1137 At LMDD. Woke up 9ish, drowsed, got up maybe a bit after 10. Have taken some clothes into same laundry as before; they said I could collect at 5pmish so have given them the fleece too. Didn't get a receipt or anything but probably be OK. Big cat sat near counter with small cat washing the big cat's head.
1506 On one of lower terraces of hostel, had shower and hoping to avoid needing to reapply sun cream hence keeping here in shade. Didn't have hair cut, 2 barbers were closed (lunch?) and one right next to hotel - to be fair, the helpful big chap who showed me how to get into hotel other night - wanted Q25, so I said I'd think about it. Not that desperate, considering I paid Q10 with Q10 tip in Xela.
Looking into onward stuff, found a semi-party hostel in Pana where can get dorm for Q75 a night; mostly decided to book that for Sat/Sun and give it a go, while I didn't get what I expected I can't say I've done badly out of taking a chance on this place plus unless someone turns up later today I still haven't done the dorm comfort-zone-stretching thing properly as effectively had private room here.
Also looked into hostels in Antigua and Acatenango hike. The hostel I stayed in at start of trip has availability. Not sure if I should try for somewhere livelier or if given I am there mainly for Acatenango and to hopefully see my Spanish teacher I just want somewhere quiet and then I can relax before/after Acatenango and maybe stay somewhere a bit more lively in GC if I go or, if for some reason I end up staying in Antigua, move to somewhere more lively there after
One of the recommended (by people from 3 day hike) companies for Acatenango is associated with a hostel, but I wouldn't have to stay there if I didn't want.
It occurs to me I could potentially avoid paying for a room/bed on one of the nights of the hike, given I will be sleeping up Acatenango; whether this is worth the faff, especially if I want to take my main bag as backpack (and therefore can't easily stash stuff in it to lock in storage room while I am away), I don't know.
Gut feeling is that I don't have to commit to booking Antigua hostel or hike today, though should do it soon-ish. I think I will go book that Pana hostel though; take a chance and retry the experiment which circumstances prevented me really going through with here, then if I do want to go for something private and tranquil in Antigua that will not make me feel so weak. :-)
1629 OK, so I had to put sunblock on - my left arm seemed to be catching sun at that desk on second floor terrace - so I went out and spent Q1 on a adhoc-ish exhibition of 3000 photos I had walked past a few times. Owner showed me round, quite interesting to see how rural the area was 70-odd and even 30-odd years ago. Dunno if I should have paid more but anyway.
Back at hostel now, killing time before go to pick up laundry. Let's quickly write up volcano hike other day, it's turning into a lingering chore in my head even though it's not.
Woke up 6ish as planned, bit apprehensive after reading some web sites saying it was a gruelling hike etc. Got tuk tuk up there for Q10 (which is what web had said it would be); a guy claiming to be a guide tried to sell me his services as I waited near dock where tuk tuks all go (he told me the entrance fee included 25 mins of guide service?? I think he wanted to be my guide and maybe charge me more but not clear) - I fobbed him off politely by saying I was meeting some friends up at the entrance and didn't know what they would want to do.
When I got there a chap greeted me and asked if I was on my own. I said I was happy to wait a bit for someone else if it would help. Luckily maybe 5-10 mins later a French Canadian chap (Laurent, sp) turned up and he and I were sent off with a guide (Nicolas, sp).
Laurent had a cold so kudos to him for doing it regardless; as a result we didn't go up super fast and I had plenty of chances to rest. The hike was not IMO particularly difficult, nowhere near as hard as 3 day hike, but it is a fairish distance. We were pretty slow but I think it took us a bit over 3h from setting off a hair after 7am to get to the top. Right at the top you sort of scrambled on some rocks to get a bit higher, which was mildly nerve inducing but I managed to get up onto a nice big flattish rock without any trees blocking view.
Mist/clouds kept intermittently coming in but we did get some decent views over the lake and it was very impressive indeed. Also very cold; most of way up I was just in T-shirt but right at the top I paused to put my fleece on before scrambling over the rocks. My hands were going a bit numb with the cold too.
