Hey guys
Just a quick update to let you know that Matt´s added about 50 photos from the first stage of our trip. For the more technologically challenged among us: to get to them, look down the right-hand side to 'Photos - Week One'. If you select the first one you can then click 'next' to get to the next one, you don`t need to click each one individually.
I think Matt last wrote from Lanquin, a small town in an area with a lot of Mayan villages set in some really beautiful countryside. The Mayan people here wear traditional clothing and speak Spanish only as a second language if at all, v. interesting to drive through the villages and get a glimpse into their lives. The following day we set off for Semuc Champey with a group from the El Retiro hostel (otherwise known as Vegetarian Buffet River Paradise!) Semuc Champey is a beautiful spot in the middle of nowhere - a rushing river flowing under a 300m long limestone bridge, with beautiful blue pools sitting on top of the bridge. We took a brilliant tour through a cave which involved swimming, wading and scrambling through the dark with only candles to light our way, very exciting! The water was really rushing through the caves and the whole thing was quite thrilling. The rest of the day was spent hiking to a lookout in the pissing rain, swimming through the pools and tubing in the river.
Stayed for one more chillout day and then on to Antigua, a journey of about 9 hours by bus. This town is quite touristy, v. pretty with cobbled streets and colourful houses. A lot of people live here for weeks or months as there are 40 Spanish schools to choose from. Yesterday we hiked up an active volcano (Matt´s put lots of pics of this up, we got a bit over excited and really snap-happy here). Raining as usual but that couldn't put a dampener on how awesome it is to be a few feet from a lava flow with chunks breaking off and hurtling downward every few seconds. There´s obviously some real danger here but the guides seem oblivious as they whip out their machetes to sharpen sticks and urge you closer to the lava to toast your marshmallows! The last person to be killed here was a Canadian tourist struck by lightening in 2002, something that seems a bit too likely for comfort as you watch thunderstorms gather around the summit of Volcan Pacaya. We were lucky enough to be up there for sunset and saw the lava glowing in the evening.
Still in Antigua today as I had to sort out some uni stuff, we've explored the markets and coffee shops here and still practising our rather painful and stuttering Spanish on everyone around us! Tomorrow we are heading to Lago de Atitlan. Will probably write again in a week or so.
Hope all is good in Aus and the UK. And France or wherever you may be!
Note for parents and grandparents: Please dont be alarmed by news reports re Honduras. We have decided to reschedule our diving trip to the Corn Islands in Nicaragua as the borders to Honduras keep opening and closing unpredictably.
Cheers,
Ash & Matt
