We finally arrived in Antigua around 5pm. The traffic in Guatemala City was crazy busy and we saw the funniest thing amidst this - a suited and booted business man hanging of the side of a "chicken" bus OMG! Wish I'd got a picture. I will never complain about our Tube again.
Our final hotel of the trip was the La Merced in Antigua. I had two rooms here so I'll base this review on the room I shared before I split off from the group. It was a triple as you can see from the pics. Good sized bathroom and shower. WiFi in the room. Opened out onto the central courtyard of the hotel, so it was incredibly noisy. Free internet by Reception where you can print boarding passes, maps etc. The guys on Reception were very helpful in assisting us with excursion info. and where we could find the the best places to eat. Only a 10 minute walk from the Central Plaza / main square. You can also organise a 10 dollar airport shuttle bus transfer with Reception. No restaurant, but Fernandos is just a few steps down the street and it serves the best coffee and food for any time of the day.
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A feast of photos coming up... This time last month... Today was a busy day for me as I'd chosen to do all 3 activities to get the most out of exploring Copan and the surrounding area. Olivia and I went back to yesterday's relaxing lunch stop for breakfast at 7am and I'm sure this was the best banana milkshake of the trip! We had to be back at the hotel for 9am to meet our Mayan Copan ruinas guide, Marvin. These were my first Mayan ruins and I was so excited. I absolutely loved this tour; walking amongst the ruins and photographing them, all despite the heat. And we got up close to Macaws! 1pm was the tea and chocolate visit - how more amazing can you get !!! We took a crazy tuk tuk ride there and back, but the actual tour was so calming and tranquil set in gorgeous surroundings. We basically got to chill out, drink interesting tea and have chocolatey things. Perfect :D Dashing back to the hotel, it was a quick shower and change into my swimwear and we were off again at 4pm to the Luna Jaguar natural hot springs to relax, obviously, but also to throw a surprise birthday party for the oldest member of the group. As you can see from the pics, we chillaxed... and then it was BBQ time along with lots of Tequila, drunken "hit the Sponge Bob Square Pants pinata full of sweets", cake in the face, cake fight, stumbling around in the dark outdoor showers, groovy dancing, a late night "get your kit off" bathe and... an awesome evening culminated in the party bus ride home where we sang our hearts out to Taylor Swift and the Spice Girls. Loved. Every. Second.
We left for Copan in Honduras at 7am. With 2 border crossings ahead of us, we thought it was going to be another long day of travel, but we arrived at our new hotel around half 12. En route we had a brekky stop, then it was the El Salvador to Guatemala border, which was easy, and we drove for an hour or so to the Guatemala to Honduras border, and that was also easy. I don't even think we filled in any paperwork; Rafa just disappeared with our passports to get them stamped on both occasions. Great! You can't drive El Salvador to Honduras because the roads aren't very good, but with border crossings like those, who cares! Once we were settled into our hotel, we ventured into town for lunch and so I could buy my memento for Honduras. We stumbled on a great place to eat and stayed there for a while enjoying watching the world go by. 3 little village girls came by trying to sell us their handmade dolls. The small children walk from the village to the centre of Copan to sell these to the tourists (1 hour 30 mins round trip). They bring a laminated note from their parents explaining what they are selling and why (it's their livelihood). We didn't buy the dolls but Olivia and I gave them a dollar each to take back to their families. Hopefully it will help in some small way. If we see them on the streets after 5pm, the note says we have to usher them back home before it gets dark. Our next two nights were staying at Hotel Las Brisas in Copan. Lovely hotel with different levels and trees and plants making it look very pretty. Normal sized rooms and bathrooms with fans. Lots of patio areas for sitting and chatting. WiFi only at Reception though. There wasn't a restaurant. It was a noisy hotel, but then we were getting used to that by now. Well located for the Mayan ruins and the main square - 10 minute tuk tuk ride either way. You can walk into town, it took us 15 to 20 minutes depending on the heat, and we walked to the ruins which took 25 to 30 minutes. A little bonus... because we were a G Adventures group, we got to use the rooftop pool in the hotel opposite - Acropolis Parqueo.
After another wonderful lie-in despite the noise (must have been tired), Olivia and I headed into town for some breakfast. We were in that "brunch" period so we struggled to find anywhere serving food. Everywhere looked locked up. In the end, we cautiously walked into a bakery and a very grumpy lady served us juice, biscuits and pastries. 3 pastries / biscuits and the OJ cost us 1 dollar 40, 2 dollars with a tip - nice going!
