La Antigua Guatemala (Take 2)

At just about an hour away from Guatemala City, Antigua can actually be done on a day trip. But the city is so beautiful, and there's so much to do, if you're visiting, it's best to stay for a couple of days to see everything it has to offer. But for those living in the city, it's an easy weekend escape. A CISV friend of mine, Rafa, picked me up three Saturdays ago, and we spent the day in Antigua. It was a lovely day of catching up with each other (we had last met at a camp 12 years ago!), and having him show me around La Antigua Guatemala (the Old Guatemala, or simply Antigua). A few pictures from the day below, if you'd like to see. :)

With my lovely guide Rafa

We left Guate at around 11am and arrived in Antigua about an hour later. Before heading into the city itself, we made a detour to San Cristóbal. Located on a hill, it has a restaurant, bar, organic farm and garden, and a beautiful view of Antigua.

Antigua from San Cristóbal

We walked around the farm and basked in the views, and I met Maximón. Also known as San Simon, Maximón is a Mayan deity recognizable by his thick mustache and hat. Offerings to Maximon are usually alcohol (you'll see bottles around him if you look closely) and cigarettes. It was quite the interesting and different kind of shrine. It was my first time to see him then, but I ended up seeing him in several stores in Antigua. To be honest, he kind of creeped me out. Haha.

Offerings to Maximón

We then drove back down and into the city for our next stop: Hotel Casa Santo Domingo. This huge hotel was formerly a convent which was destroyed in the 1773 Guatemala earthquake. It was after this earthquake that the Spanish decided not to rebuild the city, and the capital was moved from Antigua to present day Guatemala City. Despite that, much of the architecture of Santo Domingo is still preserved, and one can enjoy this walking around the grounds of the hotel.

main cloister and fountain

altar

Aside from a hotel and a restaurant, there are also a series of small museums in Santo Domingo (Colonial Museum, Archaeology Museum, Museum of Pre-Columbian Art and Modern Glass, Silver Museum, and the Pharmacy Museum), and several workshops. We spent the rest of the morning checking them all out (half paying attention, half chatting). There was this one nice room that had some miniatures of important attractions in Guatemala, and it even had a mini procession (as the Semana Santa festivities are upcoming).

My favorite room was the Marco Augusto Quiroa Hall and the Hall of the Artists which is dedicated to contemporary art. The pieces were beautiful, and I was so happy to finally get my art fix.

art!

After we made our way around the all the public grounds of the hotel, we went to have lunch. Since I often have Guatemalan food anyways, we had lunch at Rafa's favorite restaurant in Antigua, El Cazador Italiano. We shared a nice meal (pizza I had been craving for), then had some ice cream and took a walk around the Parque Central (Central Park). 

We didn't really have an agenda for the day (aside from catching up), and I was just happy to be able to leisurely stroll around the city this time around. So, we walked around the city basking in the beautiful cobblestone streets, churches, and colonial Spanish architecture that make Antigua a UNESCO World Heritage site. Much of the old city is preserved, and you cannot construct new buildings and such. The city is quite small, and many of the tourist spots are located around the Parque Central and within walking distance of each other. Antigua, is an extremely popular city, perhaps the most visited in the country. It is a hotspot of Spanish language schools, and you'll find many expats living here as well.

Calle del Arco with the Santa Catalina Arch at the end

One of the beautiful things about Antigua is its many churches, and we visited a few throughout the day. One that stood out was the Iglesia de La Merced with its beautiful yellow façade. We also visited the monastery ruins of La Merced, where Rafa told me not to say a word as he bought tickets because he was going to pretend I was Guatemalan (my accent is noticeably from Spain).

Façade of La Merced

In the courtyard and streets outside La Merced were a bunch of vendors selling street food. There were so many choices from tostadas, buñuelos, granizadas, churros, and more. It was perfectly around merienda time, so we shared some buñuelos and tostadas and sat down on the curb to eat them.

Rafa and his tostada

Another thing worth checking out in Antigua are all the markets; there are several spread out over the city. We were walking all over back and forth the whole day so I lost my sense of direction, but there was this nice one we went to outside an old church.

markets

Another popular one is Nim Po't, an indoor hall with the same beautiful handicrafts and textiles, but at fixed prices.

Nim Po't

At the entrance of Nim Po't was a small display with the most beautiful photos of Guatemalan children by Jon Kaplan, and right beside it was another art gallery we also checked out (so happy about all the art!).

art and a market

We visited a few more churches after, and in the evening had dinner and drinks at La Casa del Ron.

We ended the night with dessert and coffee at saberico (I had a delicious chocolate cake that finally made me full), but not before walking around the city and seeing it beautifully lit up at night. It was a lovely day in Antigua (doing four things I love: food, art, markets, and churches), and so glad to have experienced it with a friend. :)