The Rough Guide describes Guatemala City, Zona Uno in particular, with a host of seemingly off-putting adjectives (dangerous, decrepit, run-down, sleazy and crumbling to name but a few). Ignoring this not very subtle hint, I thought I could hang there for a few days whilst awaiting a connection. I was wrong and, after walking just a few blocks on a Saturday night, I ran for the hills of Antigua, which I never really gave a good chance.Here there was one thing I really regretted missing. A hike up Volcan Pacaya. Shorter and supposedly easier than some of the big volcanoe treks, it nevertheless promises a close-up view of live, flowing lava. Then I made two dumb decisions. Firstly to do the walk at night. Secondly to set off at 1am direct from the pub, after 6 hours of drinking. Climbing up a path of fragmented lava (crumbly, slippy and sharp as a razor blade) is not a rewarding experience and I have the cuts and grazes to prove this point. Climbing down is even harder, but at least that was after the incredible feeling of standing about 1 metre from a river of lava. Imposible to describe, apart from obviously 'hot', yet amazing. Once the sun rose, the views into the valleys were equally stunning. A day of sleep followed, happy in the knowledge that I had seen something unique.
The only other thing I did in Antigua of note, was to take a cooking course (kindly bought for me by pals in Sydney as a leaving present) where I learnt to cook frjoles, tamaritos, and platanos frito. All the things I never really liked! Yumminess.
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