Antigua, Guatemala. It's good to be back

We arrived in Antigua late Wednesday night after a full day of planes and airports and layovers. I'm back in Guatemala for 10 days of mountain biking and good living with our La Ruta de Maya trip.

We started off the morning right with several cups of some of the best coffee in the world (Antigua is surrounded by coffee farms, all of which producing incredible java) and the famous Guate Guate bagel at the Bagel Barn in downtown Antigua. Antigua is a beautiful colonial city in central Guatemala, and a fantastic place to hang out. It's surrounded by volcanoes, with beautiful architecture, colourful Mayan culture, and a laid-back vibe that sucks travelers in for weeks, months and even lifetimes.

Yesterday afternoon we put our bikes together for a first spin and headed up the side of one of the local mountains, with some instructions from local guide Mateo (we don't start the actual trip until Sunday, so for now we're on our own and exploring). The climb was steep but steady and we soon found the trail he told us about, a narrow ribbon of beautiful singletrack winding between coffee farms and avocado plantations.

The singletrack around Antigua mainly consists of walking trails from village to village and farm to farm. They're fairly smooth, but narrow and technical in spots. You have to stay on your toes, but the riding is among the best in the world. We whooped and hollered our way down the trail until it spit us back out onto the road just as the sun was setting. The last 2 km were a 70 km/h race down the road into the fading sunset, with Volcan Agua looming large over the valley.

All in all, an amazing first ride.

Today we head to the beach to check out some Guatemala surf. Stay tuned.