Another port is over, but I must remember that this is it—the last three days on land as a Semester at Sea student. Still, we all suppressed our depression and realization of arrival and had a blast in Guatemala.
Prior to our arrival in Guatemala we were warned by the Institute of Shipboard Education that Guatemala has a very high crime rate and that recently tourists have been a target in a few crimes. Due to the high crime rate in cities like Guatemala City, Semester at Sea implemented a curfew for all students staying onboard. Everyone who was staying on the ship needed to be back by 11 pm, and those staying off the ship were requested to be back at their hotel at a decent hour. After some serious cabin fever from long days at sea, the fear of being a crime target in Guatemala, finals, and Swine Flu (which, I must report, has NOT hit Central America yet)—you could say we’ve all been a bit stir crazy onboard.
Kristen and I decided to end our voyage with some fun exploration and good adventures. Accompanied by our friends Phil and Bryan, we made the last three days really count. As our first real friend on SAS, it was really great to close out the semester with our friend Phil and we really did a bang out job. The MV Explorer docked at 8 am in Puerto Quetzal, about an hour and a half or so outside of all the real towns. That being said, we previously made plans to stay in a hostel in the town of Antigua, instead of sleeping on the ship in our last port.
On our first day in port we went on a SAS trip to the Filadelphia Coffee Farm. We learned about the process of picking beans and how they are roasted and then, of course, we sampled some fabulous coffee—and then, after sampling, bought a few bags to bring home. Unbeknownst to us, the coffee farm was about 20 minutes outside of Antigua. So instead of heading back to the ship with our trip leaders, we left the trip early and the guys at the coffee farm arranged a shuttle for a HUGE group of us to get into Antigua. Of course, this shuttle was nothing short of a pickup truck. We rolled into town a few minutes later and did some exploration.
As always, the first stop was at the ATM to get some money. After that Bryan did some bargaining and got us a horse and buggy ride around Antigua. The half and hour tour consisted of a guide, Carlos, who spoke no English, so I ended up translating with Kristen. It was lovely anyway—we saw the ruins of the town and some old churches and really oriented ourselves in the town. After that we found a tour agency (which are literally everywhere—restaurants have them, hotels have them, the bank has one) and booked a trip for our last day to hike an active volcano.
Completely famished, we did what all college kids do best—find the local pub. And here we uncovered El Monoloco—and for those of you lacking in Spanish Translation: The Funky (Crazy) Monkey. Ironically the bartender, Zach, was an American from Minnesota who moved to Guatemala two years ago and just stuck. We rolled in around 5 and the place was dead—just the way we like it. We sat at the bar and watched a few basketball games and baseball games. However, we learned that from 5-8 it happened to be Happy Hour, which meant buy one-get one free on vodka drinks, rum drinks, and beer. Oh and did I mention it was Ladies Night too? We hit the jackpot. Needless to say, within an hour SASers were piling into the bar and by 9 we were…quite satisfied. Bryan had a service trip in the morning, so I bargained us a cab back to the port and we made curfew. Along the way the boys had a restroom stop on the side of the highway and we had a little Backstreet Boys karaoke in the back of the cab.
The next morning, Bryan went into Guatemala City on his service trip while Phil, Kristen, and I made our way back to Antigua. With our infamous backpacks, we cabbed it back into town and got lunch at a wonderful little authentic place. We stuffed our faces with nachos, guacamole, chile rellenos and a special chicken soup. After a full meal, we walked off our food and did some serious shopping. Between the clothes and the gift stores, Antigua was just one giant market. As one of the safer cities in Guatemala, we had no problem getting around or translating with any of the locals. Even our broken high school Spanish got us by. Eventually we decided to find our hostel and check in and meet up with Bryan.
With only one minor complication in our reservation the hostel was quite nice…simple, but nice. Our four single-bed bedroom with private bathroom happened to by a two single bed and one double bed bedroom with a private bathroom. Kristen and I ended up sharing a bed while the boys got to each have their own single. Typical. It was really more amusing than anything. It seems that Kristen and I are getting closer and closer. Last semester we shared a room, now we share a cubby, and last night we shared a bed. What next?
Anyway, the boys got their haircut while Kristen and I did more of what we do best—shopping. And after we exhausted ourselves out, we all met back at the Monoloco with our friend Zach (the cutest 28 year old bartender ever). Kris and I were offered jobs for the summer bartending, which I feel I may want to take that offer up (just kidding Mom). After a few beers, free shots, margaritas and some food we were in love with Guatemala. Well, we were back for Happy Hour and by 10 our night ended. We grabbed a tuk-tuk in the rain and made it back to our hotel, laughing the whole way.
And then for some God-forsaken reason the boy’s alarms went off at 5 this morning. That’s when it hit us all—we had a tour company picking us up at 6. Well we slept in for another half an hour and then got ourselves together to meet up with the guide. A shuttle picked us up at 6 sharp and inside were, you guessed it, a whole bunch of SASers. Together we hiked an active volcano today.
After an hour and fifteen minute hike to the top, where we literally feet away from blistering lava and magma, we were exhausted. The 45 minutes hike back down seemed like a real breath of fresh air. It was exhilarating, nonetheless. Some people were roasting marshmallows at the top in the lava, but the sticks would burst into flames almost instantaneously.
Once our hike was over and we were back in Antigua it was time for a quick lunch, errands, and a final cab ride back to the ship.
It’s bizarre to think that it’s the beginning of the end. With less than a week left of my world tour, I’ve come to realize that today was the ending of a chapter in this voyage. Today I experienced the last time I’ll walk up the gangway and swipe my ID on the MV Explorer. The next time I am greeted by the gangway will be when I leave for good…only a few days from now.
