Arriving in Guatemala, day 1 in Antigua
January 3 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 72 °F
We arrived in Antigua about 15 hours after leaving our house. We flew into Guatemala City and the worst part of the trip was the 2 plus hours it took us to get to Antigua. There was a ton of traffic and the fuel fumes were not nice. However, we arrived safe and sound, though tired.
Our airbnb is one large very room (studio) with a kitchen, sitting area, desk, and 2 beds. The highlight is a rooftop terrace which overlooks the neighborhood and has fantastic views of the surrounding mountains and volcanoe. We are in a gated community about 15-20 minutes from the Central Park which is a very lively place. Being a distance away makes it much quieter.
Our first full day here was spent getting our bearings. We walked to the park and took in the shops around it. The park was very busy, maybe because it was a Saturday, and maybe because they are still celebrating the Christmas season. The Christmas season is until Jan 6, the feast of the 3 kings. That day is celebrated with church and family dinners, and then they take down their decorations. School doesn't start again until mid January.
We started our day at a nursery with a cafe/restaurant. The food was great and the setting was beautiful. We had our first coffee in the park and enjoyed the people watching. There were many, many vendors in addition to tents that were set up for the season.
We walked around a little more and found a grocery store to get some basics. We returned to our apartment for a few hours, spending part of that time on the rooftop.
Later we had dinner at the Antigua Brewing Co, where they make and serve craft beers, followed by another walk through an even busier park. Tomorrow we are taking a history based walking tour to learn even more about this cute town.Read more
Learning about Antigua
January 4 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F
We started our day with a 2.5 hour walking tour focused on history and architecture. Pablo was our guide and he has been doing these tours for 15 years. Pablo speaks 5 languages fluently and had some level of speaking in another 5 - that blows my mind. Antigua is a UNESCO world heritage city because of the many buildings and remains from the colonial times. A number of the buildings are in ruins because of earthquakes. Some have been partially restored but still showed signs of ruins. We had 15 people in our group. There was a young couple from New York but the rest were from various countries: Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Peru.....
After our tour, we checked out a small outdoor market area in a church ( Brother Pedro) parking lot. The traffic was crazy because people were trying to turn into this lot to attend a service there - it seemed dedicated to youth and was very crowded.
We then stopped at an "Irish" pub named Snug. While they had a Guinness sign out front, it was not in their offering. However, we enjoyed a beer and some lunch on their rooftop. The quiet was a stark contrast to the traffic on the street just a short distance away. It also provided a good view of the foothills on that side of town.
Next stop was across town to pick up some additional things from the grocery store. We are still stocking up and limit our purchases to what we can carry in our small day packs since it is a 15-20 minute walk back to our apartment.
We rested at the apartment until it was time to head out for the Steeler game. We made a quick stop at the Central Park and were surprised to see them taking the Christmas lights down on a Sunday evening. The park had many people in and about.
We watched the Steeler game at the Monoloco (crazy monkey), recommended by our guide Pablo and many online sites. We went upstairs and asked for the NFL game (soccer was on all of the screens - surprise) and were obligated. It was not crowded but business did pick up as the evening went on. A group of students came in during the second half and the way they were cheering the Steelers on, I expected them to be from Pittsburgh. However, when I went over to talk to them, it turns out they were from a university in Michigan and were there on a two week cultural trip. They joined us in erupting in celebration when the Ravens kicker missed a fairly easy field goal as time ran out, making Boswell's missed extra point a non issue. We walked back to our apartment in good spirits, especially me (Jeff) since I fully expected them to lose going into the game.Read more
Our first week
January 8 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F
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.Read more
Cooking Class
January 9 in Guatemala ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F
We went on a market tour and cooking class. There are many places to take a cooking class here with most of them in a formal kitchens where they cook more things. We choose to do a class in a Guatamalan home. We didn't cook as many things, but it was just the two of us, our guide Axel, and Elsa the teacher / head chef. We started at the market and then Axel drove us to Elsa's house in a neighboring town.
