Thewesternprovinceblog

A ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ history nerd travelling The New World. ยฟWhat could possibly go wrong? Join me on my way to The fabled lands of Ar Wladfa ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ท

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A ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ท๓ ฌ๓ ณ๓ ฟ history nerd travelling The New World. ยฟWhat could possibly go wrong? Join me on my way to The fabled lands of Ar Wladfa ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ท in ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ด

  • A whistle stop tour of Leรณn

    Hola todos. As mentioned in the last blog installment our stay in Leรณn was brief as I am wanting to be in Colombia by the end of the first week of December while having time to explore Panamรก. Because of this the next few legs of this journey we will be moving fast. So our first whistle stop of the push to Panama – Leรณn Nicaragua.

    After I arrived, checked into hostel and sorted basics out (shop and ATM) I had a look round to see if there were any free tours going and it happened that there was one starting at half 4. Was able to join onto it literally as it was getting started. Leo, our guide was a top bloke and could highly recommend, unfortunately I haven’t got the company name as it was all very last minute.com

    We look round the cathedral and some churches then he goes on to explain the murals around the city representing the struggle of Nicaragua against American occupation and meddling. The US has quite a long history of ‘gunboat diplomacy’ and political meddling in Nicaragua going back as far as 1912. The first period of this was the 1912 to 1933 US military occupation to depose a ‘banana republic’ though the reality was big business wanted to build a canal through Nicaragua. Sounds very much like the what the European empires were doing in Asia….. Remember kids, It’s totally NOT imperialism when Uncle Sam does it!!

    In this period there are several revolts against the US but the most famous one and the one which eventually gets the US to withdraw is that of Augusto Cรฉsar Sandino – Sandinos rebels operated from 1928 to 1933 when though they could not defeat the US marines the liberal party of Sandino secured a peaceful US withdrawal. Sandino was a hero but he died shortly after being killed by US sympathisers in the national army after being stopped at a checkpoint. He is known as a martyr today and his Party, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) are still in charge today.

    After WW2 and the start of the cold war between the US and USSR came the next round of Uncle Sam’s totally NOT imperialism in Latin America – this time enter dictator Anastasio Somoza Garcia. This guy’s history is quite long being first elected in 1937 dubiously then forced out in the 1940s and then coming back to power in 1950 in a rigged election. His family the Somoza family would rule for 42 years being backed by the US because it kept communism out of America’s back yard. Basically most of his rule was centred around extracting the wealth of the nation to build his business empire in Managua. He would invite foreigners to Managua and show how Nicaragua is a developed country and how pristine it is while outside of the capital everything was in rack and ruin unless his family had a stake in it. The regime committed atrocities against its own people during his rule and there’s the famous quote by President Roosevelt when being questioned about him. “He’s a son of a bitch, but he’s our son of a bitch”.

    Somoza had a house in Leรณn which we visited on the tour. Today it is famous because it is also where he met his end being assassinated by a writer from Leรณn, Rigoberto Lรณpez Pรฉrez, he was killed by the guards moments after and today is seen as a martyr for freedom in Nicaragua, the house today is a shrine to him. His death however didn’t change things much, Somoza’s son, Luis Somoza Debayle took over the regime and ruled until 1963 until he steps down and puts a number loyalists in charge for the next 10 years. During this time the Sandinistas began organising resistance militias in the mountains backed by the Soviets. Several even go to Russia for training.

    In 1974 the last Somoza, a different Antonosio takes power and decides to launch a campaign to crush the rebellion, which was growing fast by now. In 1975 the US pulls support for the regime and the guerillas slowly start to get the upper hand. By 1978 the Revoluciรณn is in full swing and by 1979 the last Somoza would flee to Paraguay before later being assassinated himself in the 80’s by another writer.

