Antigua, Guatemala

May 12-14

I only spent two days in Antigua before heading off to explore the rest of the country, but I intend to go back and spend some more time there, perhaps to learn Spanish. My hostel (at just $9 a night!) had a pool, a rooftop bar, a restaurant and plenty of hammocks to relax in. So naturally I spent my first day lying by the pool.

I met up with Ryoko, a friend from work, in the evening. She had already been in Antigua for 3 weeks, learning Spanish, so she showed me around. Antigua is a beautiful town. The cobble stone streets are lined with colourful buildings, old churches and Mayan ruins. It is surrounded by amazing views of mountains and volcanoes (which I intend to go up at some point!) I got my first taste of Guatemalan food for dinner - I was particularly impressed by the corn on the cob. It tastes completely different from home, not sweet at all... And I loooove it. 

My second day in Antigua I properly explored. I wandered the streets for a while and eventually I found the Saint Jeronimo ruins. I paid a small fee to go in and have a look around. Apparently many hundreds of years ago it used to be a school, but was largely destroyed by the Santa Marta earthquake in 1773. While there, I also got a view of one of the volcanoes! So picturesque. 

In the afternoon, when Ryoko was done with her Spanish lessons, we went up to Cerro de la Cruz. A short walk up some stairs led us to a pretty spectular view of Antigua and Volcan de Agua.

As we were walking around town, around sunset, we noticed one of the volcanoes (Volcan de Feugo) erupting! This was just about the coolest thing I have ever seen in my life. Because it was still light all you could see was clouds of smoke coming up. But when it got darker (and impossible to take pictures) you could actually see the bright red lava spewing out and falling down the side of the mountain. Apparently this volcano is famous for being constantly active at a low level, meaning that this probably happens very regularly. Amazing!

We decided to try out the street food for dinner! For just $1.50 we got a 'tostada' which was a massive corn chip covered with avocado, chicken and salad-y stuff. Really yum! I did have a teeny tiny stomach ache after, but my magical glucose tablets killed that pretty quickly! 

Here's a few more snaps of this beautiful, vibrant this place:

Can't wait to come back and explore Antigua even more!