Our first week

We purposely plan this month to be a relaxing kind of trip with a couple of day trips each week. So, we spend our days working (Jeff), practicing (Eileen), reading, walking around town, and enjoying the beautiful weather. It has mostly been in the 70's with lows in the 50's. Because of the high altitude, the sun feels very warm but once it goes down, the air cools off quickly. Layers are the appropriate clothing.

Our place is a one room studio, fully furnished, air BNB with a great shared rooftop. We have plenty of space in a quiet neighborhood about 20 minutes from the Central Park. Most days include a walk to and around the park.

On Monday we walked to check out the market in a part of town we hadn't been in. We made a quick walk through and realized it was very large without much organization. Fruits and vegetables are sold next to clothing and toys. While walking through it, we could see rows and rows of vendors. It was a little overwhelming and not what we had planned for. We left and went searching for a restaurant that we had found on the Internet. We ended up walking completely around the outside of the market, and became hangry looking for this place that we decided doesn't exist. Only while walking around the market did we truly understand how large it is. Another day we will adventure again ready to take on the whole thing. We stopped at a small place called La Casa de Las Mixtas and had an inexpensive meal on their rooftop. We then continued to the grocery store and picked up food.

Tuesday we had a very good lunch at Santa Clara, a hotel, restaurant, and bakery. We brought cheesecake home for later.

On Wednesday we walked to the Cerro de la Cruz, a cross on the hill with a platform area that overlooks the city. It is a very popular viewing place and one we will do again. We tried to get there for sunset, and while the sky was a nice color, you really can't see the sun set because of the mountains and volcanoes. On our way back we ate at Frida's, a Mexican restaurant inspired by the artist Frida Kahlo.

Today started with breakfast at our favorite, and closet, restaurant- La Escolonia, the nursery right next door. From there we walked south away from the city center and into smaller neighboring towns. We first came to Caoba Farms, a place we had heard about and planned on visiting later. It is a farm to table restaurant that also offers exercise classes, a store, kids playground, farmers market in the weekend, and more. We took a quick look around and then continued walking using GPS as our guide.

We walked to San Pedro las Huertos. This town has a completely different feel from the main part of Antigua. Of course, the town square has a church and a park, along with a neighborhood school. But it also has a clothes washing area that was very busy. We have been past the one in Antigua twice but have never seen it used. Here, mostly women, had large bundles of clothes they were washing and wringing out. Then they would carry the bundles of wet clothes home (maybe on they heads?) and hang them to dry. We wondered if maybe some of the ladies were doing other people's laundry. There were many small stores and vendors along the main street. Also there were people selling homemade foods that looked and smelled delicious, but we won't try these foods since we don't know how they are prepared. (We can't drink the water here.)

Our walk continued on dusty roads, busy streets, past poorer looking areas and richer condos and nicer looking gated communities. We did stop at a local bar for a beer (Molly's) and then a half mile later turned onto a road with a large shopping center. We wound our way back to Caoba Farms. We were close to 7 miles in and were pretty hungry so we ate there. The food was delicious. We also shopped in the store for some things for home.Læs mere