Guatemala 🇬🇹

Our last week concluded on Saturday with a final Cantaritos celebration, and almost everyone was there (110 international students). Now the semester abroad in Mexico is over, even though it feels like we just arrived… 🥹

Today, on Monday, we packed all our things, said goodbye, and rushed to the airport in an Uber while crying - a new adventure can begin:

Guatemala (16.06-22.06) 🇬🇹

In the evening, we already reached Guatemala City, where we stayed for the first night since no buses go to Antigua after 7 pm (too dangerous). So the next morning, we started with a little sightseeing tour to the bus station in search of the Chicken Bus, which turned out to be harder than expected. For €2, we finally took a wild Chicken Bus ride through the mountains of Guatemala to Antigua - such a beautiful and colorful old town! My new favorite food here: Pezole🍛

The next day, we explored the city, visited the Santa Clara ruins, and shopped for the next day, as the highlight of Guatemala was approaching - Vulcano Hike Acatenango.

At 7:50, the shuttle picked us up, and with our luck, under bright sunshine and a blue sky, we headed to the SoyTour station. After an equipment check, the hike began at 9:30 with 10kg of luggage and a 70-degree incline! After 3 hours, we reached our first lunch stop and, after another 3 hours, the base camp at 3800m. The volcano welcomed us immediately with 4 consecutive eruptions! 🌋 Friends of ours were here 2 days ago and only faced rain with no visibility. We're so lucky! In the evening, we had rain and enjoyed a cozy campfire with cocoa & marshmallows and, of course, dinner. Just as we were getting ready for bed, we could see a lava eruption in the darkness. In the morning at 4:15 am, some started the sunrise hike, but after my antibiotic treatment last week, I didn't feel fit yet, so Carla (who suffers from altitude sickness) and I watched the sunrise from our sleeping bags at the base camp. After a quick breakfast, we headed down the mountain 3 hours later, but how we did it; running, jumping, sliding included… only 3 hours later, we were back down with wobbly knees.

In the afternoon, the shuttle picked us up for Lake Atitlan (3 hours), where we fell straight into bed after a hot soup.

The next morning, we got up early again because here in the rainy season, you usually can only enjoy nice weather until the afternoon. So Melli and I took a boat at 9:30 am to the first town San Juan - brightly colored with beautiful alleys, and our highlight was the elementary school's carnival through the streets! After a short trip to the viewpoint, where we felt every single muscle, we took the boat to the next town, San Pedro, where we met the others for lunch. We briefly explored the small streets until the rain started, and we took the boat back to Panajachel. There was soup again to warm us up and a shopping tour at the local market.

On 22.06, it was time to say goodbye again, as Evelina and I had our flight to Panama 🇵🇦 and the girls were traveling on to El Salvador 🇸🇻.