We seem to be having very early starts on this trip. This one was 6.30 wake up, cases outside by7.30 and 8.30 departure. 

Our driver Oscar was once again in charge of loading the cases up onto the roof. They are covered by a tarpaulin and secured with bungee ropes, so far we haven't lost anything. 

Sharon and I are gradually progressing our way to the front of the bus. It really is a stupid way to organise seating. The married couples are getting split up and the single people are ending up with other people's spouses. 

Apparently we receive a feedback form on our return and it asks for suggestions and pluses and minuses. I think I'll be putting something in about the bus, especially as there are at least three people who suffer from travel sickness. 

OK so we're on our way, bye bye Lake Atitlan.  We stopped off at a viewpoint to take some scenic photos of the lake and the volcanoes.,

Hello, what's that? 

The active volcano has started puffing black clouds, ooh exciting! Thar she blows! 

Now, it is only a three hour journey to Antigua but, once again we are stopping off along the way. First stop is Chichicastenango. Bit of a mouthful but a Mayan town which is famous for its market. We have visited a lot of markets but this one was to be the biggest. 

We are to remove any sign of wealth from our bodies, so no gold chains, even if it's from Argos, no earrings, no flashy watches and carry small change and notes.  It would seem that there are opportunists around the market who will rip all these things off your body and then leg it.

But first it was the obligatory stop off to water one's horse.  Unfortunately, these toilets were out of order, so I declined to add to the problem, although some did out of necessity!

We picked up a funny little Mayan chap called Thomas and he did the whole sheepdog thing, keeping us all together. We were told to keep all our possessions in front of us and look out for pickpockets. Ivania said they could steal your socks without taking your shoes off! 

We arrived unscathed on the first floor that looked out over the fruit and vegetable part of the market. The quality of the produce was outstanding, much better than we get at home. 

There were some really interesting faces and stalls in this market. I am fascinated by the older Mayan faces. They are usually quite lined and a bit gaunt but there is a kind of sparkle behind their eyes, which is sadly lacking in a lot of older people in our own part of the world.

I tend to think that we take far too much for granted and those with so much less than us, still value their lives a lot more than we do.

Anyhow, less philosophy and more observation, Jilly!

The food on sale is obviously more organic which is particularly noticeable on the meat stalls. The chicken skins are a golden colour, not the wishy-washy white slime that we get at home. That is, if you discount the black splodges on them, it looks like the flies enjoy market day too!

There were also a lot of flower sellers, the majority being camped out on the church steps. People were buying the flowers and taking them into the church., Iglesia de Santo Tomas. We were to be allowed to go into the church but had to use the side entrance for some reason. I mean, whichever entrance we used, we would be in there, so what difference would it make?

Inside the church, all along the nave were plain, raised altars, maybe about 18 inches wide by a couple of feet. These were for the Mayans to use for their ceremonies. It does seem a little incongruous for a Catholic Church to have what amounts to pagan altars. But this is a compromise that the Church and the Mayans have come to, in order to get them to come to church.

Naturally the church altar and the area around it were extremely opulent, lots of gold. The contrast between what the Catholics perceive to be appropriate, in order for their God to be able to listen to and help its followers, and the simple Mayan ways, are very sharp indeed and I fall down on the side of the Mayans. 

But then as you know by now, I'm not a fan of religion!

Anyway, why should a country, Spain in this case, although the British and other European countries are just as guilty, march into another country, claim it as theirs and then proceed to 'convert' the local population to their religion, people who were quite happy with their own beliefs and traditions. Especially when the penalties for not converting were death and torture.  I'm not sure if we were as bad as the Spanish at the whole torturing and slaughter thing, but if we were, please allow me to apologise for my ancestors' behaviour.

I really get bored with the whole church thing, so excuse me if I skip over this visit! 

So, was it time to get back in the bus and travel to Antigua? 

No Siree, lets go and visit another craftsperson. 

This was a lady who made the masks and very ornate costumes that the townsfolk wear for religious festivals. Chichicastenango is renown for its mask-making skills and nearly all the good quality masks for sale in Guatemala come from this town. The masks depict animals, human expressions and Mayan gods, among others, all in bright exotic colours.

These festivals include re-enactments of the Mayas against the Spanish Conquistadors.  She dressed up Diana as a Mayan warrior and Kristin got to be a Spanish Conquistador. The outfits were stiflingly hot and are worn for 8 hours non-stop during the festivals. They were beautifully made, all by hand and very heavy to wear.

Out in the courtyard was a very strange, somewhat suggestively shaped musical instrument. Something like a xylophone and played in the same way. I think it was made of gourds. It was tuned up and played by a young man and actually didn't sound too bad at all. 

So are we there yet? No! 

Now we were off to visit the Dead Centre of the Town, the cemetery.... 

