Antigua, Saturday

1645 Sitting in hostel garden - it's overcast and gloomy and a bit cool but seems better than sitting in my room for now.

Felt OK this morning, not really rough. Got up about 930 and had breakfast here.

Went over to Cerro de la Cruz; I had come within 50 metres of the stairs up the other day, if only I'd known. I managed to get some details on the web before heading out.

I didn't count the steps but I think the sign said 333. The walk up was fine, I saw a few police and it wasn't a big strain. Pretty warm - I was wearing long sleeved T-shirt and no fleece - but occasionally a very refreshing breeze came on.

View from top very nice; I hung around up there for maybe 30-60 mins, partly lost in (pleasant) thought before coming back down. It was very sunny and warm, though a few clouds which meant I couldn't see the peak of Agua. Might go up there earlyish one day at some point - probably on a subsequent visit to Antigua.

I then went to see if I could find the free art gallery recommended by guide book on IIRC 4a oriente. I couldn't, but I was very politely accosted by a Guatemalan chap called Mario as I looked for it. He said he was a teacher in a small school in a rural area and had come into Antigua for some sort of subsidised dental treatment (he did have terrible teeth, all at weird angles and with big gaps; I didn't ask why). He had been in the US for 4 years so spoke excellent English. Said he was 48. I was a touch put out by all this, but we were in reasonably busy streets in the safe central area. Anyway, he took me over to the San Francisco church and told me about St Pedro. We were going to go for a coffee before he had to get his bus at 3 but - not totally unexpectedly - he asked me to give him some money to help him out instead of buying him a coffee. I felt slightly played but TBH the prospect of a touch had been at the back of my mind all along, while I did half hope he was telling the truth when he said he wanted to practice his English at the start of our conversation. I offered him Q50 but when we got near the main square a bit later it turned out I only had Q45 and a 100 note, so I gave him the 45. At which point he asked me to help him out further, and I quite firmly said I couldn't spare any more. He said some stuff about how he wasn't a beggar (not angrily) and I said some consolatory stuff and we parted amicably.

For all I know he is a regular site on the streets of Antigua telling this tale; insofar as it matters I am inclined to believe him. I sort of figured the conversation and the mini tour guide stuff was worth 45, for all that's not a negligible sum. I can't be sure but I think we spent an hour or so together.

We mostly spoke English but we did do a bit of Spanish when I told him I had been studying it; he was very complementary about my Spanish (and he said I looked about 35), but then he would be if he was after money, wouldn't he?

After the I bought a bottle of diet orange drink in a hole in the wall shop and wandered around vaguely hoping to find that library with the textile or ceramic exhibit; I had found the address earlier (maybe last night) but had forgotten it. I didn't find it, though I didn't try that hard. I was keeping an eye out for a cheap eatery; I eventually decided to go for the menu al dia at El Faro, and had a pretty decent portion of grilled chicken with rice, cooked vegetables and a couple of tortillas and some still red soft drink I couldn't identify (I wasn't given a choice, and the waiter may have told me what it was but I didn't catch it) for Q25, which was very reasonable - I made it 35 with tip which was perhaps excessive, but WTF, still cheap. (My current tipping function is max(10%, Q10); I may possibly ask Spanish teacher for advice on this.) Was motivated to go cheap partly to offset the expense of giving away that 45.

I then wandered over to a slightly strange supermarket I'd seen on Google Maps on the street 'behind' Casa de las Mixtas and bought 4 rather ratty looking bananas and a 600ml bottle of diet coke for about Q8. I think about Q6 of that was the coke. I have been eating some vegetables with the meals but I thought the bananas might be a good idea to notch up more fruit & veg consumption. When I say the supermarket was slightly strange, I mean it seemed to sell a surprising amount of 'hardware store' stuff and not as much in the way of food as I'd have expected. I toyed with getting a big bag of crisps but decided to be healthy; I'm sure there will be lots of other opportunities to dine on crap like that in the future.

Was disappointed to be charged Q0.20 for a plastic bag; I'd hoped this nonsense wouldn't have made its way over here. The only consolation is that I did semi-need another plastic bag; despite bringing quite a few I was finding myself slightly short of them when shuffling stuff round in my bag.

Came back to hostel and spent a bit of time in room. My plan - formed this morning in bed - is to have a quiet night in, sort out a hostel in Panajachel and just surf the web a bit. I will probably go to Snug/Travel Menu tomorrow evening - Jason told me there's live music 4-9 Sun which is very good, I think guide book mentions this and says it is in Snug but I can't seriously believe any musicians would fit. That way I won't be overdoing my visits there, my liver can have a bit of a rest and although I felt fine this morning anyway the fact I have to check out Mon morning will help avoid any temptation to drink too much.

I hope - I think not in vain - that I can get a shuttle to Panajachel at more or less any time. It's about 2.5 hours to get there, so if I leave at midday ish (I think checkout is midday here) I can have breakfast at this hostel, pack without rushing and be at the hostel in Pana before dark. I think the shuttles offer a door to door service; I could probably save money getting a 'chicken' bus, but a) I'm reluctant to do that on safety grounds, though I get the impression it's probably fiene b) I happened to note when reading up on Pana in guide book just now prior to seeking a hostel that you have to get a bus to some junction and change, which sounds a bit of a faff c) I will probably experience a chicken bus at least one out of semi-necessity, perhaps on a day trip when I'm not taking all my belongings and feel correspondingly bolder d) given my general safety wussiness the door to door service sounds good. The shuttle will probably cost about 11 quid which isn't terribly expensive; I am trying to keep costs down but I also don't want to compromise too much to save a few quid here and there.