    Now the Sandinistas are in power. The revolution was a success. Is this the end of Uncle Sam’s totally NOT imperialism in Nicaragua now? Absolutely not. This begins the next phase – the Contra War – The contras were militias made up of loyalists to the old regime who fled to the border regions after the FSLN takes over and are armed and backed by the US and other Latin American neighbors of Nicaragua to fight a 9 year long Guerilla war. During this time there was a ‘mandatory army’ basically any random person could be called up to go fight this border war including women and children. It was a bloody affair with around 80000 being killed and half a million people displaced.In 1990 this war ends after the historic 1990 election which sees a new party under Violetta Chamorro win the election in a promise not to ‘win’ the war but end the war. She managed to win with 55% of the vote to 45% of the FSLN. She became Latin America’s first female president and ended the war through a system of giving land and money to anyone who would hand in their weapons. Somehow she managed to do it and get sanctions lifted and foreign investment into Nicaragua which saw a period of economic prosperity which also brought a baby boom to the country.

    After this ‘good’ time Nicaragua began to fall back into economic and social decline again in the early 2000’s and eventually the Sandinistas are re-elected back into power in 2006 and have stayed in power since then to the present day under president Daniel Ortega. During this time up to 2018 the country was going through a period of economic development and was considered safer than Honduras or pre Bukele El Salvador though 2018 came a sort of second revolution when government and students clashed leading to about 600 being killed. This violence during this time drove a lot of tourism out of the country and put sanctions back on Nicaragua to a certain degree. Shortly after this then of course came COVID, which would likely further have hammered the economy here. I later learned they didn’t shut down everything but no doubt tourism further would have dried up. Today tourism and the overall economy seems to be picking up again though safe to say the future for Nicaragua is uncertain. I just hope peace lasts as I’ve grown to like this place!

    After these history lessons we went to a theatre briefly and seen a concert for a few minutes – it was free as the local gov is trying to promote this culture to locals and tourists alike.We wrapped up the tour at a local market and sampled some street food. After this we went our separate ways as hadn’t really talked to anyone here so rolling the RNG I went out and did the solo thing again but didn’t meet anyone interesting. I headed back to the gaff at around half 10.

    Tomorrow I go to Granada……….if it’s okay will spend the weekend here. If it’s another San Miguel or Tuxtla I keep moving.

  • Public Announcement – Wales Travel guide eBook now on Amazon

    Bore da todos! I just got word this morning that Amazon has accepted my Historic Wales travel guide eBook and it is now live over there. It is also on kindle unlimited for 90 days. Please check it out and consider buying it for yourself or someone this Christmas. A free sample can also be found in my bio. If you buy it you will be supporting me on the road too! Diolch un fawr! Thank you very much! Muchas Gracias!

    For some additional info this book is the end result of a year of photographing and filming various historic places around Wales. Almost all of which I have made reels on over on my Instagram page. Inside this ebook you can find:

    • Detailed summaries on over 70 historic sites in Wales.
    • Local trivia on the places and interesting things of note around them.- Detailed directions on how to get there both by public transport and private car.
    • My own honest personal take on each place.
    • General travel guidance on Wales

    Thank you once again for your continued support to my channel. I will also leave the links here.

    : Public Announcement – Wales Travel guide eBook now on Amazon

    Amazon – Echoes of time: A travel guide to Historic Wales

    Free Sample pack – Echoes of time: A travel guide to historic Wales

  • Crossing The Gulf

    Hola todos. After a slow few days In La Uniรณn it has finally rolled round – The day we cross the Gulf of Fonseca into Nicaragua. Now I had read about this route some months before the trip as fairly recently Honduras made it that Brits now need a visa to enter and getting hold of one was basically a non-starter for me as would have been quite expensive and would have had to go to London to do it in person with a possible over night stay depending on the time; so I looked at ways around Honduras and this ferry route presented itself.

    While I was in Santa Ana I made contact with Captain Mario who runs this whole tour company. Through him I am able to both book the ferry and onward transfer to Leรณn.

    Morning comes and we are up and out at 0530 to get out stuff together for the 0700 meetup at the immigration office by port. Hadn’t slept well as the AC cut out through the night and the fan didn’t work too well. To top this off water was switched off and so going to be crusty today!

