I´m back on the blog! It´s hard to believe it´s only been a couple of days since I last blogged because I feel I´ve seen so much since then. When I arrived in Antigua, a charming colonial town not far from Guatemala City (GC), I immediately felt chilled and ready to relax for a couple of days. Antigua could be in the south of Spain, were it not for the looming active volcano in the distance. It used to be the capital of Guatemala until the locals got so sick of having to rebuild it after each volcanic eruption that they decided to move the capital to GC. Given the recent news that GC has developed yet another sinkhole which almost swallowed a sleeping granny in her bed, I´m not sure how much safer it is but at least Antigua has been left largely untouched. GC meanwhile is a sprawling urban mass which is rammed full of cars, shanty towns and election posters...more of the election later.

After arriving in Antigua, I followed a couple of Dutch boys into a hostel called Jungle Party (Q75 per night) which looked great...til I saw the loos. Having just stayed in the lush Zephyr lodge in Lanquin, these loos were too skanky but I toughed it out for one night. The next morning I was like nahhh, so checked into the tranquil Casa Santa Lucia (Q185)up the road. Dragging my suitcase on wheels through the streets I stumbled upon the annual colourful street parade, complete with bellydancers, a brass band and boys dressed as Arabs (maybe something to do with the Arab invasion of Spain?) check out my pics on FB and I will add some videos too.

But alas, my good day was not to last - I had my first Farah moment of my travels. In other words, I had a little cry. The night before, I´d booked a few hours in Spanish school to improve my diabolical Spanish but completely forget where the school was...cue an hour and a half of wandering the streets, looking lost and confused. Those quaint, cobbled streets soon became a confusing maze leaving me frayed and on edge, esp when I realised my left arm was peeling horribly from where I´d burnt it in Belize, yuck. Thankfully I bumped into Amy, a kooky American living in Antigua who helped me get back on my feet and five mins later, I found my Spanish school. Four hours later, I left with a rudimentary knowledge of how to start a converstaion, barter in a market (mercado) and apologise for my crappy Spanish. Not bad for $14!

Next day, I had a lazy day in my fancy hotel room before heading to San Pedro La Laguna, Lake Atitlan for some more respite. On the journey, we saw yet more election posters plastered everywhere - huge portrait photos of candidates with big smiles and even bigger promises. Sandra Torres, wife of the current president, seems hellbent on getting the next 5-year presidency, even divorcing her husband to make way for her political ambitions. Her picture is literally everywhere in Guatemala, you can´t drive for more than 200 yards without seeing her photoshopped face grinning down at you. Amy tells me she has muchos political power but people are wary of her. Her main political opponent is a guy called Otto Molina, who is accused of ethnic cleansing in the Guatemalan civil war, and his sidekick, Roxana Baldetti...so a great choice for the Guatemalan people. I may not particularly like David Cameron or Ed Miliband but they´ve got nothing on this Molina dude! Apparently there are videos of him saying he HAD to kill lots of innocent people in the war hmmmm.

Anyway, back to the lake...I can now truly say I have experienced tropical rain, as it chucks it down here in Lake Atitlan at approx 4pm everyday til the next day, when the sky is blue, the sun beams across the lake and the air is still. So I spent a morning hiking up a local mountain, Indian Nose, with Brian from San Fran and Marcus from Germany. Being a massive wuss, the boys helped me by carrying my rucksack, feeding me their lunch and offering to carry me up the mountain. They were real gentlemen and helped me on what was a difficult, challenging climb that I couldn´t have done alone. I´m proud of the three hikes I´ve done so far, given that in London I won´t walk more than about 500 yards. I just won´t, it offends me. But I think now I will make more effort to excerise, promise!

Tomorrow is back to Antigua for a mammoth journey to Leon, Nicaragua. Hasta luego, amigos!