The weekend - Antigua!

After my sucky friday, Jessica and I decided to do something different for the weekend.  We wanted to pamper ourselves so we looked for a spa or a 5 star hotel round here but couldnt find a decent one.  All we wanted was a shower with hot water, a tv and some nice white sheets to lay in but it was impossible to find!!  So we started looking for alternatives - a long story short, we spent about 3 hours changing our minds, calling around and then in the end we decided to goto Antigua for the weekend.   So Sat morning, we jumped on a bus and off we went! 

Antigua is a 3 hour drive from Xela - sorry, i mean a 3 hour crazy freaking boy racer drive away.  My GOODNESS! i felt so sick by the time i got there - driving like a lunatic on windy roads in the mountains with mudslides all over the place just doesn't do it for me!   We got to Antigua at noon, checked into an ok hotel then went walking around. Antigua is v pretty - it feels like a European city: cobble stones, tons of cafe's, lots of english speakers.  U wouldn't even know that ur in Guatemala if it wasn't for the Mayan folks walking around trying to sell u flutes and necklaces.  I was getting soooooooooo annoyed with them....The flute guys would really get in ur face and try and sell u this flute they've been blowing on.  All i wanted to say to them was "dude, quit waving that flute, which u've been sucking on for the last hour, in my face.  In fact let me tell u what u can do with that flute..." but i restrained myself:-)

The theme of this weekend was initially going to be about volunteering in a center for malnourished kids.  We rang them several times and kept getting passed from person to person and in the end we were told that they had enough volunteers so we changed the theme to "pampering" and boy did we indulge!!  For the first time in my life, i ate with the purpose of wanting to get fat - that's such a novelty for me:-) We had lunch in one cafe,
CONTINUED...desert in another (Jessica got told off by the security guard who had a gun cos she had her foot on the table), laid in a hammock in a third (Jessica's hammock was full of dog hair and i think fleas too but she wouldnt admit it) and went for dinner to a lovely expensive restaurant.  By expensive i mean a 3 course meal and drinks for $35 total!  On average in Xela, i spend about $5-$7 a nite so $17 was really splashing out!  Although we were in Antigua, neither of us had the desire to explore - especially since she'd already been there for 2 weeks and i'll be back later on.  All we really wanted was to watch tv as we haven't had that in ages:-) so like old women, we went back to our hotel room at 9:30 and watched telly! it was v fun but i fell asleep within 5 seconds so i never ended up watching tv.  I think that was the first day that i slept for a full 10 hours - it was incredible!

The next day, we went to a spa for a pamper session!  i think i found my thing: reflexology!  i've never been a fan of massages but reflexology...wow.  It felt so good!! they can touch my feet all day!  it was a 30 min foot massage for $14 - so super cheapy but not by their standards of course.  The interesting thing about this was that everytime she touched the side of my foot, i sort of squirmed in my seat so she asked me if i have digestion issues - for those of u who know me, isnt that interesting???  Apparently, if ur big toe hurts u then u have head issues and if the middle of ur foot hurts, then u have heart problems!

We then went for a super delicious lunch and then headed back home.  On the way, our boy racer got stopped by the police for speeding.  It was kind of comical: The policeman comes over with a really stern face, the driver gets out nonchalantly, hands him his drivers licence and goes off to pee by the side of the road - we could see everything and so could the policeman! v weird...!  If that happened in the US or the UK, ud get arrested for indecent exposure!  Anyway, the most important thing is that we made it home safely.  The weather in Xela is a rainy at the moment - uggggh.  i hope it lightens up this week!

ok guys, i know it's not been the most exciting updates but i just wanted to keep my peeps in the loop with regards to my activites as i know i haven't been in touch alot lately... I will keep u posted on how my volunteering went!
Big hugs to u all.
Lumita