Antigua - Beautiful Last Few Days

I booked my flight to Colombia, which meant I only had one more week left in Antigua.

There were still a few things that I wanted to do and since Maria and I had such a great time together, we decided to do most of them together.

So, on a Saturday, we decided to drive to Cerveceria 14, which is a local brewery but with a beautiful ground that hosts live music and from which you can see the volcano on a clear day. Joining us was Marre, Maria's best friend. While the day was nothing special, we sat there for hours, having drinks and playing cards until the live band started playing music. It was a great atmosphere and even though torrential rain had us all go inside instead of sitting and soaking up the sunshine outside, it didn't distract us from having a good time, laughing a lot and enjoying each others' company.

The following day, Maria and I were heading to Altamira, a little theme park in the mountains. It doesn't have any rides, but lots of colourful and interesting sculptures (i.e. hands reaching out, paper planes, real planes, etc.) with views over the adjacent volcanos Fuego, Acatenango and Aqua. We took our sweet time exploring the place, snapping loads of photos, and at some point sitting down for a while to enjoy the absolutely stunning scenery and appreciate the place we were at.

Next was a visit to Antigua's most famous church, La Merced, or more specifically, its roof terrace. Since it was only a short 3 minute walk from where Maria works, I picked her up during her lunch break and we went up to the church's terrace. Its yellow-white colour contrasting with the blue sky, Antigua underneath and volcano Agua in the background made this an absolutely beautiful location. Maria also pointed out the school she went to when she was a kid. It was a perfect little break and yet another tourist thing that I dragged Maria to see.

In between these events, I sneaked in a couple of self-guided photo tours through Antigua, as I wanted to fully absorb the beauty of this town and take snaps that serve me as a memory for a lifetime.

Then it was almost time to leave Antigua: Only one more weekend left. To celebrate our time together, Maria and I booked a cabin in the mountains/woods just a mere 20 minutes drive away from Antigua. We went grocery shopping before as I was tasked to cook while Maria made Sangria. The cabin also had a cute fireplace and, more importantly, a little jacuzzi. So after arriving, making Sangria and playing an extremely competitive round of Jenga, we switched on the fairy lights outside the cabin, hopped into the jacuzzi and enjoyed each others' company and the tranquility of the place. We reminisced about our time in Antigua and all the things we saw, experienced, ate or drank together.

After a, sadly, failed attempt to light the fire, we cooked dinner, drank some more Sangria, and hopped back into the warm jacuzzi as it was getting a bit chilly outside. We continued to laugh, talk, fool around and enjoy the moment until well after midnight when we became too tired and went to bed.

The following morning, we had one last breakfast together, one last drive back to Antigua, one last stroll to see La Merced and the famous Arc, one last photo and one last drink.

Then it was goodbye, not just to Maria, but also to Antigua. I will do another blog entry about my time here, but I can say that I was incredibly sad saying goodbye.

Antigua was exactly what I needed after feeling a bit exhausted from travel and the town and Maria gave me everything and more that I hoped for. I guess that is the dark side of traveling or staying in a place for a bit longer: Seeing amazing places, meeting incredible people, falling in love with both, but then having to say goodbye.もっと詳しく