For Semana Santa (what they call Holy Week/Easter/Spring Break here), Sara and I had ten days off work, so we decided to take a trip to Guatemala. Sara's sister, Reina, planned to meet us in Guatemala City and travel with us around Guatemala, and then come back with us to Tela, to spend some time extra time in Honduras before going back to San Diego. During our trip we visited three different areas in Guatemala; Antigua, Lake Atitlan, and Rio Dulce. This is the first of three blogs about our trip. Antigua, was our first stop.SATURDAY, MARCH 15:
Sara and I woke up bright and early at 4:30 to catch a bus called the "Hedman Alas" leaving from Tela at 6:30. Our plan was to take this direct bus from Tela all the way to Guatemala City, but our plan didn't at all pan out the way he had hoped. A few days earlier, we stopped by the office to inquire about tickets, and the lady assured us that we did not need reservations. So on Saturday morning, Sara and I headed to the office only to find out they ONLY HAD ONE SEAT LEFT left on the bus!!! As frustrating as it was, we had no other option but to buy tickets to take the bus to the city of Copan (close to the Guatemalan border). I was the furthest stop along the way that they still had room for, and then we would have to find another bus to take from Copan to Guatemala.
The bus was very fancy, they even had to take pictures of every passenger before getting on the bus as an extra security precaution. All the seats had very soft cushions, they gave us cookies, juice and water, and the bus even had a restroom, and TVs. It was a large step up from the public buses (old American school buses) that we are used to taking.
A little over 2 hours later were arrived at the big bus station in San Pedro Sula, where we had an annoying 2 hour stop before being able to continue on to Copan. Finally at 10:40 were finally able to get back on the bus, and arrived in Copan at about 2:00. Unfortunately, when we arrived, we had just missed all the shuttles and buses going to Guatemala. The only other bus that was leaving that day was at 6:30, but we had to meet Reina, Sara's sister at the airport at 7pm and it was least 3 hours away, and we had no way of calling or contacting her. Our only option was to pay for a private car to take us across the border into Guatemala to a town called Chiquimula, where we would be able to take a direct bus to Guatemala City. This leg of the trip cost a whopping 1,000 lemps each (a little over $50 each)!!! That's over 1/4 of our monthly salary! But, since we had no other option, we had to pay up!
We finally arrived in Guatemala City at 7:30, where we paid 30 Quetzalas($4) each to the airport. Sara and I were frantically checking the time along the way, worried about how long Reina and our shuttle to the hotel had been waiting.
When we arrived at the airport we were happy to see that Reina and our shuttle were still there, and that we had a direct ride straight to our hotel, no more switching buses and taxis, we had done that enough for the day!
About an hour later we arrived in Antigua. The town was very cute, with cobblestone streets and colorful buildings, it reminded me a lot of Copan. I noticed very quickly how many tourists there were and how many different kinds of restaurants, coffee shops, souvenir shops, and little art and clothing boutiques there were, this was clearly a big tourist destination. It was a big change from our small town of Tela. We arrived safely at our hotel called the Umma Gumma Hostel. It was a nice colorful building inside and out, with a cute garden terrace on the rooftop. Sara and Reina had a private double room of the top floor, and I stayed in my own private, single room on the first floor. 
We were all so tired that night, that we had just enough energy to find a nearby restaurant where we ate pasta and had a few drinks before weheaded back to the hostel to pass out for the night. I was excited to see pasta with pesto sauce on the menu, yum, yum! The restaurant for some odd reason was blasting really random 80's and 90's American music, we all thought it was a nice (and funny) final touch to our busy, hectic day!
We were all so tired that night, that we had just enough energy to find a nearby restaurant where we ate pasta and had a few drinks before weheaded back to the hostel to pass out for the night. I was excited to see pasta with pesto sauce on the menu, yum, yum! The restaurant for some odd reason was blasting really random 80's and 90's American music, we all thought it was a nice (and funny) final touch to our busy, hectic day! SUNDAY, MARCH 16:
We all woke up bright and early the next morning to loud music coming form the street outside. At first we thought it was a band playing, but later we found out it was just music on a loudspeaker playing over and over again. For Holy Week, the streets of Antigua, as well as the floors in the many beautiful churches are covered in "alfombras." They are colorful elaborate murals, that look like large rugs (hence the Spanish name meaning "carpet") made from colored sawdust, flower petals and dried plants, and fruit. We were happy to find that people were making them right in front of our building!
