Villa Esthela

lokata — Sat, 16 Nov 2013 10:18:00 GMT

Villa Esthela is the hostel I am currently staying at in Antigua. It is about 7 or so blocks from the center of town, which I enjoy. As I mentioned before, the night of my arrival they had overbooked the dorm room and I was put in a private. Daniella (the owner I think) was very apologetic and gave me a single room for the night for the same price. Can't complain there. Now after a few nights staying in the dorm, I have decided I quite like Villa Esthela. It is definitely not what you would call a party hostel by any means, but its nice. There is a rooftop terrace that is simply gorgeous and offers an amazing view of the volcanoes surrounding Antigua. There is a bar on the roof as well, but it hasn't been open at all during my stay.

So far at Villa Esthela I have met some pretty cool people. All Australians actually. One girl was traveling on her own, she was doing a worldwide trip by herself. She's headed back home within a month or two though I believe. The two of us went exploring in the marketplace. Of course we didn't explore the whole market, it is HUGE. I've been there twice now and I'd be surprised if I've seen even half of it. We stuck to the used clothes, since she was low on her supply after forgetting some clean laundry at one of the other hostels she had stayed at. I needed to get some clothes for my volunteer program. I am going to be volunteering at a girls orphanage that is highly religious, so I would need to be a bit more conservative than I had originally been told. We spent a few hours digging through tables and tables of assorted clothes. No organization whatsoever, everything was just thrown together in large heaps. There are clothes hung up around the tables as well, but these are more expensive. And by that I mean that they cost anywhere from around 60 cents to $1.50. The clothes heaped on the tables start at 1 Quetzal, which is about 12 cents. After spending a couple hours digging through everything, I emerged with a cardigan, a light sweatshirt, a tee-shirt, a skirt and a dress. My grand total was less than a dollar. Not bad right? We also grabbed some fruit before we left. Watermelon and Pineapple: the snacks of champions.

I've also met a group of three Aussies that are somewhere in month 5 of an 18 month world trip. I am so jealous. I'm actually going to be hiking the local active volcano with them later today. That's pretty exciting for me, since I've always tried to fit a volcano hike into one of my Costa Rica trips but it never seems to work out. The girl in the group was telling me about a program they are going to do in Bolivia once they make it down there. It is a large cat rescue program and you have to volunteer for a minimum of a month. You basically get assigned to one cat during your stay, and you are responsible for everything regarding that cat. You have to exercise it, feed it, clean up after it etc. The program has definitely made it onto my bucket list. She had heard about it from an English girl they met in Poland. I love that part of traveling, where you just meet and talk to other travelers. Its a great way to hear about programs or opportunities that you may never have thought of before, and who knows, it may change the whole course of your trip.

Arrival

lokata — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 12:05:00 GMT

Getting to where I am (Antigua, Guatemala) was a rough start. I don´t want to get into it, but between car troubles and lost taxi drivers I hope all my bad luck was used up back in the states. I was picked up at the airport last night by a driver from Maximó Nivel (the program I´m volunteering through) who didn´t speak a lick of English. He was quite nice though and helped me to get my brain back into Spanish mode. The drive from Guatemala City to Antigua was about an hour long. He spent a large chunk of the ride explaining to me the meaning of ¨tenango¨. You see, many cities or towns in Guatemala end with -tenango. Examples include Quetzaltenango, Chimaltenango etc. Apparently tenango translates loosely as ¨land of¨. This means that Quetzaltenango translates to land of Quetzales, which are the national bird of Guatemala. He also spoke passionately of Antigua, calling it the most beautiful city in the world. I haven´t seen very much of it yet, but from what I can tell it really is gorgeous. The streets are all cobbled and the buildings are very colonial. The biggest difference I´ve found so far between Guatemala and Costa Rica is that I haven´t been whistled at, pssst´d at or been called after with phrases such as machita, gringa etc. For me that is a welcome change.

I have not been to my orientation for my program yet, and as such have not met anyone that I will be working with. And since the hostel I am staying at overbooked their dorm, I was given a private room and have not met anyone staying at my hostel either. I started my morning wandering around Antigua until I found a cafe that looked promising. I ordered a cappuccino and a chocolate croissant. The croissant was slightly disappointing, but the cappuccino was amazing. As I sat there enjoying my breakfast and people watching, a woman came into the cafe. It was impossible not to notice her, as she was enthusiastically greeting everyone she saw in Spanish with a strong southern accent. We started talking and she introduced me to a few of her friends. Unfortunately she is leaving for Nicaragua in the morning, but at least I know the people that she introduced me to. One of them helped me to get my cell phone working, so now I have a method of communication luckily.

I still don´t know my way around the city very well, but I have a map so I´ll figure it out. I have my orientation in a few hours, so we´ll see how that goes. So far Maximó Nivel seems to be very well organized. I hope to keep that impression as my time here continues.

Well I´m off to explore some more, I´ll update as I can.

Where To Next?

Villa Esthela

Arrival