ANTIGUA

It's allllll about Pacaya...

After yet another ridiculously long bus journey we arrived in Antigua. Safe to say the buses in Guatemala are a thousands times worse than those in Mexico but you do get from A to B just a little sweatier than when you started. 

There was simply one goal in Antigua and that was to climb the volcano 'Pacaya'. It is around 50km away from the city and is one of the 37 volcanoes that populate Gautemala. I was a little aprehensive as i havent really climbed or hiked anything properly in the last 10 years but i booked it anyway and hoped for the best. 

Safe to say it wasn't easy and the 1hr 30min climb was enough for me. It wasn't really the hardest climb but the altitude was what got me the most. Ever since arriving in Mexico City and travelling through places that sit high in the mountains i had noticed how quickly i lost my breath. Just walking up the stairs makes you breath a little harder. The effort was 100% worth it though, the view is amazing and our guide was excellent. We took marshmallows to toast on the hot rocks at the top and although we didn't see any lava it was an amazing day. 

At 6pm we all sat at the top and watched the sun go down and then got our flashlights out for the dark descent. The 90s tunes that our driver played on the way back to town had Olivia and i singing the whole way and that night was probably the most satisfying beer of the whole trip. 

Yay to Antigua and yay to Pacaya!! 

You rock and so do we!!!

GUATEMALA... SAN PEDRO

The cheapest beers and the best best Tortas... perfect neighbours. 

Our last night in San Cristobal turned into a bit of a late one which was potentially a bad idea as we had a bus booked for 6.30am the next day to take us across the border to Guatemala and our destination of San Pedro on Lake Attitlan.

Up until now all of the buses i had taken were pretty dreamy…. things changed dramatically once we were in Guatemala. I didn't really consider that it would be difficult to get across the border but it was. First we were picked up by a shuttle, then an hour later we changed to a larger bus, then we stopped 800m shy of the border and had to haul or bags up a hill and literally walk over the border. After paying the illegal exit tax for Mexico we hopped on another shuttle which took us all the way to the lake. Great we thought we are here…. oh no just walk down there and get on that small boat with 20 other people. 12hrs, 3 buses, a  30 minute boat journey and an argument with the boat owner later we arrived! We ate an enormous amount of curry and drank many beers and went straight to bed. Exhausting is all that can be described as!

Lake Atitlan is a huge lake... i believe 18km wide at its largest. There are lots of small towns that sit on its edge and we ended up in San Pedro, i have to admit we did a lot of partying and the 6 nights we spent there were filled with drinking games, parties and late lazy mornings swimming in the lake and lounging in the sun. 

I did take one day trip across the other side of the lake to pick up some gifts from the markets. I also had some excellent fried chicken which it so happens is really big in Guatemala... just like East London really just throw a few more volcanoes in there. 

 

SAN CRISTOBAL 

Love at first sight!

The journey from Oaxaca to San Cristobal involves an overnight bus and i am happy to say i am now a pro at these buses! Never again shall i moan about a 2hr National Express bus. The buses in Mexico are actually amazingly comfortable and fast considering the distance you are traveling. On this particular journey i slept the whole way. We were still in our adoptive travel family and arrived bleary eyed at our hostel at 6.30am. They were very kind and gave us a warm welcome with hot coffee, fresh toast and hot showers. This was the beginning of a great day! 

San Cristobal is the prettiest of towns with some lovely little shops and cafe's. We were very excited to be taken to one of the nicest coffee shops featuring some weird and wonderful brewing contraptions. We were all so excited by this as good coffee is close to impossible to find in Mexico and let's be honest America is'nt that much better. I don't really even care so much for coffee but after working just down the road from Monmouth coffee shop in London i relished the chance for a strong coffee!!

My time in San Cristobal mainly revolved around getting a tattoo.... i have finally covered up my smudgy triangle with a set of dotted mountains. I love it and couldn't be happier with my choice! It took around 3 hours and was only a little painful, it took an age for us to decide on the design but it was worth the deliberation. Emily and I both had one from the same artist making us forever tattoo twins! 

On our final day we took a trip into the hills to visit a cave and walk around a park. It was a blisteringly hot day so we were glad to take a cab up there and hitch a ride for most of the way back. We were adapting more and more to life in an overloaded 4x4 as the day's went by. Our final night ended with a group BBQ at the hostel and night or drinking and dancing... safe to say we were not the freshest for our 6am shuttle into Guatemala!

 

COFFEE COFFEE!!! 

 

OAXACA

Unbeweavable! The land of the loom and the mighty Mezcal.

After arriving late into the night i was up bright and early to meet some friends from Mexico City for a day of market touring and city strolling. After a week in a busy city i was good and ready for some relaxing and sunning, we had some great cooking party's and enjoyed drinking on various roof terraces but the main attraction of Oaxaca for me was visiting Hierve el Agua and the petrified waterfalls. I liked it so much i went twice! Once with an organised tour and once under my own steam. Ill tell you about the later as it is way more insterrested...

After a night of enjoying Oaxaca's finest drinking establishments myself and three fellow travelers (Olivia, Emily & Byron) set off to get to Hierve el Agua. We took two buses and a  collectivo taxi to the closest town; all of which were very easy and cost around 30 pesos. After this we were lucky enough to find 4 other people waiting to take the truck up the mountain, you need 8 people to go up and the driver won't leave until there are enough people. 

The truck is an open 4x4 and it was a real white knuckle ride to the top through some small rural towns and along the winding roads. After 40 minutes we finally reached the top and we walked down to the pools for a much anticipated swim! It was amazing and i had an amazing time on both trips. The added bonus of the tour was that we went to visit some of the local weaving family's just outside of Oaxaca and learnt about how they use local plants to dye the wool before hand weaving it. A large rug can take up  to a month and even smaller pieces are relatively time consuming, i wanted to buy everything!!!! 

The final highlight was a visit to a Mezcal farm for a tour of the production process and some free samples. Mezcal is made from Agava which is locally grown, harvested, roasted and crushed by a stone wheel pulled by a horse. They then leave this to distill for 10 days in water and finally distill the alcohol off. The Mezcal is then aged and the older it is the smoother it is. You traditionally sip it with a slice of orange dipped in worm salt. Delicous and powerful! 

PUEBLA

Broken Spanish & Driving the Mexican Way...

Leaving Mexico City behind i took to the roads with four fellow Columbian's, we were headed for Puebla for what was supposed to be an afternoon flyby visit however i have since learnt that Columbians like to move at a slower pace than everyone else and this accompanied with the serious language barrier i spent 99% of the trip either confused about what was happening or not knowing all together. 

We did make it to Puebla, i had an amazing Mexican soup on the way so i shouldn't complain, later that day and stayed in a hostel overnight before heading out to the Cholula Ruins for some underground caving fun and another day of driving. This area of Puebla was really pretty with hundreds of churches that are all immaculately decorated, brightly painted buildings, cobbled streets and of course a Zocalo.... Every town in Mexico has a central square and a Cathedral that sits on it and it is 100% always listed as a must see! 

The tunnels that ran under the main pyramid at the Cholula ruins were my favourite along with a parade that we just caught that had something to do with the Virgin. There was a lot of singing and throwing of rose petals which is what really caught my attention. After a lunch of indulgent flouters we were back on the road and heading for Oaxaca and I GOT TO DRIVE!!! I love driving and it was so much fun, the Mexican highways are long and windy and it was the perfect way to watch the sunset on another sunny day.