Kept fleece on until maybe half way down. Descent seemed interminable (I was hoping to get to LMDD for lunch, though that didn't pan out, which perhaps added some pressure) but faster than going up. Guide gave us a stick (tree branches, not plastic ones) each - actually I think Laurent had two - to use to go up/down with and I think these did help quite a lot to reduce slipping. I still slipped a few times but never right onto my arse IIRC.
We saw quite a lot of other people on the trail, many without guides. TBH now I know what it's like I would probably not take a guide another time (it's included but no matter, and you'd still save the tip - I tipped our guy Q20 at bottom and he seemed OK with that), then I could perhaps have waited longer at the top (though OTOH I was feeling cold and had more-or-less had enough anyway).
Shared tuktuk down with Laurent and Nicolas, so was a bit miffed to be asked to pay Q10 by driver after I had got out - this slightly ruffled me and made the goodbye with Laurent perhaps more awkward than needed. Seems a con - surely it should be at least slightly cheaper to share, as it happens we went to somewhere near LMDD so convenient for me but if I'd paid Q10 for my own tuktuk I would have got to choose destination - and this happened before I could offer Laurent Q5 for my half of the fare so maybe I looked like a wannabe freeloader but not ultimately a big deal.
Definitely worth doing, I could imagine doing it again if I had time on another visit and as I say I think I wouldn't take a guide if I had the choice. Saw some stuff in visitor centre at bottom about how you can only go up guide-less at certain times but since most people were saw were guide-less I don't think this is in practice an onerous restriction.
Guide was perfectly decent though he did seem to have a tendency to run on ahead on the descent and I found myself waiting for Laurent to come into view before continuing and letting the guide run on ahead of me; presumably he would have stopped if I hadn't done this every now and then, but still not ideal.
Some viewpoints on the way up but most of it is heavily wooded until you get to the rocky outcrop at the top and you don't see a lot, which is perhaps good as it makes the view from the top a bit more of a surprise.
I didn't mind Laurent being a bit slow - he had a cold, after all - but was a bit worried he would decide he couldn't make it to the top and we'd have to turn round, but this didn't happen. I guess I could have gone on without a guide had that happened, although at the time I don't think I felt/realised that was an option.
It's 1644, smidge early but let's go try to collect the clothes. Vague plan is to head out for drinks tonight 8ish, not sure if will go to eat now-ish (after get clothes) and come back here for an hour or two before heading back out or eat 7ish and carry straight on.
1659 Got washing, we opened bag in there to double check it was mine and all looks good. At El Rancho - not sure what difference is between pollo asado and pollo a la plancha, but getting former (the Q30 size) and have requested no salsa or guacamole. Figure if I eat now I can enjoy the daylight view over lake, and it will give the food a bit of time to settle before I go out later, and I can top phone up back at hostel before going out. It's also pretty quiet here now and may not be later. Just getting black coffee to drink. Not been able to find any staff to check the gate doesn't get locked at say midnight yet, may just have to wing it if I can't find anyone.
1709 Yay, turned up with salsa and guacamole. FFS. Looks OK though. Oh, and I appear to not be getting any tortillas. Pretty sure my order was clear and extraordinarily basic Spanish. OK, bloke has at least just offered me some tortillas.
1800 Food was pretty good though annoying my order wasn't respected. Finished coffee a while back. Think will go back to hostel now. Hmm. The four people who had been sitting at the edge and blocking the view (not that they weren't totally free to sit there) have just moved so I may loiter a bit longer. Not sure. It's getting dark so maybe nice to watch lake a little bit.
1847 Left El Rancho maybe 1815. Was feeling a bit melancholy, sad to be leaving, etc. Cleaned teeth, flossed (on grounds if I clean when get back tonight may be a bit cursory), shaved, charging phone, hanging around now. Spoke to owner (?) on way in, she said gate is unlocked (you just reach over to pull bar; already had to do this during day sometimes) all night so no issues there. Bit edgy about going out but it's not far, it should be busyish, I don't have to get pissed and if it's not super fun I can come home early. Not even sure I really want to talk to anyone, though if it happens I guess that's cool. Just going out to see a little of the nightlife etc. Checkout is at 10 tomorrow so need to be careful there too.
1957 Fuck it, let's go. Not a big deal. Will send this now just in case.
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