Guatemala: Antigua & Lago de Atitlán

I've been pretty mellow since arriving in Antigua on Sunday. Antigua Guatemala (Old Guatemala) was the capital until 1773 when a series of earthquakes destroyed much of the town, and the capital was moved to what is now Guatemala City. Antigua is a well preserved colonial town with many church ruins. Many Euros have settled here for retirement. It is much more expensive than other places I've stayed in Guate. The first night I arrived I paid $40 for a hotel but found another one for the next 3 days at $20 per night. They have a lot of really beautiful hotels and bed and breakfasts at $100+ per night. Apparently President Clinton stayed in one while here for an Economic Conference.

I didn't do much in Antigua besides wonder around the city. I also hiked to the mirador (look out point) where you can see all of Antigua with Volcán de Agua towering in the background. I hiked to the mirador with a local who works at the hotel I stayed in the first night. Apparently they recommend that tourists do not go to the mirador alone because of armed robberies (per my Lonely Planet...albeit a few years old). However, there were tourist police at the top and the bottom (there are 4 types of police here, one being tourist police).

There are many great cafes and restaurants in Antigua. I found one beautiful restaurant that makes homemade chia lattes to die for. The thing I don't like about Antigua is that the buildings are right against the sidewalk. So it is hard to know where the beautiful places to go are because all you can see is the outside walls and the door. I'm very much a visual person and like to check things out before I go in to eat. So I had to do a bit more investigation walking in and out of places. The streets are are uneven cobblestone and lovely.

I did throw my budget out the window for a day and splurged at the spa. A massage, manicure, pedicure and reflexology treatment was $58; crazy.

Yesterday (Thursday) I took a shuttle bus to San Pedro La Laguna which is a small village on Lago de Atitlán. Oh...and yesterday there was an earthquake. I was still in Antigua and was upstairs in an internet cafe. I didn't feel it; but the people downstairs did. Apparently it was much stronger in San Pedro. People said it felt like you were on a bus and that bubbles rose out of the Lake.

This morning I took a 3 hour guided horse tour. The guide, Pedro, was very nice. You'll see by the number of photos of me on the horse, he was quite the photographer. As in Lanquin, the people in San Pedro speak Spanish as well as an Indigenous dialect. All the dialects I have heard (4 so far) are so beautiful to listen to.

The tour was lovely. We, Pedro and I, saw a beach, went through coffee farms, and went up to a mirador (of course...everywhere here there is a mirador-lookout point). Flowers were starting to bloom and it was so aromatic. Even through my stuffed up sinuses I could smell all the flowers and plants. Pedro told me (in Spanish of course) that poor countries smell like nature and that more developed countries with more electricity and cars smell like pollution; I agree. The picture here to the left turned out pretty good. It was Pedro's idea for me to put my hand up by my head like I'm scouting the lake or something. I was giggling inside, but I think the photo is brilliant (there were a bunch of Brits & Aussies on the bus yesterday...it was brilliant this and brilliant that...I love it). Tomorrow I head back to Antigua for a night before moving on to country #3, Honduras.

Click here for more photos or see the photo links at the left of the blog below the map.