It was not all sunshine and roses. We almost died more than once, got sick from too much, too little, and just plain bad food, took a lot of horrid bus rides, and lost all our photographs but what was probably the worst was seeing many of the cultures of CA clammering to adopt the westeren overly capitalist and self indulgent mentality that we so dislike from home.

We will for sure be back, you can count on that!

Favorite moments:

• The overall fantastic people
• Gallo Pinto
• Bus rides through the countryside
• Diving in Honduras
• Making lots of new friends from all over the world
• Truck bed rides
• Motorcycle Rides
• Poking Lava
• Volcano Hiking
• Snorkeling in Honduras
• Antigua

Not so great:

• Trash everywhere
• Getting Robbed
• Costa Rican food
• Tourist prices

Total Money Spent Per Person: $1809

Average Per Day Costs Per Person:

• Lodging: $6.50
• Food: $9.50
• Transportation: $6.06
• Misc: $11.44 (Beer, Trips to the store, Padi, Park entrance, Guide Fees, etc.)

Total Average Per Day, Per Person: $33.50 (includes Padi course in Honduras)

Number of Days: 54

Guatemala is a place we are sure to visit again. The culture and people are as vibrant as the fabrics they make. We could have spent days wondering through the markets and had our packs been a little bigger they would be stuffed with the finest cloth we have ever seen. As with Honduras the people of Guatemala were nicer to us than we deserve.

But as with most things, it´s not all cherries. Lindsey almost died in a hotel shower and while this does make a great story, it wasn´t much fun at the time. We couldn’t get out of Panajachel fast enough. It embodies all of the things we hate about traveling, the “Oh honey look! A local“ kind of town. Which made us feel cheap for being there like we had paid for an amusement park ride with real natives and everything. It could have been us in a funk but regardless it will not be on our route when we return. Good bye Guatemala, we barley knew thee…

Favorite moments:

• Hiking Pacaya
• Poking lava with a stick
• Walking the streets of Antigua
• Discovering Tikal
• Breakfast at Hostel 5
• Glorious Guatemalan Coffee
• Stunning handicrafts
• Mango Ice Cream
• New Friends

Not so great:

• Panajachel
• Deadly Hotels (Santa Rita)
• Being hounded to buy the stunning handicrafts
• Broken down buses in the middle of nowhere

Total Money Spent Per Person: $210

Average Per Day Costs Per Person:

• Lodging: $6
• Food: $9.50
• Transportation: $7.50
• Misc: $7.00 (Beer, Trips to the store, Park entrance, Guide Fees, etc.)

Total Average Per Day, Per Person: $30.00

Number of Days: 7

Another rainy day but we went to Tikal anyway. We arrived by shuttle around 7:30AM. A guide is not required (they cost extra and go very, very slow…but they do give lots of interesting facts) but it’s good to buy a map for a couple bucks when you purchase your ticket ($20US). It turned out to be even more spectacular than on a sunny day.

The temples were all shrouded in mist and as we stood looking upward, we could feel a light drizzle of rain against our faces. Tikal is much smaller in terms of land-coverage than Copan but its structures are the largest scale Mayan ruins in the world. As one might imagine, it takes a extraordinary amount of time to fully uncover, and restore/reconstruct where needed, ancient ruins. Hence, Tikal is a working excavation site and some parts of partitioned off and tarped over to prevent visitors from disturbing the excavation and/or endangering themselves on unstable areas of the ruins. It’s pretty neat to see these monstrous “hills” which are mostly overgrown with vegetation being painstakingly slowly dug out from beneath (to learn more about the ruins of Tikal click
here for the wiki-link).

