0922 Slept surprisingly well. Woke up and it was light and I wondered if the alarm hadn't gone off, but decided not to force things and if I'd overslept sod it. Lay awake for what felt like ages, then my optimistic 8:45 alarm went off and I was surprised. I felt tired then, of course.
Didn't want to get up and face the awful chores of breakfast and sorting out some kind of trip, but I did. I'm in the hostel garden where there is a kitchen out the back waiting for the free breakfast; I have the entire place to myself except for staff, so no social difficulties. If I'd known the breakfast was in the garden I'd have worn my fleece - I just have a T-shirt on - but it's not really cold.
In theory am meeting my Spanish teacher at some point but WhatsApp isn't playing ball in terms of allowing me to contact her - I suspect some international-ish glitch with the phone number she gave me. Think after breakfast will go back to room and have a brief read up on web/guide book re the least demanding of the nearby walks and then steel myself to go out and talk to a couple of tour agencies. Finding one isn't hard, you can't throw a stone without hitting one, but I just find this super-disagreeablee for reasons I am struggling to articulate.
Notwithstanding the 'what exactly am I going to do' and 'I have to talk to tour companies' feeling I feel OK. Not super energised or excited for the opportunities ahead, but hey, it's something. Feel surprisingly unhungry after not eating since the flights and that in the last 24h being primarily 500g of fruit and nuts - yes, in raw calorie terms that 500g is more than enough for a day, but I might have expected to feel hungry anyway. Not complaining, just noting.
Need to bear in mind my "don't rush myself" rule. If I get sod all done today it's OK; I probably will get something done anyway. Only if I do nothing for a few days do I need to worry.
OK, breakfast pretty good. You have a few choices, I picked the one named after the hostel as it didn't have beans. :-) (I wonder if these are maybe refried beans, not baked beans, but not chancing it just now...) Coffee, bread roll, few slices watermelon, Mexican-style scrambled eggs (my name; they just say 'eggs') and a pancake with syrup. Not enough to live solely off the breakfast but certainly good for being included with room. Will loiter here with second cup of coffee and start reading up on tours and safety.
Right. The actual guide book says fuck all about visiting any of the three adjacent volcanoes, beyond really naming them. I think I will try to memorise their names (so I can distinguish walks up them vs trips to other places on the signs outside tour agencies), have a quick check of the safety advice then go wander out and brave the agencies. I'll just do a couple and refuse to buy anything straight away. I'm virtually certain at least one of them is - safety permitting - a half day up and down job, based on stuff I read before I came, which seems an acceptable place to start.
1039 Re-read F&CO site and it seems a touch less scary now.
The three local volcanoes are Agua, Fuego and Acatenango. There is also Pacaya which is nearer to Guatemala City but is (we're not that far away) sort of local. According to wikitravel (not sure how much I trust it but have to start somewhere) Agua is very dangerous (due to humans) and no reputable companies go there. Acatenango is a stiff one-day hike or you can overnight there, which allows you to (sometimes) see the active Fuego volcano at night. I couldn't see it stated explicitly but I assume you can't go up Fuego as it's too active or at least at risk of being active. Pacaya is the 'easy' one.
As semi-confirmation of this, there's a sign in English advertising numerous tours and transfers here in my room and it lists Pacaya and Acatenango but not Fuego or Agua.
There is also Cerro de la Cruz on the edge of town; I'd want some confirmation but wikitravel says there is a police presence there during the day so I could probably trog up there solo. Maybe worth paying attention to when looking for tour agencies.
Further poke around leads to highly confusing advice on CdlC; sites seem to disagree whether there's a periodic police escort or that's discontinued and replaced by regular patrols. I am not going up today anyway, I may ask eg at the hostel desk (but not until I've sorted Pacaya as I don't want the hostel selling me a Pacaya tour until I've had a chance to shop round).
