Okay I'm terrible at this

We left our homestay families at 8am and had a little boat ride over to a cliff for breakfast and a swim in San Juan. We then had a long bus ride back to Antigua.

Once arriving in Antigua Em and I decided to spoil ourselves by her getting a massage and me getting a blow wave! Then we all had a group dinner before our early wake up call of 4.30am!

The travel day to Rio Dulce was hell! 8hrs in a bus! With only 1 hr to go we stopped at a hot waterfall and cold springs. It was very odd being in freezing cold water and feeling 45° water falling over you!

Our hotel in Rio Dulce was an eco hotel... With 2 toilets for all 30 bungalows! We settled into the hotel and decided on our activities for the next day before dinner and drinks with another GAdventures group.

The next day we had a lazy morning and lay out by the pool until 3pm when we had horseriding. We rode for around 2hrs and stopped to climb up a 4 story tower. Unfortunately the horses weren't in the best shape which was a little sad.

Our travel day to Flores wasn't too bad, only 5hrs in a bus. Once we arrived we unpacked and went on a sunset boat cruise around the islands. We had a little swim before dinner. A Vegie burger later and it was time for me to go to bed before our 6.30 wake up time to go to the ancient myan ruins of Tikal.

- K x

Crazy days

For our last full day in Antigua the girls and I took it pretty slow. We walked around markets, hiked up to the famous viewpoint and got our nails done (priorities).
That night we did Salsa classes with the group which was hilarious, we are all terrible.

The next day we caught 5 hrs worth of chicken busses up to Panajachel... I genuinely thought I was going to die. Once there we walked around the town and markets and settled into our hotel by sunbaking on the lawn. For dinner we met up with Jean from our old group and had some amazing Paella.

Day 2 in Panajachel we went to breakfast and had some amazing banana pancakes, then went back to the hotel to pack up ready to go to our home stay in San Juan, a mostly Mayan speaking town.

A 45 minute boat ride later and we met our families. I stayed with the organiser and her two year old daughter  which was lucky as she spoke a bit of Spanish and English. We walked around the town as a group and learnt about how they made organic medicines and textiles from scratch.

It was getting late so we headed back to our houses for dinner and to play with the little girl.

Tomorrow we are heading back to Antigua.

- K x

Ouch.

After drinking enough tequila for a small nation, those of us who hadn't left yet pulled ourselves out of bed at 12ish and went for a walk, shop and lunch.

Then we had a little nap and met our new group at 6.30.

We went out for dinner with them but were all so exhausted from the night before that we were tucked up in bed by 9.30.

Tomorrow is another free day in Antigua so we may have a girlie spa day...

- K x

Last Day - Part 1

Today was our last day with the first group and it was a bit of a sad one.

We had an 8 hr bus ride from Copan to Antigua and on the way stopped for lunch and a guy was selling puppies on a bicycle... Abbey almost got a new friend for the low price of $40!

Once we arrived Ricardo took us on a tour of Antigua, it is the old capital of Guatamala which was destroyed by a flood from the Volcano waters.

Then it was time for dinner, we went to an Australian bar for a drink first then to a super expensive restaurant (I paid $20 for a main and a cocktail) for dinner.

At dinner we decided to do a bit of a mini roast of everyone in the group. So we each had a piece of paper with our name on it that was handed around and everyone wrote something on it. We then headed up to the rooftop and everyone read their sheet out. By the end of it everyone was in tears from laughing so hard. Emma and I probably got it the worst but there was nothing too mean written so it was all taken in jest.

Then we went out, and boy did we go hard. We got into a club and were told ladies drank for free... thats when the tequila and body shots started. Somehow by midnight we ended up dancing on tables in the VIP section.

Clubs in Antigua shut at 1am so we went to an illegal bar afterwards until 3 and went a bit crazy. The bar then closed so we made our way home, stopping by the ruins to all stand on a podium and make a speech. The Canadian boys had to leave at 4 so we all waved them off and went to bed.

Tomorrow will not be a fun day...

- K x

Copan

Today we went to the ruins in Copan.

They were absolutely incredible and the area is called the Paris of the Mayan Empire due to the detailed 3D art everywhere.

The area was home to around 30,000 Mayans including the royal family of the area. We were able to see the small stadium where they played a ball game (the captain of the winning team was sacrificed) and stand where the king would have addressed his people.

We all got attacked by midges and mosquitos while we were there so after a healthy dose of bug spray we went for a walk and some lunch.

After lunch we all just had some quiet time before a bit of a shop and dinner. A few of us went to a bar that shows films and watched 'The Drop' (it's terrible) before heading to bed as we have a big travel day tomorrow!

- K x

Sorry!

Sorry for being awol the last few days. I've been quite sick so any moment I've had to myself I've been sleeping.
Heres a recap of the last week:

Poneloya - On our day in Poneloya we did... not much. Sunbaking on the beach, playing in the water and drinking tropical cocktails. That night we let of about 20 fireworks including blowing up a piñata puppy that we named 'Boom Boom'.

The next day was a massive travel day to El Salvador, 14hrs including 2 boats! For the last 5 hrs Greg and I had a great set up at the back of the bus, my tablet, a headphone splitter, popcorn and a few movies. It made the trip somewhat bearable. We arrived in Suchito El Salvador at around 9pm and were put into rooms of 4 to sleep. Em and I bunked with the 2 other Australian girls Darci and Elyse so it was just like a big slumber party.

We were able to explore the town a bit the next morning before driving 4 hrs to Ataco, El Salvador. This was the height of my illness so after dinner I went straight to bed.

The next day people went off to do waterfall jumping etc but i thought ot best to have a sleep in and take it easy. When the others arrived back I had a late lunch with them and we all went to the hotsprings that afternoon. That evening everyone was buggered so it was just crepes for dinner then bed.

We travelled 6 hrs the next day over 2 boarders to reach Copan, Honduras. This is where some of the 'most important' Myan ruins are which we will go to tomorrow. Everyone went out but I'm still fighting this cold so am going to give it a rest until our last night as a group in Antigua. From then Elyse, Darci, Em and myself leave everyone and continue on through Guatemala and Belize finishing in Mexico!!

Internet is shocking here in Copan so photos to come later!!

- K x

Grenada City Tour

Finally a sleep in!

After my first night in a room alone we all got ready for our 10am pick up to go on our tour of Grenada, Nicaragua.

We went and saw a few churches in the city, they're very colourful and Spanish as Grenada is the first place the Spanish settled in Nicaragua.

A boat tour of the little private islands followed, you can buy your own for around $140k!

We then got to swim in a volcanic crater that was filled with water it was a massive lake (I was expecting something small)

Finally we got to go up an active volcano. The views were amazing but the smell was terrible! We saw the sun set then looked over the edge and saw the glow from the lava.

We got home at around 8 and were all exhausted so ordered in Pizza and had a quiet night.

Volcano boarding tomorrow.

- K x