Well, this is a colourful little spot. Al lot of the graves, especially the family tombs were encased in rendered concrete blocks and painted all the colours of the rainbow. Some were graced by bunches of fresh flowers, others, well, their flowers had died probably weeks ago and looked abandoned,  some were just small anonymous mounds of earth and a little bit sad. 

There was a beautiful little dog there, very friendly and clearly a Mum with pups. She was adorable and Sharon would have loved to take her home. Sadly she had lost her faithful companion Rowdy, a German Shepherd, last Christmas. She still misses him badly. The little dog looked to be in quite good health, considering she was a new mum. Maybe that was down to the wonderful and varied selection of bones that were on the menu! We met her two little pups on the way out,. Oh they were so adorable! 

There are a lot of stray dogs in this country, the majority of them have not been spayed or neutered, which creates a big problem. Generally speaking, they look fairly healthy and the Guatemalans are pretty kind to them, they are not chased away. Someone must feed them and as a result, the dogs are all friendly and very gentle. 

Maybe I didn't need my rabies jab after all??

A bit further inside the cemetery there is another Mayan ceremony to Maximon taking place. This appeared to be for two Mayan ladies. The Shaman was busy throwing various items onto his fire, the smell of incense was intoxicating. The two ladies lit up some badly wrapped cigars and started puffing on them and at that point we left them to get on with it all in private. 

Strange really but nobody seems to mind you being a voyeur although it did make me feel that I was intruding into a private part of their lives . I have no idea what these two ladies were requesting as the whole thing was done in Mayan, not Spanish.

Are we there yet? 

No , there is yet another stop to see how the old school buses are converted into the 'chicken buses'. I passed on this one as I was not really interested in this, although, the others said it was quite informative. 

Yeah, whatever ...... And, at last were here. 

Finally, Yes. The town if Antigua starts where the cobblestones start. Should have worn my sports bra! 

Antigua was the old capital of Guatemala in the 1500s, colonised by the Spanish who obviously needed a base for organising their pillaging and religious conversions The omnipotent being that they worshipped was obviously displeased  with their methods as the whole place was destroyed by a series of earthquakes in the 1700s and the capital was relocated in what is now Guatemala City.

There are a lot of old buildings, mostly churches, in Antigua that have obviously been badly damaged by earthquakes. There are huge chunks of masonry lying where they fell, with no attempt to rebuild.. They are secured by iron railings and padlocked gates but I'm not sure whether that was to protect them from souvenir hunters or for health and safety. To be honest, from what we have seen so far, I doubt that the latter is high on the importance list.

This is a very nice hotel, the Camino Real. Very upmarket and expensive. The only problem is that you have to pay for everything that we had previously been receiving free of charge at the other hotels. So we have to pay for wi-fi, bottled water (although, we are able to drink water out of the tap here), coffee for the coffee maker (good job I pinched some from the previous hotels), ludicrous prices for laundry and the bar prices are almost double. 

Why is it that the more you pay at a hotel, the less you seem to get as complimentary?

Inside though, the rooms are laid out around four patios with lots of little niches where there may be a fountain, or vases full of flowers, or vines. It is very nice indeed. The hotel has security guards who open and close doors for you to come and go into the hotel. They all look a bit like extras from The Godfather!

So far, in Guatemala, we have not seen any signs of violence, guns (apart from the ubiquitous security guards), aggression or intimidation. We have wandered around the streets of Panajachel, Guatemala City and now Antigua and never felt threatened. The people we have met have all been smiling and friendly and very eager to help. My Dora The Explorer Spanish is sadly lacking, but to a man, or woman, they are pleased that you have tried.. 

The beds in this place are covered in thick duvets and pillow top mattresses, luxury! I am looking forward to bedtime.

It was dinner at a local restaurant tonight. But first it was time for tiffin in Sharon's room. We had the small matter of a bottle of wine to demolish, however time got the better of us and we had to leave some for tomorrow. Shame!! We're obviously slowing up!!

We have had nearly all our meals included in this trip, which is amazing value for money. All we have had to pay for is our drinks, unless we wanted a Coke or water, which was included. The choices we are given for our main courses has been a bit monotonous and ususally boiled down to chicken, beef or fish with an odd pasta dish thrown in. I think this may be done on purpose to respect our tender stomachs.

Sharon and I decided it would be a good idea to collect all the uneaten meat as an offering to the puppies of Antigua. To their credit, everyone was pleased to contribute and Sharon and I became very popular among the little local doggie-woggles as we handed out chunks of steak and chicken. 

I think we may, just then, have been the most popular tourists in the world, when viewed from canine eyes.

I went to bed quite happy, knowing that our little friends were well fed for at least one night of their lives.

 Night Night x