Main temple at Tikal

We made our way onto the Grand Plaza before any of the tour groups (who had taken a 15 minute coffee break before even assembling for the tour!) which felt like discovering the place all over again ourselves. Like Copan, it’s very quiet but as we were making our way just out of this little wooded path area into the plaza of the seven temples, out of nowhere we hear this horrible, loud howling sound somewhere behind us! We were expecting a giant sharp-clawed toothy animal to leap out at us any second. But, luckily, it was only a little howler monkey with a big voice. As we wandered in, over, and under the structures next to the seven temples, Lin spotted a pair of toucans in the very top of a tree just overhead.

Toucan at Tikal

Saben looking out from Tikal's largest temple

View from base of Temple V

Lomo Temple I

The tallest structure at Tikal, a magnificent temple, is also thought to be one of the last ones built before the civilization disappeared. There is a monstrous set of stairs, well actually it’s more of a ladder, to climb before you can look over the treetops and see the tops of the 2 big temples in the Grand Plaza. We ate breakfast up there admiring the astonishing view and the rolling mist over the mountains off in the distance.

Crazy stairs to get to the top of Temple V

Us eating breakfast on top of Temple V

Lindsey at Temple V

Being at Tikal and walking in the same places where the Mayans walked thousands of years ago is really hard to get your head around. The time span is so great that it doesn’t seem real, like it was just a fairy tale. But then you see these giant stone structures as evidence of this great lost civilization. Pretty surreal.

Leaf cutter ant clearing the grounds at Tikal

After we made our rounds of the main ruins we decided to go see the astrological calendar and observatory. On the cartoon-esque map we bought at the admission gate, the distance between the main ruins and the observatory is somewhere around 6 or 7 km by jeep. Being a couple of total tight-wads with cash, we decide to go to the observatory…on foot. We thought we could get there in maybe an hour or so. Also being rather hard headed, we set out through a swampy area with a more-mud-and-giant-holes-than-dirt road. As we were trucking along, we start hearing some gentle rustling along side us just in the bushes. Several tourists each year also get lost and sometimes die because they go off the path or get lost in the jungle…or possibly eaten by large animals. Ever so slowly, we turn our heads to the right and somewhat apprehensively peer into the jungle, not sure if we want to see whatever might be there. Nothing. Whew…just keep walking, maybe a bit more nosily so as not to scare any possible wildlife. We come upon a big puddle that covers the road, a spillover from the swamp on one side. After a few minutes of unsuccessful crocodile (their are many in the area) spotting, we forge through the muddy puddle and carry on with wet socks and soppy, now brown shoes. We’ve been walking for about an hour and we aren’t getting anywhere and despite all the fresh tire tracks on the road, we’ve not passed a single other human or car the whole time we’ve been walking. More mysteriously sounds and swampy conditions are quickly convincing us we should probably turn around. Grudgingly admitting defeat, we turn back and consider whether to take a jeep when and if we can find where one can be had and for how much. After a brisk walk we hit the trail head where we left to set out into the swampy, muddy mess of a road. Already tired and a bit annoyed at the map’s lack of accurate scale (we asked at the guard shack later how far it was, turns out the map is not to scale in any way and the observitory is 15K away), we decide to forgo the observatory and feel that we’ve had our fill of Mayan ruins for the day. Saben’s dogs were barking for sure since he had thrown out his insoles after being unable to get all that blasted volcanic dust out of them from Pacaya.

Raccoon looking thing

We headed back to the parking lot and waited for the shuttle to pick us up. While we were waiting for the shuttle a Coatimundi came walking right out of the jungle and walked right up to the shuttle stop looking for food (Photo above). As expected our driver drove very erratically, continuously passing and being passed by the same shuttle bus that left the same time we did. Still raining when we got back to Flores (about an hour ride) so we hung out in the hostel (Los Amigos) enjoying the cool atmosphere and delicious brownies with ice cream and Saben’s much-sought after fresh coconut with a shot of rum. Pretty chill night but we were beat after climbing all over the ruins and through a swamp.

