O
n
e more country down, we left El Salvador, thinking it would be a nice and easy drive, one border, and a comfortable afternoon in Antigua, Guatemala. The border had some issues, and we spent three hours waiting to get our car cleared through. We made it into Antingua just before the sun went down. We found my school, owned by JP (or Juan Paplo to the locals), from New Orleans. He arranged a home stay and I settled in with my host mother Olga. I stayed in Antigua and took another week of Spanish classes, while Laura headed up to Lago Atitlan for some Hippie things (yoga and meditation classes). 
My classes went well, my teacher, Ana Isabel
, was upbeat and fun. We had many interesting conversations, from Politics, to machismo culture, and burial mounds (the word they use for speed bump is tumulo, which translates to burial mound). I was a good student and studied hard. It was great to live with a local and get to speak Spanish outside of class. On Thursday, Laura´s two friends, Nicole and Erica arrived late. Laura made her way back from the Lake and we all headed out for a celebratory Margarita
. Two new nicknames surfaces, Spades (Nicole) and Googly (Erica). Friday, I took my camera out of the closet and we explored the town. The local kids were putting on some kind of play, including a machete wielding angel
. With classes now over, we headed up to the still active Pacaya Volcano. Other than the annoying little girl, the constant rain, and the flat tire (tour van, not ours), the day was great. 
The rain seemed to stop just as we approached the lava, and the temperature exploded
. It was hard not to cause an 
avalanche of cooled lava, but it was a first, and very cool. The hike down proved a lot easier as the rain stopped. Once back in town we ran into our friend Will from Ometepe.
He also was heading up to the Lake, so we piled in and made the way up. Once we found parking and packed up our stuff, we hit the boat to San Marcos, said goodbye to Will, and settled in to the Lago
.
n
e more country down, we left El Salvador, thinking it would be a nice and easy drive, one border, and a comfortable afternoon in Antigua, Guatemala. The border had some issues, and we spent three hours waiting to get our car cleared through. We made it into Antingua just before the sun went down. We found my school, owned by JP (or Juan Paplo to the locals), from New Orleans. He arranged a home stay and I settled in with my host mother Olga. I stayed in Antigua and took another week of Spanish classes, while Laura headed up to Lago Atitlan for some Hippie things (yoga and meditation classes). 
My classes went well, my teacher, Ana Isabel
, was upbeat and fun. We had many interesting conversations, from Politics, to machismo culture, and burial mounds (the word they use for speed bump is tumulo, which translates to burial mound). I was a good student and studied hard. It was great to live with a local and get to speak Spanish outside of class. On Thursday, Laura´s two friends, Nicole and Erica arrived late. Laura made her way back from the Lake and we all headed out for a celebratory Margarita
. Two new nicknames surfaces, Spades (Nicole) and Googly (Erica). Friday, I took my camera out of the closet and we explored the town. The local kids were putting on some kind of play, including a machete wielding angel
. With classes now over, we headed up to the still active Pacaya Volcano. Other than the annoying little girl, the constant rain, and the flat tire (tour van, not ours), the day was great. 
The rain seemed to stop just as we approached the lava, and the temperature exploded
. It was hard not to cause an 
avalanche of cooled lava, but it was a first, and very cool. The hike down proved a lot easier as the rain stopped. Once back in town we ran into our friend Will from Ometepe.
He also was heading up to the Lake, so we piled in and made the way up. Once we found parking and packed up our stuff, we hit the boat to San Marcos, said goodbye to Will, and settled in to the Lago
.
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