We finally arrived in Antigua after driving straight past the turn off, twice! We rolled into town checked out a few hostels, then took a room in one of the few places that had all we needed, a secure spot to park the bikes, internet, and clean sheets. As ever, my budget was $10 for the room, and this was $7, nice.
Now I just had to wait for Jacquie to arrive.After one more recovery day, we were off again, to Antigua. Andy and I left the posse and rode on together.

We finally arrived in Antigua after driving straight past the turn off, twice!
We rolled into town checked out a few hostels, then took a room in one of the few places that had all we needed, a secure spot to park the bikes, internet, and clean sheets. As ever, my budget was $10 for the room, and this was $7, nice.
Now I just had to wait for Jacquie to arrive.
I waited in the bar of our hostel for Jacquie, who had told me she should be in Antigua by 6pm.
Finally, at around 9pm, Jacquie walked into the hostel and I rushed up to hug her. We went and sat in our room and Jacquie told me all about her trip. She had had an eventful one, her bus was held up in Mexico, and armed robbers boarded the bus and took money from all the passengers , and left just before the police arrived. Jacquie was shaken up by her ordeal, but happy that we were reunited.
We went out and I showed Jacquie around the city.

As per usual, we found our favorite part of the city was the colourful market, and we spent hours wondering around, sniffing and tasting everything that didn't move! The market was full of bright colours, friendly people, and the best food around.

You raelly can buy anything at the market...kid in a box anyone?

We had spoken about doing a language course, and we both decided to enrol. Andy had met up with one of his friends from home, and they were also going to take language lessons.
Jacquie and I walked around some more, checked out some schools, and that afternoon, we enrolled in a school for a week’s classes and had arranged to stay with a local family for the duration of the course.
Our time in Antigua was fun, we learnt a bit more Spanish, climbed an active volcano in the pouring rain-not the best time to be scrambling over red hot lava-and enjoyed a break from the hot weather.

Volcan Picaya, seemed like a good idea..

The easier way up would have been by horse taxi, but who wants to do it the easy way..


The Lava halfway up, with rain sizzling on the rocks..awesome

Our friends in the van were just a couple of days behind us, and we all re-united once more in Antigua and had a few nights of partying before heading to El Salvador.