    There’s quite a few people in immigration looking knackered as they had just come on the night shuttle from El Tunco by San Salvador. After about an hour our passports are stamped and we are on way.The boat is a small ferry same size as the boats on Lake Atitlan and it can get bumpy. That said it was a lovely morning and the sea was a millpond leaving port. As you go out there are some nice views of the Islands and volcanos around. As we got closer to Nicaragua it got little rough and quite a few of the guys at the back of the boat got soaked. That said they’ll dry off quickly when we dock.

    Speaking of docking there wasn’t a proper dock at Potosรญ so instead he beached the boat and out we come. Next was Nicaraguan customs and immigration. We line up they ask us to open up our bags and they have a little nose inside but they don’t make you completely take everything out TSA style. It’s a pretty easy going affair really.

    Then immigration. About a 2 minute walk from the beach is the office. A man comes out and we all give him our passports and he takes them in. We have about an hour waiting round like this while the shuttle for Leรณn is already there waiting. Potosรญ isn’t much to see. Just the beach, the office and a barn. If you need the loo here your going in the woods.

    Anyways out they come with our passports stamped and piece of paper in hand. We then quickly board and are on way. The shuttle ride is uneventful and I’m quicky in Leรณn. I’m only here for one night but did get to see a bit in my short stay, but that is for the next installment. Ciao ciao!

  • Escape to La Uniรณn

    Hola todos. Last blog for Saturday before we cross into Nicaragua ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฎ on weds. Just catching up on admin these last few days.

    After the San Miguel experience I decided to head to port today but I also liked the gaff I stayed in in San Miguel so stayed and watched some more TV and drank coffee till kick out time. Kick out time came and back into Mordor we went. I managed to get an Uber to the bus station. Get in and matey starts going on about how it’s shut cz of a carnival…..just fkn take me there boss!!

    Off we go and while their setting up it’s one street. Clearly he was talking shit then! Into the bus station and quickly find the bus for La Uniรณn. This beat up thing looks like it didn’t have autoglass repair on the cover ๐Ÿ˜‚ cracked windscreen cracked windows but it still ran and was $1. Can’t complain and drive motored down there in an hour.

    I find the hostel and check in okay then time to take care of some basics – one of which finding a cash point; Mierda!! Their all in banks which don’t open till Monday. Find one in the square but does not work. Another hour in the midday sun and find one eventually and get dollars out happy days. Now to properly look round. Find a nice seafood resteraunt and have lovely shrimp tacos and a few beers for a little over a tenner. Eso fue necesitaba – un poquito de tranquilidad despuรฉs del lรญo!!

    Later that night had a wander round. Chill enough and not unsafe but still have to watch your step walking the sidewalks. Dock is pretty lively with music but other than that not much going on but find a lovely place opposite the hostel which does a BBQ and serves beer and also super cheap. Lovellyyyyy!!

    Next few days I’m just getting my stuff together ahead of the crossing so slowing on the blog till we’re across the gulf.

    Hasta el miรฉrcoles when cross the Gulf of Fonseca into Nicaragua………

  • San Miguel or New Reno?

    San Miguel or New Reno? 

    Hola quรฉ tal ustedes cabrones?!? Been another fun one. Dรฉjame decirte sobre todo joder!

    Entonces…..donde estรกbamos? Ah yes! After our brief stay in San Salvador we get on our bus for San Miguel in the south. Plan is to spend the weekend here then head for port on Tuesday to get on the boat Wednesday. 

    The bus station to get Southeast is a new one so get an Uber over there and pretty quicky get on the bus to San Miguel. $5 for a 4 hour bus ride nay bad! Bus fills up quick but I’m the only gringo here and It gets rather tedious. Halfway through my internet completely craps out and cannot fix. Fkn mint! We Gunna be flying blind when we get to San Mig.