First about Axel. He and his wife do tours for a living. He first took us to the market where he pointed out different foods and explained how the market works. On Monday, Thursday, and Saturday, the market is in full force with farmers bringing their produce and vendors coming from all over. It is very busy these days. We were here on Monday and were overwhelmed. This day (Friday) it was still busy but not overwhelmingly so. Axel bought 5 different fruits popular here that we were not familiar with. Later, at the house, he prepared them and let us sample them. There are many food vendors here as well, like a food court, but we don't eat the street food. We cannot drink the water here so unless the food has been prepared with filtered water, it is not safe to drink and foods prepared without filtered water not safe to eat. Alex took our fruits and washed them with chlorine and then rinsed then before we ate them. (In our apt we have a filter but we also boil the water first and then put it through the filter.)
Elsa is a very typical Guatamalan women. She spends most of her day in the kitchen preparing food for her family. Her husband is a coffee farmer. She has four children, three of whom live with her. One daughter is married and lives elsewhere. Her other daughter works, a son works and goes to college, and another son is on secondary school preparing to be a mechanic. She prepares breakfast, lunch, and dinner for everyone on a wood burning stove. She also makes and sells breads in the afternoon. She walks daily with her corn to the grinder and then back. This is needed to prepare the dough for tortillas. They do whatever they can to make living easier as incomes are not large.
Elsa walked us through how to make Pepian, a Guatamalan stew, rice, Mole- a chocolate cinnamon dessert with plantains, and tortillas. The mole contained many of the same vegetable that were in the stew, but run through a blender
We cooked the chicken and chopped and roasted the vegetables needed for the stew, rice, and the mole. Then we attempted to make tortillas. It does take practice. When we were done, we ate together. Elsa did not speak English but is an extremely hospitable person telling us we are part of the family and welcome anytime. Axel was a great translator. Over a delicious lunch we talked about cultures, education, politics, and may other topics. Axel is a very smart man and made sure everyone was involved in the conversation via his translation.
We returned full and more educated in the Guatamala culture.Read more
Hiking the volcano
January 10 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F
Over the last couple of days we listened to some music, visited the Guatamala National Museum of Art, visited the Antigua Brewing El Bosque, and hiked up the Pacaya Volcano.
We walked around town and found not one, two weddings! One was at the San Jose Cathedral at the park, the other in a neighboring town. The bride in the second one had on a typical Mayan dress with a very long white veil over it. We walked back to the Caboa Farm and listened to some music while having lunch.
The National At Gallery is in the Central Park in what used to be a governmental building when Antigua was the capital of Guatamala. It is a typical art museum ranging from the early ages to contemporary highlighting Guatamala artists.
From there we walked to the Antigua Cerveca El Bosque - a brewery in the woods. It is the same Antigua Brewing Co that we ate at earlier but farther north of the square and in the most beautiful garden and wooded area. There was a lot of outdoor seating, some around fire pits, a few eateries, and a large screen tv where the Barcelona/Madrid soccer game was being played with many fans watching. You could find excitement or peace depending on where you sat. We choose excitement and watched Barcelona win a championship while munching on delicious nachos and enjoying a beer.
Yesterday we hiked up Volcan Pacaya - the Pacaya Volcano. It is one of four major volcanos around Antigua and is an active volcano which last erupted in 2021. The other the are Agua, Fuego, and Acatanengo. More about those in another post. A driver picked us up and drove us about an hour away to the entrance to the start of the volcano hike, which is a national Park. We met our guide, Jose, there. You must have a certified guide to hike up the volcano. While there are plenty of guides waiting at the entrance to take you up (as well as people offering horses to ride up), there is no guarantee that they speak English. We booked this trip to have an English guide, though he spoke more Spanglish than English. Yet, between his Spanglish and our Spanglish, we understood each other. We hiked up about 1500 feet while Jose told us about the volcanos, plants, and animals in the area. There were great views of the other volcanos and the sprawling Guatamala City (current capital of Guatamala. Antigua was the capital at one time but it was moved when earthquakes caused damage there.) Because it is an active volcano, we could only hike so far up. On one side of the volcano there were a lot of trees but when we started down the other side, we walked through beds of molten lava rock from the recent eruptions. There were also thermal vents giving off enough heat to roast marshmellows.
We drove back going through a very typical Mayan village Santa Maria de Jesus. It is an agricultural village with a very busy center. People were carrying things on their backs, heads or on horseback. Many of the things they were transporting will end up on the Antigua market.
