Nine days ago on friday I had my last day at Kush Games. There has been a lot of drama there lately and I've accepted a new job at Zindagi Games. I know everyone there and it's 50 yards from my apt so it was an easy choice. Anyways, the president Umrao offered me a little time off before I started so I decided to take advantage of that to the tune of one month of travel. In the week before I flew out of LAX I spent a lot of happy days with Samantha. Here's a nice pic of us on the Channel Islands for a bit of hiking and picnicing. On the day before I flew out we also hit up Disney Land and had a typicaly great time. Now that I think of it, we also went to Vegas on the weekend before that. Busy times =)At 1 AM on Saturday morning I flew out of LA. That was the plan at least but due to a 1.5 hour check in line and my showing up a mere 1.5 hours before the flight, I missed the plane. I got put onto the next flight an hour later and due to my multiple other connections having some layovers I ended up getting to Guatemala on schedule so it all worked out swimingly.
When I got to Guatemala City the next morning I blew through customs and hopped on the first minibus to Antigua. In tradition with all other Central American cities, the capital was crowded, smoggy, and filled with American franchises. I saw 2 Burger Kings and 2 Chuck-e-Cheese's within 4 blocks. The best plan is to get out ASAP unless you want to stick around for some museums or to get some sleep before a 5 AM flight out of the country.
The drive to Antigua consisted of a 1.5 hour trip throught some mountains that were less like a jungle and more like a forest. There were pine trees, lots of flowers, and I even got a little chilly. I guess I just pictured the whole country as a steaming jungle. When we got to Antigue I was pleased to see clean streets, not so much wood/car smoke, and more dilapitated churches than I can take pictures of. I think that the actual count is 38 churches within a couple square miles. The city was designated the seat of spanish rule over all of Central America in 1543 and was built up with a lot of flair. Unfortunately the city was built between two volcanos that didn't cover the town in lava but instead plagued it with earthquakes. After a particularly bad one in 1773 the seat of power was moved once again and the city has been at a stand-still ever since.
When I got here I walked around to at least 8 hotels before I found a room. It's a small but clean and has a bathroom accesable from the courtyard. After walking around for a while I got some dinner at the Rainbow Cafe... they make some of the best quesadillas I've ever had and I wish that I had taken a picture. I hate to eat alone so I sat with an older man (named Ian) who turned out to be the author of 'Roughing It: Guatemala'. He advised me on how I should spend my 17 days till I meet up with Samantha in Costa Rica, hundreds of miles away to the south. He suggested that I should spend the majority of my time in Guatemala, skip El Salvadore entirely, breeze through Hondures by bus, and spend a week in Nicaragua, just to the north of Costa Rica. We swapped some stories and he went on his way. He's headed to Panajachel where I'm going tomorrow so maybe I'll run into 
him again. I decided to spend a second day in Antigua so that I could get up early today and photograph some churches before the cars showed up. It's Sunday so there's supposed to be some religious procession with music, flowers, and floats but I'm in here writing so who knows if I'll see it =/ The other reason that I'm spending another day in Antigua is so that I can visit Volcan Pixcaya. It's an active volcano an hours drive away and I'm joining a tour of the lava field there. Apparently you get to walk on fresh lava just yards away from the glowing stuff. Can't do that in Hawaii ;) I'm going to head off for that in a few hours after I get some rations for the hike.I think that my favorite part of travel would be the people that I meet. I like to go to the smaller places where there aren't too many wattering holes to get a beer at so you run into the same gringos constantly from town to town. Yesterday I chatted with a Parisian named Vincent, Ian whom I've already mentioned, an Austrain named Franz, and some others whos names I cant recall. Hopefuly I'll meet some more people at the Volcano that can steer me towards the best adventure yet. Either that or we'll parish in a hail of sulfer and fire. That's what makes it so stimulating ;)
I'll finish up the post with a picture of my lunch today beacuse I really enjoyed it even though it looked... questionable. It's churrizo soup with a side of tortillas and a glass of juice. Not too bad for 6 dollars, but I think that I need to find some cheaper eats. This town is one of the more expensive places that I'm going so it's not gonna be too hard.Ttyl... next time I'll have pictures of lava, or is it magma?
2 comments:
Thanks for posting blogs of your adventure so we can keep up. You'll have the basis for a novel, if not the novel itself by the time you return. Or, perhaps simply a travelogue.
We walked the rim of a live volcano in the Solomon Islands and watched it pitch rocks, magma, and ash into the air--you're right, we'd never get that close in the US. Eager to hear more. :)Joyce & Grandpa
Don't lose your ash out there on that volcano.
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