Guatemala te quiero.

What a totally amazing country. Friendly people, beautiful scenary, yummy food and a great experience.

Where to begin? So I guess we started again (after Flores) in Antigua. Now I thought I would really like it there, but I didn´t quite warm to it. It was quite touristy and very English speaking. However we had a great time climbing and sleeping on a volcano, hiking, biking and doing a zip line.

The main moment was the sleeping on the volcano which was supposed to be this idylic experience watching the sunset and sunrise on an active volcano (only blew up last year where that Guardian photographer was killed). However it is now rainy season in Guatemala so it rained on the hike up, during the tent erecting and during the night walk. So we were supposed to (I´m using this phrase alot!) so go on a night hike to the lava fields to roast some marshmallows. So we head off in the mist and rain with a small head torch. Actually not all of us had torches just about half of us. So after about 45mins and mind we were sodden wet by this point our guide informs us that he is lost! So drags us again up another hill and down another hill in the pitch black. It was at this point that I stumbled and fell down the volcano. Okay it wasn´t as dramatic as that but let´s go with it anyway. The guide doesn´t have a first aid kit and doesn´t seem to care that I have blood pouring from my knee. So after another 30mins of him getting lost yet again it was I who piped up and said let´s have a vote on what we do, to which everyone agreed to head back. So soaking wet I started the mammouth task of how to get myself dry without making the rest of the tent wet. Hmmmmm.

The next morning was fun though as we did get to roast our marshmallows at 5am (nice breakfast) before heading back down. So the other good thing to mention about Antigua is the ice cream parlour "Sobremesa" which has the most mouthwatering ice cream ever. I had Apple Pie flavour and it really did taste of apple pie. Yum.

During our time we also went to Lake Atitlan and tried to find Laura Kenwards lost finger which she lost about 5 years ago. Sorry Laura I did try but couldn´t find it. We did an awesome 3 hour hike to San Marcos and took a boat trip to San Pedro. The best thing about where we stayed was the family style dinners they had everynight which you could sign up for. They were 3 courses and amazing. Stomach happy = Nikki happy.

After Antigua we headed north and stayed at Semuc Champey which are natural pools set in a beautiful jungle surrounding. They were astoundingly crystal clear and cool, hence why we extended our stay there by a day. This was however the place where we found a tarantula in our hut. He wasn´t doing any harm but unfortunately the owner killed it - poor thing. He could´ve at least let it loose. We also did some caving by candlelight, slightly tricky when you have to swim at points. It was very adventurous and reminded me of the Goonies. "Hey you guyyyyss". On the way back you could jump off a bridge which was very high. Perhaps four times the height of me before the water. Anyway, I decided to do this which was loads of fun. Complete adrenilin rush but painfull as I went in boobs first. Ouch.

Our last port of call in Guatemala was Rio Dulce which is up near Belize and Honduras. It is quite a paradise for expats as we soon found out after we arrived. Apparently it is the safest place in the Caribbean for boats hence why loads of boats are moored there. We stayed at a hostel on the lake which was good but very isolating. We spent one day at FInce Paraiso which is a natural waterfall but the pool of the water is cold and the water coming down on the fall is thermal so boiling hot. Very strange.

So I haven´t gone into loads of detail here as did so much it´s hard to fit it in without it starting to sound too dull for anyone reading. We also met some lovely fellow travellers to share our time with, Tanya and Andy, Tom, Aussie Jason to name but a few.

The country is poor and the crime and violence is rife. But everyone we met had a smile on their faces and we met some of the most contented people ever. Guatemala has their next elections coming up in Septemeber and with 22 different parties to chose from you can imagine what the campaigning is like. And with the illiteracy rate of the country at 50% the corruption rate is high. Every party has security at the heart but it´s hard to see who will make the changes. I guess only time will tell.

Next stop is Honduras!