Upon our return we went to what has become our favorite Guatamala restruant/cafe/takeout place - Santa Clara where got delicious savory baked goods for lunch.Read more
The Volcanos
January 11 in Guatemala ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F
There are four major volcanos in Antigua - Pacaya, Agua, Fuego, and Acatanengo.
Agua is the largest and the one closest to Antigua. It once had a caldera (crater lake) at the top of it. One day in the 1500's, the side of the Crater collapsed and flooded the villages below, hence how it got named Agua, meaning water. It is extinct.
Pacaya, the one we hiked, was dormont for over 70 years but has erupted numerous times since 1961. The lava field we hiked through was from the 2010 eruption.
Fuego , meaning fire, is an active volcano that erupts fairly often as far as volcanos go. The last eruption was on June of 2025 with 5 other eruptions dating back to 2018. It is known for being constantly active at low levels. It emits puffs of smoke every 20-30 minutes. Sometimes at night you can glimpse the red lava spewing out.
Acatanengo is next to Fuego in the same range. It is dormont and taller than Fuego. It is popular for a challenging overnight hike that gets great views of the erupting activity taking place on Fuego. For the younger crowd or those extremely physically fit, this is a highlight of visiting here. Along with a physical hike with step incline, the temperatures change drastically. The hikers hike to a base camp where they spend the night and then before dawn, hike farther up to get the views of spewing lava from Fuego. Supposedly the views are worth it. We will never know personally.
We can see Agua, Fuego and Acatanengo from our rooftop and from most places in Antigua. Pacaya sits behind Agua, on the side opposite of Antigua.
Guatamala sits on several tectonic plates causing tremors or small earthquakes (and the volcano activity) all of the time. Most of the tremors cannot be felt. However, one of our guides told us that they can be felt 3-4 times a month. One night, for some strange reason, both of us were awake around 1:00 am and we felt a tremor. Our beds shook and the windows rattled for about 20-30 seconds. It wasn't really scary but it was a reality check.Read more
Around town
January 13 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 68 °F
Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty low key days. Jeff worked some both days. Eileen did some laundry, grocery shopping, reading and practicing her horn.
On her way to the Caboa Farms tienda , Eileen met Deet leaving our plan with her bicycle. She came to Antigua 33 years ago for a month to escape the Chicago weather and has called Guatemala home since then. She was on her way to the Jewish center which she said was open to everyone. Deet invited us to meet up with an ex-pat group that meets every Saturday at Caoba Farm for "snack and yak" where they snack and yak. We are pretty sure we saw this group when we were there the previous Saturday.
Late Tuesday afternoon we took a walk around Santa Clara convent ruins and stopped in Santuario San Francisco el Grande. The area behind the altar was uniquely beautiful.
Late Wednesday afternoon we went back to the ruins of the Santa Clara convent and went inside. It was built in the early 1700s and had accommodations for 45 sisters. It is hard to imagine what life would have been like there. The ruins are the result of the 1775 earthquake. Over the years they have cleaned up and restored some areas.
After the convent, we went to the Sky Cafe and had a cocktail on their rooftop. It provides some of the best views in town - and was very crowded. It was a little cloudy so the views were not great but still good.Read more
Monterrico Beach - 4 wonderful lazy days
Jan 15–19 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 86 °F
We took a shuttle to the beach on Thursday. We were the only two in the shuttle and we transferred to a car halfway there. It was about a three hour ride along mostly 2 lane roads.
We stayed in Hotel El Delfin, a hotel on the beach. We had a private room (our own bath) with air conditioning. Our "deluxe" room was about $60 per night. Most of the rooms here are more like dormitory rooms with shared baths and showers. The rooms are all concrete with a mattress on a raised concrete slab and they have thatched roofs. Most of the hotels here are designed the same way. Our hotel had a very good restaurant, a pool, and beach-front patio.
Because of all of the volcanic rock here, it is a black sand beach. The waves were mostly pretty rough with strong currents pulling outward during low tides. While the water temperature is nice (82F) we didn't stay in too long as it is work fighting the continuous moving waves and strong current. However, on Sunday the waves were unusually calm.
We arrived on Thursday to a pretty quiet beach. On Friday the crowds picked up a little bit and then Saturday through Sunday afternoon, it was very busy. Many locals from Antigua and Guatamala City come for the weekend. There were a lot of large families. Saturday evening was hopping with live or dj music along the beach.
