Going The Distance

Today feels better. We have an interview with the national paper, Prensa Libre and we have a planned interview with arguably the most famous woman in Guatemala. It’s all going to be ok… Except that these highs and lows are not doing much for my hope that I’m not bi-polar.

We spent 3 hours in the afternoon being interviewed by the biggest paper in Guatemala, the Prensa Libre. They filmed us driving round the city, then pulled up in the main square to do the interview. The most amazing thing occurred. We were told that Guatemalan people (the “Guatemaltecos”) are very curious. So when the interview began, and he had us leaning against the bike, with us in our suits, , camera pointed at us, a crowd started to gather. By the time we had finished, there must have been 25 people gathered around us in a circle listening to our interview and asking their own questions. This in turn prompted two other news crews to arrive to interview us. It was a frenzy, a totally brilliant frenzy.

After that, the reporters took us for lunch in the bustling market. Hundreds of people selling everything from fruit to local curios and we ate chillis rellenos and drank fresh lemon juice – delicious things that we’d usually steer well clear of for fear of the mighty bum wee.

We then decided to go to Antigua, the ancient capital of Guatemala. A few people, and the guide book, said that it was worth a visit, but we don’t normally have the time for tourist stuff (weep) because of research and driving, etc. But bloody hell it was worth it. If you come to Guatemala and don’t go to Antigua, you have missed the most exquisite city I think I have seen. Without doubt, a highlight of the trip so far. Nestled at the base of a forested basin, with cobbled streets, exquisite buildings, lovely shops – and a fair few tourists, but not so many it’s in any way oppressive. It was gorgeous. Lovely dinner together in candlelit courtyard. Loving being a tourist.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 11:12 am and is filed under Uncategorised. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.