From the moment you arrive Antigua feels expectant – I can only compare it to what gold prospecting towns must have felt like – there’s an air of anticipation; there’s the people who’ve been there a while, living in the valley of the 3 volcanoes, and have climbed Acatenango to see Volcano de Fuego’s fountains of smoke and fire- they seem very settled and live in its glory; and those who are yet to hike up to it or see its ‘smoking,’ who gaze upwards, marvelling at it, choosing where to eat and drink based on the best views.
Stewart was in the latter group, but the hugely surprising, or actually ‘gutting’ thing was ‘de Fuego’ had stopped smoking or erupting 3-4 days before our arrival. No-one knew why and no-one seemed to want to talk about it, but they all agreed it had never happened in the last 25 years. Usually, it ‘erupts’ four times an hour!
This did not detract from how lovely Antigua is itself though. We felt instantly comfortable, which is no mean feat as usually we feel uncomfortable and disoriented for the first few of hours in any place, not knowing where to eat or where to walk for the best.
It is a really interesting mix of highly European cafes and eateries, with some amazing looking street vendor food and local restaurants. The prices are definitely higher than we’ve been used to; they’re not much cheaper than home which makes our budget tight but we’ve just capitalised on the brilliant free breakfast at The Yellow House Hostel plus one other meal a day.
The free walking tour was great; Alfredo was passionate and spoke slowly with such enunciation and emphasis, reiterating his points that by the end you felt very schooled in the history of Central America, Guatemala and Antigua. Antigua was the 3rd capital city of Central America – the first 2 were left due to different disasters and then Antigua was also replaced as capital, by Guatemala City, due to a major earthquake.
The earthquake of the 1700s is still visible in the beautiful ruins of the churches and municipal buildings. They look ‘romantic’ as a result.
Caoba Farm
We walked up to Caoba Farm – a lovely little ‘farm to table’ enterprise with great looking food. Our platter was tasty – particularly the falafels. We returned the next day to fill up on carbs after our long hike up the Antigua mountain trail.
Finca El Pilar (Antigua Mountain Trail)
We’d gone to Finca el Pilar because I was and still am desperate to see some pretty looking birds but … we took the first possible right after entering the gate (for Q65 each) and ended up on a forestry road heading up the mountain. You are supoosed to go straight ahead past the swimming pools and keep going. (It turned out despite me stressing that this was probably the better way up). Stewart loves an upward hike … I prefer long flat walks so I was out of breath and re-evaluating life for 5.5km! However, the scenes became much more distracting at about 1800m. A small palm tree avenue, some ponies and beautiful views refreshed things a bit. In a moment of insanity and ‘support’ I suggested we could try going up the path a bit more. Madness! I did another huge stretch and no more ‘it’s just around the corner’ would cut it. He soldiered on and I tripped back to the lovely shaded seating area for an hour while he reached the top at 2617m. Apparently it wasn’t worth it… phew … I didn’t miss out! The view was the other side of the mountain – the sprawling Guatemala City. On the way down we diverted to the jungle trail and bird area we were meant to have started on. There wasn’t much bird activity apart from humming birds using feeders which were full of dead bees.
After our ‘healthy’ burgers at the farm, we headed to one of the nicest McDonalds in the world for a McFlurry. Medicinal, apparently. But just to remind you that obesity kills, a young boy outside brought his scales!
Practical information:
The outside of Guatemala Airport was not as stressful as we thought it was going to be. Very calm and we were not hassled. In the airport you can buy a transfer to Antigua for $20 US. Big handwritten sign on a kiosk. This would be cost effective for 1 person.
Stewart booked us a transfer ahead of time with: Trans-Land a shuttle service in Guatemala he’d researched when we were back in the UK. Communication was done via Whatsapp and it was very efficient. He had a sign with Stewart’s name on when he pulled up. He was happy to take us to the ATM in Antigua because we had not been able to get GTQ at the airport. Very easy and he let me sit in the front of his car too. Bonus!
Leaving Antigua was straightforward: there are lots of travel agencies around offering shuttles to everywhere from Atitlan Lake to Leon, Nicaragua. We were headed to San Marcos, La Laguna and it took about 3 hours and cost £17 each.
Sent from my iPhone