We walked to the central park where we saw the Cathedral, built in 1680. The pictures below shows elaborate alfombras that lined the floors of some of the churches we visited, including the church above. Also in the churches were many statues depicting the last supper and various other holy events, and very large wooden platforms "andas" that are used to carry statues in the religious processions.
In front of the churches, many people were selling palm leaves folded and designed into various arrangements with flowers. We even saw a procession with a man dressed as Jesus and many others dressed in costumes following him, some of which appeared to be some of Jesus' disciples. It was difficult to get close and actually hear and see what they were doing because of the crowds of both tourists and locals following them around.
The two bottom pictures show a large religious procession that we saw. The pictures also show those large wooden platforms holding various statues, called “andas" , that I mentioned earlier. The men, called "cucuruchos", are dressed in purple tunics. The women dress in black and white and wear veils. There are also bands that play music during the procession. As they march along the street, they step over all the alfombras that were delicately made just a few hours earlier. At the end of the procession are large clean up trucks that sweep and clean up the remnants of the alfombras. Then tomorrow, they do it all over again!
We walked to the central park where we saw the Cathedral, built in 1680. The pictures below shows elaborate alfombras that lined the floors of some of the churches we visited, including the church above. Also in the churches were many statues depicting the last supper and various other holy events, and very large wooden platforms "andas" that are used to carry statues in the religious processions. In front of the churches, many people were selling palm leaves folded and designed into various arrangements with flowers. We even saw a procession with a man dressed as Jesus and many others dressed in costumes following him, some of which appeared to be some of Jesus' disciples. It was difficult to get close and actually hear and see what they were doing because of the crowds of both tourists and locals following them around.The two bottom pictures show a large religious procession that we saw. The pictures also show those large wooden platforms holding various statues, called “andas" , that I mentioned earlier. The men, called "cucuruchos", are dressed in purple tunics. The women dress in black and white and wear veils. There are also bands that play music during the procession. As they march along the street, they step over all the alfombras that were delicately made just a few hours earlier. At the end of the procession are large clean up trucks that sweep and clean up the remnants of the alfombras. Then tomorrow, they do it all over again!
The picture below shows the stencils and bags of colorful sawdust that people buy to help create the alfombras.
Walking around town we saw many women dressed in traditional Mayan clothing. Many of them carried babies on their backs using slings tied around them. Other women carried large baskets on their heads, some of them I swear were carrying both a basket on their head and a baby at the same time, while walking on cobblestone streets! I don't know how they do it!
We walked around a bit more and came across a large indoor/outdoor market selling everything from various kinds of food and all the souvenirs you could ever imagine, to things you would find at a swap meet like toiletries and burned Cds. 
Near the market was a cemetery that we walked through. This was definitely a fancier cemetery (if you can call a cemetery that) than we've ever seen in Honduras. No graves were buried underground and many tombs were family mausoleums complete with small doors that opened up to little rooms where you could arrange flowers and candles.
Before heading home I decided to buy "pupusas" from one of the many street vendors near the market. I might have already mentioned pupusas before, they're originally from El Salvador, and they pretty much taste like fresh flour tortillas stuffed with cheese, served with pickled cabbage, YUM, YUM!
MONDAY, MARCH 17:The next morning we got to sleep in a little later because there wasn't any loud music like the day before. We ate breakfast a cute restaurant. All the restaurants, hotels, stores, and other buildings seemed to be half indoor/half outdoor. They all had a little adorable patio or some sort of opening in the ceiling where the sunlight could shine through, and they often decorated these areas with colorful plants and flowers. In the picture below you can see the little patio behind us that was right in the center of the restaurant.
Through a side entrance of the church, we paid an extra 5 Quetzalas (Q) to visit ruins of the monastery attached to the church. In the center of the ruins, in the opening of a large courtyard, lies the "Fuenta de Pescados" (Fountain of the Fish) which was a beautiful, large, waterlily-shaped fountain. While on the second floor of the building you could see beautiful views of the city below and the crumbling ruins.