    Skipping some detail we arrive – bus didn’t stop in the terminal and had to shout to drive to let me off. Now to spend 35 mins hauling the ring through fking Mordor to our gaff – it was high 30s, muggy as fk with the smell of burning diesel everywhere where there was a road. If you don’t take the road you pass through markets where this time of the day meat be getting stinky, and there was a lot of raw meat about

    I get to the place I was planning to stay the weekend at – because I need to set down and take care of admin for a bit. Anyway had a offline copy of the map so navigated my way here and I did not like the place on the way in. I get real pissed off and decide I’m only doing one night here and if they get arsy with me I’m getting on the next bus to la union and chancing it.

    I get to the gaff and ring the bell. No answer. Ring the timbre otra puta vez. Nothing!! Start banging it and shouting “FAAACK” outside….2 mins later as I’m about to say fk it and leave Mrs lady comes out and I ask her if this is the place? “Si”. I immediately ask to drop from 4 nights to 1 and explain that my internet has been out all day – still was not lying here but got to play whatever hand you got when it comes to refunds or not getting chiselled! 

    Luckily she is reasonable and is cool about it. I get the keys to the room. It’s a lovely place with a fridge, TV and kettle even. Was pretty pleasant here. I feel sorry for her. She clearly put a lot of work into making a nice place here but it’s a losing battle when the area around it is a complete dive.

    I freshen up chill for a bit and head out. Lucky there’s a supermercado nearby so i load up on some tins and munch because it’s going to be an early one here. On my way back it gets dark and I step in a gutter and end up grazing my knee. Luckily I came into it cleanly and was able to break the fall or it could have been *crunch!! LA PUTA MADRE!! I get back and inspect and just a graze with a slight bit of blood. Clean it up dab some pox in a wipe and hit it just to be sure. Pox is a mexican hard liquor by the way. I bought a little bottle of it back in San C. Muy รบtil!

    So despite being shook up I go have a look round and go eat some pasta at this place. Nice food but no beer or vino. Wierd but only place close by. Let’s find a bar for a quickie? Only place in town near is this hotel bar and casino across the main drag from my place. Okay then. Go over to there and I’m starting to really think shit I might just get mugged at knife or gunpoint in this town if I push my luck.

    Get real jittery and start hiding my working cards in the sole of my shoes and drink up and head back. I stop by the casino on my way out to waste a tenner on the slots because why not? No wins there. 

    Make it back without getting mugged or breaking bones on sidewalks. I watch some shit on the telly and have my tins and turn in. Doing the right thing moving on. Eso es todo!

    No photo gallery this time – was too busy watching my step on the sidewalks!

  • Sleepy San Salvador

    Sleepy San Salvador Hola todos. Still behind on blogging so let’s catch up!

    Wednesday we left Santa Ana and that was quite the faf. Having done the chicken bus run figured would be simple. I even saw signs in the station the previous day for Ruta 201 to San Salvador. Anyways we pack up and get an Uber over to the grotty station as don’t want to spend 30 mins hauling the bags through a crowded pikey market.

    I Get to the bus station and lo and behold no route 201. I look round and triple check then go ask one of the drivers. “No. No arriba arriba” “que” “calle 25!” Okay “donde estรกยฟ?” “ARRIBA!!” “Donde?” “Por acรก” “vale” ay joder que puta drama!

    In simplified queens English we had to walk 40 mins up a hill onto this drag where this bus does the rounds. I get there and it’s getting hot and no idea where I got to go. It’s quite a traffic jam going one way and I get lucky. Pulling into the jam happens to be the bus I need to get on so shout out the window at him. Confirm your going to where I need to be. Si. Genial! He lets me on and it’s $1.50 for 2 hours to San Salvador. I tell him Quรฉdate el cambio for helping me out there. It’s a pretty chill ride down to San Sal and drive got the reggaeton on full blast. Actually felt pretty fun. We trundle on into San Salvador.

    After navigating another chaotic bus station I get an Uber to my place for 1 night – nice little place in the suburbs to chill for a bit – been a bit sleep deprived the last few days. I get to the new place and the owner, Edgar is very chill and helpful. He recommended I go check out El escalรณn – I at first thought it was an escalator ๐Ÿ˜‚

    So after settling in I do just that. The area is boring until you come to a sky scraper and complex. Bizarrely El Salvador’s version of Canary wharf is sat up on this hill. Good for us though. I have a wander in and its lunchtime and loads of decent places to go and reasonably priced too! Not bad. Still bit Bizarro to have such a place in a residential district where otherwise not much is going on. I had a nose and turns out the British embassy for El Salvador is also based here!

