Guatemala Part 1

Antigua's famous Iglesia de la Merced - Visitors can climb to the roof and watch El Fuego erupt at sunset!

Over Thanksgiving Weekend, my partner and I took a trip through southern Guatemala. Upon arrival to Guatemala City, we left the airport in the early morning, few people up at the strange hour. We gathered our bags and strolled past the waiting families and hotel transfer coordinators with last names written on whiteboards or typed on paper slid inside plastic sleeves to the taxi stand to wait for the uber Becki had ordered. We were not staying in Guatemala City, the colonial town of Antigua was our destination. After explaining to five or six vendors that we’d ordered a car, ours finally arrived. It was a small, navy blue Volkswagen golf lookalike from the 1990s with a sideways crack through the windshield. The driver popped the truck, and after rearranging some bags and other materials, I was able to get one suitcase in. With the driver’s help, we strapped the other suitcase, a tall, grey nautica into the front seat. Becki and I slid into the back where Becki kicked broken glass to the side, gave an alarmed, wide-eyed expression, and we strapped ourselves in. We cracked a window to alleviate the stale small of day-old cigarette smoke. 

The trip from Guatemala City to Antigua is known for its duration. Often taking hours for a trip that should take about 40 minutes without traffic. The problem is that traffic is prevalent and the trip includes the climbing and descending of the mountain range separating the two cities. After 15 minutes of driving, we found ourselves in one of these jams as the three lanes of traffic had stopped completely, Drivers of the region’s acclaimed Chicken Busses (decked out school buses covered in paints, gold, chrome, lights, and chickens of some sort) stood on the side, craning their necks to determine what was the cause of the holdup and what the odds of getting through quickly were. Time is money for Chicken bus operators. 

Slowly, we inched forward until thirty minutes into the jam, the three lanes had merged into one slowly moving queue. We passed a small fender bender in the middle lane, and as soon as we did, the three lanes reopened, and we were off, cresting the mountain in the laboring Golf and then descending the range into Antigua. 

The driver turned the golf onto a one way cobblestone road and we bounced down the street as though we were finishing our trip on one of those .25c vibrating beds found at roadside hotels in the 1980s. We stopped outside our hotel, removed our bags, thanked the driver and set off to drop off our belongings before exploring the city. 

Antigua is beautiful, especially in the early morning before vendors, tourists, and construction workers start their days. The air is crisp and fresh, the cobblestones are freshly sprayed, yet before evaporation. We began a trek up the hill to las cruces, a giant cross at a viewpoint overlooking the city. After saying hello to the stray dogs camping out at the entrance, we charge up the hill and within minutes found ourselves beside the cross, taking photos for couples and solo travelers marking their experiences. With a birdseye view of the city, Antigua is tucked into a valley surrounded by volcanoes. Large hillsides, coned summits covered in green dotted the surroundings. To our right, a small volcano in the distance erupted, plumes of smoke releasing into the atmosphere. El Fuego, as locals called it, erupted every fifteen minutes or so. Not only does Antigua try to charm visitors with it’s colonial buildings and roads, but it aims to impress as well. There are not many places in the world where active volcanoes are stars of the show. 

After descending the hillside, we wandered the city streets, making our way to the famous Iglesia de la Merced. Afterward, we headed the direction of the mountains to find an famous arch, the street already crowded with vendors and tourists. Everyone biding their time until they could stand in front of the archway, a volcano perfectly placed within the arch and behind them. Get the shot, use AI to erase the people later to make it seem as though they weren’t actually there with hundreds of others, but instead, stumbled on this little gem all by themselves. 

Calling our Spanish levels intermediate would be generous in most cases, but in Antigua (and Guatemala as a whole) it felt accurate. Guatemala is home to some of the most desired Spanish-language schools south of the US. Many Guatemalans speak a dialect of Maya as a first language, so when they use their second language of Spanish (yes, many in the country speak at least 3 languages, something Americans struggle with because of the late grades in school where languages are introduced), they do so at a slower rate of speed than native spanish speakers in Mexico or Spain. Guatemalans we spoke to were kind and patient, willing to let us practice our Spanish to answer questions, make small talk, or give directions. We felt as though we weren’t as bad at this language as we thought. If looking for a place to practice developing Spanish, I’d jump to Guatemala. 

After checking into our rooms and spending some much needed time relaxing by the hotel pool, we strolled through other parts of the city, checking in on artisanal markets, stumbling upon a parade, hundreds of Antiguan locals slowly walking through streets lined with onlookers and followed by a marching band as they pushed a float depicting christ dragging the cross to the place of crucifixion. The ceremony celebrated the birthday of the church (250 years) and the float typically resided within. After the procession passed, we strolled through the city, popping into local shops, charmed by the colonial feel of brick and wood in the single-story old town, looking up every corner hour to admire the volcano erupting yet again in the distance. 

As the sun dropped, we entered a brewery and walked to the rooftop, where we enjoyed tacos and cerveza while the dimming night illuminated the lava in the distance, lighting up a corner of the night each quarter hour. We’d stay in the beautiful city of Antigua for two more days before moving on to Quetzaltenango (or Xela as locals call it). There’s more travel-content coming, so please be patient. If interested in our itinerary, in the coming days, look to the Research_Travel_Repeat (RTR) blog for a detailed account of how we spent 3 days in Antigua. 

Happy Travels!