We are most of our meals at the hotel patio bar/restaurant. Food was good and convenient. We also tried Comedor Wendy and Johny's Place, each for a single meal.
One day we saw something jumping out of the water over and over. It turned out to be sting rays. There were so many of them close to shore jumping it off the water and rolling in the waves. Apparently it is a very uncommon sight.
We used our time there mostly to just enjoy the beach, the cool breeze, time to read, and just relax. We met a lady from Norway, Ava, who is spending a week there and about 5 weeks total in or near Antigua. We also met an expat, Edward, who lives in Monterrico 3-4 months every year. There were some walks on the beach and one morning we took a boat ride into the mangroves. Edward recommended the trip and the guide. He also came along. We left in the dark of night at 5:30 am. There were so many stars out and it was a little bit creepy being so dark. But we traveled the canal and were in a quiet area as the sun began to rise and the birds began to wake up. There were so many birds and so many different kinds. Ibis, cranes and herons were plentiful as well as many we didn't know. Our guide spoke Spanish and told us the Spanish names of the birds.
The beach was very peaceful and yet very busy even on a quiet day. Many people in this poor city make their living selling things on the beach. Children walk the beach carrying goods they are trying to sell. In the last year they started having ATV rides on the beach. Children, maybe 11 or 12 year old boys, ride up and down asking people if they want rides on beach. It makes crossing the beach to the water a little bit treacherous and loud. One can also get a horse ride on the beach and on the weekend, banana boat rides on the water. The beach sand gets extremely hot (up to 140°) during the day. There were also a lot of dogs in this area. Many of them have owners but they roam the beach and establishments freely and don't get a lot of attention.
We headed back in on Monday via a car with to other travelers. We again stopped to transfer to another vehicle. This time, it was a shuttle bus that held 32 people and it was very full. It took about 4 hours to get home and we didn't get dropped off at our air BNB as advertised. We were stopped off at La Merced, about a 25 minute walk away. Walking back we stopped at Pappy's BBQ to eat. The owner is from Austin Texas. He traveled after college to Guatamala and stayed for two years and met his wife. When visiting in Texas she fell in love with Texas BBQ and they started a restaurant in Antigua. It was true Texas BBQ and very good.Read more
Edward
January 17 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F
One of the coolest things about traveling is the people you meet. We met Edward at the beach in Monterrico. He is such an interesting guy that he deserves his own post! He is an expat who lives there 3-4 months a year. He came to the beach every morning and every evening and talked to people. He says that he likes travelers but not tourists. Everytime we talked with him we learned s little bit more about him. It was like a puzzle putting together the timeline of his life. Edward is 84 years old!! He stands erect and is able to sit cross-legged for long periods, and gets up with no issues. He credits this with his daily yoga practice that he started about 10 years ago.
Edward introduced us to Shalom, a young Israeli guy who had been traveling for 9 months through parts of South America and will be headed back soon partly because he is missing his country and partly due to finances.
Edward was born in Illinois to Swiss parents. He lived years in the US and years in Switzerland so he has dual citizenship. After college he worked on Wall St. Then he took a 2 year trip through Central and South America. Somewhere in around the college time, he did spend a couple years in the military, but not in Vietnam. Since we got bits and pieces of information from him over multiple days, it was hard to piece together.
Next he spent some time working with banking for the military in Vietnam. He said that the war messed him up and he moved to the wilderness in northern California for 25 years. It sounded like he was off- grid some or all of the time. He worked as a gardener and spent a lot of time in nature. During the winters he would travel in Latin America.
He didn't provide many details after his time in northern California but he did spend a couple years teaching. He said he retired at age 62.
He always had a story about somewhere he had been. He traveled to Guatemala many times and ten years ago he bought property and had a house built. He invited us over to see it. He has two bedrooms , an open air kitchen and a neighborhood covered patio. He also designed and had built a wood fired sauna that he uses regularly. When he bought the property, it was an empty lot aside from 2 beautiful shade trees. Edward developed it into a beautiful garden with many different plants. He spends time working in his garden everyday.
Edward has assembled some travel journals and emailed us a couple when we expressed interest. He has also emailed a couple times since we left Monterrico, mostly about silver prices.