    Rest of the day and evening is pretty uneventful. Thursday we head for San Miguel……….

  • Another day, another border crossing………

    Hola todos! Been a while hasn’t it? 

    Currently sitting having a lunch and a cheeky beer inside @plazafutura after having stumbled upon El Salvador’s financial centre – a randomly placed complex inside an otherwise boring residential area without much going on. I am slowly making my way down to la uniรณn to get a boat to Nicaragua. In the meantime let’s catch up.

    After the last blog it was time to leave Antigua and the bus I booked showed up on time and was all good. Another shuttle bus packed in like sardines. About 10 minutes into the journey we come to a halt in a big traffic Jam ayayay! Many of us take the opportunity to jump out and stretch the legs since drive says “dos muertos……una hora” which means we aren’t going anywhere for a while. I take the time to have a bit of chit chat with some of the other travellers. Good guys but didn’t exchange details. Might bump into some of them when we get to Colombia.

    1.5 hours later we are moving and it’s about 3 hours to the border. We reach the border and I’m expecting another faf like the mexican exit was but we’re stamped and straight through. Now for El Salvador entry. The armed guards stop the bus and everyone’s passports are given to drive to give to them. We wait about 20 minutes all kept on the bus  apart from a Colombian couple who are pulled into the office for a chat but are quickly let go. Passports are given back stamped and we are back on way. We arrived in Santa Ana about 2 hours late but we made it.

    Now comes check in to gaff. It’s a short walk from where we are dropped off. I go in and nobody is home. So ring the bell and and greeted by a middle aged old boiler who don’t look too happy to see me. I pay my $20 Yankee dollars and am shown my room and the shared bathroom then off she goes. Place is basic but not review worthy. I am also able to get beer and bite without faf so could be worse. Bienvenido a El Salvador ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ป hijueputa!!

    Tomorrow we explore some more ruinas and figure out the bus system for the next leg……

  • Things to do in downtime

    Hola todos, como estรกis? Been a slow finde in Antigua Guatemala, been quite quiet but honestly quiet is what was needed as needed some time to recharge the social batteries and we have been on the road for nearly 2 months now. Some days you live it large other days you have to regroup and get it together. These were the latter.

    Still managed to get some decent sightseeing in. On Friday I looked into booking onto a tour to Iximiche but proved to expensive to do alone and didn’t fancy getting up at 5 for the volcano hike. So instead I had a wander over to the outskirts and have a look at some of the ruins of the 1773 quake. Among them an old church convent which was pretty cool. Friday night was pretty uneventful.

    Saturday I decided to go have a walk up to El Mirador de Cerro de la Cruz and Santiago de los Caballeros. It was quite a brisk walk up and you feel it at the top but it has some lovely views of the city. Shame it was foggy as couldn’t see half the volcano that Antigua sits under but yes. Would be hard to walk it. I get to the top and sit down admiring the summit then I get chatting to another tidy Geezer, this time and American hiking enthusiast by the name of Chad. Yes that’s his name and no he wasn’t a “Bro” just a sound down to earth chap. We swap details and meet for beers later. It’s a good chat and he tells me stories of his experience working security in a casino in Iowa. Some proper crazy stuff went down. Today he works remote as a therapist. Funny how things can change. We had a good evening and said we would stay in touch – he had to turn in early as was flying back to Florida next morning.

    Sunday rolls round and I decide to go check out a few organic farms that are all the rage on the far end of town. First place has some gold greenhouses but got ignored at the resteraunt part so went to another place 5 mins walk away @cafeesconia and this time sat down and got seen to pretty quickly and was served a lovely breakfast sandwich with some coffee and natural orange juice. 

