Thursday 18th August 2011

Antigua The morning was spent organising the onward leg of our journey, but by midday we were walking up towards the base of the Cerro de la Cruz, where our butterfly-watching immediately began at the base of the steps leading up through the forest to the cross. No sooner had we sat down on the first bench to extract camera, net, binoculars and books from my rucksack than the first insects appeared. Slightly out of practice at catching, and a little nervous as our permits have not yet materialised and there were several signs saying “No cazar animales” - we do not intend to “cazar” (hunt), but when carrying a net even if only for identification purposes it is better to have official authorisation – it took some time for me to get my hand in, but soon the first new species were being caught, photographed, identified at once where possible, before being released back into the forest. After a long while at the first bench, we made our way slowly up through the forest, stopping at various places along the way, before emerging from the trees at the cross, from where we took time to admire the magnificent view of the city below us, with the towering presence of the Volcan de Agua beyond, its head still in cloud. From here we climbed past the monument to Santiago (Saint James), patron saint of Guatemala, and continued along a track leading up into the forest, eventually emerging on a road beyond. Here we made several insect sightings, including a huge wasps’ nest suspended from a eucalyptus branch and several interesting butterfly species, before gradually retracing our footsteps down into the old city of Antigua. This may be the last diary entry for a few days as we are due to leave Antigua tomorrow en route for Lake Atitlan, and I am not sure when I will next have internet access.