Antigua
After a pain free shuttle, we arrived in
our first destination in Guatemala -Antigua in around 5hours. We were recommended a basic hostel that was super cheap and had all the things we wanted for our 3 night stay there.
We were pleasantly surprised by the cute
colonial town when we began exploring the next morning and soon fell in love
with it here.
It was easy to spend time wandering through
the cobblestone streets, ducking into market places while enjoying real cafe
coffees.
If you had the money I'm sure you would not
be disappointed at the restaurants here. We opted to make the most of our
kitchen while we had one, and hit up the local food markets. We were absolutely
blown away how cheap it was for good quality fruit and vegetables. For just
over $1 we got enough food for 2 dinners and lunches each (Dave was so
impressed he took several photos of our booty)
There are many volcanoes near Antigua and
many more tour operators selling tours to see them. After bartering for a good
price we decided to hit up a tour to Pacaya . After a not too bad hike we made
it to the top of a steamy active volcano. We had been warned by fellow
travelers that we wouldn't be lucky enough to see flowing lava like all the
photos advertised at this time, but we did get to toast marshmallows from the
steam. It was a pretty fun experience eating volcano-toasted marshmallows while
looking out at a breath taking view! 
Breakdown -
Accomm - Casa Shalom $14 for private room
Food: Refuge Cafe, best coffee in Central so far
Travel Cafe - Beef sandwich $5 with lots of fresh guacamole and chips on the side
Chocolate Museum!!!
Local markets for super cheap fresh fruit and vegies
Activities:
Window shop
Hike a volcano
Make your own chocolate in the chocolate museum
ChiChi Markets
After three enjoyable nights in our new
favorite colonial town we headed to Chichicastenango. Every Thursday and Sunday
this mountainside town is transformed into the Guatemala’s largest handicrafts
market, where you'll find pottery, colorful textiles, Mayan goods and food. We
managed to score some sweet bargains on the few things we budgeted to purchase.
The accommodation was ridiculously cheap
but in hindsight we should have continued on from here in a shuttle after the
markets as Chichicastenango is a bit of a hole when the markets finish and was
tricky to get out of the next day. We were rather bummed also as the one time
we didn't have Internet this trip we missed out mates who came to meet us at
the market. So instead of sitting in our dingy hotel rather board at 6pm, we
could have been catching up with friends.....
San Pedro, Lake Atitlan
Finally after 1 shuttle, 2 chicken buses, 1
stop in the wrong town, 2 tuktuk rides and a boat we made it to the picturesque
San Pedro on Lake Atitlan. Supposedly this is the deepest lake in central
America surrounded by volcanoes. We stayed at a funky chilled out popular
hostel called Zoola's, and spent the majority of our time relaxing in their
groovy garden tent. As many of you know after being on the move so much some
destinations you just can't be assed doing much at all, this was here for us
and the most rowdy activity we got up to was drinking 1L of red cask wine each
playing scrabble (I don't normally play games)! Dave would tell you that the
highlight of this adventure was definitely the sandwich lady!! For less then
.70c you got a massive sandwich with at least 8 different fillings on fresh
bakery bread. Needless to say we ate them for lunch and dinner for the next few
days…. Don’t get us wrong Lake Atitlan is well worth the visit you can be as
active or as chilled as you want and the drive our boasts some of the most
spectacular views!
Breakdown:
Accomm:
Zoola's Hostel - Israeli run hostel. Super funky and nice food $16 for a private room with bathroom
Food: Sandwich Lady - .70c for the best and biggest sandwich. Just up from the dock, she comes out around 3pm each afternoon.
Activities: Hire kayak's and paddle around, chill out on the decks or if you feel like hiking go exploring!!
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