Antigua Guatemala
15 February 2008
Roger
At 6am on Tuesday morning, Nelson from the hotel took us to the bus station where we bought tickets for Guatemala city. I was offered the choice of first class or, for a few dollars more, premium so I thought what the hell, let�s try premium. First class, it turns out, is on the upper deck, and premium is on the lower deck. We thought the Mexican first class buses were something, but this really does it! We had tons of leg room, and we were served drinks, snacks, etc. for the whole trip---it made us somewhat uncomfortable to be so pampered! The trip was two movies long...it was quite an effort to keep up with a movie while also checking out the countryside as it glided by. There was quite a long stop at the border. El Salvador uses the US dollar as its currency, while Guatemala has the Quetzal, about 7.7 to the dollar. We�d heard that you can use dollars as well as quetzals, so we didn�t take advantage of the money changers at the border with their wads of quetzals.
We had no idea what to expect of Guatemala city, but it was clear as we reached the outskirts that things are quite a bit more modern than in El Salvador. we also had no idea how to get from Guatemala city to Antigua, our destination. After asking at the bus station, we took a taxi on a long ride through the city center and into a fairly rough looking area where we were let off at the door of a large shed. As we stepped out of the taxi, a guy in a blue t-shirt came rushing up yelling, �Antigua! Antigua!� so we got onto the empty bus waiting in the shed. The bus itself is what they call a chicken bus. After a few minutes, a couple of other people got on, then the driver, and the guy in the blue t-shirt stood in the doorway and we were off. This is the wildest bus ride we�ve ever had. The driver raced along the city streets, changing lanes, honking, diving into gaps big enough for a volkswagen beetle, squealing the tires on corners and lane changes, and jumping lights. Bus stops were chaotic, with chicken buses all fighting for space. The guy in the blue shirt, it turns out, is one of the Guatemalan bus huslters. He works as a team with the driver---the bus double parks outside other buses at the stop and he races around yelling out the destination and hustling people onto the bus. People go willingly, and it�s not an aggressive thing for the passengers---the competition, it seems, is entirely with the other buses. The buses going to the same destination try to beat each other to the stops to sweep up the passengers first. We learned later that this is public transportation only in that it transports the public---the buses are privately owned and the driver-hustler team have to pay the owner a fixed amount daily, splitting any additional income between them. It makes for a wild and wildly entertaining ride. Once we got outside of the city and onto the winding mountain roads, the real fun started. You really have to hold on on the corners---you�re really thrown around as the driver takes the corners near the limit.
The buses themselves are all used school buses from the US. A number of visitors we�ve had over the years have been fascinated by the yellow school buses in the US. Well, we�ve discovered the yellow bus graveyard---it�s central america. However, it�s much more like bus heaven, as the buses are repainted in really bright colors and each one is named. The name of the family that owns the bus is also painted in various places. In many cases, the front end of the bus is reworked, with beautiful shiny chrome fronts, radiators, etc. I would guess that since the system is so competitive, it�s very important to have your bus looking as sharp as possible. We learned later that some of the soldiers standing by the side of the road were to intervene in case of problems on the chicken buses---a couple of weeks ago there was a spate of robberies where armed gang members held up the drivers and hustlers and a number of people were killed. Apparently many people carry guns as well, and battles erupted with the passengers helping defend the drivers.
The descent into the valley to Antigua was extremely steep, but soon we were bouncing along cobblestone streets to the bus terminal, a large open area.
Antigua is a colonial town surrounded by the peaks of several volcanoes, two of which are active. The city was leveled by earthquakes several times over the years, and the capital was finally moved 45 miles away to the present day Guatemala city. Dotted here and there about the city are the ruins of once-magnificent buildings---many of the really substantial buildings have been destroyed by earthquakes. The streets are all cobblestones, and there are many beautiful old buildings.
Antigua is the center of the expatriate culture. There seem to be hundreds of spanish schools, so the city is extremely popular, especially among europeans, as a place to learn spanish. We learned that the drummer from the Buena Vista Social Club plays at a night club here every Wednesday and went along to hear him. The room was quite small and totally packed. Needless to say, the music was incredible. However, an interesting feature was that most of the patrons were women in the 20s from Scandinavia, here to learn spanish.
While Sal went shopping (and Antigua is the best place for shopping in Guatemala, it is said), Tane and I took a mountain bike ride. We climbed for some time to the top of a mountain overlooking the city, and looking across to the main volcanoes on the opposite side of the valley. It is a spectacular view, but at this time of the year there is quite a lot of haze from the sugar cane fires on the pacific coast. After the climb came some really incredible downhill, all single track. At one point we had to stop and wait as three women in traditional dress went by. One had a baby on her back, two were balancing loads on their heads, and all three were carrying machetes. Our guide, Raphael, suggested we not try to photograph them. Sometime later, we were stopped on a section of uphill as we followed an old man trudging along with a huge load of sticks on his back, secured by a band around his forehead.
Everywhere on the street of Antigua you see women in traditional dress, most of them selling woven items. The standard tourists are clearly outnumbered by the spanish students.
Coffee fincas (plantations) are all around the city on the slopes of the volcanoes and in the valley. Needless to say there are many coffee shops in town, and they make wonderful coffee. So far, we�ve found the food here excellent, with a wide range of cuisines. The city has a great feel to it, and we�re really enjoying it. You can walk around at all times of day and night and there�s always something to see.
When we tried to book additional nights, we discovered that everything was taken, so we decided to take an overnight trek to Volcan Pacaya for Thursday night. After about 90 minutes driving in a van, we arrived at the start of the trail. As soon as we got out of the van, we were surrounded by children all trying to sell us sticks for the hike. As we walked through the collection of buildings at the start of the trail, we were assailed by offers of horses to rent. We started up the trail and were followed by several of the horse vendors, which was a good thing because Sal decided that, after about a quarter of a mile, she was not going to be able to keep up. After 90 minutes of hiking straight up we reached the campsite, a grassy open area among two old lava flows. The cinder cone towered above us with a plume of smoke trailing off. The tents were set up, and as darkness fell, we hiked over one of the lava flows and up to a ridge which was also the edge of a cliff overlooking a huge valley. The valley is filled with the lava flow and we could see the red lava flowing among the cooled flows over a wide area. The sun set over the other volcanoes on the skyline in a spectacular display, with fire in the sky, fire on the ground, and flashes of lightning from a huge thunderstorm system over the distant volcanoes. After the sun set, we picked our way in the dark, with flashlights, up through the lava field looking for active flow areas. Although it got quite warm in places, we didn�t find any glowing red. It is a surreal experience to be clambering over the twisted lava with a smoking cone towering overhead and a field of glowing, moving lava on the slopes below and to the side. It got quite cold as we ate dinner back at the camp. In the morning, we hiked down into the main lava flow area, walking on very recent flows and getting very close to the lava that was glowing bright red and flowing quite quickly. At one point I noticed something sticky on the lava I was walking on---it was melted shoe rubber!
We got back to Antigua just after noon and checked into our hotel for a much needed shower and afternoon nap. Tane and I are booked for a mountain bike ride to lake Atitlan at 6am tomorrow.