Ataco is a very artsy town so we wandered around enjoying the many wall murals and then walked up the hill to the church to take photos. We continued up the hill along with the children going to school, although a lot of them caught a lift. Very wise in the heat. Then we walked back down and across town and started towards what we thought was the way to the volcano. The path was so steep and it was getting really hot. We had no idea where we were, but we saw lots of lizards, big bugs dead and alive and butterflies floating by. Still no pics of the Morphos even though we chased it. It's just not meant to be... Giving up, we walked all the way back into town and finally restaurants were open everywhere - and with happy staff. I was so hungry, I ordered spag bog, cheesecake, real lemonade and a toffee mocha frappuccino and it couldn't have tasted more wonderful. After all that, we went back to the hotel and flaked out until dinner. Oh, and we picked up the laundry we put in at Reception yesterday. They had washing machines back there, but I think they hand washed my stuff because I still had soap powder in everything. Hmmmmmm This time last month... We were in El Salvador and it couldn't be less scary. We kickstarted the day with an 8am briefing detailing the things we could do this morning in Suchitoto before we drove to Ataco. Wandering into town for brekky, I didn't feel like I was in El Salvador. It felt perfectly safe. The church was chiming for Sunday morning mass, families were gathering in the central plaza where a giant bouncy castle was being blown up, and the ladies were making tortillas for breakfast outside the different restaurants. Half of the group had decided to take a city tour with Luis our guide to make the most of being in Suchitoto. It was only 10 USD for 3 hours - great price! So off we went visiting the market stalls, helping the school children with their project (doing homework on a Sunday - top marks!), observing a smidge of Sunday morning mass, seeing a small, family run factory in operation, stumbling upon a carnival in the street, trying the local delicacy pupusas, making tortillas, rolling cigars, impressive views of the lake, stroking some very cute kittens and puppies and, finally, ending up in an art museum. It was hot and humid beyond words, but a really enjoyable morning's tour. We left at 1pm for Ataco and arrived at our new hotel around half 4. We looked at the different options for tomorrow's activities, but Olivia and I decided to explore independently and see what happened. Later that evening we all went out for dinner at a local Sports bar and played some pool. I finally got my G&Ts!
Our hotel for the next two nights was Hotel Segen. Nice place but very noisy. All through the tour, if it wasn't dogs, it was cockerels, and if it wasn't cockerels, it was dogs. I was totally prepared for this - took earplugs - and then lost them. WiFi in the rooms. No dining area but they do have a fridge full of drinks at Reception. Laundry service. The compound is locked at night. Rooms open outwards to the central courtyard / garden area so very sociable accommodation. Nice size rooms and bathrooms. Fan and TV in bedroom. If I thought the travelling day when we entered into Nicaragua was long, that was nothing compared to today. We were on the road for 9 hours and on the water for almost 3. The day started at 6:30am with our 15 minute walk to the boat, 10 minutes across the water and then we waited 20 minutes for our bus to arrive. It was 4 hours to the border and we broke the journey up as usual for snacks and a toilet stop. At the border on the Nicaraguan side, we filled out our paperwork and handed our passports over. They got stamped and then we had to walk down to the water's edge and line up with our bags. Security searched the boy's bags (luckily there were only 4 of them) and they wanted to search two of the girl's bags as well (thanks Dani and Abs!) Satisfied, we were allowed to board the boat. We were the only tourists and the boat was a private one just for our group. I have to say it was the easiest and most relaxed border crossing I think I've ever done, except for when we got stopped by a border crossing patrol boat about two thirds of the way over the water and they looked a little scary with their guns. We were eventually waved through, though. We landed on El Salvador soil in time for a late lunch. At the harbour, there wasn't any Security and we were greeted with a restaurant. I hadn't had any breakfast, so my banana milkshake and chicken quesadilla never tasted so good! We ate whilst our passports were taxied to Immigration and stamped. It all happened without us being there. And we didn't even have to worry about currency conversions because El Salvador adopted the American dollar as their own some time ago. Win!
This was easily the easiest day of the tour and I'd totally planned it that way. This time last month... after the most amazing lie-in (sleeping until gone 9am), going down to breakfast in my night shirt and having the Americano brekky that absolutely hit the spot, I showered, dressed and plopped myself on the beach in Poneloya. Listening to the surf crashing in and reading The Happiness Project on my Kindle, I was in my element. Completely and utterly relaxed, we watched the boys surf and then the fun came with the volley ball tournament. Tequila shots, drinks on the beach, Jenga and witnessing the luminous blue and sparkling plankton, washing up in the surf later that evening under a star lit sky, concluded a perfect day.
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AuthorBlogging is an amazing concept so here I am giving it a whirl. You'll get words. You'll get pics. Sometimes a vid or two. You'll get tongue in cheek, the odd humble opinion and an honest insight into my travels and writing life. Maybe even a few gems along the way. I'll be musing on home turf as I see more and more of the UK and sharing my experiences further afield on holidays and adventurous trips across the globe. Archives
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