Day 11 Friday 5th October: Volcanoes, views and vendors

Mike writes:

What a great place Antigua is! Stunning in daytime and jumping at night. We enjoyed live music at a local pizza place for dinner followed by more live music at a great little bar where we perhaps were not exactly the target demographic being neither twenty nor dogs (canine not a comment on Guatemalan women).

After breakfasting on mosh – Guatemala’s answer to Scott’s Porage (sic) oats – courtesy of the talented Irma, the Carlows’ maid, who was also brave enough to tackle our laundry, Frankie took us to see the Hotel Casa Santo Domingo complex, a brilliant redevelopment of a 17th century convent destroyed in an earthquake.  It has two claims to fame: it was a key influence in transforming Antigua into the classy tourist draw it is today and secondly the first wedding ever hosted there was Frankie and Tutti’s.

Chris, Frankie and the dog carefully planned the route on Waze despite the challenge of finding a wifi signal.

We set off in the Range Rover through the less tourist focussed suburbs of Antigua where the frequent three legged hobbling dogs (traffic victims) suggest that Guatemala may have a problem recruiting guide dogs for the blind. That or few blind people surviving very long.

Traffic comprised numerous colourful buses driven at insane speeds and memorably in one case with a pig tethered to the roof. (It was camera shy so no photo unfortunately.) Assorted other animals were being transported albeit in marginally more conventional fashion.

After a lunch stop at Katok restaurant at Tecpan we continued to climb slowly up through the hills, peaking at 8,600 feet, with Chris safely negotiating his way round broken down trucks, kamikaze bus drivers and craters. We were eventually rewarded with views over the Lake Atitlan and the surrounding volcanoes.

On arrival at our hotel I immediately commandeered the larger of the two beds in the room I’m forced to share with Chris, it being John’s turn to sleep in splendid isolation tonight. We toured the Blackpool-esque delights of the lake front being pestered by Mayas selling ethnic trash and trinkets. Some were more photogenic than others.

We’ve a non driving day ahead tomorrow with a four hour boat trip round the lake arranged instead just to keep our mileage up.