I woke up before my alarm AGAIN this morning. How strange. I wish it was this easy to wake up on a morning at home. I'm getting bitten a lot on my legs here - must remember to use plenty of mosquito repellant from now on.
I had to pack up all of my stuff this morning ready for moving on. The nice thing is that since we're coming back to Antigua in a few days, we can leave our big backpacks at the hotel and only have to take enough stuff with us for two nights. I'm already glad to be rid of the thing; goodness knows how the others in my group must feel, as some of them have been travelling for eight months.
I went out for breakfast by myself to - you guessed it - Bagel Barn. I didn't take my netbook with me this time, to deliberately avoid wasting too much time on wifi. I enjoyed another of their Guate Guate bagels, and then went to Catedral de San Jose. For a few pence I got to wander round the ruined part that was destroyed by an earthquake in the 1700s, just a century after it was built.
Just opposite the street was the Museo de Arte Colonial. It was quite nice - mostly religious paintings, sculptures and furniture from the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. After that I wandered down to another small park called the Parque La Union, before visiting the Convent Las Capuchinas. It was home to nuns in the 1700s until the massive earthquake that also destroyed the cathedral. You can see the tiny compartments the nuns used to live in, as well as some artwork and lovely grounds.
Panajachel is on the edge of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala. It doesn't seem to consist of much - just a few streets with tons of stalls all selling similar things: textiles, embroidered clothing in the local style, jewellry, bags. I'm doing well to resist so far. I had a bit of a wander down to the lake and up and down the main street and soon it was time to meet everyone for tea.
We went to a Uraguayan restaurant and my meal was a bit underwhelming to say the least - horrible tortillas with not enough cheese and tomatoes. Oh well - not every meal can be spectacular I suppose! We went straight back to the hotel and then I abused the free wifi while chatting to a local until quite late.
