The Mangroves

One of the main (and infact only) tours or activities to do whilst in Monterrico is to take a boat tour of the nearby mangrove swamps. This tour is best taken in the early morning with a guide by rowing boat. Me and Conny decided to take the tour early on the Monday morning. Very early, at about 5am infact.

The taxi rank


The mangroves


Our guide was a local chap who was recommended to us by Toby. Unfortunately he only spoke spanish so alot (infact all) of what he said was pretty much lost on me. It was a very relaxing tour, though I wouldn't say i learnt alot about the area.

Tranquil waters


Beautiful views onto the mountains behind


A sleeping Heron, I was jealous


To say the area is a nature reserve, it seems there were very few rules about where the tour could and couldn't go. We pushed our way through the reeds, which was very beautiful but couldn't have been too good for the conservation of the reserve (I'm all about that kind of thing nowadays you know).

Off the beaten track


The main wildlife of the day was herons and various other birds. I had maybe hoped for turtles or crocodiles but everything was a little more tranquil than that. Infact I spent alot of the tour trying to work out whether 'if I fell asleep, would I fall in?' the answer I think would have been yes.

Bird life


Again despite the fact the area was a protected reserve, local water taxi's passed us quite regularly. I can imagine its quite difficult to tell local people, who have very little, that they should drive round the area in cars, rather than travel the much shorter distance across it in old diesel driven boats.

A local water taxi

CPR, Parties & Broken Toes

Toby had told us that Saturday night would be doubly busy as during the day a marathon would be taking place with the finish line directly on the beach. A marathon in the afternoon heat of Monterrico seemed a little silly to me, surely no one in their right mind would want to be doing that kind of thing. Well we were wrong about that, alot of people entered despite the crazy heat. It was a very official affair with sponsorship from Gaterade and a giant inflatable finish line.


The inflatable finish line... and the chaos is just beginning to unfold


As I say it was a very official affair however the only thing no one seemed to have thought about was some form of medical assistance should anything go wrong... but why would anything go wrong, its not like we're nearly on the equator and you could pass out just walking to the pool... oh wait...

So as we watched the runners cross the line the chap who came in third didn't look too good. Infact he ended up having to be helped across the line and almost immediately collapsed. He was spark out on the floor in front of us with a number of people around him, one of whome appeared to be taking control of the situation. They layed him out on the flat of his back and the guys are rubbing ice all over his body. Now the little I know about first aid tells me he shouldn't be on his back. Mia is a nurse and is watching on getting more and more agitated by what they are doing. Also the guys condition seems to be deteriorating quickly now, his eyes have rolled back in his head and he's not responding at all. Mia later explained that because they were icing him down his body was thinking he was cold and was speeding up his heart still further, which then sent him into shock.

After a couple of minutes Mia couldn't watch any longer and had to step in. With the help of a spanish speaking American they tried to explain the first aider (who turned out to be a life guard with no form of training) was quickly killing the guy. To begin with they completely ignored them, two western girls telling a local male he was doing things all wrong didn't go down too well. Eventually after things got pretty heated Mia was finally able to take control and with Kate's help they got him into the recovery position (where he was immediately sick) and got some sugary fluids onto his tongue. Within minutes he began to come round but he wasn't out of the woods yet. He was taken to the local pharmacy, in the back of a gas wagon that happened to be passing, where he was hooked up to an out of date drip.

The guy was from the US, down in Guatemala studying, and just hadn't got enough fluids in him whilst he was running. We later heard he was in hospital for a couple of days and quickly made a full recovery. I'm pretty sure he'll never know how close he came to not making it or that it was infact two Australian girls who saved him. Good work ladies.

After the chaos we were more than ready to party and forget the stresses of the afternoon, as such some cheap rum was purchased and we got the party kick started.

Stop playing with your beard



Rum time chills



After the chaos of the afternoon we went back to the hotel and I was pleased to see some beach football was just getting started. I wandered down and got involved, to say it was tiring was an understatement to say the least. Mia and Kate came pretty close to having to perform their second life saving of the day, after 10mins I was dying... and we played for a good 40 mins or more (I subbed myself off in the end). The sand was like running in treacle and the ball never did anything you wanted, this coupled with the fact most of the locals play like Robinho made for an entertaining afternoon. In the evening all the locals from the game were out and partying too which was alot of fun.

