We have got rather too comfortable here! We've spent almost a week (including our trip to Lake Atitlan) in this lovely place, and wow have we enjoyed it.
As I know I mentioned before, we love Antigua - it feels so safe and is so full of life and variety. Of course it helps that we have been staying in the most beautiful home, courtesy of Siggy and Mykell. They have been so generous with their space, their things, their time and their knowledge and they are almost wholly to thank for how special this last week has been. Even in the few days that we have been here there have been all manner of other guests passing through the house, including an evening of thirteen people of all ages and backgrounds - a supper full of the most fascinating stories!
We have stayed so long on account of meeting a lovely chap named Vinicio in the central park when we first arrived. With his charm, friendliness and excellent prices he convinced us to learn Spanish with him over five days. He was the most laid back, flexible and lovely man, who seemed to have a genuine passion for meeting travelers and helping them learn. We had such a wonderful time with him, practicing in the park or in his home, and saw a real improvement in our Spanish over just five days. He introduced us to a friend who did some welding on the bike for us, and took us to see his dog's litter of two-week-old puppies which was probably - as sad as it sounds - one of the highlights of my week. He offered one to us and for an extremely daft ten minutes we were actually considering whether we could carry a puppy with us for the rest of our journey. Luckily once we left the puppies our brains turned back on and we realised that it really wasn't a very feasible idea. However you'd understand our (lack of) thought process if you'd seen them, honestly.
During our time here we've seen epic thunderstorms, rain so torrential that roads turned to rivers, a volcano erupt into a massive plume of ash, and been shaken by a 5.2 earthquake. We have eaten enough to last us the rest of our trip, and also discovered that we are very good at table tennis (reaching thirteen games in one day - we've been very busy).
All in all it has been rather like a holiday within a holiday and I think it'll be a bit of a shock being back on the road! This is the first place that I have felt truly sad to leave, I think on account of the people we have met, and because we have had the time to really get to know this lovely town. But we're looking forward to seeing what El Salvador and the rest of Central America has to offer!