Antigua - San Pedro - Xela

After spending some time in copan ruines, we took a shuttle to Antigua where we spent about three days and by the end of that I was definitely ready to leave. It was a nice little town and looked very different than the other places I had seen, but I quickly got annoyed with all the pollution and traffic, not like the rest of Guatemala is much better. The highlight was walking to the top of an active volcano. It was definitely a hike and at the top you could feel how hot the rocks were. I stepped on one which wasn´t as solid as it looked and when my foot fell through I could feel how hot it was. I made it safely down with only a few minor scrapes and such, which for me is pretty good going.

From there, we took a nice bus to panajachel which is on Lake Atitilan. We took a boat to San Pedro and spent another three days or so. It was relaxing and quiet. I went kayaking on the Lake and did Laundry (not for the first time). Also got to see a couple of movies that were playing in various bars and restaurants. Saw Taxi Driver for the first time which was pretty good.

From San Pedro we took a boat back to Panajachel then I got my first chicken bus experience. I was definitely pretty lucky with that. Things went quickly and weren´t two crowded. They are all old US school buses where when crowded three people will sit in each seat. I have experienced some which were crowded, but luckily only for short trips. I think we took three in total to get to Quetzaltenango (or Xela) which is where I have been since Wednesday.

Xela is the second largest city in Guatemala, the biggest being Guatemala City. A lot of people come here to study Spanish and stay with a host family. I would have done that if I had more time. I am staying in a hostel type place which has been built onto a family´s house so in a way it is like a homestay. We share there kitchen and other areas.

Xela has been alot of fun. One day we took a chicken bus to one of the nearby towns where we then went up to the hot springs. They were about 8km up, but we walked down nad it was really nice. Yesterday we took a super crowded chicken bus to the oldest church in central America. It was built in 1524! Couldn´t go inside but it was still interesting to see. I was suprised by how old it was considering there were many colonies around the time, must have been one of the first things they did when they got here. You could tell that it was quite elaborate at one point. Yesterday afternoon we went to the cinema and saw a haunting in conneticut. It was a nice luxury to have. There is a big mall here with all sort of things. Today we hiked up a hill which had a park at the top and some concrete slides. I don´t think many tourists knew about it, but Mike has been here before so he showed me where it was. Didn´t go down the slides though, because there were so many children.

I am going to be in Xela until Wednesday. The plan is to go to Flores from here so I can go and see the Mayan ruins in Tikal before going back up to Belize to see mom and Co.