Saben with his Rum and Coconut

You get the idea (sign in bathroom at Los Amigo's)

Travel Tip:

Get there early and skip the tour. We were the only ones on our entire bus that did not take a tour and we had the main complex (the one in every photo you see of Tikal) all to ourselves for more than half an hour. Then we just kept ahead of the tour guides and spent almost 4 hours walking around Tikal without another person in sight which truly gives you a sense of discovery! Do some reading on Tikal before you go so you know what you are looking at but as far as we heard the tours were just random facts that you will not care about later. Also skip buying the map, as you walk down the path towards the main complex there is a huge map on a poster board (the exact same map they sell you only bigger). Take a picture of it with your digital camera and save yourself a few bucks.

]]> http://www.sabenandlin.com/2009/01/14/discovering-tikal/feed/ 0 http://www.sabenandlin.com/2009/01/13/naked-electrocution-a-great-start-to-the-morning/ http://www.sabenandlin.com/2009/01/13/naked-electrocution-a-great-start-to-the-morning/#comments Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:22:30 +0000 Saben and Lin http://www.sabenandlin.com/?p=471 Day 19: Flores, Guatemala

After a pretty awful, smelly bus ride we pulled into Santa Elena… at six in the morning… in the rain. Funny enough but the local market was already bustling, rain be damned! As soon as we got off the bus we were accosted by the usual hoard of yelling taxi drivers. We grabbed the first one and headed across the causeway into Flores (an island town in the middle of a lake).

We were hoping to head to the one and only hostel in the whole town but it turned out to be full and with really no other choice, we reluctantly took the taxi driver’s recommendation (many drivers work in cooperation with a particular hotel for a commission when they bring new customers in) for Hotel Santa Rita or as it will be known from now on “the moldy death trap”. The night guard was visibly startled at our sopping, haggard appearance but did finally let us check in. We just wanted to sleep for a few hours and have a shower since the ones at Villa Lupita in Panajchel were black taped together and had stray wires hanging out of the hot-water mechanism. Naked electrocution anyone?

We paid up for the room but in our desire to sleep, we forgot to specify that we were staying through the next night for that price. Got a couple hours of sleep before heading to a decent shower. Lin was quite smelly so she had to go first.

(The debacle unfolds as told by Lin)

What a dump! It was about 6:30AM and we hadn’t showered in two days. All I wanted was a decent, warm shower and some fresh clothes. Thinking I’d let the water heat up a little bit, I turned on the visibly janky shower (hanging wires with a little bit of badly wrapped black electrical tape, connected up with the room’s single naked light bulb) and let it run for three or four minutes as I got ready to get in. Out of nowhere, the shower head starts shooting orange sparks and out comes a big, stinking puff of smoke! I yelp and Saben comes rushing in to see what’s the matter. We stand back and exchange puzzled, freaked out glances until he finally says we should turn it off. Fearing imminent electrocution and perhaps fiery death, I hesitate and Saben steps in very carefully to turn off the knob. Whew…no death or electrocution this early in the morning! And, unfortunately, no shower…again. We decide to take a little horizontal sleep since sleeping in bus seats is pretty much killer. A couple hours later we went to the front desk to retrieve our room key which we didn’t get when we checked in a few hours earlier. In broken spanglish and lots of gesturing, we were informed that the room we were occupying didn’t have a key and the lock was actually broken. We were then kind of instructed to move to the room next door, which, luckily did have a key! The room was equally disgusting and had dollar signs and flowers decorating the ragged sheets. The shower looked even worse than the first one but, still determined to get myself at least a little clean and smelling a bit better, I turned on this “new” shower to let it heat for a minute or two. Cold…ugh. I jumped in and soaped up as quickly as possible while keeping as much of my body as possible out of the icy water. Just as I had soaped myself at record speed, I started to smell something (not me). I carefully looked up with some amount of fear. There was smoke slowing rising from the shower head and I could see a little orange spark slowly growing and ready to burst out from its little gap in the black tape. I leaped out and stood outside the shower at a (probably unsafe) distance deliberating if and when to turn of the shower. I yelled for Saben who carefully reached into the shower and turned off the knob since I was soaking wet. Aha! Cheated death twice in the course of about three hours! But, problem: I’m all soapy. Or, at least I smell better but I can’t just towel off. Sink bath here I come! The sink wasn’t much better than the shower with it’s mysterious particles hanging around it and the faucet that swivels because it’s not actually attached to the base, but at least I knew I probably wouldn’t get electrocuted! After an interesting, frigid sink bath, we got ready to explore Flores. Unfortunately, all our clothes are really dirty from exploring Copan, and on top of all this, it’s still raining. So I’m kinda clean now but I still have to wear dirty clothes.

