Day 5 & 6 - Further south to the beautiful colonial town of Antigua
 
Wanting to take the road west to Chichicastenango so as not to repeat journeys we were unfortunately told that this road was rough, long and dangerous with hardly any buses so instead we opted to go via Antigua . On this journey the landscape changed somewhat as we headed towards flatter farming country and green fields.

After about 5 hours we reached a pretty grubby looking place and the heavens literally opened, stopping at a petrol station we realised we were actually in Guatemala city! The reports on the city in the book/from travellers are not the best and you are advised not to stay here/visit. The Swiss girls described it as 'the worst city they have ever seen in the world' and in many ways I could see why although the rain didn't help. It was pretty industrial, polluted, grey and dirty and on passing many shanty towns within the city it felt such a shame to be viewing this after other places we had seen. I was surprised though about the size of it, the place was vast! Taking an hour to get through we finally we were in the countryside again heading towards Antigua, renowned for being Guatemala's most cultural and popular destination ,which is hard at first to believe when it is only approx 60k from the dreary sights of G . City!
 
Arriving didn't disappoint and immediately I felt like we were back in San Cristobal de las Casas or Oaxaca in Mexico! Overflowing with rustic coloured colonial architecture and fine churches/ancient buildings coupled with cobbled streets and volcanoes surrounding I immediately, despite it being abit touristy compared to all other places, liked it, it had a chilled charm to it also that in Mexico can often be stamped on by the many tourists that flock there. In contrast Antigua is very quiet and to me the tourism was almost hidden.

An American guy recommended a place to stay which was really nice so after parking our bags, venturing out for a cup of coffee was needed! Coffee and Cake lovers would definitely love it here (mum!), everywhere you turn there is some beautiful rustic looking coffee shop or restaurants, many with an individual funkiness about them which was cool. We treated ourselves to a coffee at Dona Luisa Xicotencatl, packed full with locals and travellers alike with a view of Volcan Pacaya at 2552m from the balcony it was fab . I just love the coffee places here and style, across Guatemala you find them based around beautiful courtyards swamped with tropical plants entirely open, if only home could be more like this, but then we would just get rained on!

On route for a cheap meal, we bought ourselves a much needed 'learn Spanish just 10 minutes a day' book and that eve over dinner I tried to find my memory to remember some words! If only we had time to do Spanish course... One thing we really regret but are determined to do a GCSE in it when we get home!
 
The next day, after both getting electric shocks in our dodgy shower, I managed to stop myself from dragging Ads round the numerous historic sights and coffee shops as today was a boring 'admin day'! One of those we keep putting off as it is too reminiscent of work but it had to be done..... For a break a breakfast bagel at the hip n funky moo cow style 'Barn Bagel' where they served coffee in mugs bigger than Starbucks was in order, I was in heaven! We fortunately had wi-fi at our hostel and managed to skype Sasha and got to see our first glimpse of Madison with her eyes open, just fab!

Then a day on the PC, small visit to the market and cheap curry in a bar saw us then packing our bags as next week we would come back here and properly see Antigua before leaving for South America....