On the 18 hour bus ride from Managua in
Nicaragua to Guatemala City, I met an
Australian girl, Monique, and, after being advised that it wasn't
safe to get a public bus on a Sunday evening to Antigua, we shared a
30 dollar taxi (which was painful but sense prevailed.) We
went on to spend 5 wonderful days together. We walked up the active
volcano Pacaya (very hot underfoot), shopped til we dropped at
Antigua and Chichicastenango's artisan markets, spent a couple of
nights at Lake Atitilan, participated in yoga, salsa and hip hop
lessons, found a wonderful restaurant full of locals at the back of a
shop in Antigua where we returned 3 times and heard an ex member of the
Buena Vista Social Club
sing in a wee bar on my last night (where I also bumped into Tom, the
Austrian guy from Isla Ometepe). We had pretty lousy weather for the
jam-packed days we shared together but
it didn't stop us having a lot of fun. In fact, on our last day
together, as I was getting a 2 hour all-body massage for $25, Monique
ended up spontaneously skinny dipping with a guy we'd befriended over
breakfast! She said that I inspired her to do such things!
True to form, I set off to the airport
to fly to New Orleans via Miami (which was a surprise at the boarding
gate as I thought it was a direct flight!) on two hours of sleep
because Monique and I had been out salsa dancing the night before.
As I sat bewilded on my flight to Miami, I pondered on the four great
weeks I'd just had in Central America; I'd seen some amazing nature,
befriended some more great people and now had dozens more places to put
on the "To Return To" list. This trip was meant to be shortening my
list of places to visit but as it turns out, it is merely extending it.
I was sad to be leaving Spanish-speaking countries (travelling always
seems more fun when you're not in an English-speaking country) but
excited about seeing Garry in New Orleans.