What a great morning.

 

(Insert photo that we lost of scary shower here)

We finally made our way out to breakfast thinking the worst was over. We got the standard Desayuno Chapin. It was the worst food we have ever eaten, next to the baleada Lin had in Copan (beyond dreadful) the beans were burnt, the coffee was a couple of days old, the cheese was well past off and the cook was drunk (really really drunk… at 9 in the morning) but we were starving and ate it anyway (not happy stomachs later). And, it’s still raining. Not a great start to the day. Strangely, nowhere in town sells umbrellas even though everyone else is carrying a nice, big umbrella. After a fun little auto rickshaw back over the causeway to the market in Santa Elena, we score a couple of umbrellas (Saben refused to use the first one we found since it had flowers on it) and cab it back to Flores. We walked in another 5-6 circles around the island (it’s really, really small), then went to try the hostel again (Los Amigos) to see if they’ll have any space for tomorrow night. Luckily they do so we reserve a couple of bunks and (kind of) cheerfully head back to the “the moldy death trap”. We “snuck out” our backpacks to the hostel for the next night since we didn’t know if we might get screwed into paying for two nights at “TMDT” since technically we checked in way before check out time. Pretty boring night after we got rid of our packs (literally everything). Just sitting in the room staring at the shower waiting to bolt when it catches fire. Bored out of our skulls, we headed out to wander around town. We were walking around the centro and, for some occasion unknown to us, there were lots of festivities going on. The school band performed in the centro’s basketball court which also doubles as a soccer field and the town drunk jumped in and out of the band’s constantly moving formation to dance with his hat and a hanky. Kinda funny, but also kinda weird. Later we happened past the town auditorium where a local band was performing covers of American songs…in Spanish…with a random, very drunk dwarf (no joke) dancing very provocatively on the stage, to the audience’s and the band’s confusion. Kinda funny, but also kinda weird. As we were making our way around and out of the centro, we saw a firework-laden wooden bull costume thing with a guy beneath it running straight towards us! The fireworks were just beginning to go off and most were shooting straight into the huge crowd surrounding the “bull.” There was a great deal of screaming, laughing, and running in directions as the bull charged toward people with fireworks shooting off his back! We followed suit and joined in the running from the bull to keep from getting burned. All in all a really fun experience! During this whole time, we didn’t see a single other traveler or tourist.

(We were expecting an uneventful night so we left our cameras in the room)

After a bit, we made our way back to the hotel and continued our fire watch…

We decided to cut out of Panajchel. It’s pretty boring and very touristy, very much not our kind of place. So, we bought a bus ticket up to Flores to see Tikal (the whole reason we came to Guatemala).

We ended up getting a pretty good deal on the ticket. Unfortunately, the shuttle didn’t leave until four in the afternoon so we were stuck carrying around our packs all day. We found a nice little restaurant on the lake and had a long lunch trying at kill sometime before the shuttle. The food was great, Hamburgesa con queso (Cheeseburgers), but the best part was our waiter. He was all of ten years old and was by far the most attentive waiter we have had thus far. Needless to say he got a pretty good tip.