Me, our goalkeeper and the opposition attacker


Haha


Below is a photo of another one of our Guatemalan friends from Saturday night. Worryingly he was a medical student from Guatemala City. The photo shows him attempting to breath under water by putting his head in a big black plastic bag, I'm scared for the medical system in this country.

Like scuba diving but different


The football of Saturday was repeated again on the Sunday and Monday evenings as well. Each time I felt my fitness got a little better (stop laughing Mia and Kate) until finally disaster struck. Now at this point I could claim it was a huge Guatemalan defender who took me down, or I could just admit it was a 50 50 with a 14 yr old... either way it broke my toe.

The field of dreams


After Monday's game, I do not look good

War wounds


A fat purple foot

One week in and already a potentially broken bone, I've made an executive decision not to good to the hospital. Instead at about 3 in the morning after too many drinks I got Mia to strap it up, five minutes later I removed the bandage after realising it was so tight it was cutting off the blood supply haha. A couple of weeks of limping and it'll be fine, they can't do anything for broken toes anyway.

Monterrico

Having spent a (fun) few days in Antigua City it had come to the point where I needed to decide what to do next. Colum and Lucy had already headed off to Lake Atitlan a day earlier, and I was in two minds as to whether to follow them until I heard a little more about the beach town of Monterrico, in all honesty I was sold on the idea as soon as I heard about the place we planned to stay... Johnny's Place.

Johnny's Place

Johnny's Place is a sort of backpacker beach resort. It has a nice little restaurant, two bars, a number of bungalows and a dorm... but most importantly it has a pool (or three) and is slap bang on the beach. When Conny mentioned a pool I was immediately sold and so booked to go with her and another girl we met on the volcano tour - Tara. On arrival I was also pleased to see a beach soccer pitch and a volleyball court out on the sands, and also to hear Saturday night at Johnny's Place is a renownd party night for the area and they were expecting a big one this weekend.

The dorm

The view from the dorm looking onto the bars and the beach

Monterrico is also well known for its beach, firstly because its amazingly picturesque, however secondly because of how dangerous it can be if your not careful. The slope of the beach is a very steep gradient which means huge waves crash directly onto it which then creates a dangerous rip-tide.

The waves were huge and again the photo's don't really do it justice

I've also quickly become friends with some Australian girls, Kate and Mia. They've been staying in Monterrico studying Spanish and battling against the stressful life of living on a beach. I've very quickly learnt the English and Australians have a lot in common, not least a little partying...

Kate, me and Mia


A 'street' in Monterrico

Johnny's Place is run by a German chap called Toby, he had visited Guatemala a couple of years previously and last year decided he wasn't happy with life in Germany and upped sticks to Monterrico where he runs Johnny's Place and also has his fingers in a few real estate pies. He's a really nice guy and bent over backwards to make sure we had a bed sorted for Saturday night (party night) as they were technically fully booked.

Toby telling an unwanted guest to leave

Pacaya Volcano... and the lack of health & safety in Guatemala

A short trip from Antigua is a volcano called Pacaya, one of three active volcanos in the area. Pacaya is one of the most spectacular as there are almost continual lava flows down its main slope. Lucy recommended it as something we definitely needed to see whilst we were in Antigua, as such me, Conny and Colum all got up at 6am to do the morning tour.

Photo opportunites across the valley

The view

We trekked for about an hour and a half through the dense forest before the volcano was properly visible, with previous solidified lava flows stretching out into the valley below.

Trekking through the forest

Pacaya Volcano and its solidified lava flows

Once we reached the volcanic slopes there was still quite a climb to get to the actual molten lava flows and the photo´s don´t do justice as to how steep the volcano slopes were, or infact how hot it was. As soon as we were walking across the solidified lava flows you could feel blasts of hot air coming from the between the rocks, like a super charged hair dryer all over your body.

Stood at the foot of the volcanic slopes

In order to get close enough to get a good view of the lava flow we had to decend down the side of the volcano, which was no easy task. When the magma solidifies it becomes very brittle but also very sharp.

Trying to climb down the side of the volcano without falling over or standing still for too long

The view we'd been waiting for

Once we reached the molten lava flow we took it in turns to go down in groups and take photo's, also alot of the group had brought marshmallows to toast. The below photo of the river of lava did very much involve burning my hand. Also about 20 seconds after the photo was taken there was a loud rushing sound and a superheated blast of air came out. Guatemala isn't massive on Health and Safety, there was literally no control over how close you got... they just allow you to use your common sense.