    I then have a look round their nature trail and and up chatting to this lovely Puerto Rican girl who was doing painting of the trees etc. had a bit of a chat about the travels and the cool things to see etc and hit it off pretty well. I get her details and see if she’s up to meet later but get ghosted…..ay es lo que hay no? After this I have a look at the ruined cathedral from the quake in town then go for some afternoon cwru o’ gloch and siesta. Later in the night as we got ghosted and my English pal who has just gotten here was having a quiet one it was back out rolling the RNG again and end up back at the vino gaff talking to locals again.

    Monday has just been an admin day as suspecting possible issues at the border leaving for El Salvador tomorrow. Needing to get a form that’s impossible to fill out if you came in overland as it’s only online and no option for the land entrance. Could be fun and games let’s see. Ojalame buena suerte! Next stop Santa Ana, El Salvador ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ป all going well.

  • Exploring Antigua

    Hola todos, como estรกis? Today is my first proper day in Antigua. I awake with a mild hangover after last night’s nonsense and force myself up and about my day. First I have to find a place to do laundry so find a place put a big batch in then look to have a look round town. I see there is a walking tour at 11am so book onto that and grab some breakfast in the square and get ready to join the tour.

    The tour guide is a guy called Giovanni who is very knowledgeable on the city. Antigua is very much a Renaissance city designed in the style of how Roman Architect Vitruvius planned cities – it was his work which largely inspired Leonardo Da Vinci’s works. The cities roads are built with 16th century cobblestone in the style of a Roman road and built to the same proportions – enough room for 6 legionaries at arms length apart. Another interesting feature is the spacing. This is another Roman thing and each 2 foot long space is a single step when the legion is marching – in short the message is we don’t get enough steps in!

    We look around at some churches as he explains the history of the city. The modern city was founded in 1543 after 2 failed attempts in 1524 and 1527, the first time natives destroyed it, the second by a volcanic eruption. After the third time Antigua was Spanish Central America’s capital for over 200 years until 1773 a huge earthquake destroyed most of the city making them build a new capital in modern day Guatemala City. The churches and city Hall did survive however a lot of them were not fully rebuilt as can be seen how many of them are partially ruins.

    Going through the city we are then told about what Life is like here in Guatemala for the average citizen and its not great. 80% of Guatemala’s economy is controlled by about 50 families who’s routes go back to the conquistador days when 80% of the people generate the remaining 20% of the wealth with most not working formal jobs and not getting any assistance from government & only have themselves or their community Life is hard here if your not born into some money much like Mexico.

    We also briefly discuss the history of Guatemala’s 36 year long civil war where over 200,000 were killed and many atrocities were made against the Mayan people’s – it is a reason why the men today don’t wear the traditional costumes very much. The war itself was a guerilla conflict that largely started because the US backed a coup to remove the elected president back in 1956 because communism and the new regime went about reversing land reforms and stopping the poor from voting etc and this all blew up in 1960 leading to 36 year of guerilla warfare in the mountains between the government and different leftist and native militias. Again I’m brushing over the details here but it went on in different phases as different presidents took power with the most violent phase being in the mid 80’s and then a cooling off in the 90’s which allowed peace to eventually be signed in 1996. It’s been nearly 30 years and peace has held though there are still militias up in the mountains and autonomous towns that just want to be left alone. He said most people these days are over this but it is an agree to disagree thing. Fair play I had no idea about this one.

    Our final stop was the Jade museum which we could get in free and we were given a brief tour. In short Jade is a rare stone that comes in different colors and is worth a lot of money. Imperial green was the most expensive and I forget the cheapest but even that is too rich for me. All in all was a good tour and paid him a nice tip. After this it was lunch and pick up the laundry and siesta time.

    After that I went out for some dinner and went back to the vino place I escaped to last night. Met a nice Mexican family travelling through who were from Aguascalientes a few hours north of Mexico City. They were nice people and again decent Spanish practice again since the Padres spoke no English and the adult daughter had a limited knowledge from school. Still nice enough people might see them round.

    Going to be a chill finde in Antigua for me. Looking forward to moving into the Airbnb and getting away from “Bro” nonsense for a bit. Might do a volcano hike tour but let’s see how we get on.