I may do Acatenango but definitely best to at least do Pacaya first. Maybe there's even an element of acclimatisation which would make it better done after I've spent time in a higher part of the country - I've obviously only been here a day and it's only 1500m (maybe less, can't remember precisely) here anyway.
1232 In Txirrinta (on 7a Norte??) having a Moza beer (dark, draught). Q15 for one, 25 for two - as it's day and I'm on a tight medical alcohol budget just having the one. Looks bigger than a half pint but not a pint; they didn't say a size and I didn't ask. Tastes OK.
Passed that London bar on 6a Norte; they have live music from 6 today so maybe they will tomorrow. If I can crack the taxi home/walking home safety option that might be a plan for Thursday night.
Went into a couple of tour agencies near hostel. Very limited fuss. Q60 or Q80 for half day tour to Pacaya, choice of 6am or 2pm. Am toying - came in here to sit and null - with 6am tour tomorrow. Spanish teacher will probably meet me tomorrow so could do it after.
Yawning my head off all morning; not sure why since it's not late in UK and I slept well. Meh.
Not planning to go out tonight given a) yawning b) possible 6am tour. This also puts overindulgence off for another day.
They do Hoegaarden here at Q30, menu says draft is Q15 with a star, indicating that's happy hour 3pm-7pm. Doesn't say how big the standard beer is, or how strong anything is.
Can't remember if I used usted form with barmaid (who, not that it usually guides me, looks my age ish), which I am trying to do but not sure if right. Perhaps ask Spanish teacher about this, though I never seem to get a clear answer. Maybe using tu comes across as refreshingly informal from an obvious foreigner, though equally it may come across as rude or unthinking, or maybe no one cares from a foreigner.
Let's stop writing this shit and mull over the 6am tour so I can go book. I am assuming there's no strong price-quality correlation and they are all just reselling a few underlying tour services. There's a Q50 charge to get in as well, but both the ones I asked had that. Something on web said you don't save money going on your own anyway as regulations require you to have a guide and their fee is the same for 1 or 12 people.
Ah, sign on the wall has Moza at 5% but says Q18; I might guess that's a bottle, but let's assume the draught is the same strength. Still no idea what size this glass actually is.
There's a "conservatorio" (discussion group?) on anarcho-feminism and punk here Saturday from 4:30-8. I'll have to go along.
I noted on the ads in GC yesterday and see again here the health warning on beer ads here just says (translating) "the consumption of this product causes serious damage to health" . No "excess consumption" or "abuse" here; it is simply damaging. Let's party!
Oh. I wandered round what I think was Templo de la Merced as I was passing. Quite an impressive building. A sign in the entrance says that brides and "quinceaneras" (debutantes as a rough translation?) are not permitted to pose for photos in the church. And you're not allowed to light rainbow candles in the candle-burning-stand-things. I also learned the difference between the doctrines of virgin birth and immaculate conception. Who says travel doesn't broaden the mind?
Was sure I was going to mention something else but can't think of it now.
Oh yeah. Having today paid attention to the travel agent signs and picked up a leaflet or two at those places I spoke to, while it's not necessarily the best idea, it looks like you *could* use Antigua as a base and see quite a bit of the country. I noted two-day tours to Flores/Tikal, which I had been a bit worried about in terms of safety, so while I may or may not go and may or may not go alone, this is always an option. Similarly, while I think I will move over to Pana and Lake Atitlan from here and stay there for a bit and see what I can do in terms of activities, it is possible to get tours leaving from and returning to here.
This does make me think that (not saying this is entirely a sequitur...) what I might do in terms of Spanish schools is travel on for maybe three weeks total without worrying about it. If I find somewhere I like - and I'd really rather not study here in Antigua if I can help it, rationally or otherwise - I can stay there, but if all else fails I could spend 2-4 weeks here in Antigua studying while getting in some tours so see some other bits of the country.
Nearly finished this beer, would quite like another but for reasons noted above I will go - will have a few beers Thu/Fri/Sat evening if things work out to plan.
