#i'm very relaxed & stuff because i have my final reviews tomorrow!!! and after that your girl will be done with year 3!!!

[dobaara]

goood morningg <33

[sally-annesstories]

Day 54 - Xiprian - San Juan La Laguna - San Pedro, Guatemala

Who doesnt love a 3am start!

1. For the final day of hiking we were treated to a 3am wakeup call. This was so we'd make it to the edge top of Lake Atitlan before sunrise. I had doubled up on melatonin the night before so while it wasn't a long sleep it was an amazingly deep sleep. The walk pre sunrise was relatively light. We spent about 20 minutes walking roadside (it was pitch black for the first portion, no street lights in the back parts of Guatemala) but then we hit street lights and eventually veered off road back into nature. Here it was so dark. We'd been told we didn't need headlamps as they had them. Dumbest advise ever. There's 12 of us and the guides were far apart. Most of us ended up using phone torches but given I'm a muppet who falls it would've been nicer to have my headlamp and my hands free. Once we made it to the mirador we chilled out waiting for the sun to rise. While we sat over the lake breakfast was prepared as well for us. It was slightly lighter than it was meant to be because the night before 2 people departed early due to feeling unwell and accidentally took some of the communal food with them. I dont usually eat at 5am so banana bread and peanut butter with a tea was good for me. The sunrise, while distorted by clouds slightly was beautiful. Nature is pretty cool, looking out over a lake surrounded by volcanoes (with one even erupting!). Every day on this trip have been amazing but it's awesome to get these extra reminders.

2. The last portion of the hike was all downhill. For me this was actually really challenging to navigate on my ankles without falling. I was going at a snail's pace down the skinny rocky path. At this point we had both the guides and tourist police. The hills of Lake Antigua are known to have lots of muggings of tourists so the tourist police hike the final portion down to keep us safe. Given the hike goes twice a week down this part this makes sense as otherwise yiur easily get repeat customers/offenders. There was another mirador we hit just above San juan as well. At about 8am the hike was done and we were in San Juan! While we finish in San Pedro, the final stint is on the back of a pick up truck. We chilled at San Juan for a couple of hours at a coffee shop. I opted for a smoothie, it was so good knowing I now have a week in one spot and I could really relax. Plus do laundry!

3. At 11am a pick up came and we all hopped on the back. Only the safest way to travel! It's only a short journey to San Pedro and we made it to the lunch spot of the lake. It was so hot and all I wanted to do was swim so I quickly popped my togs on and jumped in the water. Concious the lake doesn't drain I was careful not to drink any of it in. With the sun so bright and high in the sky it was heaven to move between the lake and the dock in the sun! At 12.30pm or so lunch was served and with that the trek was over! Our main bags arrived back and we all busily moved our stuff out of our tramping packs to normal ones and vice versa. Quickly going through everything I am.so excited about getting a laundry this week!

4. My new school is on the water and just 2 minutes from where we'd been so I walked along with everything ready for the next venture. Its called Community Spanish School. The reviews online were what sold it. I was so impressed on arrival. Last week when I arrived in Xela on Sunday the principal was incredible brief and it wasn't personal (weird because his emails had been the best of all the schools I'd emailed). While my emails to this school weren't anything to write home about (haha!) Luis was so welcoming and really took me for a tour. It's a small school, with only 9 desks so it would be max 10-15 students at a time, about 10 when I arrived (across morning and afternoon). The setting itself is phenomenal. Very happy to be by the water and in the sunshine again. Rosa the mother of the family I'm moving in with then came and walked me home from school. It's just under 10 minutes away up a mildly steep hill. Once back at the house she gave me a wee tour. Its aa really nice place! Would easily just be any older style home in NZ. My bedroom has a double bed, desk and wardrobe. After dropping off my stuff we went up onto the roof. Here she took me through the running of having people. At first it seemed very planned and less relaxed but then I realized its what's needed to have a smooth running ship when so many people come in/out of your house. She asked me what I wanted to drink at meals (agua/water) which turns out wasn't the done thing in this house! So instead dinner and breakfast would be tea (te) and lunch would be fresh fruit juice. And my fresh fruit juice I mean she goes to the markets every day, buys fruit and blends it with water! I said I was vegetarian but everything else (non meat) was ok. She then listed all these vegetables that other people maybe dont like which I was so surprised about but said nope they're all ok! She was so friendly.

5. I decided after my wee hike I deserved to treat myself and went and got a pedicure! My entire trip is obviously me 'treating myself' but this was probably one of the first times for neither food or an activity. So nice to sit back and relax. Also my toe nails had been looking pretty dire from the 20cent polish I purchased baxk in Merida! Then I went back to the house where I met sebastian (San Pedro Dad), Rosa (Mum Rosa's niece and her 5 month old baby) and eventually Alex and Evan R/S's sons. This family makes you feel so welcome! There are also 4 other homestays but all leaving within the week. There is no English in the house so everyone is speaking Spanish! I speak words more than sentances if I can chip in. It was at dinner this night that I realised I could be in for a treat of a week! Rosa cooks like no tomorrow! Such an upgrade from the bread and beans of the week before. Although food from trek I might miss! Following dinner I caught up with a few of the people from the trek for a wee beverage and was home 11pm for sleep before my next day at school!

Tally:

KMs hiked (total): 46

Altitude of San Pedro (my bedroom): 1611m

[abbythestrange]

ANAWANGIN COVE, ZAMBALES.

So since the classes have ended, me and my friends planned on having a beach trip, anwhere that is feasible. HAHAHAHA. Talk about strict parents. Anyways, so we started planning this since March and I thought we'd never be able to fulfill that plan, but now, yay, we did it! We we're originally 7 to begin with but only 5 of us could make the trip (money wise and, you know, di pinayagan ng parents). So let's start.

