Antigua

---

I decide to alter my route and make my way to Antigua after a hurricane left much of central and northern Guatemala with many anticipated rain storms, as I was originally going to Coban to explore some of the many outdoor adventure circuits they have to offer.

Nestled between three volcanoes, Antigua is well known for its many colonial churches and cobble stoned streets (see pictures). Most of Antigua's buildings were constructed during the 17th and 18th centuries when the city was a rich Spanish outpost and the Catholic church was coming into power. The city served as the capital for more than 230 years, however the capital was transferred to Guatemala City in 1776 after Antigua was razed in an earthquake that occurred three years previous.

I ran into my friend Marcos (Berlin) who I met previously in Xela and now had a room next door to me in Antigua. At this point he had just returned from a small town on the Mexican border interviewing some guerrillas from the civil war (that occurred in the 1980s) in order to obtain information for the book he was writing. He told me many stories about the people he had met in this process and said he listened to many stories that just dropped his jaw in shock from the crazy things that happened in this country in the recent past. I told him to send me a copy of his book when it was finished. Cool stuff!

That night it poured rain all night long as Antigua was feeling the side effects of the hurricane that was ravaging through the Caribbean. I decided to rest up that night in preparation for my upcoming adventure hiking up volcan pacaya the following day (Antigua is the take off point for treks up the active volcano). Marcos had been out to the volcano on a previous visit to Antigua and peaked my interest as he told me about his experience lilterally "dodging lava" in the process.

---