Antigua, Guatemala

Antigua Guatemala is a beautiful city surrounded by volcanoes, with cobble streets and colorful buildings. It is also a city I could stay for a really long time. There are restaurants and cafes, the people are really nice and it was a city between places where I had a lot of fun. I was in Antigua before Semuc Champey, but the time I spent after with my new friends was amazing.

One of the volcanoes around the city

Music in the streets

The Devil at Buring of the Devil

There is  a festival in all of Guatemala called Burning of the Devil, and I was in Antigua that night and went with a group of friends I had made at the hostel. The festival consists of Devil statues being burned at the end of the day, with music, beer tents and lots of street food vendors. It was packed and people were dancing in the streets and surprisingly the festival started on time and by the time we got there, 10 minutes late the Devil was already burning. When the Devil was almost gone, a crazy man with fire works attached to a wodden structure he was wearing came running into the street with fireworks shooting everywhere and people running in all directions. It was hilarious and pretty scary at the same time. I later had a corn and some bean with cheese tostada from the street vendors and after went out with my friends from the hostel.

Being burned

Crazy man with fireworks attached to him running around town

One of my new friends at the hostel was Aylon, who is Israeli and was travelling trough Central America after serving in the army. We were in Antigua during Chanukah and Lauren and I decided we would have a little party celebration with jelly doughnuts included. It was a beautiful celebration with lots of singing, eating and later some delicious Ron Zacappa accompanied by our new favorite game mushroom of death ( king´s cup with some interesting additions).

Our dinner for a Chanukah

Aylon lighting the candles and singing

Mushroom of death

Jordan, Nath and I

Aylon and I

Danny with his prize from the Air Guitar contest

The group in front of Black Cat Hostel

After one of the many party nigths we had in Antigua I decided to partake in one of the most popular activities around town, hike up Pacaya, the active volcano near the city. It was an amazing climb, through hills, trees and finally up the volcano with all of its loose hard lava that every three steps up you slide on back and feel like you are hiking up a sand dune. As you get to the top you can feel the heat of the lava, it was a really intense feeling being so close to lava, stepping on hard lava that was still hot, feeling the heat and at some times I was actually scared of being too close and had to move away. It is with experiences like this that I think about all of the rules and regulations that the U.S. has and how many things we are being kept away from and how many different emotions we dont experience because of so many rules. Watching the lava slowly flow, the sunset on top of the volcano, and finally the glowing lava down the mountain after dark was incredible and unforgettable.

Lava flow at Pacaya

The view from the top

More lava

Marshmallows

Although we all were having an amazing time in Antigua it was time to move on again. Lauren, Nate, Danny, Jordan, Sean, Connie and I pulled names out of a hat for our secret santa, made plans to meet again in San Juan Del Sur in Nicaragua and parted ways. I got on a bus that would cross through El Salvador and drop me off in Managua to meet my first visitor: Pedro!!