The morning was quiet and warm already. Entering the bay with the port was another beauty with small villages up the coast and brightly coloured fishing boats anchored in the coves or already out fishing.
There was a volcano in the distance again with a little puff of smoke coming out about every 8 minutes. Was it getting ready to erupt again? this one had just erupted about a month before and the highway that we were going to be travelling down came quite close to it. we wondered if we should be worried? we were kind of , but only a little bit really.
It was a nice port with a few fishing boats and charters going out of the port as we were going in. They were very organized on the pier too directing us to our buses and loading each one till it was full.
We should have known that things were going to awry today when, for the first time, we bought a bottle of water on the boat for the tour and when we loaded onto the bus they gave us free water also. Oh well. It was a long tour and we would probably drink them both. Antonio and Pablo Escobar were our tour guide and driver.
We drove through the country side past lovely flowering trees with views of volcanos all over the place. how many volcanos were there here in Guatemala or was it the same ones we were seeing as the road twisted and turned around the big rock formations scattered around the landscape?
We drove past large rock formations with fields of cows below them. It was very pretty and not what I was expecting. I am not sure what I was expecting. more jungly maybe or something. It was quite pastoral with really big rocks and volcanos in the distance.
We drove on a nice highway past sugar cane fields. Then the scenery got a little bit rougher as that is where the volcano had erupted a month earlier 
we saw where several villages and the highway had been taken out by the volcano flows. I saw a sign that said beware of falling lava and hot rocks. My first ever beware of volcano sign.
The villages were sad. Wiped out with no roofs and no streets left. When we got to the highway that had been wiped out they were working on repairing it with loads of equipment and tons of rocks and gravel. You could see the channel that the eruption had taken and the course that it left all washed away and burnt out.
Our driver carefully maneuvered us onto the portion of the highway that was under repair and then back up onto the original highway but when the rear of the bus tried to go up onto the highway , the oil pan scrapped, broke, caught fire and started to fill the bus with smoke.
It was not very scary but some of the passengers said that we all had to get off the bus immediately as it was filling with smoke. There was little bit of smoke but not so bad.
We did all get off the bus and they driver and tour guide went to see if it could be fixed but it could not so they called for another bus. While we were waiting Margie and I crossed the highway and wandered up a cobbled rod past a sign that said golf resort. I was hoping for a washroom as I did not really want to go into the jungle to use mother nature.
There was a gate manned by two guards at the top of the hill and as I approached lI asked Bano? One of the guards repeated bano. I asked again kind of looking around for a washroom and saying bano?? Again the guards said bano? I was getting closer to the gate as I was talking and so seeing that there was not an actual fence , went around the gate , looked at their little guard shack and said Bano? Pointing at the shack.
The guards looked at each other and then realization came into their eyes and they said yes by way of nodding their heads. I used the washroom. Then Margie did.
The guards were very nice little Mayans with big guns. Some of the other ladies were now making their way up the hill also looking for a washroom and so we told them about the Bano in the guard shack. We asked the guards if we could get our photo taken with the guards and they agreed. They were very nice.
I thought it would be nice to go up to the resort but the guards were there to make sure that no one went up the road as the resort had also been taken out by the eruption of the volcano. We made our way back down the hill taking photos of the flowers and butterflies along the way. There were more than several of the ladies and gentlemen from the bus who also came up the road to use the washroom once we had told them that there was one. The guards probably had not seen that much activity in weeks.
Our replacement bus came in 29 minutes which was pretty darn quick. once we were all back from the washrooms break we continued on our way in the new bus which did not encounter anymore difficulties on the way to Antigua.
We passed lots more coffee plantations with the coffee planted in the shade of the bigger trees. the terrain was very hilly but very pretty too.
Antigua is a very old city that has been through many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. A lot of the buildings and walls looked as if they had been repaired or were in need of repair.
The earthquakes had certainly taken a toll on the roads . The cobblestones were the deadliest I had ever seen anywhere with big stones and little stones and not even at all in a lot of places. had to keep your eyes down for sure anytime you had to cross a road.
It was a charming town though in so many ways and the Mayan's were lovely little people. we got off at the jade exchange and when we left there to look around Antigua we were swamped by the little ladies selling their wares. Beaded hummingbirds, woven tapestries, shawls, and runners, hats and carvings. So many things. We had not idea how much to pay so we each bought some shawls and hummingbirds and went on our way.
We had been given maps to find our way around and we checked it pretty often. At one point we just said well lets find a restaurant and get a drink and maybe a bite to eat and get our bearings. We found Roots a lovely little cafe with soup and sandwiches at just the right price and sat for a bit of a rest from the cobblestones.
We were aiming for the town centre and a little park that was on the map. after our little lunch that was very tasty we wandered off and did in fact find the Central Park pretty handily.
It was a very nice park with the little Mayan ladies and men coming up and asking us to buy things. Now for the purposes of information only, do not buy your souvenirs outside the Jade museum in Antigua, go the Central Park and busy them there. the closer you get to the centre too town the cheaper the souvenirs get.
If we had of waited and bought our things at the park we could have paid half price for the same things. well you live and learn. all we could say that they understood was "Broke" already spent our money and they would say credit card go to the ATM to get more money. they were so cute.
We wandered around town and saw some interesting things. two little nuns coming down one street headed for some church we guessed. There were several churches in Antigua. of which we did not go into any of them. odd as we always went into th churches but we did not see any to go into that were open.
We came across a Hotel named Aurora which looked lovely with a very pretty little courtyard. My granddaughters name is Aurora and so I took some photos of that to show her . if I were to ever come to stay in Antigua I think I would try to stay there. One can never tell by the plain outside walls on the street what it looks like inside.
We found what I thought was a post office but it turned out to e a police station. boy was I wrong. not going to get any stamps from them. but they were very nice and told us that the mail box outside their little building was 100 years old.
We continued to wander and found the chocolate museum and factory in Antigua. it is off the Main Street and it was not very busy. It was interesting with some very cool old chocolate related things and we bought a few souvenirs but not the chocolate covered condoms. We then thought we should probably be headed back toward the jade museum and to the bus.
We found our way back to the jade museum and we only had to tell twenty or so more little Mayans "Broke, Broke" and then we were there. We picked up a few more things, got some phots and used the washrooms. The bus driver rounded us all up with a bit of difficulty and we walked over to where the pickup point was.
The ride back was not eventful and we were glad to get back to the ship with tales of how the volcano ate our bus, our washroom adventures in the jungle with gun carrying guards and the little mayans who were so cute.
Of course the first thing we did when we got back to our room was shower as it was the first time on the cruise that our excursion left us feeling very dusty and dirty along with sweaty. What with all the outside actives next to the reconstruction of the destroyed highway ia am surprised that we did not have streaks of mud running down our faces. that I what it felt like anyway.
The cobble stones really had been pretty hard on Margies and my joints and we were pretty sore for the rest of the evening.
Margie did her payroll and I did my pictures for facebook.
we Read our books and went to dinner but came back to our room early and called it a day. It had been a fun and exciting day but very tiring.
Towel animal - Mighty mouse
