Antigua, Guatemala

Eric and I arrived on Saturday for our week vacation in Antigua. We made it to Guatemala City from Honduras with no problems - our airline, TACA, was fantastic. Everything was perfectly on time, the planes were new and clean, and the staff was super friendly. For two people who do not love to fly, the experience could not have been better! We even got snacks :)

When we arrived in Guatemala City we immediately booked a shuttle to take us to Antigua, about 40 minutes away. The road was very hilly and curvy, but our shuttle driver seemed completely unphased by this and still felt the need to drive as though we were racing in the Indy 500. We got dropped off right at the door of our hotel, Casa Antigua. The hotel we are staying in is fantastic - it has about 15 to 20 rooms and is all 1 floor. It has 2 open courtyards surrounded by flowers, and the rooms are decorated in a very formal, old-fashioned, and traditional Guatemalan style. A picture of a bedroom is below and courtyard is below- we have a beautiful bed, a huge chandelier, and amazing 20 foot ceilings!

After we got checked in, we set out to do a little bit of exploring before the sun went down. Unfortunately, Guatemala is wrapping up the end of their rainy season, so it was a bit wet and chilly. Well chilly is a figurative term here... it was in the 70s, but when you are used to the hottest weather in the WORLD (no exaggerating here!) then it felt downright cold. All of the streets in Antigua are cobblestone, and the buildings reflect the architecture and building style of the Spaniards that originally settled the town. Antigua was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1990, so now even the McDonalds and Subway that are in town are located in buildings that are hundreds and thousands of years old. Below is a market that takes place about two blocks from out hotel. The women are selling blankets, clothes, jewelry, and other various trinkets aimed at tourists. In the background, you can see the remains of an old convent in town that was ruined in a giant earthquake that occurred here in the 1770s.

After seeing the market, we walked toward the city center. Here we stumbled on a group of boys playing various instruments and trying to raise money for their music school. We enjoyed this little 3-year-old boy who was allowed to stand with the "big boys" and randomly pound on the keys. Eventually they couldn't get him to stop pounding the the keys - even when the boys were trying to sing and talk - so his fancy blue stool was taken away and he was made to sit on the floor :)

This is a picture of Eric and I in front of the main fountain in the city park. The park is only 1 city block, and is surrounded by municipal buildings, shops, restaurants, and the cathedral that you can see to the left in the background. At night, the cathedral is completely dark except for candles that are lit in all of the windows - it is absolutely beautiful.

We also visited another cathedral named after Saint Hermano Pedro, who was a friar in Antigua famous for his dedication to the poor and sick. He lived during the 1600s, and he is buried in the north transept of the church named after him. This church was also ruined by the earthquake that hit Antigua in the late 1700s (much of the city was demolished at this time - there are still ruins everywhere). Part of it has been restored, but the former monastery was never repaired. You can now pay to walk around the ruins and see where St. Pedro and the other monks once lived and worked. Below you can see Eric overlooking some of the ruins. The other picture was of a woman selling goods outside the church. She is making a table runner for kitchen tables. You can see some of her completed work in the background hanging on the wall.

Eric and I have really enjoyed people watching here in Antigua. The women wear beautiful, ornate, and brightly colored clothes. They also frequently tie scarves in their hair, as you can see by the mother and her daughter pictured below. There are many women who walking around selling goods, especially on the weekends. This culture is also very into music, and there are a number of people singing and playing instruments on the street. Below is a picture of a father and presumably his daughter playing the harp. The father would pluck the strings, and his daughter would accompany him with a drumbeat that she created by pounding on the base of the harp.

There are some stunning views all around when you walk around Antigua. Three volcanoes surround the city, creating the valley where the city is built. Although it is cloudy here right now, when the clouds occasionally clear you can see some truly breathtaking views. Below is a picture of Volcan de Fuego (Fire Volcano). It is named such because it is always active, although at a very low level. You can see a bit of smoke coming off the top of the volcano in the picture below.

Below is another volcano located on the southern side of the city. This is the largest and the most dominating as far as scenery is concerned. Is it called Volcan de Agua (Water Volcano). I have no idea why this is named as such, but I looked it up on Wikipedia (my trusty resource), and it says the locals named it this after an explosion from the volcano ruined the former capital, forcing the government to move the capital city to its present-day location in Antigua. I cannot figure out what this has to do with water but... oh well! The third volcano, which we don't have a picture of, is Acatenango.

Below is a picture of an arc that goes over the main street in Antigua. This is the most commonly photographed structure in the city. The arc was originally built because there was a convent located on one side of the street that was too small to house the number of nuns who had joined. As a result, they bought land on the other side of the street and expanded the convent. However, they wanted the nuns to be able to cross the street without being seen by the general public. So, the arc was built to the nuns could walk above the street. Now, it offers really beautiful views from all angles, especially when the sky is clear and you can get a volcano in the background. The other picture is just one of me standing in front of a cart of flowers :)

Eric and I went to an awesome little local restaurant for dinner on our second night. They advertised ceviche, which Eric loves, but when we got there we realized that was not really their specialty at all. When you walk in, there is a huge kitchen area with tons of different kinds of foods (especially meats and sauces) that are all in clay pots and sitting over a stove to keep warm. The food was absolutely awesome, and the cook helped us pick out dishes that were local Guatemalan foods. He very kindly let Eric get behind the counter/stove area for me to take this shot.

We weren't sure what we were going to do last night, but it turns out we didn't have to think too hard. There was a country-wide marching band competition happening right in town! It didn't take us long to realize this was a really, really big deal. There were probably 20 different marching bands there representing states from all over the country. They had all kinds of different outfits, instruments, dances, and songs. There were huge trophies handed out and even fireworks! Below are some pictures of some of the musicians as well as some of the dancers.

Our favorite little girl! Her mom was walking near her and saw Eric trying to take a picture. She got the little girl's attention and pointed to Eric, and she immediately struck this pose for the camera!

This picture just shows a little of the crowds that were around for the marching band competition. There were thousands of people around. The bands marched up and down a few streets, and then all ended by walking around the central park square. It was kind of like a parade, minus the floats and candy.

We are finishing up in Antigua today and are on our way soon to look at some more ruins at a different convent. We considered going to a volcano today to hike, but decided we would get the chance to do a lot of hiking at Lake Atitlan (our next destination) so we are holding off on that. We will try to post more pictures of Antigua and the Lake in a few days! Now off to the ruins :)