Antigua

---

---

We got to Antigua knowing full well that we were getting there in time for Semana Santa, 'Holy Week' or the week of Easter. Being a very catholic part of the country it was a very important week and there were many things going on. We booked our hostel late and would have to leave Thursday, before all the big festivities since everyone (maybe their dog, and cats, and rats, and spiders too) would be coming to celebrate in the big city and there was no room in the inn.

With little time in town we knew we should get a move on using the first day to orient ourselves. That night we had a chance to witness a procession, which is like a parade where the fraternity that is in charge of a certain saint carries the float around town with bands playing and incense filled thuribles smoking away. The first one of these we saw walked right past our hostel so we just sat and watched.

From Antigua we did a couple of half day trips. The first was in the morning of our second day to the town of Pastores, which we'd heard was a leather working town and cost us all of 5GTQ (for both) to reach by camioneta. There were many boot makers, many of which dabbled in belts, wallets and other various leather items. There even seemed to be some shops that specialized in tack. The vast majority of the boots they made were of the cowboy variety, and if you could give one of the craftsman about 8 days they would whip you up a custom pair with all your favourite designs. The second time we went out of town it was to San Juan del Obispo which we'd read had some specific fruit that they made wine out of, and was known for local chocolate makers. We spent a lot of time walking around looking for these local shops and in the end found one of each. At the chocolate shop the proprietor gave us a full run down of the chocolate making process, and giving us a taste of the freshly roasted and peeled bean. As usual we bought some chocolate for making hot chocolate that we'd never use because it's never cool enough to drink hot chocolate. We did get one of the little mixing tools for making the hot chocolate this time though, so we're closer to actually using up some of our chocolate. We also followed a group of ladies into a winemaker's shop. We probably wouldn't have gone in by ourselves because it just looked like a regular house but there was a small sign outside and we figured if other people could just walk in, why not us too. We tried wines made from a variety of fruits, even ones we'd never heard of like nispero and mamey. They were pretty tasty and since the winemaker was so generous is letting us try all the varieties (probably close to 15 different wines), we decided to buy some for 50GTQ.

While in the big city, we also visited the Museo/Hotel Santo Domingo which is situated on the ruins of an old monastery. It's a hotel which the public can also wander about in and go to see the museum. The grounds are stunning. If we stayed a night there, Ashley would never leave. And why would she? There's a pool, a nice place for afternoon tea, a very nice looking restaurant and a museum housing human remains, gold chalices, modern art and a small exhibit on the traditional pharmacy. What more could you want? Oh yes, a toilet where you can flush your paper, which in Central America is a big deal. But not to worry, Santo Domingo has those too.

On our last day, we walked up to the cross on the hill to see the view of the city and the volcano. As was to be expected, it was a beautiful view so we spent a couple hours up there reading and just enjoying the quiet away from the city noises. We also found a couple of notable places to drink and eat in Antigua: Hops and Tails and Toko Baru. Hops and Tails is one of the only bars in the city that has beer (and not just Gallo, the local Guatemalan beer) on draught. The bar itself is small but it's got a comfortable atmosphere and the bartender/owner was super friendly. She recommended we go to Toko Baru to eat. The food is really eclectic and delicious. You can find falafel, tandoori chicken and piri piri chicken all in one place.

While not very large, we had a difficult time navigating the downtown of Antigua. Seven streets either direction really, but what a pain. I think we'll blame Google since it told us our hostel was someplace it wasn't; then it turned out everything else wasn't where we oriented ourselves to too. Nice colonial town for a visit.

---

Photos

Yum!
Eating the Cacao Beans