Right, booked the 6am tour. I have to be outside the hostel 15 mins before. So we're probably looking at getting up at 5:30. I'm sure it will be fine, I feel so tired it won't hurt to go to bed early and it rules out temptation to go out for beers tonight. Not that I yet have the transport situation resolved. Txirrinta is about five minutes walks tops from the hostel. I can't even see that you *could* get a taxi in the street outside; maybe it's different at night. I always read stuff about getting the bar to call you a taxi, perhaps it's just failure of imagination on my part but I can't see that happening. Maybe I'll do some web searching on that tonight. It's 1324 now and I've popped back to the hostel. I did feel a tiny bit drunk when I spoke to the tour agency but WTF.
Not really sure what I will do with the rest of the day. Probably try to buy some nuts to sustain me tomorrow if necessary, otherwise the only 'must do' is to get something to eat before it gets dark and I can't be on the streets. I guess I will wander and maybe withdraw a bit of cash and see how it goes.
Oh yeah, I noticed outside the tour agency this morning a photo (of, I think, some other tour) showing a young woman holding a massive black spider. I thought I did well just looking at the photo. But cross that bridge (running and screaming, no doubt) when I come to it. I appreciate the things may not be common even wherever that was but frankly I don't want some fucking guy coming round offering photo ops with one of those...
1400 Completely unable to connect with Spanish teacher on Whatsapp. Of course, because it functions by magic ('add the number to your contacts in your phone, then refresh the contacts list in whatsapp and they will magically appear if they are using whatsapp themselves') it is impossible to debug. I have given her my full internationalised phone number (both the regular number which I think is right, then the temporary number I have the SIM for in the phone now) and she can't find me. She gave me her number in local form and that doesn't work, and nor did it when I tried to internationalise it. So so much better than e-mail - being able to say to someone "my address is foo@bar.com" was just way too simple. I really fucking hate this smart-arsed shit, because when it *doesn't* work you're just fucked.
It occurs to me - as it did earlier - I could possibly have done the tour at 2pm this afternoon. It is sunny right now, don't know if it will last. But I had some vague idea it rains less in the morning. And by the time I got back it would be getting dark and then I'd be trapped at the hostel without being able to go out for dinner. Yes, I'm being a bit bitter because I'm feeling a little bit pissed off at the shitty, inconsistent advice. How the fuck am I meant to call a taxi? I'm a tourist, MY PHONE DOESN'T WORK. Surely this is normal? Mobile phone operators are a bunch of shitty chiselling shysters the world over, aren't they? Not to mention the linguistic issues with booking a taxi over the phone. No one actually seems to say it's not safe to take a taxi from the street, but I am not sure I have actually seen a taxi yet. A few tuktuks (which *someone* did say was maybe not safe) but not loads of them either. And the idea of calling a taxi to take me two minutes round the corner rankles, rationally or otherwise. Plus the idea it's safe to get into a random car just because it has a taxi number painted on the door (unless out-of-service taxis are securely melted down instead of being sold secondhand) whereas it's not safe to walk seems fucking insane.
I also feel a bit bored. What the fuck am I supposed to do this afternoon? I can't do anything I want because of fucking inconsistent safety advice.
One website says I can get a taxi at the central park. But that's (admittedly in the opposite direction) *further* to walk from eg that bar I was at this afternoon than my fucking hostel would be.
Can't help regretting signing up for the 6am thing given the weather seems so nice (verging on too fucking sunny) now. But then again I'd just have been milling around all morning waiting for the 2pm pickup, and it would have stopped me eg going to that bar at 6pm for the live music, if we assume for a moment there is in fact a solution to the transport home problem.
