Having the luxury of time on our side, we have been trying to make a point of spending enough time in chosen locations to go beyond the “things to do in 3 days” from the Lonely Planet. We have watched many people on 3-week trips through Central America trying to check all of their boxes before returning to the worlds they have left behind. We spent just over a week in Antigua, Guatemala – here are some of our highlights.
But first a colorful sidebar story… Well, as we arrived in the old city at about 7am I (John) was basically in the fetal position thinking that I was dying of dysentery. I had just experienced one of those classic nights. It was a 10 hour bus ride from Flores via Guatemala City where around hour 6 into the journey my body started rejecting any food that I eaten in the last day. Also, to add to the horror story, I only found out after I had to use it in the worst way, that the toilet on this first class bus was broken in the middle of the night. After praying that by hitting the flush button at the same time as saying different words like “For fuck sake; freaken fuck shit”, and other memorable lines from Ricky and Julian, I returned to my seat and without hesitation puked all over myself and surroundings (sorry Catherine). On the side of a Guatemalan highway, I rinsed the puke off my clothes as much as possible with a liter of water wearing only my boxers. Leaving a bag of puke and my pride on the side of the road I walked back on to the bus where the fantastic bus driver turned on all of the lights to make sure that everyone on board knew exactly who had put on the show and also put on some bad music. It was like being on the catwalk of shame. It took me two days to recover, but thankfully the wonderful people at the Black Cat Inn where we staying at brought me chicken soup and tea in our room while classic Blind Melon played most of the day.
So, now the cultural piece... Antigua, a city with an amazing story of people that have been beat down and rebounded with a colorful smile since the city was founded. It was out destroyed a few times by earthquakes and mud slides / floods in the last couple of hundred years. It has been everything, from the capital of all of Central America to being designated an abandoned ruins by the government. The recovery the city has made since the end of the civil war in 1996 has likely topped all other recoveries positioning the city as one of the key tourist attractions in region.
The people in Antigua and the surrounding areas of Guatemala we had the opportunity to see seem to function at a truly relaxed pace – no one rushes down the sidewalk or even drives very fast, and everyone always seems to have time for small talk and a smile. Guatemala is in the midst of a demographic revolution as over 50% of the population is under the age of 25, and the use of cell phones, texting, and Facebook are changing how people communicate. In fact this change was instrumental in the country’s elections that had occurred just before we visited. There are babies and children everywhere. I recently heard someone say that you can tell the health of a community by the happiness of the youth; if that is the case, Antigua is extraordinarily healthy with smiling young faces and positive outlooks almost everywhere.
We did a great tour of the city that included more than just “hey look an old church”. It was actually a whole tour of the last 30 years of major issues that have affected the community and the country. We even got to check out the hotel where both President Clinton and Paris Hilton stayed (the staff made a point of saying “they stayed at different times”), but it seemed a little too quick a closing statement.
Being a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site, the city has an incredible historical feel with old houses and building of a multitude of colors and even some buildings destroyed by earthquakes that have been preserved as piles of rubble. Now Catherine hates MacDonald’s, but after my dysentery disaster, I was hankering for a Big Mac, so I snuck a way and found the most beautiful Mickey D’s ever (they needed to keep with the classic look of the city, so there was a fountain in the courtyard garden with little birds of different colors and classical music playing.) Very high class!
The rest of the food in Antigua was a pleasant surprise. Leaving Mexico, we were expecting the choices and the flavours to diminish. While most of what we ate couldn’t be called ‘typical Guatemalan’, it was all delicious. There was an abundance of international cuisine, and everyone used the freshest ingredients.
We did a week of one-on-one Spanish classes that were great and exposed us to more Guatemalan culture. The school did some field trips out of town including a trip to a small traditional Mayan village. It was an incredible experience to meet the owners of a small family business that made a variety of crafts and see the amount of work that goes into their fabric work. (Not to mention participating in a re-enactment of a traditional village wedding).
Taking a cab, we ventured off on a Saturday night to a local soccer match in a nearby town that was one of the best games I have ever seen. It ended in a tie, with the local club scoring the tying goal in the last minute of play. The evening was complete with red cards, a fight, drums and club songs, and a seriously entertaining crowd.
Hiking up one of the local active volcanoes, it was very much Mount Doom. One of the coolest parts was that our tour guide took out a bag of marshmallows and we were able to use the hot air vents in the volcano to nuke’em. It was also funny to walk all the way up there to find a bunch of dogs hanging out beside the heat vents enjoying life (and all the left-overs from tourists’ sandwiches).
Another side bar…We have been very lucky to avoid bad situations. One night we were leaving our Inn and about 50 meters from the corner, we heard to 2 bursts of 3 sharp cracks. For the last couple of months, firecrackers have been common, but this was different because all of the local people immediately reacted. We suddenly saw one of the 5-year-old kids that sells stuff turn the corner full sprint with his box of Chiclets in hand and huge eyes. And these kids are not afraid of anything. One of the private security guards, about 5 foot nothing, from the restaurant beside our hotel, pulled out a 357 magnum that was as long as his arm and went around the corner. With that all of the shops and restaurants in immediate vicinity started closing up the huge oak doors. We went the other way and we were not clear as to what had happened. Later on after dinner we walked back towards the location and the corner of the street was taped off by the police and no one was talking. I don’t think we needed to be any closer to that type of situation, but it didn’t change my opinion of the city.
While in Antigua, we visited the source of two of Catherine’s favourite foods: coffee and chocolate. Guatemala is known for the quality of its coffee, and we went to a nearby small plantation to learn about the process, from seed to cup, as well as the finer details of roasting and brewing. Antigua also has a small ‘Cacao Museum’, which is really more of an educational exhibit in a tiny chocolate factory. Put those two delicious dark substances together, and it’s like heaven for her!
Without a doubt Antigua was amazing and a highlight for both of us. I thought about the city as I sat on the rooftop patio of our Inn watching a volcano puff smoke through an incredible sunset and realized that it was everything that the Lonely Planet and other travelers had suggested and more. As we left on another bus heading south towards El Salvador, I already missed the city and the lovely people we had a chance to meet during our stay. A week was not enough.
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