Back at Pablo’s for our second week and his house was beginning to get a little more crowded as 2 Canadians (Julienne and Alastair – very strange couple), an Argentinean Julio, a Puerto Rican Lawyer Joseph (who managed the Gringo Irish pub in Antigua called Reilly’s) and Brian a New Yorker (who just started work as a barman at Reilly’s). These guys added a bit of life to Pablo’s house and we were able to practice a little of our Spanish greetings with them.
We were still struggling with our stomaches so could not attend school on the Monday and had to argue for about half an hour on the Tuesday to get what we were paying for. The school manager tried to pull a swifty on Nat and had her agree to paying $88US each for only half the hours we signed on for, so after Junior put his foot down they agreed that we could catch up the time over the following days and still only pay the $100 (20 hours over 5 days cost $100pp). Expensive but it has definitely helped, to an extent, Junior wants to do another week of school in Cuzco or Santiago.
After school on the Wednesday Karla, her mum and brothers, Rodriguez and Javier, drove to Antigua and took us out for lunch. It was at a beautiful hotel outdoors under the veranda and all was going well until the table, chairs, ground and hotel started to sway!! What the?? About 10 seconds in a painting fell on the 2nd floor and everyone panicked and ran into the middle of the garden and huddled together as the earthquake or tremor continued. It was an amazing experience and the next day we heard that CNN announced the earthquake as a 6.7 on the Richter scale. We found out later it was “only” a 5, but it was such an unbelievable experience, one we are glad to have had but will be happy to go without again. In 1976 an earthquake which registered in the low 7’s devastated Guatemala, in particular Antigua, killing about 30,000 people.
We finally ran out of our American dollars and had to go to the bank to withdraw some cash. Wasn’t hard to spot the gringos, as even Nat stood about a foot taller than everyone else in the line. Our Spanish still not good enough to notice that we had to be in a different line but we eventually found an ATM and were successful.
Through our Spanish school Ixchel we joined a group of 12 other students (mostly from usa) and trekked up the volcano Pacaya. We were amazed that an active volcano had houses to about half way up the mountain side. As we arrived we were greeted by the young local lads exclaiming “Stick, stick?” Pablo had advised us to buy a stick as it would be useful on the uneven terrain at the top. So we bartered the young kids down to 10 Quetzales for 2 sticks (just under $2 Aus). The sticks came in very handy as the top of the volcano was very uneven with mostly rocks from the eruption in August 2006. We had a guide who only spoke Spanish so it was great that a Swiss guy in our group was able to translate for us. The horses (or taxis) were so malnourished that I couldn’t see any humane person getting on one, but there were a few lazy poms and yanks who jumped on. So obviously with horses on the climb there was also lots of horse .... This was not a problem until the descent, where we were greatly misinformed about the need for a flashlight!!!! As we neared the bottom of the climb the young locals were back at our heels again asking for and fighting over who claimed the sticks back. Anyway the volcano experience was pretty cool and one we are both glad we have now done but probably won’t rush into again soon.
We finished school that week and were once again treated for the weekend as Karla and her brother JP took us to their farm about an hour outside of Cobán (well known for its Mayan ruins). We drove past a house that sits on a rock that cuts out from the edge of a cliff, the rock has fallen away underneath and looks very unstable yet people still live there (not sure the photo quite shows how dangerous it actually looks). Their farm is beautiful and it was great to get out and experience nature at its best. The first night we walked into the living room and Karla tapped on one of the hats hanging on the wall only for 5 bats to fly out and start circling the room – quite entertaining (all of us ducked and weaved and checked our jocks afterwards just to be safe)! The weekend was great as Nat overcame her fear of horse riding and we rode around their farm, Junior fell off his horse into a mud puddle but recovered like a trooper and we then went off-road for a bit (after spending 10 minutes convincing Nat that it would be ok) to a waterfall that is part of a creek that runs through their property.
Some great photos from this journey, especially on the drive to their farm. It was pouring with rain and we were behind an ambulance, the ambulance didn’t have any back door so we could see the guy on the stretcher and his partner sitting next to him (both hanging on so they didn’t fall out) – classic!
