So the time had finally come to leave the Playa club, I had quite easily been convinced by the girls to go back to Antigua City with them. The plan was to go there and meet up with their two friends Seb and Alex, then head out to the lake, Lago Atitlan. It was with a great deal of sadness we said goodbye to the Playa Club and headed back to Antigua, fun times.
Playa
It was another 2 hour shuttle back to Antigua City and this time our driver took it up a notch. He was crazy, we were literally millimetres away from an accident on a good couple of occassions and I can't count the number of times Mia screamed. The funniest thing was when we dropped off one young couple he had a go at them because they had complained about him to the taxi firm after their last Journey. It turned out when he had taken them down to Monterrico his vehicle wouldn't leave first gear, so he hammered it up the hills and then free wheeled down them. Chaos.
The Monterrico shuttle - note the slight hint of fear in Mia's eyes
One of the many things I managed to fail to fully organise before my departure was my blog. Despite having over five months to prepare for the trip I was still downloading music to my iPhone at three in the morning the night before I left, and definitely got nowhere near to understanding the blog thing... in step Kate. Kate is blog crazy and we had a day of hanging out in the Bagel Barn, eating delicious bagels, stealing free wifi and teaching James how to get started... and now your reading the fruits of that day. Thank you Kate.
Kate teaching me the art of blogging
The main reason for heading back to Antigua City was to meet up with more Aussie chums, Seb and Alex. Seb and Alex were friends of Kate and Mia's from Sydney, in actual fact they were more friends of friends prior to the trip, everyone got on like a house on fire as the group grew, top boys.
Seb and Alex
With new additions and clear blue skys we couldn't resist another visit to the cross overlooking Antigua, this time with cloudless views over to the volcano.
Australian friends
Not a cloud in the sky (well ok one, but at least its not infront of the Volcano)
During our trip to the cross we did begin to get a little concerned about the ever increasing frequency of loud bangs and what sounded like gun fire, and made possibly one or two too many jokes about a military Coo (especially with what would happen in Honduras a couple of weeks later). It turned out it was just a religious festival taking place in the central plaza. The central plaza very much forms the focal point for the town and has some amazing old buildings lining its perimeter, including the cathedral (which as I mentioned before is actually purely a facade).
The Cathedral (and the central square)
Another amazing building lining the square
The fountain within the square (and two Australians)
Myself and Alex on market day
Coupled with the religious celebrations was a market within the central square. There were many traditional goods on sale, as well as a multitude of fruits and vegetables... and that old Australian favourite... the barbie. Mia, Kate, Seb and Alex dived straight in... unfortunately due to my English upbringing (thanks Kate) I couldn't cope with the idea of food in the heat and so had to stick to snow cones for the afternoon. Dam cold england, it looked delicious.
Pop another shrimp on the barbie mate
I've quickly learnt Australians love their food, and quite rightfully so... this makes me know I'll fit in perfectly down under.
Sooooo much food
Just to end this little installment I've got a couple of photo's for different peoples attention. Firstly anyone from the Building Surveying proffession (Mike Jack, Neil and Josh). Take a look at the steelwork/concrete combo on show in the supermarket, in places there seemed to be very little holding up the roof in all honesty, ah well it seemed to work for them.
Can we get Chappers to take a look at this please
And secondly the below photo is for Mum, Dad, Nick, Gran and Gramps (and anyone else with a love of the Malta Bus). This is very much Guatemala's version, the colourations are far more random and outlandish, some buses even seemed to have tassles?!?
Guatemala Bus
And so ends our time in Antigua City (again), the next adventure would be the lake...
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