After leaving Honduras we headed straight to Antigua in Guatemala. Antigua is the country's second city and probably the best known as no-one ventures in to Guatemala City if it can be avoided as it is notoriously dangerous. It is similar in many ways to Granada in Nicaragua - very colonial with beautiful buildings and a buzzy, modern feel to it. It is also surrounded by 3 huge volcanoes. We had a fun couple of days there catching up with the people we had been travelling with in Honduras who were now in Antigua as well. We also did one more volcano trip... We had sworn we weren't going to climb anymore volcanoes but this one was different again as thankfully it didn't involve too much of a climb and the attraction was that it is flowing with lava. We weren't really sure what to expect before we got there but it was absolutely amazing! We were so close to the free flowing lava which is making it's way down the side of the volcano towards the villages built up on the sides. Even in the hour we were there the river of lava moved about 5 metres and a bush we had been standing next to got swallowed up by it. The heat was unbelievable even from 5/6 metres away and any closer was like stepping into a fire. In typical non-western fashion there were no safety barriers or precautions and we were able to run forward and poke a stick in the flowing lava - actually quite difficult as it is very thick. I've never seen anything like it and have some great photos which I will upload once I have them on disc. We left Antigua the next day and headed to Lake Atitlan which is another huge lake, surrounded by volcanoes. The scenery in this part of the world is stunning and I wish my photos would do it justice but they don't. The lake is much bigger than the one in Granada and has many very traditional villages all around it. The people dress in there traditional colourful dress and Spanish is their second language. The first town had a great market which has set us on a rather dangerous shopping streak as they have great souvenirs here. After that we decided we could do with a bit of a detox and decided to go to San Marcos, a hippy village on the edge of the lake. We had been told beforehand that it was quite a crazy place but thought it would be fun to have a couple of days relaxing, doing yoga and getting massages etc. We arrived and went off to find some lunch. After trying about 4 places and having no luck we realised everyone must be fasting before the full moon - not something we were prepared to do! Luckily we found something eventually. During our search we came across a wild-haired man in a very small pair of shorts standiing in the street with his eyes closed apparently meditating over a piece of cake (arms waving over the cake, slight swaying!)!! This set us off into fits of giggles and we had to hide round the corner until he had gone, only to bump into him again later playing a recorder to a bush, again with the swaying and closed eyes. By this time we knew we really were in hippyville and set off to our yoga class. We had made a pact before hand not to look each other in the eye for fear of giggling, which was lucky as the first thing we had to do was sit in the lotus position and chant 'OOOOOOMMMM' 3 times and then practice the lion move - scrunching up your face and then sticking your tongue out and roaring! We managed to control ourselves through that, and even when the teacher was telling us to 'connect with the vibrations of love through the earth' and to eject the bad spirit through breathing techniques (something we obviously weren't doing right), but the final straw was when we were lying on the floor, relaxing at the end of the class, and we heard the recorder playing again. Thinking it was the wild-haired man come to join us the giggling began again but it turned out to be our teacher playing so we had to bite our tongues. Feeling bad about the fact that we obviously don't have the right karma for a place like that we decided to just stay the one night, before we got asked to leave!! It was a hilarious 24 hours but I don't think I'm cut out for all of that. We spent a few more days in another village by the lake before heading to Chichicastenango - Guatmemala's most famous market town which sells amazing, colourful souvenirs and textiles. A few more purchases there... (The Spanish speakers will be amused to hear that I accidentally asked a man in a shop how much his cojones were!!!!! I meant colchones and had to make a very sharp exit without hearing his answer!) and then we crossed to central Guatemala to a stunning place called Semuc Champey. Semuc is an incredible place with a really fast running river that flows under a natural limestone bridge. The bridge has formed itself into about 7/8 pools of bright green water. The photo above is an aerial view of the pools which stretch about 350 metres, to give you an idea. The river runs under what you can see. We spent the morning swimming there and then went to explore the nearby, waterfilled caves. None of the drysuits, hardhats and headtorches of the Malvern Girls' caving trip to mid-Wales... this was bikinis, a candle and off you go... We spent an hour in the caves swimming through parts where we were out of depth, trying to keep the candles dry, and then climbed behind a waterfall which was really cool. I'm sure in a few years time the experience will be completely different with all the safety precautions we would expect at home but it was really fun to do it the 'Guatemalan way'. Today we have been to Tikal - Guatemala's biggest Mayan ruins which were also stunning. 100,000 Mayan people used to live in the city for around 1500 years and since it was abandoned an entire rainforest has grown in and around the thousands of structures. It's very odd to think it was open land and fields when the city was built. It was also used in one of the Star Wars films for the filming of some Ewok battle or other which might help you picture it..! Kat, who we have been travelling with throughout Guatemala, is leaving us tomorrow to fly home so it will be back to the two of us for our last 10 days here. I can't believe that's all that's left! Then we fly out of Belize to Fiji. xx