Edward took us on a walking tour of the rest of the town, the real Monterrico. The people know him, but even more so, the dogs know him. He often takes beef lung with him to feed the dogs which he claims never get enough attention. He stops and pets them whenever he sees one
Edward worked in the financial industry for those few years early in his career and his interest carried forward to today. He was giving suggestions about investing. He is a big fan of gold and silver. He is a well read man and discuss money, politics, economy, and pretty much anything else.
He arranged and then went with us on our morning bird watch boat ride, again stunning us with his wealth of information. Afterwards her invited us to his house for a breakfast of oatmeal and fruit and coffee, cowboy style (no filter).
Edward will be leaving here in March and heading to Switzerland for a few months. He'll then spend a could of months in the US and then travel who knows where else. There are few places he hasn't been and has a story to tell about everywhere he has been. One of his favorite cities is Budapest.Read more
Lake Atitlan
January 22 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 61 °F
We took a tour to Lake Atitlan, a lake formed from a volcanic explosion thousand of years ago. It sits between three major volcanos, all of which are extinct. The lake is 1120 feet deep and located about 5100 feet above sea level.
There are many villages all around the lake, most of them of the Mayan culture. There are 22 different Mayan groups around the lake. At one time they all had their own language. Today there are three Mayan languages spoken there. Our guides spoke one of the Mayan languages, Spanish and English.
Our tour bus picked us up near our BnB at the very early hour of 5:40 am. There were ten people on our tour. There was a family of four, with a one year old, who spoke Spanish, a couple originally from Puerto Rico (Herin-a pilot for American and ?), now living in Miami, who spoke both Spanish and English, and a solo guy traveler, Chris, from North Caroline who spoke only English. Chris had just turned 38 and the other couple appeared to be about the same age. All 3 of them were travel experience seekers, having been many places around the world on 1-2 week trips. Chris was a wannabe commercial pilot who had taken some of his lessons. He spent a lot of time talking to Her in getting tips and motivation.
Throughout the trip we were separated by English speaking and Spanish speaking for various things so we shared our meals with the English speakers. It took about 2 hours to get to the lake. We started in the town of Panajachel where we had breakfast at the wharf. From there we boarded a boat and traveled to the first town.
First stop- San Juan La Laguna. This is a smaller town that is known for it's industries. We first had a tour of a honey farm, where they produce honey and products made from honey. They produce three different types of honey from various bees. Each tastes completely different. Next we had a demonstration of the making of textiles. Everywhere you go here and in Antigua are people selling clothing, scarfs, blankets, etc that are woven in the typical Mayan method. The demonstration started with raw cotton and the procedure for preparing it, then dying it, and finally weaving it. A blanket could take up to two months to create. Finally we had a demonstration on how chocolate is made from seed to edible chocolate. Purchases from these places benefit the locals.
Our second stop was a short one to San Pedro La Laguna. San Pedro is know for hosting backpackers. To the locals, it is known as the"hippie" town or the crazies. There were plenty of shops and restaurants and places to do some excursions (hiking, kayaking, para sailing) if you were staying here. But mostly this place comes alive in the evenings with music, drinking, and partying.
Our third and last stop took us to Santiago, the largest town on the lake hosting a population of 65,000 and where our guides live. Here we had a choice of walking to one of four highlighted places or taking a tuk-tuk to all four. While we do like to walk, we all decided to visit all four places and took the tuk-tuk. All three Americans were put in the same tuk-tuk that was designed for three smaller Guatamalans, not three Americans. We first went to a mirador - a beautiful point that overlooked the lake. Next we went to the house of a Mayan shaman. It had candles, a strange statue, and two people (shamans) who just sat there. Mayan people come there to get advice and give offerings (money) to the strange statue. (The statue is a short old guy wearing long scarves with a tie around his neck and a cigarette in his mouth. The cigarette ashes are added to the incense that is burning and that is the connection between the human and the god or goddess. Sacrifices are offered to women statues, who also have a cigarette, for fertility issues.) Out of respect to their customs, no one took pictures here.
Our third stop was to the main church. It was once a Mayan temple and now shares the building for Mayan and Catholic worship. Outside of the church was an older Mayan women selling things and demonstrating typical Mayan dress and a mayan headdress from the past. It used to be worn for fertility but today is just ornamental. A prayer service was taking place in the church and in the same courtyard was a school where students were learning to play the guitar. Our last stop was to an artist shop where there were many beautiful paintings and other crafts for sale.
