Thursday 22nd November – San Salvador to Antigua Guatemala

This morning I was up early to get the bus that I had earlier paid for when in Colombia which would get me to Guatemala City! I was super excited to be heading back to the Mountain School for a couple more weeks of much needed Spanish study. The bus was pretty fancy and comfortable for the 6 hour journey and the border crossing was really smooth too. We arrived in Guatemala City in no time and I took a lovely UBER across town to the not so fancy chicken bus stop where I jumped on the bus to Antigua. I arrived in Antigua at around 3pm and checked into the Yellow Hostel which was a different place for me but had lovely people and was a great place to spend the night. 

Friday 23rd November – Antigua to Xela

This morning I had a lovely breakfast at the hostel on the rooftop where I could see Volcan Fuego erupting every 10 minutes – its really ferocious at the moment, very scary for the locals who live nearby but amazing to see the difference from when I had been there a few months ago. In the morning I had my hair cut which was awesome and then it was time to take my glamourous new cut on the long chicken bus ride to Xela! I had to take two buses but unfortunately on the first bus somehow somebody managed to steal my wallet. Luckily I had taken most of my money out of there before the journey but it was still pretty annoying to lose my ATM card – of course the one with the low fees!  The rest of the bus trip passed without incident and I checked into my favourite hostel – the Black Cat, before heading out to meet the sister of Maria Jose in her little nut shop – where I picked up some supplies for Maria Jose and some delicious snacks for me too! 

Saturday 24th November – Xela to EDLM

After a pretty shitty night of sleep with a snorer in the dorm I decided to still get up early to make the hike up to the El Baul lookout. It’s a nice walk but I was reminded of all the pupusas I had eaten as I struggled with the steep climb at altitude. It was a lovely clear sky day and I was able to see the summit of Tajumulco which I had never seen from up there before. Back at the Black Cat in time for my delicious pancake breakfast and then it was time to head back to the bus station to catch the bus back to school! I arrived in plenty of time for dinner and spent some time catching up with Abelino, Ruben and the students who had been studying at the school in the past week. I had dinner with Roselia who was going to be my family for the week coming. It was so great seeing all the family again and nice that they remembered me! Christian took me down the shop to buy some sparklers which he had an amazing time running around with – totally safe right?!