So it was over to Guatemala City where we met up with Big Canadian Ash. Now for any mother who has ever gone on the Foreign Office website re Guatemala City, they might have read something about it being one of the most dangerous cities in the world... So we decided a) to get ourselves a bodyguard (Big Canadian Ash) and b) to get the hell out of there the moment we arrived.

So it was onto the nice and safe pretty town of Antigua. Full of tourists (predominantly Americans god help us) but lovely all the same. Most people travel there to learn Spanish (as my friend Charlotte did) but seeing as our Spanglish is doing us just fine, we thought it best just to wander around the place and eat a lot of burritos.

And with a belly full of rice and beans, we thought it was about time we... climbed another volcano! Only we´re not in New Zealand anymore... There are no rules in Central America... So this time, we found ourselves with a bunch of gringoes heading up an active volcano. And by active, we mean spewing red hot lava. A few centimetres from us. Absolutely bonkers. As we started up over the black lava fresh from a blow a few years back, our feet started to feel a little hot. Yes indeed our shoes felt like they were melting. And then in the corner of my eye, I noticed that the ground was moving - well, flowing. Red hot lava coming right towards us. Hmmm very safe. Ant started talking about those cross section diagrams he used to draw back at Uni (well colour in) showing the huge magma chamber beneath the very thin bit of the earth´s crust that we stupid tourists were now clambering upon. And instead of doing the wise thing and walking away from the million degrees centrigrade stuff, we got out a bag of marshmallows and started toasting them on sticks. Very yummy. And to complete the bizarre scene, we were accompanied by a stray dog who decided to lie down on the hot lava. The joke of the day - hot dog. It was only when a woman started screaming and pointing to her scorched red legs (they told us to wear long trousers but she did have the benefit of free leg hair removal) that we decided to make our way back down.

Back in the town, we were greeted with hundreds of Guatemalans dressed in purple robes, swinging incense, chanting and carrying huge statues of Mary and Jesus. As we soon learnt, we had arrived in Central America at the start of Lent with everyone building up to Semana Santa (Holy Week). Hoardes of people, amazing street food (the best donuts I´ve ever tasted) and lots of stuff we didn´t understand. What a contrast - the locals re-enacting the Stages of the Cross and the tourists toasting marshmallows on volcanoes. I think we´re going to like Central America.