I apologize for taking so long to write an update! After my last post I did indeed gather a group to hike up San Pedro Volcano at sunrise. We arranged a tuk tuk the night before to pick us up at 4 am and drive us to San Pedro. Six of us crammed into the tiny tuk tuk (me hanging out next to the driver, literally), dodging potholes and appreciating the stars.

The hike went without hiccup, although it took us all longer than we expected! We started the hike around 5, at 6 we got a little view of the ridgeline across the lake turning orange, and then we were under forest all the way to the top of the crater, which we reached around 9. We basked in the new sunshine and had a feast of bread, cheese, nuts and fruit that we had packed up. The view was fantastic, when the clouds briefly blew off.

I managed to get back to San Marcos for my last spanish class that afternoon, exhausted and running on less than 4 hours of sleep. I had a really good teacher who was patient with me and make me write everything down to study in the future when my brain started working again. That night we all had a nice dinner together; Dale, Joan, Chris, and another girl, Dana, who we had all taken care of the night before through a bad case of food poisoning.

I got on my shuttle back to Antigua in the morning and spent the day relaxing, making new friends in the dorm, and went with them to the best taco place in town. The next day the wedding festivities started! Jess’ friends started loading in from all over the US – many of them later than expected due to the wild weather they’ve been having up there. We danced, we drank, we ran around town retrieving sacred fruit, programs, matching scarves…

It culminated Saturday night better than I had imagined. Jess and Choko had planned everything to a T, and all of their friends turned everything out according to plan. The ceremony was beautiful, the food and the band was amazing, they even had friends from Uruguay and Honduras show up! I don’t have any photos (since I was busy or not so busy being a bridesmaid) but there will soon be many on Facebook!

I do have photos of the view from Earthlodge, an avocado farm on a mountainside above Antigua. We witnessed Mother Earth setting off fireworks and smoking all morning from Volcan de Fuego across the valley.

Now I am spending my last night in Antigua. I have to get to Cancun by Friday to catch a flight to Mexico City, where I will connect with my roundtrip flight to Quito Ecuador to meet my Mom. So far I have a ticket to Flores, Guatemala – a hopping off point for Tikal, the famous Mayan ruins. From there I have no idea, but it will be a marathon. All in the adventure!