but nice to see none the less.  We sat and watched the volcano and sunrise for about 30 minutes until Matt said it was time for our lesson.

Matt then started to tell us all about how volcanoes are formed and the different types.  Using a stick, he drew various diagrams and timeline in the dirt and gave us a very passionate and informative lecture on volcano’s and geology.

One of the most interesting things was how Lake Atilan was formed.  Million’s of years ago the volcano’s in the area formed and eventually a massive lava chamber under the ground exploded (this is called a mega-volcano), which created a huge hole in the ground, the earth sank (huge crater) and was filled by water forming the lake.  However, over time this occurred a further two times and he pointed out two other mountain/cliff faces surrounding the lake where these explosions took place.

With a lot of mathematics including cubic mile of ash he explained that when Mount St Helen’s went off it spewed out ¼ mile of cubic ash (if compressed).  When these mega-volcano’s went off it would have produced 20 cubic miles of ash, the evidence being that the whole of Guatemala and surrounding countries would have been buried in ash and all rock faces and land are made up of this layer of ash.

Still with me?  He said that one of the biggest threats to humanity is if another mega-volcano exploded it would wipe out half the world. Unfortunately for us the most likely place for this to happen is just near Italy, which would theoretically wipe out the whole of Europe.  When I probed him for his thoughts of which would happen first, a meteor strike or mega-volcano, he went for the volcano!

Once he had completed his spiel he said it would be good if we could return quite quickly as one of the roads was under repair and closed for ½ at a time.  We went back down the hill at double pace whist Matt was still talking to us about geology and Spike was belting up and down past us.

Despite getting down quickly, when we got to the road,  it was shut. After a quarter of an hour he said it may be quicker if we walked the rest of the way, we waited 5 minutes more and the traffic started moving so Matt took us back to our hostel at waited for us to collect our bags.  Matt then drove us back to the main quay so we could catch the boat back…just in time!

We waited for a while until our boat turned up, but we were unlucky as it was quite full which meant we were quite close to the front when we took our seats.  The lake was quite choppy which meant a very bumpy crossing with the people at the front taking the brunt of it.  Despite the choppy conditions and getting a bit wet, Shell who was behind me struck up a broken conversation with a sweet old local lady named, Maria-Isabelle.

After 45 minutes of banging up and down and Shel trying to speak Spanish, we got off the boat, but we had about an hour’s wait until our mini-bus was due to pick us up.  As we had already been up a number of hours and were quite peckish we found a nearby café overlooking the lake to get some breakfast.  Well I say breakfast, it  was more of a brunch with tortilla, fried beans, guacamole, eggs and bacon, delicious!

Around midday our mini-bus picked up to take us back to Antiqua, there were no direct buses to take us to our next destination.  It was another 2 ½ hour cramped ride whilst we passed the time reading.

Back in Antiqua we checked back into our original hostel and then went back to the travel agency to pick up our bus tickets for our final leg of our Guatemala trip.  What to do next??  Well we thought there was no better answer to return to our new local, The Snug, for a couple of refreshments.

When we got there, there was a bit of a charity event going on with a band playing in the corner and shots of peanut tequila being the main source of charity donations. We were enjoying the atmosphere and the beers were flowing and I was consuming a lot of free peanuts that were on the bar.  So afternoon turned into night!!

During the proceedings some local guy said he would shave his beard off for the charity (Nino’s de Guatemala/Children of Guatelmala) if a certain amount was raised, it quickly was and soon he was shaving it off.  Ed’s (barman) girlfriend then declared she would shave her head if a certain amount was raised, which we donated to, once again this was quickly raised. 

As the scissors came out Shell went into project manager mode and oversaw the shaving process, making sure the girl wasn’t in any  pain and also helping out with the cutting.

Well the evening went on with plenty of beers, we vaguely remember chatting to a Northern Couple from Leeds that were just starting their travels.  So we most probably bored them with plenty of advice and recommended they contacted the Geologist guy, Matt, if they were going to the lake.

It was a really fun night and the barmaid told us the computer had gone down so didn’t know what our tab was (which was a good thing), so we guessed at it, paid her the money and wobbled back to our hostel.