If the laundry opposite is open tomorrow I may take a load of clothes in then; I don't know if I'll have a private bathroom in Pana but for the money involved I might as well get everything cleaned 'properly' while I have this trusted and cheap laundry right opposite.

It feels a bit of a shame to spend Saturday night in my room, but now that I see it's possible to meet people etc after last night (there's obviously an element of luck, but still) I feel a bit less pressing need to socialise, and I don't want to wear out my welcome and my own 'interest' in Snug/Travel Menu by going there three nights in a row. Yes I could wander round and see what else I can find, but I want to save money and my liver and *if* I spend a significant amount of time in Antigua later I can investigate other bars then (Jason mentioned something about one place which has several bars under one roof; can't remember name but obviously there's guide book and the web and good old serendipity, which is how last night worked despite the place being in the guide book) and if I am only back here for a few days I can either try looking for something else or go to Snug/Travel Menu as a decent known good option without it being boring.

In some sense it was of course 'obvious' that I could meet people in bars, but I think I needed to have it confirmed by experience before I could really 'believe' it - it's been over 4 years since my last trip and maybe things had changed (e.g. due to me being older), unlikely as that seemed to really be the case.

It's 1720 now incidentally and been writing this - on Priv, of course - mostly continuously, so that gives an idea how long it takes me to write this stuff.

I have what is probably a mosquito bite on my upper right arm where even a short-sleeved T-shirt would cover it (I can tell because of the mild sunburn...) This is mildly worrying; I had hoped clothes would protect from bites, but presumably this is a downside of breathable fabrics, or maybe I got this bite while I was in bed T-shirtless. I am generally not putting insect repellent on - I do a bit sometimes but I am not vey consistent. I don't really think I'm taking insane risks here, and it's not like I am getting a lot of bites - unless properly applied repellent stops *all* bites, I am probably not increasing my risk of getting something nasty by carrying on like this.

1741 Still in garden, though going in shortly as getting dark. Have booked a private room with bathroom in Panajachel for Mon-Thu nights via booking.com - slightly deceptive price quoted didn't include 22% of various taxes, but I think it works out about £12/night even after that, which isn't too shabby. I am paying about £11/night here with a shared bathroom. I should probably have booked earlier, I couldn't help feeling pressured by the 'only 2 rooms left' sort of shit on the booking site. I mean worse comes to worst I will stay in a dormitory or have an expensive room or whatever. I didn't see any option for a cheaper private room with shared bathroom. I checked hostelworld but they only had two places with private rooms and both were more expensive than this place on booking.com. Mildly confusing that when you type in panajachel on booking.com it offers several different places to choose in the drop-down, all in Guatemala, so I wonder if maybe I missed out on some places due to them being filed in a different city in the db, even though they're all really in same city.

But it's fine. I don't need the absolute best deal on accommodation, I need something cheap and decent and I think I've got that.

I did wonder if four nights/three full days in Pana would be excessive, but apart from trying not to hare around too much, there is always the possibility of paragliding and I think there will be lots of tour operators etc so I can probably do a hike of some kind from there. Guide book says most people move on fairly rapidly, but I don't think staying there for four nights is really too long. I'd only have cut it down by 1 night at most, and it's not worth getting overly exercised about a single night.

I could have had a dorm bed (since I didn't click through I don't know how many beds per room) for under £5 a night. Call it £4 and so let's say I'm paying roughly £8 a night extra for the luxury of a private room; over the 70ish day trip, that's £560 extra. That doesn't sound too extravagant, and while I may be missing out on some forced socialisation as a result (and I may just experiment with a dormitory once or twice, but I don't know) it does make me feel a hell of a lot more relaxed.

I will withdraw some more cash tomorrow. I need approximately Q500 cash to pay the hotel on arrival, and I want to have enough in handy for a day or two's expenses as well in case I have ATM troubles.

Cleaning out my pocket, I find the supermarket is La Bodegona, coke was 6.50 and 0.87lbs of banano criollo was 1.70.

1833 Altitude of Pana is a hair under 1600m; Quetzaltenango is 2300mish. So probably neither of them will help much re acclimatisation, but particularly not Pana. Not a problem as such, but noting it while I have the figures in my head.

Poking around briefly on the web - it's hard to know what you can trust, of course - it looks like once you go above 1500m there is an effect from reduced oxygen in air, so being at 2300m probably does help acclimatisation. Acclimatisation takes 3-6 weeks IIRC.

Oh, while I remember, Mario did recommend some sort of very Guatemalan turkey stew dish called something like Kikik. I will keep an eye out for it anyway.

2246 In bed. Sort of tired. Watched some stuff on Youtube. Half-decent jazz coming quite loudly from somewhere nearby but not tempted to go out and try to find it.

FWIW my mum was able to call me on the Three mobile number earlier - this had not worked the day I arrived. I wasn't able to return the call though.