We ended our visit here with lunch at a restaurant that served fish caught from the lake.
We headed back to Panajachel where we caught our tour bus back to Antigua. With traffic, it took us three hours to return. We ended the evening with dinner at Pappy's again mostly because the food is good and they have a good beer tap which is hard to find here.Read more
Around the town
Jan 23–25 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F
As we head into our last week here, we started to check off some of the things still in our list around town and a few we wanted to do again.
We had lunch at Pollo Campero - Guatamala's fast food chain. They are a chicken place where you can eat in or take out. We are in and the table service was excellent. Both the fried and grilled chicken were very tasty and better than KFC.
Next we went to La Merced, one of the larger churches in the area. This church is in a very busy party of town north of the Central Park, just past the famous arch. There are always vendors outside selling everything from goods to street food. We have been past the church many many times but this day we finally went inside. Like the other churches here, it also had a convent and much of it was destroyed by the earthquake in the 1700's. The church had been restored and is ornately beautiful inside.
We made stops at McDonald's and Starbucks to check out their courtyards. It is the nicest McDonald's we have ever been in. Most of the building fronts here are right on the street, and don't look like much, but once you enter, they have beautiful courtyard/garden areas.
Fernando's Kaffe was recommended to us by Edward for their coffee and chocolate that is made in-house. He claims it to be of Swiss quality. The samples we had made us agree. We had coffee (delicious) and sampled chocolate, and had a chance to speak to the owner who can tell you all about chocolate. We stopped back another day for breakfast and to buy coffee and chocolate to take home.
The San Jose Church Ruins was another ruins on our list. It is another convent that was ruined by the earthquakes in the 1700's. And was even more impressive than the last convent ruins we saw. It is hard that imagine how impressive they world have been in their time. Several places that were ruined have been secured and are now event spaces. We have seen many weddings at these places.
We visited El Deposito, a restaurant/bar and store for a beer. From the sidewalk, it looks just like every other restaurant/bar entrance. But once inside, it opened to a beautiful outdoor courtyard, upper deck seating, a library, and other special rooms. We enjoyed a beer. Music was starting when we were getting ready to leave so we came back the next night for dinner and music.Read more
Around town part 2
Jan 24–26 in Guatemala ⋅ ⛅ 75 °F
We attended Sunday mass at the iglesia de la San Francisco. Of all the churches we have seen here, this one seemed the most down to earth. The seats were full and the service completely in Spanish so we didn't understand it all but enjoyed the music and got the cultural feel.
There is an upscale hotel here - Hotel Santa Domingo - that was once a convent ruined by the earthquakes. A couple bought it, changed it up and made it a house. It was sold to a family who developed it into an upscale hotel and convention/event center. It is amazing. It has the old ruin look interwoven with a contemporary style. A wedding was taking place there while we visited. It is truly a 5 star venue.
We returned to Antigua Cerveca - El Bosque , the brewery in the woods. It is such a peaceful place to enjoy the great weather here. We also revisited Caboa Farms for a late breakfast and music . We had met an expat who invited us to Snack and Yak, a group of expats who get together there on Saturday mornings. We saw them and their table was very full. If you wanted to move here, you definitely could connect with Americans.
On Sunday, we walked to a neighboring little town of Jocotenango. It is not a touristy town at all and had the feel of a true neighborhood. Like all of the towns, there is a central park and a church in the center. We walked around the streets and then decided to get dinner at their fast food place of Pollo Campanero . We were very surprised, after walking around poorer looking streets, to find a mall filled with a food court and many stores. So different from the typical neighborhood but just around the bend.
From Jocotenango, we walked to the stadium for a soccer game. It was a preseason game for the new season for the Guatamalan teams. Antigua won the title last season. The stadium was pretty full and the crowd was exciting - cheering, a pep band playing, fireworks and flares, and some hecklers. Typical of what we have seen in Guatemala, there were no refreshment stands but food and drink sellers walked past constantly. These are the same ones you would see around the park - all ages, carrying their products, working hard. The game was fun, had a lot of yellow cards and one red, and ended in a tie. There is another game on Wednesday that is a against a rival team and so should be even more exciting.
Two things that stood out about the game. There was a huge police presence at the two ends of the field. They were in riot gear. A guy sitting next to us told us that this was normal for every game. I guess things can get out of hand though this crowd was not rowdy at all.
