We arrived back in Antigua late on friday night, and following the advice of Josie who had been living in Antigua for 5 months checked into our hostel. Starving hungry we dumped our stuff and went out for dinner, following the advice of a girl in our dorm for where to go, which was to this really cool cafe which had live music and discussions (and beanbags). In an attempt to tighten the purse strings (a necessity after the markets) I ordered the cheapest thing on the menu - rice and beans (just to branch out from what i'd been eating for every meal), but sadly I accidently ordered it twice so ended up with 2 portions costing the same as the sandwich I had really wanted, boo!

The next day we decided to wander through the markets, which was interesting, and persuasive salesmen kept on coming up to us with machettis - the backpacking essential, and various other more illegal items (my favourite quote directed at Alice... "Hey barbie, you want something to smoke?") We found a soda for lunch and hoping it would be reminiscent of the Nicaraguan ones, but sadly those hopes were dashed when the waves of nausea hit. Funny how cooking dirty food on a dirty cooker doesn't taste so great... After getting out of there we meandered around Parque Central for a bit which is so beautiful, and there was a really good world music band playing in the square. And then we found a gringo cafe hurrah! Called the Bagel Barn (so not exactly typical Guatemalan food..) but they did a mean latte (which had been sorely missed) and bagels.

Then on Sunday we woke up to our last day with Mandy and Jason, ver sad. Their shuttle came for them at 11, and so after an emotional goodbye we were back down to our two brave travellers once more. That arvo we'd booked a tour to see Volcan Pacaya - a live volcano!On the drive up we passed this massive procession in preparation for Semana Santa (and by passed, I mean stopped for half an hour while it passed) where probably most of the men in Antigua were dressed in purple robes, and carrying two massive models of Jesus dragging the cross... Once there though the climb up was really cool - we kept hearing rumbling and booms. And there was loads of hardened lava snaking it's way down the hillside from the last big eruption. When we actually started ascending the volcanic rock it was really weird - it's so light as it's basically just air, so there's essentially air between you and a huge vat of molten rock... Excellent. The higher we got the hotter it got, and heatwaves started appearing off the rock, and then the ground started getting hot. Some peoples trainers were melting! And then a steady flow of lava appeared which was so cool!! Obviously there were zero health and safety regulations so people were running up to it with sticks trying to get some flaming magma onto the end to wave about (probably resulting in scarring a fellow tourist), and toasting marshmallows. They tasted goood, although they came at a price - you practically had to singe your eyelashes to get them melting! It was bleeding hot though! I was standing about 4m from it, and my legs looked almost sunburnt after about 20 mins (one way to get a tan..) We walked down during the sunset which was really beautiful, and once it was dark the volcano really came alive. It was almost constantly erupting red-orange lava with a boom! It would fly up in the air and then land some way down the side... amazing. Then on the bus on the way back we started talking to this girl also staying at our hostel from Kentucky and, surprise surprise, conversation turned to religion. She was saying how she lives in the 'bible belt' and she loves devoting her time to god and the church, and doing missionary work, and me and Al were nodding hoping she wouldn't ask but of course she did. When we said we didn't believe in God and weren't religious she looked really shocked but still kept asking us questions, while obviously thinking "You're both going to hell!" And that night rather than having our best buddies in our room, we had a woman who seemed normal, but who turned into a snoring wheezing and snorting beast at night gaah! We had to put in our ear plugs to be able to concentrate on reading... which was by candle light by the way as an electrical fire earlier that day had successfully frazzled the electricity (as well as almost burning down a cafe).

Monday was our last day where we didn't really accomplish much, but had a nice day wandering (because we never do anything else!) I bought a digital camera which was good, although the gentleman working there removed the deal I had previously been offered, and when I said "I don't have very much money, can I have it for cheaper?" he said "No" and then pointedly asked me where I was from, answering himself with "Europe??" The Englishman in me stopped me from retorting something insulting in English that he wouldn't understand, but happily I now have a camera. Back at the hostel that evening we forced ourselves, against all natural instincts, to take an ice shower in which you pratically had to jog around to stay warm. It wasn't even washing, simply rinsing off the top layer of dirt, similar to standing out in the rain really. Then out we went to Cafe No Se - where Josie had worked, and mentioning her name was like a secret password for instant friendliness from the bar staff. We stayed there until 1, as our shuttle bus to Copan was picking us up at 4am (the worst), and we'd sorted out a rad deal with the hostel where we wouldn't pay for a room, and just pull an all-nighter sitting at a table. Not the comfiest night, sure, but an economical one. Or so we thought... At 3.45 we gathered our stuff up, and went to wake up the night receptionist feeling bad and apologising, not knoing that he was really a thieving wench! He wouldn't let us out until we paid him 100 quetzales (about $15!) unbelievable!! Despite having been told that we wouldn't have to pay, apparently that "didn't matter" when he wanted some extra quetzales to put in his pocket.

But onwards and upwards we went to Copan, Honduras.