Antigua, Guatemala

Antigua is one of the star attractions in Guatemala. It was the original capital and the major city in Guatemala in the 1500’s to 1700’s. It is located at 5000 ft elevation and is near several volcanos. In the 1700’s the continued eruptions and earthquakes destroyed most of the buildings so they moved the capital to Guatemala City. Eventually people moved back to Antigua and transformed the ruins and old buildings into a beautiful tourist town. They have not allowed modern architecture so most of the old ruined shells of buildings have been transformed into the shops, restaurants and hotels, but retain their original storefronts. There are also many old churches, palaces and convents that you can tour to see the ruins of the original stone structures.

The town with its cobblestone streets and skinny sidewalks reminded us a lot of San Miguel De Allende in Mexico. Lots of expats live there but also a lot of tourists from Europe, North American and Latin America. Lots of really good restaurants and very cheap prices. We had good success eating street food as well as the many restaurants. So far we are enjoying the food in Guatemala way more than the overpriced boring food in Costa Rica.

Many of the buildings and streets are very photogenic and I have a lot of great pictures. The city works hard at keeping every building painted in bright colors and the original structures remodeled in a way to match the old colonial town feeling. The town has a Starbucks, McDonalds, Little Caesars and other American chains that are hidden in the colonial style buildings. There are also many women and girls in traditional dress, we loved the vibrant textiles. We had a great time just wandering around the streets enjoying the vibe.

We stayed in a renovated old hotel very near the old downtown. It was a huge room around a very nice courtyard and a parrot named Lorenzo perched right outside our room. He talked to us but we were unable to translate parrot speaking spanish.

One day we met up with some other traveling nomad friends at a brewery a few miles outside of town. Cerveceria 14 was a huge property with different bars and food around a music amphitheater. It was really cool watching live music with the volcano spewing steam every 15 minutes or so behind the stage. One of those surreal unexpected experiences that seem to come along with traveling sometimes.

January 14th was the inauguration day for the new “anti-corruption” president, Bernardo Arevalo. The old president didn’t want to leave and for several months now has been talking like he might not allow a peaceful transition. For weeks the people have been protesting in support of the president that was elected with 64% of the vote last August. We were glad we were not in Guatemala City on the 14th. The initially congress refused to ratify the new president but eventually were forced to at 1am. There was a lot of celebration and fireworks in Antigua for the next couple of days. We got to watch the celebration and ceremony for the new mayor of Antigua the next day. Lots of fun being in the main town square with a lot of people celebrating.

By the way…. we have been following the unrest in Ecuador the past couple of weeks where we had planned 5 weeks of exploring. The drug gangs have forced the president of Ecuador to announce a 60 day curfew and state of emergency. The big towns of Quito and Guayaquil are not safe right now, so we have decided to cancel our 3 weeks in Ecuador in February. We are still going to go to the Galapagos but in February we have shifted to Aruba and Curacao in the Caribbean.

Next Stop in Guatemala- San Pedro La Laguna on Lake Atitlan!