Weekend in Guatemala City

Greetings friends,

Well another busy week at school is over and although everyone at school is a little worried about travelling around the country click link to see why http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11253408 We decided to head off to Guatemala City with Carlos from school. He grew up in Guatemala City and proved to be an excellent tour guide. It also meant we had somewhere to stay as his Mum very kindly gave us a bed for the weekend and provided food as well.

It took about 5 hours to get to Carlos' place and after a very nice dinner provided by his Mum we headed out for a few beers at a bar about 25 mins from his house. This counts as local in Guate. It's the biggest city in Central America with a population of 3.5 million and is very spread out, with lots of green spaces.

Saturday was a day of sightseeing. After breakfast in a restaurant offering a fab view of the city, we started out in the civic centre, and visited Guatemala City's now closed railway station. It hosts a museum although trains stopped running in 1995 they were still operating steam trains. Carlos had never been before although as a child he used to take an 11 hour train journey to visit his Gran, so it bought back lots of memories. We had a wander round the area and enjoyed the 1960's architecture before heading to the south of the city for a view of the Pacaya Volcano which we climbed in April and then erupted a couple of weeks later covering the city in ash.

We then headed to the National theatre which is an interesting building, built in the 1970s, which also offers some excellent views from the roof. After that it was down-town to the oldest part of the city, which has been the capital ever since an earthquake destroyed Antigua in 1773. While there a look at the cathederal which is an essential part of any Central American city plaza and the National palace, built between 1939-1943. It it also the home of the national library and on the south side Guatemala's oldest shopping mall. This now seems to consist entirely of jewellery shops selling engagement and wedding rings, and no I didn't do any shopping.

After a small early evening nap we headed out to Zone 10, Guatemala's nightlife centre and after a bite to eat ended up in a very cool bar called retro. Live music and cheap rum, what more could you ask for? Sunday was a quiet morning and after a stroll around Carlos' neighbourhood we headed home to El Sal.

More news tomorrow hopefully. Until then check out the photos by clicking here.