After visiting the church we wandered around the town a little more, ventured into some art boutiques, and to our surprise even found an Irish pub! We hadn't even realized today was St. Patrick's Day, and how random is that?! Finding an Irish pub in the middle of Guatemala, and on the perfect day, too! So we decided to make a stop there and enjoy some local beer and yummy nachos!
Earlier in the day we had signed up with our hotel to take a guided tour to visit an active volcano called "Volcan Picaya." We had heard stories about how you could walk right up to the lava, and get so close the soles of your shoes could melt! Even after hearing all the stories, I had no idea what to expect! I was extremely excited, but also a little scared. The only comfort I had was knowing the many tour groups from many different companies make the trip there with travelers every day, twice a day, so if they were visiting the volcano that often, it had to be somewhat safe right?!Our shuttle alone was packed with 3 young travelers from Germany, a couple from Chicago, and a family of 6 from Iowa (the family was visiting a daughter that ironically, is also teaching in Honduras, and even more ironically 2 of the kids in the family attend APU, a university right near where my family lives in LA)!
The ride to the base of the volcano was about 1 & 1/2 hours. As soon as we got out there we were all approached by young boys all trying to sell us walking sticks. We had heard it is smart to buy one because once you have to walk on the sharp edges of the cooled lava, it could get very unstable, and using the stick for balance could also keep your hands from getting burned, so we each opted to pay the 5Q ($.60) for one. After paying the 40Q ($5) for the entrance fee, we started on the very long and hard hike up to the volcano. Men on horses offered a "taxi" ride up the volcano, but the 50Q ($7) was out of our budget, so we decided to tough it out.
About another 1 &1/2 hours later we finally arrived at peak of the volcano. It was seriously one of the most amazing and surreal things I have ever seen! I saw steam coming from the top, and hot lava slowly pouring out, but I still couldn't believe what I was looking at. We could see the volcano first from far away, looking from high above on a cliff, but we had to hike down the side of the cliff to get to the lava. The picture below shows the view from the cliff overlooking the volcano.
It was really awkward to see the dark black, cooled lava, right up against the green mountain.
When we finally hiked down the cliff, I saw realized that the cooled lava looked and felt like black coral. It was very hard to walk on because they were all uneven pieces and piles of hard coral-like rock piled on top of one another, good thing we had our trusty walking sticks.
Apparently, another good reason to have the walking sticks is to roast marshmallows over the lava (we actually saw people doing this!), stick it in the lava to watch it catch on fire (which our crazy tour guide is doing in the picture above), and to be able to hold lava on a stick!
When getting close to the lava, I swear I thought I was melting. There were even some guys in our group wearing shorts that said they got so close to the lava that the hairs on their legs actually burned off! I was surprised (and relieved) to see how slowly the lava moved. There were certain parts of the cooled lava that were completely cool, but then there would be random areas were the temperature quickly changed and you could actually feel the heat rising from beneath you! Kinda scary! the bottoms of my shoes slightly melted, and I could feel the rubber getting very soft. There was another girl I ran into, also wearing Converse (probably not the smartest shoes to wear when walking on a volcano), that showed me the bottom of her shows that were completely melted!
The picture above shows the three of us trying desperately to pose for a quick picture while trying not to melt from the intense heat behind us! It actually looks like Reina might be sitting in the lava!After our group explored and had our fill on lava, we had to start heading back down the volcano before it got too dark! It was a little scary hiking back down, because it did quickly become dark, and the path was really rocky, and very steep in some parts. Luckily, there were a lot of people walking down at the same time, so some of them had flashlights, just enough to light the way most of the time. Everyone was in a long single filed line, making sure to warn each other of upcoming rocks and hidden steps. We stumbled so many times while walking down, I'm surprised nobody broke their ankle! We finally made it back to the base of the volcano where our shuttle was waiting for us.
After a long, claustrophobic car ride, we arrived back in Antigua where we grabbed a bite to eat, then headed to our hotel to spend our last night in Antigua. The next morning we were off to Lake Atitlan. Stay tuned for the next blog.......
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