Travels thru Latin America: Antigua and Volcan Pacaya

Antigua is Guatemala's version of Hampstead. Although there is a plethora of language schools and is the favourite destination of students of Spanish, it seems that more English is spoken than anything else. It is a very charming town with myriad cafes and bars. The environs have much to offer, but with the rainy season starting , only wound up visiting Volcan Pacaya and Earth lodge. Earth lodge is a kind of resort with cabins set amongst the trees on the side of a hill, which made one feel as if one was actually living in the canopy. However, it was full of English speakers who though that speaking one or two words in Spanish and opening a text book now and then is a major achievement. There target market is probably Eco righteous north americans. As far as I'm concerned a grove of avocado trees , the excess produce of which is sold to a local market is hardly anything to write home about! I was also p'd off that they charged 25c for a glass of water with dinner. I suggested they get hold of a water filter. I was told that they had one, that before they built the lodge there was no water, no plumbing and that they needed the money. With the gushing publicity about the mountain water, it mostly struck me that as in Zim years ago, people with relatively small amounts of hard currency could open lodges, as the locals couldn't afford it themselves. The justifications though galled me, and although the food was good, I didn't feel like staying in a micro San Francisco in Guatemala....

The Plaza Mayor in Antigua

A close up of the bountiful woman in the centre of the square

The most charming thing for me about Antigua... ruins of cathedrals destroyed by previous earthquakes; the facades largely intact, but the rubble of the arches and the broken statues contained within

With the wind blowing towards me, the intense heat of the lava bed was too much to bear at Volcan Pacaya. The old guy behind me was chancing his luck as one could see red hot lava through the cracks in the bed. The month before a tourist died venturing to close to the crater and her guide died trying to save her. You never can know when " you're skating on thin ice". Pacaya erupted for the first time in something like 14 years a week ago last Thursday, killing 2 and shutting down the airport for a week.