You know what sucks? Leaving Antigua. Know what sucks even more? Leaving for the third time! People, it doesn´t get any easier. Especially because I knew this time would be the last, meaning a much more permanent goodbye to both a glorious town and a lot of good friends. Still, I am positive I shall return soon, so it´s not actually so bad.
So after my weird Israeli experience on Friday, we returned to Antigua for the weekend on Saturday. Now I knew this weekend was coming, which was what prompted me to buy a phone before I left for the Intrepid trip. I needed a phone to contact my friends with GVI so I could catch up with them. Of course what happened was my phone went crazy on me and decided to switch lines by itself. I don`t even have two lines! But here is yet one more reason why I love Antigua so much: I was on my way to the phone shop to get things fixed, when I bumped into Alison and Ross. "Come with us", they said, "we`re going to a macadamia nut farm". I`m pretty sure that there`s only one place in the world where that could happen.
We made it to the farm after consulting about fifty different bus drivers who through cumulative ignorance actually succeeded in steering us onto the correct bus. At the farm we were given a tour by its founder, who is classified as an eccentric by Lonely Planet, and quite accurately so. He informed us of the good work a macadamia nut tree can do for the environment, because the nuts use a lot of carbon to grow; and for poverty, because give a man a tree... (and apparently macadamia nut-farming is a rich man`s game. It`s a much sought-after nut).
One reason for this is its use in cosmetics. Ladies and gentlemen, if you want to look younger there`s only one thing you need: macadamia nut oil. And trust us, we sampled it. Alison had a nut facial. But as far as I`m concerned, the best thing one can do with those nuts is eat them, and so it was with great enthusiasm that we ordered pancakes that were, apparently, 25% macadamia nut. They were served with blueberry sauce, and are officially the best pancakes ever. I know it`s a long way to travel people, but it`s totally worth it.
Long-term readers of my blog should remember my former GVI housemate, Debra. Well her parents came to visit her for the weekend and with enormous generosity took pretty much everyone related to GVI in Antigua out to dinner on Saturday night. I would like to use this blog to say a very public THANK YOU! Debra, you have very lovely parents.
If you ever wake up in the morning in Antigua and think to yourself, "where would be a good place to eat breakfast", you need only consider the following, single option: Cafe Sky. It`s in the south-east, and features a 360 degree view of the town, and some damn fine banana pancakes (can you see a theme emerging here?). After soaking up the view for a couple of hours on Sunday morning, I went back to the Spanish school to use the internet, and bumped into Raji. Antigua really is a very intimate town. We spent the day mostly in the market, and Raji brought back half of it. I was hoping to go to what I only recently heard was the best coffee joint in town, but they shut before I could get there. Grr. Still, we did mange to visit a church, and have dinner with some of the other GVI folk. And here is my next recommendation: you find Cafe Sky, you find the Italian restaurant next door. They have good stuff.
There is perhaps a theme: disregarding the brief stop over with the Intrepid trip on Wednesday, the last time I left Antigua I did so at four in the morning. Coincidentally keeping with tradition, Sammy told us the group would be leaving for Honduras at four in the morning. And as if saying goodbye to the GVI folk wasn`t enough, this point was the last of one leg of the Intrepid tour, meaning that for some people it was the end. I`ve never had to say goodbye to so many people in so many places. At four in the morning on Monday, we left. I`m sad to have gone, but I know I`ll be back.
And hey, Copan in Honduras is not too shabby. Yesterday we went to a bird sanctuary, which aside from being astoundingly beautiful also saw myself being used as a parrot perch. Some more Mayan ruins followed this morning, before a few of us returned to play with the birds one more time and drink coffee under the trees and amidst the parrots and toucans. Oh and tomorrow we move on to Utila; just a small island paradise. I`m only going to say this one more time, but it`s an important point, dear readers: even with all the exotic birds and beaches in mind, I`d still rather be in Antigua.
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