10 of us got together and headed up to Antigua, Guatemala for the weekend. We stayed just outside the city in a huge and very fancy house. The price was better than most of the hotels and it was very comfortable. The garden alone made it worthwhile.

From the house we took a very crowded, loud and uncomfortable chicken bus into Antigua. Of course we ended up In the back where every cobblestone and pothole sent us flying off our seats. We visited museums, ruins of 300 year old churches, shops and great restaurants. After a day of enjoying the town we asked directions to catch a bus home. After one false start where we found ourselves in the central market rather than at a bus stand, we found a line of buses and got on the bus where a guy was calling out our final destination. Luckily we managed to sit near the front of the bus this time and
that was a good thing because I'm not sure that we would have made it home if we were in the back. The driver was going around the curves so fast that nine of us could hold on. There were bars on the seat in front of us and even though we were holding on as tight as we could, we still slid out of our seats and into the isles. We looked around to see how the locals were handling the amusement park ride. The ones seated next to the windows were holding on to the frames of the open windows while the ones seated on the isle held
on to the seats on the opposite side. The lucky ones where the people that were wedged in between the two and even though the seats were meant for just two people, I now understand why there are usually three people per seat.

Another thing I noticed while looking around trying to figured out how to survive the bus ride was that the locals were all giggling. Initially I thought it was because of the insane speed of the driver but now I realize that they were amused by the two foreigners trying not to tumble around the bus! I'm happy that we could provide them with a little entertainment.

The next day the owner of the house that we were staying in helped us book a trip up to lake Atitlan. The lake was pretty but in my opinion the best part of the day was the drive to and from the lake where we passed through villages where all of the women and even some of the men still wear colorful native Mayan clothing in their everyday lives. We found it interesting to see patches of farmland carved into steep hillsides surrounded by volcanos.