We decided not to stay another night in Atitlan but headed on to Antigua, smart move! Antigua is a picture perfect little town with lovely bars restaurants and bars. Whats more it is surrounded by massive volcanoes one of which is currently belching smoke! During the first night there was a tremor from the volcano behind our hotel, which allegedly is inactive, but we never felt it as the beds are so comfortable. The next morning every time we looked at one of the volcanoes it seemed to be sending plumes of smoke up in the air. The locals say this is good as it is just releasing the pressure and stops a big eruption!
Update – Paul heard the volcano repeatedly during the last night and after looking on line found out that they are evacuating areas close to it – click here to read – good job we are moving on – never a dull moment eh!
This was the latest update as we left… and below is some video of one of the volcanoes smoking
Below are pics of Antigua and the surrounding area
Imagine all single storey spanish/indian/mayan style houses with pan tile roofs and gorgeous central courtyards and you will get the picture. As you are walking along the streets you get to glimpse into some of these places and they are like hidden gems, in fact some of the bar/restaurants look to be only able to seat perhaps a maximum of 6-8 people at 2 tables until you go in and see that they have massive courtyards behind. The delivery wagon that supplies the lemonade and coca cola has a guy riding shotgun with a pump action double barrelled shotgun, exactly the same as the van delivering the crisps etc to the local mini marts. The guys manning the ATM cash points have what appears to be assault rifles so don’t even ask what the banks have… Saying all this we never once felt threatened even walking back late at night and all of the people seem very happy and don’t hassle you.
Below are pictures of the people, bars and restaurants
The hotel Camino Real
This is certainly one of the best hotels in Central America. The beds at this hotel are we think the best beds that we have ever slept in and the hotel is certainly one of the best that we have stayed in. The hotel looks nothing at all from the outside during the day, simply a pretty entrance but once you get inside it has been designed to look like a miniature Antigua with lots of courtyards, sitting areas and possibly the biggest jacuzzi we have ever seen. Also good to see they have the evacuation routes well marked incase of an eruption!
From here we travelled to Copan in Honduras