Our first stop in Guatemala was the city of Antigua. It's described by most as a beautiful colonial city and at various times has been a part of the changing capitals within the country. As we'd been to many colonial cities over our time in Latin America we just planned a brief stop before heading to lake Atitlan.

The city was indeed one of the most beautiful we'd seen throughout the trip in Latin America. Quite small and navigable by foot, I went on a run around the city the first morning to get my bearings (first one in a while!) and spent the rest of the afternoon milling around from street to street, market to restaurant. Gemma found herself some local jade jewellery, famously mined in the area, on our route as well...

The colonial style is always relatively similar but particularly nice in Antigua. Most of the new shops have kept the old styles, there's loads of courtyards and roof terraces and also a really nice main square. What makes this city more interesting is the amazing surroundings of volcanos and mountains, one of which is the famous Volcan Fuego! This Volcano is one of the most active worldwide, and especially in Central America. It's been continuously active since the first records of the Spanish in the 1500's and was duly noted after the Spanish word for fire! We planned a closer look later in the trip...

Another nice part of the city was a mirador (view point) which looked over all of the city centre and volcanos around.

That evening we met up with a fellow traveler we'd first gone out with in Nicaragua and experienced some of the local nightlife! Was a great night, loads of different places visited but left us a bit tired for the early morning bus to the lakes...!