Antigua

Market in Antigua
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In Lanquin, I made friends with Aidan, from Ireland, Lacey, Jenny, Jamie, and Tom.  They happened to be leaving Lanquin the same day I was, so we all took a shuttle together to Antigua.  We were unsure whether our Shuttle would ever arrive in Antigua as the motor seemed to be having problems.  Anytime we were going up an incline, the engine sounded like it was about to burn itself out, and we would immediately lose a lot of speed.  However, we finally arrived in Antigua and checked into the Black Cat Hostel.

Aidan, Jenny, Lacey, and Jamie at the market in Antigua
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The next day we checked out the market in Antigua.  There was a lot to look at: a lot of fruits and vegetables, then a large artesan section with various souvenirs, then a large section of random things such as toothbrushes, shoes, dried fish, local food, watches, belts, etc.  That afternoon we climbed the Pacaya Volcano.

We first had an hour bus ride to the base of the volcano.  From there it was about an hour and a half hike up a trail through the vegetation.  Little boys rented sticks for 5Q, or you could rent a horse.  The hike was nice, and a good work-out.  Once at the volcano we were able to roast marshmallows over the lava and break off chunks of the lava with our sticks.  We hadn't realized we would be hiking back in the dark, so no one in our group had bothered to bring a flashlight.  The first portion of the walk back was very amusing.  The angle of the slope was quite steep and was covered in small volcanic pebbles.  Anytime you took a step down, your leg would slip down with the pebbles.  So, we learned quickly from observing the guides that an easier way to get down was by lunging and sort of skiing down the hill with your runners.  If you dug your heels in you wouldn't slide too far too quickly.  At the bottom of the steep section we all stopped to empty our newly blackened shoes of lava rock.

Ladies carrying baskets on their head at the market
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The second half of the hike was not as much fun.  The group of us with no flashlights got separated from another portion of hikers.  Our guides were all ahead with one group of hikers, with a large gap separating us.  We could not see very well where we were going, so were basically feeling our way along the path, very slowly.  Some other hikers were behind us, but did not realize we had no light to guide us.  One guide came by and refused to wait for us and help us back because we weren't "HIS" group.  Finally the hikers behind us realized we could not see where we were going and lent us some flashlights.