The river of lava

You've no idea how hot this was

Sat with a friend during a well deserved break

New friends, new places

Hostel 5, Antigua City


Having opted for an early night rather than exploring on my own I was awoken by my room mates at about 1 oclock, this was actually good as I ended up chatting with them for a little while and doing a quick, somewhat drunken for them, introduction.

In the morning we went for introductions again, as not everyone remembered them so well the night before. haha. The room consists of Conny, a dutch girl, and Colum & Lucy, two friends from Maidestone. All lovely people and super friendly.

The terrace dorm

The view from the terrace

Me, Colum, Lucy & Conny hanging on the terrace

We all got up and ate breakfast at the hostel, delicious Central American fair... eggs, refried black beans and fried plantane. Lucy has been in Antigua City maybe as much as a week so she knows her way about etc. As such she said did we fancy walking up to the cross which looks over the city, it gives amazing views over the city to the Volcano which stands over it.

The Cross

Antigua City and the Volcano that towers over it

Antigua City truely is an amazing place, it was destroyed by Earthquake in the 1870's and was never fully rebuilt, which means mixed in with the newer building are amazing ruins dotted through the city. The Cathedral on the central square, for example, is infact purely a facade with ruins behind. These type of ruins are here, there and everywhere, the below building is just a few doors down from our hostel.

One of Antigua City's many amazing ruins

Another tremendous view

He finally leaves...

After months of preparation, weeks of being 'about' to depart, a never ending stream of 'leaving do's' and the chaos surrounding mexican-flying-pig flu, it was finally time for me to set sail from Manchester for Central America.

Leaving do 2 of 8, an afternoon Soiree at Shan & Ricardo's.


Leaving do 7 of 8, controlled chaos.


Leaving do 8 of 8, a very civilised afair



Despite having literally had months to organise things before going away I still didn't make it to bed the night before flying, even if I had I'm sure I wouldn't have slept at any rate. We set off for Manchester Airport at about 3.30 or so. I still couldn't sleep on the journey and to be honest everything felt more than a little surreal. Leaving for 14 months is something I've struggled to get my head around in the last few weeks and only from Sunday did things start to feel real... this was also accompanied by a feeling of acute panic.

After an emotional (yet surprisingly dry-eyed) fairwell with Mother and Father in the Airport, I checked my bags and wandered through the numerous security check-ins to the gate.

Me and Mother


Me and Father



I was in the same departure lounge as me, Jimbobbins and young Smoutleberry had been just months previously, which again all seemed very surreal... No Jarvis Cocker this time though?

My time in the airport passed off very uneventfully, once we boarded for LHR the pilot quickly announced we were running behind schedule which unnerved me a little. The last thing I needed was to miss my first flight, I think I would actually have given it all up as a bad job. haha.

The Jumbo


Miami beach yo



BA turned out to be fun, an episode of the Big Bang Theory followed by Frasier went along way towards calming me down.

Miami International was very much a sober version of my last visit, again quite surreal however being back there in such different circumstances.

Next was the flight to San Salvador, having not spoken to anyone for about 20 hrs I finally started chatting with a San Salvadorean woman on my flight. On arrival in El Salvador everything suddenly felt so very real. It was literally like no experience I've ever had before, the most intense feeling of excitement I've ever felt. I sat in the airport and just grinned from ear to ear, I think the locals must have thought I was simple... either that or they just assumed I was another excitable westerner.

By the time I got out of the airport in Guatemala City I was again getting a little antsy about things, mainly my transfer... who was no-where to be seen. On walking into the pick up zone I was swamped by locals offering connections, hostels & hotels etc. Luckily I managed to speak to a taxi driver who called the hostel for me, soon after this my taxi arrived and I was whisked off to Antigua City. From what I saw of Guatemala City its no bad thing I'm heading straight to Antigua. I'm pretty sure my taxi was just someone the hostel knows rather than an actual taxi, he was nice enough though and we made it without any huge incidents... something which I've quickly realised you should always be thankful for when taking taxi's/shuttles here.

On arrival at the hostel I had a good chat with the reception guy/barman. He said I'm in a dorm with three others, all fun people who were already out and about. He told me where they were but I decided a sensible option was sleep and introductions tomorrow.

And so ends the longest day, so much apprehension and excitement... I'm underway!!!