View from the deck of the resturant

Hamburesa con queso

Lindsey waiting for the bus

As we were walking back into town to head to our shuttle a guy rode up next to us on a bicycle and asked if we wanted a hotel (happens all the time) we said no. Then he says “Well let me ask you a question, do you like cannibis (purposely spelled wrong for any of our followers behind the big corporate firewall)” This is by far not the first time we have been offered drugs on the trip, but it total caught us off guard. Before we could say anything the guy breaks into a five minute diatribe about the fallacies in the American judicial system as it pertains to “natural” substances. While we may agree on some points it’s not exactly a conversation I want to be having in the middle of the tourist market. We told the guy we had a bus to catch and he rode off (with his two young kids in tow). Not three blocks from the bus station we were hit twice more with the exact same spiel. A little more aware of the lecture that may ensue, a firm “NO” saved us any more hassle.

Market at Atitlan

Street sellers at Atitlan

We got to the shuttle and were on our way back up the winding road towards Antigua. About an hour and a half into our journey the shuttle breaks down in the little hole of a town, San Fransisco. The driver pulls it into a “taller” (workshop) and the mechanic says it’s done for. The driver radioed ahead for another van to pick us up but the other van is coming from Antigua so it will be almost two hours before it arrives. It is already getting dark and everyone was a little uneasy when several groups of boys (older teens) started to gather around the van for no apparent reason.

We were more worried about our connecting bus as we were going to really be pushing it to make it to Guatemala City in time to catch it. We did end up meeting a couple of kiwis (New Zealanders) on the shuttle and chatted away the 2 hours pretty quick swapping travel tips and email addresses. The next van did finally arrive but was quite a bit smaller than the first one (which was full) so 17 of us piled into a sport van bound again for Antigua with the poor (first) driver stuck sitting in the floor. Best part was one of the guys on the bus who spoke almost no english had the song “Always look on the bright side of life” on his phone and started playing it as we were leaving the shop. Everyone knew the tune and broke out into song almost immediately. Except for the grumpy driver who had to come get us.

View from the back of the van

We finally made it to Antigua and were supposed to be heading off to Guatemala City to catch our bus but the last shuttle had already ran to GC and nobody at the office had the money for gas to take us there (money had already been sent to the bank) so I think driver one put up the cash so we could get on our way and we sped off hoping to catch the bus. It was just us and an Israeli couple heading up that way so we had a nice chat in the empty van. When we did make it to the bus station our bus (the cheap crappy one) had already left but the grumpy driver didn’t know we were supposed to be on that one so he bought us tickets for the first class with the Israeli couple. We were pretty excited for the upgrade and to get going until the “First Class” bus pulled up. It was a real pile of junk and smelled like a moldy bathroom rug. Not fun but not to big of a deal, We plan to try to sleep through most of the 8 hour ride anyway…

Very sad to leave Antigua this morning. We can’t wait to come back! Took a 7AM shuttle bus to Panajchel to check out Lake Atilan. It was full of very rude, old Americans, a few Germans, and us (smack in the middle and quite unhappy about our obnoxious countrymen (and women). 

But the ride only took a couple hours and was, like all transport in Central America I believe, rather treacherous. There was some kind of marathon going on while we were trying to go up, down, and over the mountain to the lake so the driver was driving like a typical shuttle driver (insane) on a two lane road that was only actually big enough for one vehicle at a time all while dodging the equally insane people running up and/or down the mountain in the road. Several times we were looking over the edge at our imminent death down a several hundred foot drop-off without any kind of guardrail as the shuttle weaved back and forth around the mountain and runners. But we made it alive and even stopped for at a pleasant overlook of Lake Atilan where a few kids were trying to peddle the crafts to anyone within 20 feet of the shuttle.