  • “””Bros””” and Bully Bois

    This bar is actually in Panajachel

    I didn’t take any pictures on the Antigua Bar Crawl

    Hola todos! Just settled into Antigua and boy what an absolutely amazing, stonking start I had to this place! Let me pull up a pew and tell you all about it!

    So I arrive into Antigua about half 3 in the afternoon. Didn’t take many pics on the bus ride up as kind of nodded off for a good chunk of it. I get in get to my Hostel all ok then see hostelworld chat is buzzing quite a lot and turns out lots of newcomers are looking for things to do and it’s Wednesday and the Antigua bar crawl is on. From the outset it’s got 5 stars on Google maps saying it’s a great place for solo travellers to have a mingle and go check out cool places in town with free drinks for the first 2 hours. I have my reservations about this not being settled in & on my own but decide to go to it thinking that if the vibe ain’t vibing I can fuck off any time I want. So I pay my $20 USD and head over there for 6pm when the free drinks start.

    Get there and the event is run by a big Aussie roider who gives you the welcome says here’s the choices of free drinks, tequila and orange juice, rum and coke and some vodka tonic. Can I just grab a beer? “Nah mate ya gotta get fucked!!” Okay then this is gunna be fun. So I opt for the tequila orange and take it real slow. The others show up and in the end there’s about 25 blokes and 5 girls. The majority of the blokes being typical “bro” types i.e young, dumb & full of cum and obviously never been in a situation where the entire room has wanted to murder them!

    Anyways off we go & we play some stupid drinking game bouncing a ball into a cup. Lucky I don’t get screwed over on this and only end up doing 2 shots. It breaks and people have a chat & I make a point of chatting with whoever not to get roped into another round of this shit. Call me a bitch but I’m on my own, nobody is coming to bail me out if I mess up badly here. I chat to a few of the fellow travelers, nothing hugely interesting apart from one Swiss guy who was alright & told me about his sketchy experience in Guatemala City a few days earlier. Nothing happened but lots of young guys with pistols wandering about so avoid that place. Note taken.

    This goes on a bit and I’m trying to make conversations with people and keep getting accosted by this Irish lad who’s getting up in everyone’s faces shouting at them “BRO YOU GOTTA DRINK MORE!!” “IF YOU DON’T WANNA THROW UP YOU GOTTA GET YOUR ASS IN THE CIRCLE!!” Get the Fuck out of my face and watch your language there Butty Boy! Had to be real smooth but by the time we left bar 1 he was wobbling about to the point where he’d probably go down in one if he did try something.

    Off we go to bar 2 – some karaoke joint where the few girls in the group decide to have a good sing song. At least I could get a beer & sit at the bar on the side here so wasn’t too bad. We finish there then on to bar 3.

    Bar 3 was a hostel bar. You get your welcome shot then you go to the bar and it’s spin the wheel and all the things you can get are down more shots take off your clothes and all this shit. I’m feeling nervous and not happy. I pause for a few minutes and then decided to take a quick trip to the WC and decide yeah fk this I’m bailing and quietly show myself out of there and ditch my wristband. Good fucking riddance!!!

    I have a wander and find a decent whiskey and wine bar and decide to have a few copas of the house red and wind down from this. I stay there till they close at 11.30 then head back and call it a night.

    So not a great start. Was it them or me? I stuck it out for a good 4 hours so can’t blame this one on the Agoraphobia. This is the sort of thing where glad I have it a try just not for me. Think it would have been a better experience if there were more girls and I had somebody with me to watch my back. Too many hot headed blokes you couldn’t trust on this. If you visit Antigua don’t not do this but don’t do it on your first night and have someone with you who can watch your back is my tip for that one.

    Tomorrow I think I will do a walking tour of the city and get the lay of the land properly then think I am going to get an Airbnb on the outskirts for a few days downtime – Need a break from Hostel World after this one.

    Here’s some pictures of Antigua before the crawl started plus the whiskey and vino place I was in at the end.