Adios 2009...you and i didn't get along anyways.

The trek started at 7am today for a 5hour drive to Antigua - Today's New Years Eve!

Antigua has more than just a "gringo street"... it's a full on "gringo town"! Unlike Granada (Nicaragua) it's harder to find where the locals hang out here. Everywhere i turned was a white face. Everywhere i turned was a store or a restaurant to satisfy these white faces. Crepes didn't originate in Central America did they? hmmmyyyeah, i didn't think so.

All of the locals seemed to be bustling around town in preparation for the big NYE celebration later tonight, as I wandered around. I booked a hike for Jan 1st at the nearby tour company - I plan on doing Volcano Pacaya. It would be cool to start the year off hiking up 2 hours to see flowing lava up close. On top of that, I haven't done much activities as of late so my ass is kind of begging for this.
















I headed back to the hotel to rest and possibly have a nap. Instead, I ended up drinking more coffee and watching music channels on TV. When it came time, i started to get ready in attempt to look like a girl. I threw on my $8 dress that i had bought in Juayua and belted it with a $3 sash/scarf i had got in Suchitoto. I joined the others downstairs for a couple drinks. If this trip had a mascot, it would be a giant bottle of Flor de Cana. Thank-you for this, Nicaragua! A new group of tourists joined us and we all walked over to a restaurant called Fusion near the La Merced plaza. We had dinner and more drinks. Our new tour leader came by to join us for drinks. By this time, we are already buzz-happy and were insisting on keeping it going.
After dinner, we all headed back to the hotel to grab more booze. As the others filled their water bottles with rum and coke...I filled mine with rum and a splash of water. Just the way I like it. We strolled over to the main plaza where the stages were set up and it was bumping! It was almost as shoulder-to-shoulder, as it was in Nicaragua's public transit system during Christmas. We weaved in and around the crowds until we found a spot to call ours. Mereki and I decided to do some crowd wandering. We managed to meet Stef, her brother Pancho, her boyfriend, and her guy friend. They live in Guatemala City and were in Antigua to bring in 2010. Their English was impeccable! They thank their American-type school system for this. They told us to join them for the after party which was being hosted by XL and we all decided we would meet up at the same spot right after 12am. Excited, we headed back to where the rest of the group was to do the countdown. The 'inebriated girls' in us went around hugging and greeting everyone a happy new years prematurely, but that didn't matter. Soon it was official, and soon the fireworks would go insane for the next 4 days. The illuminated 2009 sign was shut off which left 2010 shining brightly for everyone in the plaza to see. People were dancing/performing, drinking, hugging, setting off firecrackers...this city was no where near ready to go to bed.

In true drunk-girl fashion, Mereki accidentally spilled Sid's (the new tour leader) beer. In a panic, she grabbed me by the arm and ran away - done like a pro.
She was embarrassed, so she took me with her to hide in the crowd. We found solace sitting on a curb with a Guatemalan family who's children were setting off firecrackers. Mereki and I picked some off the ground to try and set them off. In my current state, I wasn't able to work matches on my first try so i had a young boy light my firecracker for me. However, he failed to light the end of the wick...he lit the middle. This gave me very little time to throw the little red dynamite stick far from me and soon...it exploded in my hand, right near my ear. It didn't hurt by any means. It was just a shock. I laughed because what else is a drunk girl to do? Immediately, there was a ringing in my right ear. This semi-sobered me up - I knew this ringing in my ear wasn't right. We walked through the crowd to see what else there was to do. A young local guy and his friends invited us to an after-party. It's house music, he tells us. Mereki asked him if it was far and he tells us that we would all need to drive over there. *this is when i have to applaud Mereki in her drunk state* Mereki refused to go to the party and wouldn't let me go. I wouldn't go alone anyhow, but the fact that she was refusing to go (because we're not familiar with the town and we don't know these people) automatically defaults me to staying in Antigua as well.

We decided to call it a night and headed back to the hotel, where everyone else had already been off to dream sweet 2010 dreams.