1534 At Travel Menu, ordered chicken curry and a diet coke. Authenticity be fucked. Just ordered in Spanish from a woman I am sure is actually American (she keeps talking to other people) but I am not going to crack first. Got a full fat coke instead of the diet I asked for but fuck it. I'm in a bad mood, I am hoping food will help. I tried to withdraw some more cash. One machine (tried yday too) just didnt work. Another was in a little alcove and some pseudo-homeless guy was calling mildly abusive terms ('estupido' was about the only one I caught) at me so I cancelled transaction without entering PIN. Another machine in a chemist took the card, I dithered too long over amount to withdraw and it timed me out. And then refused to recognise my card at all on multiple reinsertions. Just hope the fucker hasn't been cloned. Guidebook or some random source of half-baked shit advice on the web, I can't remember any more, implies credit cards might work better in ATMs here than debit cards. The problematic one is debit, but it did work at airport. I have both but would prefer to use debit for various reasons if I can.
Just meh to the whole fucking business. Lots of Beatles songs playing here. Sign says live music here, not sure when but FWIW.
Oh, there's ice in the coke. I think I was asked and I think I said to put it in. It's probably fine and I just don't want to be so fucking paranoid. It's in the fucking guide book, I'm sure the ice is sanitary.
I don't feel terrible or anything - apart from yawning - so it's not super obvious my bad mood is due to lack of food, and I don't feel particularly hungry, but I do need to eat today and it will be dark in a few hours etc.
1627 Back at hostel. Still not in a great mood TBH. Curry was OK though could have done with a bit more rice. 57 including pre-calculated tip, in London I would always pay the precise amount if they pre-calculate the tip but I didn't (perhaps because in London I'd be paying on card) so left 60. Not ridiculously expensive or anything but not ultra cheap either. Woman did say something to me in English or I did, so one or both of us cracked. I was vaguely tempted to ask her about the fucking night transport system but she didn't seem overly inclined to stick around and chat and I was a bit worried she'd think I was trying to chat her up.
Found another bank on way back and my card worked. Got 1000 out, partly to see if the fee would go up in proportion; I am not sure it did, but hard to tell. Then stopped into hole in the wall shop to get peanuts on the way back, MoS was chatting to mate at counter and I felt super awkward, I asked if they had any big packets of peanuts and I ended up paying 15 each for two 80g packets. This is actually fucking shite value, I though four and a bit quid for half a kilo in Tesco was pricey, but hey, I've got the fucking things now to shove in my bag to try to avoid being ripped off re food on the tour tomorrow. Of course I had a hundred quid in my pocket so didn't want to get my roll of notes out so I had to hand over a 100 note I pulled out blind; I couldn't check the fucking change and that pissed me off but the guy did give me the right change now I am back at hostel and could check. I suppose at that price he doesn't need to shortchange me.
For second time today someone just tried to come into my room but didn't react when I said 'hola' (and had gone when I opened door earlier today when it happened).
It's way too fucking early but I really don't feel in the mood to wander round the streets and it's a bit late to e.g. pop into some church or museum or something.
I'm just in a bad mood but I'm feeling a bit of a fucking prisoner, not being able to go out after dark. OK, last night I wanted to go to bed early and tonight I semi-want to (am still yawning intermittently though unless bad mood counts I don't feel actively tired) and semi-have to because I signed up for the 6am tour but it's still getting to me. And this is fucking Antigua! What the fuck's going to happen anywhere else?
I have to say that while I don't exactly fancy being mugged, I suspect it's relatively rare and if I just left my phone and camera back at the hostel I could possibly shrug off a mugging without too much pain. This feels a bit desperate, and I'd rather not be out without my phone - though since it can't make calls and I wouldn't really want to be stood in the street checking the map on it maybe it has no real value as such. Meh squared. Just gonna shut the fuck up, might go sit in the garden and read or something while it's still light. Need to remember to have a shower before I go to bed but will do that after dark.
1656 In hostel garden; wish I'd brought my fleece out and a bottle of water but not going back to room just yet. It's not cold, just cool. I note a sign by the kitchen hut saying a litre of Gallo for Q25. It's shut now, maybe that's only for breakfast. :-)
(No one else about. On the one hand I would like to scrape acquaintance with someone, on the other I'm hardly at my sparkling best right now.)
