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Short on time for our Central American adventure we decided to take a 16 hour overnight minibus from Leon in Nicaragua to Antigua via Honduras and El Salvador. Leaving at 2am was less than ideal especially as a group of lads turned up drunk from the hostel beach party (it wasn't so much the drunkeness it was more my shoulder being used as a pillow for an uncomfortable amount of time).
Missing Honduras, (well we stopped for lunch in what we thought was Honduras but turns out we slept through the border crossing and it was actually El Salvador) we survived the supposed murder capital of the world, San Salvador. I say survived, we had a McDonald's and then back on the party bus.
Arriving at the Guatemalan border was a little more interesting, with a tourist police escort greeting us for the 3 hour trip to Antigua. Never before have we felt more like gringos, being shepherded by the police for safety, although that said we were grateful.
Once in Antigua a delightful 3 hours late, we were greeted by one of our favourite colonial towns. Whilst not blown away by its charm, it was more the mix of modern restaurants, climate and lack of hordes of tourists that really made it for us.
We booked in to yellowhouse hostel on the recommendation of fellow travellers and well rested, the following day we set out to see the staple of any colonial city. You guessed it, cobbled streets and churches.
One thing that makes Antigua different from other colonial cities is the backdrop. Surrounded by volcanoes you can't escape their shear size. Volcan de fuego, which translates to fire volcano lives up to its name and is almost constantly active. The more adventurous (we didn't do it) can climb acetanango volcano to get up close of fuego and see lava spewing from its summit.
We decided to take a more relaxed approach to Antigua enjoying the restaurants and bars. One favourite was luna de miel, a great crepe place with terrace views of the surrounding mountains.
Another more interesting restaurant was tienda la canche. Recommended to us, it looked more like a news agents, only to be welcomed into the hidden back room. The walls adorned with pictures of the pope and very little lighting gave the place a real authentic feel, too much for Alice who decided to have lunch elsewhere. That aside, when the food came out and there was only one choice, it didn't disappoint. With more than enough food and beers to go around it came to only £8 for three people. Bargain.
We also decided to go to the market. Having seen quite a few markets in Latin America we were surprised to see how clean it was and the obligatory carcasses were nowhere to be seen. One stall though was definitely new to me. Anyone for deep-fried iguana? No, thought not. The lady wouldn't even let me take a picture, the cheek.
On our last night in Antigua we met up with fellow travellers Kyna and Elliot who we hadn't seen since Peru. We headed to Bar no se, a dark and dingy bar lit by candlelight and with a live band was a great place to catch up.
And with that our first stop in Guatemala was over. Now onto Flores in the north east of the country for some Mayan ruins.
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