Gringo Parlour

So, I just spent a couple of days in Antigua. For those who don´t know, Antigua is the former capital of Guatamala, and a cultural icon of Guatamala. It´s also over run by tourists, and young foreigners who flock to the city for it´s cheap Spanish schools and multitude of bars. Fortuantely the colonial architecture, friendly locals, and beautiful surrounding landscape still make this a necessary stop on the Central American tour circuit.

I´d traveled all the way from Utilla with a fellow American named Evan who was a member of the aforementioned Cooper´s Crew family. Upon arrival in Antigua we made plans to do a guided tour of the city first thing in the morning. It was a good value at $10US and it gave me a better idea of the history and the layout of the city.

Antigua served as the capital of Guatamala for over two hundred years. In 1773 however it was devistated by an enourmous earthquake, and three years later the capital was moved to Guatamala City where it still is today. Besides the quaint cobblestone streets and colorful colonial buildings, one of Antiqua´s most distinguished features is it´s churches. The city has several of them, most of which stand in the same state of disrepair they´ve been in since the earthquake rocked the city over two hundred years ago.

Guatamala Social Club
So admittedly one of the reasons I had been so determined to leave Utilla when I did was that I wanted to make it to Antigua on a Wednesday. The reason being was that one of the members of the infamous Buena Vista Social Club holds concerts there at a bar called Riki´s every Wednesday. I´m sure most of you are already familiar with the Buena Vista Social Club, but for those of you who aren´t I´ll merely say that they are a group of outstanding Afro-Cuban musicians who have been immortalized (in the west) by a documentary Wim Wenders shot in the 90´s. It would not be an overstatement to say that the members of this band are the Cuban equivalent of James Brown.

Evan and I had originally planned to do our walking tour in the morning, climb the nearby Pacaya volcano in the afternoon, and make it back just in time to catch the Wednesday night concert. Everything started off smoothly until about twenty minutes into our bus ride to Pacaya the serpentine belt of the bus snapped and we bacame stranded on the side of the road. By the time they got us a new bus it was almost four o´clock and I knew if we continued on with the trip we would miss the concert. Luckily we were able to catch a ride back to Antigua from the tour operator who brought us the new bus and were given vouchers to climb the volcano the next day.

We certainly made the right decision. When we arrived at the concert I couldn´t believe our luck. The club itself was about the size of my parent´s living room. Maybe smaller even. There was no cover charge whatsoever, and the band played three lenghty sets, each with a progressively higher level of intensity. The place was packed beyond fire hazard status, but I managed to weasel my way up to the very front where I remained until 1am when the final set ended. Out of the many hundreds of concerts I´ve seen, this one certainly ranks near the top. Easily up there with Fugazi, Mouse on Mars, and Frozen Rabbit.

Joe vs. the Volcano
The next day Evan and I woke up late, bummed around the city and rested in anticipation of our volcanic ascension. When we arrived at the tour office at 2pm, we were picked up by the very same bus which had failed to deliver us the day before. However this time the ride to our hiking depature point went off without a hitch.

The hike up the valcano was an easy one. Somewhat steep, but with several resting points along the way. The ascent lasted just over an hour before we reached a point at which we stumbled along layers of petrified lava. We could feel the heat rising beneath us from the lava which flowed underneath, and eventually we were able to get around twenty feet of so from an area with free flowing lava. At certain points the rocks we hiked across were so hot that several members of our tour left with the soles of there shoes completely melted through. My trusty Rockports however did just fine thanks to their Vibram soles.

We fumbled through the dark back to the bottom and caught our bus back towards Antigua. Which, of course, promptly broke down thrity minutes into the ride. Thankfully I was able to keep my sense of humor about the whole affair, and eventually fell asleep while waiting for them to send another bus all the way from Antigua.