Overlooking Lake Atilan

It was a nice view but we were just ready to get to the town and unload our packs. We had never planned on coming to the lake but so many fellow travelers told us how incredibly amazing it was. With such strong and numerous recommendations, we figured it just must  be a phenomenal place not to be missed. As soon as our shuttle stopped (on a random street, nowhere near a travel agency or the town center), a swarm of taxi drivers opened all the doors and started yelling the names of various locations they would drive to. We just wanted to get away from the shuttle and find a cheap hostel. It took a while but we tracked down one on the edge of town near the locals’ market called Hospedaje Villa Lupita for about $5/person. Pretty sketchy (i.e. Dirty bathrooms, a questionable shower, and sorta-kinda cleanish rooms. We were just happy to drop our packs after walking all over the town trying to find an open, cheap enough place to stay. It was only about 10:30 and we were ready for some lunch (brunch?). We found a quaint little cafe that served the best regular pancakes I’ve ever eaten. They were fried in butter and just perfectly crunchy golden on the outside and terribly fluffy! It was served with some fresh fruit but the papaya tasted weird (it seems that papaya is a bit different here and in the States). 

 

Lindsey's Panqueques

Saben's Toast and Fruit

Walked around Panajchel all day through the tourists’ souvenir market that lines both sides of the streets all the way down to almost the water’s edge. The town is an extremely touristed place, so many of the vendors can be pretty tough to bargain with since they are in no real shortage of customers. There are lots of old women and little girls who walk around between passersby and people sitting in restaurants trying to peddle their various goods which usually consist of colorful pieces of fabric, scarves, bracelets, hair ties, and the like. It’s the same stuff over and over again and they are very pushy but if you keep saying “No, gracias” they will move on. We did find out that by adding “senora” to the no gracias, the women usually go away sooner because we are not only being polite but also respectful in our refusal to buy anything from them.

Atitlan Street Sellers

 

 

It’s really easy to find a taxi too (in fact all over Central America). Plenty of drivers park their cars and lean against them yelling out “Taxi!” or listing off various places they are willing to drive you as you walk past. We had another look at the lake, which was beautiful but not really anything extraordinarily phenomenal as we were lead to believe it would be. We are a bit fed up with the touristy-ness of Panajchel and rather disappointed with the town. We did have a better time walking through the locals’ market where the usual vegetables, fruits, meats, and so forth are sold. 

Goods for sale at the market

 

 

But again, like in Antigua and San Pedro Sula, we were the only non-local shoppers. We found a nice little place to hang out by the waterside and spent the rest of the day watching the boats plow in and out of the dock. While we relaxed, we were frequently hit up with the typical touts selling their various goods. The main difference is that they are mostly children about age 7 or 8 who, not satisfied with not selling their wares, would often ask for a dollar or “Buy me Coca Cola?”

 

Slow day today, working on the website and getting some posts caught up after we were Internet-less for the past week or so. The hostel we are staying at has some nice high speed Internet so we are make full use of it, but we end up getting caught up on news and gossip more than post writing.

View from my desk (hammock) at Hostel 5

We did leave the hostel for a little bit today to keep our sanity. Walked around town for a bit and got some very good ice cream.

Mango, Orange and Blackberry Icecream, Yum!

Then it was back to the hostel for an early supper… or a late lunch…. “lupper” I guess. The owner of the hostel fixed us a great meal. Lindsey had spaghetti and Saben had a big pile of nachos.

Tasty nachos!

Drank a few beers then it was back to work, boring day but it must be done every now and then.

Lindsey at the bar at Hostel 5

We absolutely LOVE Antigua! It’s pretty much one of the greatest places in the world. The atmosphere is very casual and relaxed and just generally very comfortable.

We would love to come back and live here for a couple years at some point. There are tons of employment opportunities and apartments are relatively inexpensive.

Back Streets of Antigua

We had such a great breakfast this morning at the hostel. It’s the typical Guatemalan breakfast (Desayuno Chapin) which consists of a couple scrambled eggs, refried beans, the most delicious mini tortillas, a little hunk of some kind of white cheese, and the most wonderful fried plantains all with some amazing Antigua coffee and a little red sauce on the side for the eggs (not hot, just very flavorful). It was f*ing amazing!

