Southern Exposure

Thursday and Friday, December 18 and 19

Antigua, a former capital, was the only large colonial city in our Guatemalan itinerary. It is sited in a highland valley between the cones of two volcanoes and is a host to a collection on UNESCO-listed churches, elegant buildings and plazas. In its day Antigua was one of the great cities of the Spanish Empire along with Lima and Mexico City, and today it seems popular with “bohemian” European tourists. We, however, found it to be gloomy and a bit of a depressing city. On the first account, when we rode in, we thought we were at some provincial town on the outskirts of Antigua.

The city felt dreary, possibly because most of the old cathedrals and churches for the exception of one were in ruins; a lot of buildings were scruffy and in decay; many stores and establishments had metal bars and/or walls, we guessed to protect from unwanted visitors or possible burglaries; at night the streets felt dingy and unsafe; and the people in general seemed cheerless.

We gave it a name of “a city without a future” because while it is famed for its former colonial glory, apart from the ruined churches, which I admit still looked magnificent even in their half ruined state, and a few good restaurants, the city doesn’t seem to offer much to a discerning traveller. It seems to be putting little effort into preserving its status of a colonial jewel. Understandably, there is lack of funding for reconstruction, and as we found out later, “the ruined city” is the draw for the tourists, and that’s the way they want to keep it. After all Antigua means “ancient” or “antique.”

It is likely that our lack of enthusiasm for the city was fueled by Matt’s stomach flu that started in Atitlan and lasted all throughout our Antigua stay.

On Friday morning I had breakfast by myself in a whole on the wall place across from our hotel, that nevertheless had great fresh juices and a nice combo of well prepared eggs, toast and coffee. Poor Matt overcoming his bug was able to join me for a walk around town.

We visited one cathedral that was newly painted and boasted with incredible ornate architectural details. We ventured inside, but were a bit disappointed because unlike the well managed facade of the building the inside was in shambles, scruffy halls, and no rooms or passages accessible to tourists. The main fountain in the middle of the grounds was surrounded by two large ad banners for local radio stations, which seemed a bit tacky. The building had been rebuilt a few times after numerous earthquakes. A century ago, it took them 50 years to reconstruct it only to see it being destroyed again by an earthquake two years after the reconstruction was completed.

We wondered some more around the city and marveled at the majestic architecture of the half ruined churches. For lunch we found a cafe with wi-fi and did some research online trying to figure out our plans for Christmas and New Year’s Eve. It looked like Christmas will have to be spent in El Salvador and New Year’s in Nicaragua.

We had dinner at a nice courtyard restaurant with loud live folk music. The menu was probably the most inclusive fare I have ever seen, from Greek food and pasta, to curry and hamburgers. We finished the evening by watching the second to last episode of The Amazing Race on our laptop at the hotel and went to bed early.

The next morning we did some more internet research and headed out of town to our next destination on the Pacific coast of Guatemala, a little beach town called Moterrico. This was our last stop before crossing the border to El Salvador.

On the way out of town we saw one of the volcanoes puffing out smoke from the top, which was quite amusing to see.