We originally joined a tour on Facebook that offers an all-in plan, which is cheap and we've checked the reviews, the joiners enjoyed their stay. But unfortunately, 3 days before our scheduled day, our tour coordinator informed us that our tour may not happen on our scheduled day because she lack joiners. And so we opted to look for another tour agency that can accomodate us, but also prepared for a DIY travel. On computing, we estimated that DIY travel would be a little bit pricey than the tour, luckily we found another travel agency that can accomodate us. But, with our fortune slowly thinning out, that tour got cancelled again because of lack of joiners. So we ended up having a DIY travel.

I will not name the 2 travel agencies that cancelled our tour, luckily, Ate Chona of Zambales Backpackers accomodated us. You can say that it's still a tour just without the travel accomodations. We rode a bus going to San Antonio, Zambales at Monumento, Caloocan as instructed by Ate Chona. Once at the San Antonio, you should ride a tricycle going to Pundaquit Port, and there you will meet Ate Chona and she will take care of everything you need.

Ate Chona provided us the 3 meals, Lunch and Dinner on our first day then breakfast for the next day. Boat transfers, tents, mineral water and cooler with ice. The entrance fee to Anawangin Lake Resort is also included on Ate Chona's package.

The problem was, when we departed Manila at 11pm of May 7, they said that the travel time would take around 4-5 hours but to our surprise, we arrived at San Antonio, Zambales at around 2:30 am. Roughly only 3hrs and 30mins of travel time. When we got there, no establishments were open for us to spend our remaining time before the sun rises because we told Ate Chona we would arrive there at around 6am. Luckily, there was a 7 eleven store that is 24 hours and we stayed at a cottage in the plaza that is designated for tourists like us. It was really dark because it's only like 3am in the morning, not a lot of people were out, but we still felt safe being here than at 3am being in Manila. The tricycle drivers were very nice when we asked them about the place. They were really used to having DIY travellers there.

We just stayed there until 5:30 and ate breakfast at 7 eleven since the market opens at around 6am or even later than that. After eating our breakfast, we rode a tricycle going to Pundaquit where Ate Chona waits for us. Upon arriving there, we changed to our swimming attires because the Island Hopping would take place 1st before going to Anawangin Cove. We just waited for our cook to arrive from the market then we rode the boats.

Unfortunately, the weather was not really good on our 1st day. It was raining lightly and the wind and waves were strong that's why our bangkero advised us to sit out the Island Hopping. We may do it tomorrow before we go back to Pundaquit.

After around 30 mins boat ride, we finally arrived at Anawangin Cove. Oh. My. God. What a beautiful place! It is really a very brautiful place. (OA na daming beautiful na word). We rented a cottage to put our stuffs into before pitching our tent and because there's no signal or electricity there, the cottage will be your only source of light at 6pm-10pm, then after 10pm, they will turn off the generators and it will be very dark.

We proceeded to play volleyball and enjoyed the beach though the waves were very strong but still it was a beautiful experience. The sun was not so hot so hindi nakakaitim.

When we were tired playing and swimming, we went back at our cottage and put our stuffs inside the tent that Nanay, our cook, already prepared for us. She also told us that we can eat our lunch already, she's just waiting for the rice to cook. When we checked our phones, it was only 10am! 10 am! Time was very slow there but we were really enjoying our stay. We ate our snacks and did some stuff before eating our lunch at 11am. Then we proceeded with Kayaking at the lake. Very fun experience too. And took some good photos and enjoyed the scene. Super enjoy when I'm with those fools. HAHAHAHAHA.

We crossed the lake and took some more photos there, it was like a forest there at the other end of lake. And the shower areas where also located there. When we got tired, and the sun was already up, we decided to brave the Anawangin hill top and tried trekking. The trekking experience was tiring but really worth it. It was also scary at first because we don't have a guide but the trek uphill have a trail so you can do it by yourselves. When we reached the first level, we stopped there and admired the view. Then took some more pictures before heading down. When we're finally able to come down, we enjoyed the sandbar and the current that connects the lake to the beach. It was so fun, but I think that's where I got my sunburns. Painful. :(

After enjoying there, we had our meal again, ang takaw diba, then rest, before taking a shower because we decided to take a rest and swim on the next day na. We slept at our tents and woke up at 7pm in the evening and ate our dinner. We weren't able to put out our bonfires because it was raining, at around 9pm, it stopped raining so we had our mini bonfire. Played cards and drank beers and ate marshmallows. A lot of fun talks. Very relaxing and unwinding.

Until the strong wind and rain ruined everything that ended up soaking our tents and some of our stuff. The rain made it hard for us to sleep because our tent was wet, but we still managed to sleep despite everything that happened.

On the morning, we woke up at around 6am and enjoyed the beach again, then decided to climb the Anawangin hilltop again, but this time take it to the highest point. I wasn't able to come with them because i'm very scared and tired at the same time so I stayed at the 1st level. When we all got down, we enjoyed the sand bar again for a few minutes before heading back to our cottage and ate our breakfast. Then we were told that our boat was already there to pick us up so we hurried and showered and packed up our stuff and bid our goodbyes to Anawangin. We weren't able to experience Capones and Camara Island because the waves were still strong and it is not advisable to go there.

Overall experience, 9/10. The weather was just bad for us to enjoy our experience fully. But nonetheless, it was a very adventurous travel and very fun. Especially it was with my friends. Very liberating and unwinding. I would really want to go back there again some time. Thank you for the experience, Anawangin! You're a gem. 😊