Howler Monkeys and Infectious Diseases Abound...

We left Placencia hoping to make it near the Guatemalan border before dark, and did just that. We actually made it across the border and stayed in the middle of the jungle at a little known archaeological site just across the border along the road to Tical. Although we hit the sack SUPER early, it made no difference to our nights rest once the Howler Monkeys realized that we were around and spent the entire night making us pay for our intrusion with their satanic war cries.

On a positive note, the Howlers did get us up and on the road early, with out earliest start yet at a quarter after six. Lizzy and I made it to Antigua after our longest day of driving yet. We had planned to stop at Tical, but with an estimated 10 hours of driving ahead of us, we decided that the prudent route would be to leg it directly to Antigua to secure decent accommodations for the night. Due to widespread road construction here in Guatemala, the trip took much longer than expected, especially getting through Guatemala City.

We arrived just in time to meet up with Sean and Erin at a little place called Cafe No Se. Our patron there, Steve, took us under his wing that night and was nice enough to educate us about Agave and its "medicinal" benefits, much to our chagrin the next morning when we woke up on the street outside of Sean and Erin's pimpin' pad.

The night was a blast, with many large first stories having been told and a basic education on agave having been gleaned. The biggest lesson that I took away was that Agave is equally as dangerous as its older and "more cultured" brother Tequila!

I collected Christina from the airport the day following the agave night and was lucky enough that she was as bushed as me after nearly 24 hours of traveling to get here. We returned to Antigua after collecting lost luggage from the airport and found a decent little spot to stay for the night.

Our plan was to get out of Antigua straight away, but McKenzie fell under the weather with what turned out to be a pretty serious condition, so we have been in Antigua for a bit longer than planned, which is definitely not all bad, as this city is absolutely incredible. Definitely the gem of Central America!

With McKenzie on the upswing after a heavy dose of antibiotics, we are on our way to the peace and tranquility of Lago Itatlan.