It is impossible to express or show in pictures how extraordinary this town is. We have so far had 5 wonderful days here and we still have a few more left as we need to wait till the holiday weekend is over before moving on to the border of El Salvador.

Antigua was built by the Spanish about 500 years ago and  was badly damaged during an earthquake in 1773.

The ruined churches and convents still stand today like some out of place Roman ruins.

The cobbled streets date back hundreds of years and are worn and hard to walk or ride on but beautiful to look at.

The town is full of amazing cafes, bars and courtyards. There is also an amazing market where the locals buy their stuff-the best one we have seen so far on the trip.

We were lucky to meet an amazing couple Luisa and Julio who both live here and ride a BMW Adventure all over the Americas. They have travelled widely and we have lots of stories to swap. We are spending New Year’s Eve at their home where Julio, who is a chef, will cook us a meal. We are then coming back into town for the big celebrations.

I went out into town just after 5pm and the festivities were already in full swing with people dressed up in word costumes and others dancing in the street.

Probably the most unique and amazing thing about the town are the volcanoes that can be clearly seen from every street.

One of them Fuego is still currently active and we have seen black plies coming from it more than once. Last night people saw the crater glowing from the town and lava was clearly visible. This is very common. We also had an earth tremor a few nights ago-they get about 70 a year here. Tonight we hope to see the lava too.

Happy New Year to all our friends and family. We are have had a wonderful end to 2015 and are very excited about 2016.