Woke up this morning not feeling that great; probably due to that shot of Mescal last night but who knows. We decided that we would start the morning off by grabbing some coffee and hitting the travel agency to see about tickets to hike Picaya volcano. We weren't sure the volcano would be the best thing to do in the afternoon because it looked like rain but I really wanted to see an active volcano and it was only $10 USD so Alyssa agreed to go. First, we went to the local supermarket to buy some supplies for the next few days. The supermarket is so awesome! We spent so much time walking around and deciding what we should buy. We got some bread, cheese, salami and apples for our hike as well as snacks for our bus ride the following day. It was a bit of a challenge to order meat from the deli but the girl behind the counter was patient with us and we finally figured out now many ounces we needed.
We bought our tickets for our Picaya tour which would pick us up from our hostel at 2:00; in the meantime we decided to take a walk to Santo Domingo which some guy we had met recommended to us. Alyssa had the map and led us toward the Santo Domingo which was number 43 on the map. When we got there, we were completely confused. We were at some random park which had nothing significant. After a few minutes, Alyssa realized she had led us to the number 34 on the map not 43, so we were on the complete opposite side of the city from where we needed to be. We began our trek across town which became increasingly complicated because none of their streets are labelled and the ones that are aren't on the map, so we weren't 100% sure where we were. I got a lot of practice asking locals for directions and finally we ended up at Santo Domingo. It was a monastery that had been destroyed a bit in an earthquake and then used as a quarry. They had converted it into a hotel with museums detailing the history surrounding the monastery and the local textiles. The beauty of this place cannot be overstated. If I ever decide to get married, I could see it happening at a place just like this. It was so amazing; too bad we couldn't afford to stay there on this journey!
We left Santo Domingo and headed back into the city to grab lunch and catch our bus to the volcano. As we walked we came across a local market in front of an old condemned cathedral. I find it so interesting that these historical landmarks are used so much in their everyday life. In America, there would be fences and guards and information about these sites, but in Guatemala they just kind of exist along side everything else.
We found a bagel place and got some delicious bagel sandwiches. If you know my love of bagels, you can understand how happy this made me :)
Once we got back to the hostel, we were getting ready to be picked up for our hike when the hostel maid told us that we had to switch rooms because someone had reserved our room and even though it was exactly the same as the the room we were moving to, they demanded our room. We frantically moved all of our stuff two rooms over which was extremely annoying but there was no more broken Spanish arguing I could do to change her mind. We were then picked up out in front of the hostel by a woman who was supposed to put us on our tour bus. Instead she took us to a travel agency, yelled at someone on the phone for 10 minutes and then she and her husband and son piled into a van with us. We drove to another hostel where 5 tourists came out to get into the van. This is where the lady made us get out of the van and walk to the center square with her where we were to wait for another van. By this point, Alyssa and I were really annoyed. These are the things that old never fly in the US but are so commonplace in Guatemala. Finally our bus came and we headed off to the volcano.
It was a 2 mile climb up the surrounding mountain to Picaya. In the picture below, you can see another volcano "Agua" in the background. Picaya is a Strombolian volcano meaning it has frequent explosive eruptions separated by periods of relative calm. The most recent eruption was in May 2013 which blew the top off of the volcano leaving a giant crater. There are quite a few locals living around the volcano, many of whose houses were burned down from the ash and lava bombs that came from the volcano.
This is a picture of Alyssa and I inside of a lava tube. It was very hot inside and you could feel the steam all around you.
Once we reached the summit, we put some marshmallows or "Angelitos" on sticks so that we could "roast" them. They came out steamed but the caverns are clearly very hot.
After our hike, we headed back to the city. We got dinner at a Mexican food chain called "Tacontento". This establishment managed to further infuriate Alyssa because it was an English menu which clearly stated that our fajitas come with guacamole and sour cream but they refused to give it to us. We have just taken to saying "when in Guatemala" for things like this because everything here is just so backwards. We were exhausted so we headed home to pack for our 4am, 15 hour bus ride to Managua, Nicaragua the following morning.
*Random side note about Guatemala- they are always setting off tons of fireworks for no reason at any point during the day. They love them! One person told us that some Guatemalans spend more on fireworks than they do on food...
**Side note part 2: Alyssa would like credit for some of the pictures in this blog. Heaven forbid people think I took all of the pictures, lol.
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