1855 Sunset was about 1745 according to phone, stayed in garden til maybe 1755 - it wasn't all that dark then but came in. Do wonder if I am the only person staying here, actually.
Anyway, in a rare burst of foresight, I just went to check at the front desk I would be able to get out for my tour. Usual woman not there but a chap there said if there was no one at the desk there would be someone in the garden cleaning up from 5 onwards who would be able to let me out. I am a tiny bit apprehensive about this - it's not sunrise til nearly 6am so surely no one is going to be in the garden - but WTF, done what I can and maybe I didn't quite understand - and as I wrote above "*if* there was no one at the desk..." so probably be fine. Worst case is I lose the Q60 I paid for the tour and sort of lose the day, though TBH I could always do a 2pm tour same day.
Need to think about onward travel in a day or two but can leave it for now I think. Not read up much but gut feeling is that I will leave Acatenango with its nominally desirable overnight camping until the end of the trip. I may or may not visit GC but I could easily imagine stopping here for a few days before going on to GC or to the airport and by that point I might be more acclimated. I dunno. On the other hand my last night in this hostel is Sun, I could conceivably leave on Mon for an overnight trip to Acatenango and then move on elsewhere on Tue. Am a bit nervous about the whole camping thing - especially given I am on my own, would they find some poor sod to share a tent with me, I suppose I could ask - but it's not necessarily ruled out. Certainly lots of the tour operators I saw said they supply tent and sleeping bag and I did bring my own sleep sack thingy so that's not necessarily too icky. Meh. Something to think about. I should read up on just how hard and how high it is. I've not had altitude sickness before as such but I was a bit short of breath in La Paz and so forth and maybe hiking is not such a good idea without being acclimatised. OTOH can it really be that hard? I read that young people are actually more likely to suffer from altitude sickness (and I have heard anecdotal evidence to back that up). I should probably just not even think about this kind of stuff and just do it.
Do find myself wondering if I should waste fresh clothes on the trip tomorrow morning, but I suppose in reality it's only an extra T-shirt and set of underwear and I don't know if the laundries will work weekends so I probably want to be taking some clothes in tomorrow afternoon anyway. All my stuff is 'wash at 30, no tumble dry' and I expected to be hand-washing it but I guess I'll just have to chance it; if it shrinks I'll just be fucked.
OK, just done quick Google. Actually found a thread which seemed semi-helpful re Acatenango. Incidentally some mention that some people struggle with Pacaya, but just have to see - that's so vague that you don't know if they're all massively overweight or unfit or something. Anyway, apparently 'most' people feel some altitude sickness on Acatenango trip, key thing is that your tour company doesn't camp at the peak but 3/4 way up and at least one person who seemed to know what they were talking about said they were glad they'd done a lot of hiking eg round Lake Atitlan first and suggested leaving Acatenango til the end of the trip. Or, perhaps, in my case, until I've been at relatively high altitude for 2-3 weeks (making these up) but am about to go somewhere lower for a while and don't want to lose my acclimatisation. I think if nothing else I want to see how Pacaya goes - I half wish I hadn't read some people struggle, but meh - and it's probably prudent to see what happens round Pana/Lake Atitlan and then maybe have a bit more of an informed decision. (Informed about my own capabilities, primarily.)
So Acatenango is ruled out for my current six day stint in Antigua, and now I can plan accordingly.
2051 In bed. Not necessarily going to sleep straight away, but as the mood takes me sort of thing. Feeling OK in general, no longer actively in a bad mood but also not high on life. OTOH I suppose all I've done since I got here is wander round a bit, recover from the flight and prepare to do more interesting stuff. Tomorrow should at least be more actively interesting. (Not that wandering round Iglesia de la Merced wasn't quietly fun, but not the same thing either. It didn't take all that long either, even reading the stories associated with the various statue-sculpturey things round the walls.)
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