Chapin, Half eaten before I remembered to take a photo

We decided on a whim to take a sunset/nighttime trek up Volan Pacaya. It’s about an hour or so away from Antigua by mini bus and only cost $8 including the to/from transportation that picks you up at your hostel). The ride up to the park where you start hiking to Pacaya was…interesting. It’s up this back-and-forth winding road at an alarming rate of speed with a random speed bump or two as the little old and abused bus tries its hardest to haul the 15 or 16 people up a vertical incline.

It takes about 20 minutes to get to the start of the hiking trail where the minibus is swamped with 10-15 little kids with arm-loads of walking sticks who are all yelling “Schtick? Schtick? Buy a schtick from me, my friends!” The sticks cost 5 quetzals and while they might provide a little help while hiking, they are really for poking the lava at the top of the volcano (which is awesome, by the way)!

It a tough couple hours hike up to the lava fields, following a long string of people on a tiny dirt path barely big enough for a goat. Along the way, there are incredible views of the surrounding valley and Guatemala City.

View of Guatemala City from Pacaya

Long trail to Pacaya through the lava fields

Us with Pacaya in the background

After a couple hours of hiking up the volcano and much of it through the lower lava fields that are like gravel but are 6-8 inches deep (you would be amazed at the amount of volcanic dust that ends up in the strangest places…), it’s really nice to watch the sunset just feet away from a big lava stream. The heat from the lava is so intense that even from about 4-5 feet away you can barely stand to feel it on your skin. (these photos do not due justice to how orange and hot the lava truly was)

Lindsey at the lava

Saben poking lava with a stick.

Saben at the lava

Sunset on pacaya

We could see the bright orange lava flowing beneath many of the rocks we were walking on which was so hot it melted the soles off the shoes of a couple of people in the group!

Lava beneath our feet

The hike down off the volcano was pretty wild as well. By this time it was completely dark and the lava flow was starting to pick up so we had to really move off of the mountain. Behind us we could see giant flaming balls of lava rolling down the path we had just been walking 15 min, earlier.

Shakey Pacaya at night

The ash and gravel got into everything and by the time we got back to the shuttle our shoes were nearly ruined. The kids were hanging out a the bottom of the trail when we go there “Schtick for me, Schtick for me”. Scooping up the walking sticks they had sold earlier from the hikers who no longer needed them. To sell them off again tomorrow. Good business plan.

Enjoyed a celebratory beer with a traveler we met along the way and back down the mountain we went , headed for “home.”

Got into Antigua around noon and after checking into the a really cool hostel (Hostel 5, $7 per bed with breakfast and in-room unlimited WiFi included!) we grabbed some much-needed lunch at Piccadilly’s (not very local, I know haha) for a surprisingly good price. We heard the bustling down then street and just had to check out the huge outdoor market!

It’s literally like an open air Wal-mart (for the record we hate referencing the killer of the working man and all around great Satan, Wal-mart). There is meat, fish, vegetables, fruit, nail polish, ropes, fancy dresses, souvenirs, old remote controls, shoes & clothes—basically everything you could ever need all in one place! Most of the stalls are run by these tiny, ancient looking woman with white hair and dynamic wrinkled faces.

Street seller at the market

Strangely, most of the shoppers are also tiny, ancient women. We were literally the only “foreigners” we saw in the entire market…and we were also about a foot (or two in Saben’s case) taller than most everyone else there. The array of fruits and vegetables were beautifully arranged and their colors were more brilliant than any of the fruit we get at home.

Edge of the market

But, between the scent of fresh flowers, raw fish, raw meat, dried shrimp, dog food, fruit, and all the other miscellaneous goods for sale, it can be pretty violating to one’s nostrils. So, after buying a few pears and apples, we headed away from the market to explore the pleasantly cobbled streets of Antigua to see whatever we happened to see. A more pleasant day could never be had…