The other standout item was that when the Guatamala national anthem was played at the beginning of the game, everyone sang, and I mean everyone. As poor as this country is, they take great pride in their homeland.
One more trip to the rooftop of the Antigua Brewing company for great views although we have discovered none of the viewpoints are better than our apartment rooftop for seeing Fuego's eruptions.Read more
Our last days
January 30 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F
We have been to a few very cool places this week. We went to a very good restaurant that had real Guatamalan food. La Fonda de Calle Real was so good we went there twice and enjoyed it both times. Another night we went to a young people's bar scene, El Barrio, expecting to watch the local soccer game. They are known for their sports viewing but they were having karaoke and no one was interested in the game. We left and went to Reillys to watch the first half of the game. The other cool place was a cocktail bar, Ulew meaning land in Mayan. Ulew is actually a speakeasy you enter through a British phonebooth at the Antigua beer company. If you don't know about it, you wouldn't find it, as it is hidden. They didn't have a menu but you tell them what you like and they will make a cocktail just for you. The bartenders spoke English and were a lot of fun. It was a very cool place.
Most of the hiking around here involves climbing volcanoes and many of them are hard, but after some searching we found a hike up Agua volcano that was all uphill but not too difficult. Corazon de Agua Park was about 2.5 miles and changed altitude of 1500 feet. It led to the De Agua Parque, an ecological park that was stunningly beautiful. There were great views of sprawling Guatamala City. They had picnic areas, lookout platforms, a swing, camping areas and just nice grassy areas. We had stopped at one of our favorite pastry places (Santa Clara) and got something for lunch that we ate at the park. We rode a chicken bus back into Antigua. Chicken busses are the locals means of transportation. They are old school buses that the people here have fixed up and painted wild colors. The colors often depict the town they travel to. They get their name because back in the day people used them to get to the market and they brought their chickens to sell so the chickens squawked on the buses, hence the name. People still use them to bring their goods to the market, just not live chickens.
There is another brewery that is about a 20 minute drive outside of Antigua - Cerveceria 14. We went there after our hike. They have large spacious grounds, music nightly, and often hold music festivals there. We had an appetizer, provided by Annie and Felix, with our beer while we just enjoyed being in the wonderful weather and watching the sunset.
The weather on our last day here was gorgeous. We spent time in the parks, walked the streets, and spent time on our rooftop enjoying both coffee and wine while watching fuego erupt and just enjoyed everything about this city.Read more
The People of Antigua
January 31 in Guatemala ⋅ ☀️ 66 °F
The people - the people in Guatamala are hard working. Whether they rely on selling things in the park or on the street, working in their homes or hold a regular job in service or construction, they work many hours, don't make a lot of pay, and seem very content. And they are very proud of their country. There is little to no litter, they sing their national anthem, Mayans dress in their native dress, and they are very friendly and helpful.
While Spanish is the main language here, the natives here appreciate visitors attempting to speak it and are accepting and nonjudgmental of Spanglish. They will speak slower and gently correct wrong pronunciations. It is a great place to practice speaking Spanish.
Means of transportation - people get around by tuk-tuk, chicken bus, shuttles, lots of motorcycles - including families riding on one, Uber, and back of pickup trucks. The sidewalks and roads are cobblestone. As rocks become loose, they are moved aside until the road is repaired and then they are cemented back in place. The cobblestone make for interesting rides on the roads and careful walking on the sidewalks. The sidewalks are slowly being replaced with cement.
Vendors - selling in the streets and the parks, all ages. Mothers often have their children with them while they sell their goods until late at night. People carry their wares to and from their house everyday. Some carry things throughout the park, some set up a place on a corner, some push a wheelbarrow, some push carts with ice cream or hot food.
Children only need to attend school for 6 years through the elementary level, four hours a day. Many schools in the outlying areas do not have the necessary materials and teachers are usually high school graduates. About half of those students attending elementary go on to middle and high school where they can train in a trade. About 1 in 5 of those students go on to university. Many children end up in the work force as vendors or farmers at a very young age.Read more
TravelerLooks beautiful!
Traveler
So much greenery! You forgot to take all this snow with you!
TravelerSorry, but I'll keep hoping for snow days for you!