Easter Was So Different This Year

A poignant article about how Easter celebrations changed this year in Guatemala. This Vogue feature was written and photographed by James Rodriguez and is worth looking at just for the awesome pictures of what life is like in Antigua during the COVID-19 pandemic. Click the link ↓

Holy Week Celebrations in Antigua, Guatemala, 2020

A girl helping at Easter Sunday Mass in Antigua, Guatemala in 2020

Volcán Fuego Erupting

Imagine waking up to this! 😲  (Sound on!)

This is the Volcano of Fire near Antigua. You can book trips to hike up Acatenango volcano and camp overnight in tents. (Intense! Get it? 😆)

My friends over at Trekking Duo did this hike and give great tips here -- HIKING UP ACATENANGO

Here is another personal account of hiking Acatenango so you can be prepared if you decide to do this challenging adventure! HIKING ACATENANGO IN GUATEMALA

Guatemala Is Not All Dirt Roads and Tin-Roofed Shacks

Before I came to Guatemala, I was only slightly less naive about the country than most people. I had done my research and focused my attention on the town of Panajachel on Lake Atitlan, population 17,000. I wanted a rural setting and wasn't bothered by stories of power outages and muddy roads and electric showers. I've never been a city girl. I'm a country mouse! 🐭

Recently, a friend posted a picture of the movie theater in Xela (Quetzaltenango) and a friend of hers commented, "That can't be Guatemala." But it is! I think a lot of people believe Guatemala is all dirt roads and tin-roofed shacks. And while that is actually true for the most part, I can tell you that Guatemala also has fancy malls and wide paved highways and 5-star hotels and even TGI Friday's.

The population of the capital, Guatemala City, is 2.9 million. The second-largest city is Xela with 225,000 people. A big drop! Doing some quick math, that means 17% of Guatemala's population lives in the city. Yikes.

Aerial view of Guatemala City. Sooooo big!

Guatemala City is quite sprawling, actually. I think that's probably due to a combination of earthquakes and poverty. There are not many multi-story buildings, and the city keeps growing outward as more people move closer to the opportunities that a big city provides. Seen from the air as you arrive on a plane to Aurora Airport, the city looks pretty dirty and grey. That's because almost all buildings here are built from concrete block. The owners will paint the front of their house or store, but not the sides or back. They save money by only painting the part of their house that facing the street. Very frugal.

I haven't spent any significant time in Guate City. I get in and get out. I'm usually only there to go to the airport. I have friends, however, who do regular shopping trips to the city and really enjoy it. Guatemala City is as modern as any large city can be! There are malls, museums, modern art, ballet, movie theatres, and music concerts. There is even La Aurora Zoo, which I've heard is actually quite nice.

For me, if I really need to do a shopping trip to buy something that isn't readily available in Panajachel, I'll go to Xela (Quetzaltenango is its official name but everyone calls it "shay-lah"). It's about 2.5 hours by chicken bus and the trip only costs between Q25 and Q30. The mall in Xela that I go to is called Pradera and it is located two blocks from the main bus terminal. I've written about it several times before. I go there a lot when I'm on my visa runs to have lunch, use a clean bathroom, and stretch my legs.

Centros Comerciales Pradera Xela. Look how shiny!

Pradera Mall's website is here and you can check out the list of stores. There is a Walmart, Ashley Homestore, Benetton, Levi's, GNC, and more shoe stores than you can count. They even have a Sears and a RadioShack, strangely enough. And, yes, there is a movie theatre here with real theatre popcorn! There is also a food court just like any mall "back home" with Taco Bell, Burger King, McDonald's, Pollo Campero, and more.

(EDIT: I just found out there's another modern mall in Xela called Utz Ulew. I'm gonna check it out next time I go there!)

Whenever I go to the mall in Xela, I always feel like a country bumpkin! Yes, there are still people wearing traditional clothing, but there are a lot more people wearing "regular" clothes...and they all seem to be wearing much nicer clothes than I have, and sporting new shoes and glasses and jewelry and iPhones.

Another weird thing that I've noticed when visiting Xela is women with short hair. I'm so used to the long, straight, pulled back hair of the women in Pana that it was actually a shock to me to see a girl with a stylish short 'do. 😄

Beautiful, iconic La Antigua, Guatemala

Another upscale, modern city in Guatemala is Antigua, population 46,000. It is a totally different city than Xela. It is known for its gorgeous Spanish Colonial architecture, historic ruined churches, and jaw-dropping Easter celebrations. There are no malls here, but there is no shortage of fancy restaurants and stores to visit. The town caters more to the tourist crowd rather than those looking for first-world delights, so you'll find lots of stores selling jade, silver, chocolate, and traditional textiles.

And the restaurants! Oh my! There are so many tempting places to eat. You will never run out of options for food, from traditional Guatemalan dishes (done right) to sushi, Indian, Korean, tapas -- you name it! And of course the beloved Londoner Pub! Just go to TripAdvisor and see for yourself. It lists 330 restaurants in Antigua. Buen provecho!

If you absolutely must have a taste of home when in Guatemala, I have to recommend the world's prettiest McDonald's in Antigua on 4th Street W., not far from the central park. An unassuming sign marks the entrance. Inside you can sit in the lovely garden next to the fountain and admire the volcano while you chow down on your McNífica. 😄 I take all my friends there just so they can be amazed!

I hope you've enjoyed this blog post about the modern side of Guatemala. Personally, I prefer the rustic side: the cobbled streets, jungle-clad hills, and beautiful indigenous people. But it's good to have options to soothe my first-world soul every now and then. 

Why don't you come to Guatemala? Book a flight now with Cheapflights.com.

Giving Back to our Beloved Guatemala

Iva and I wanted to go help with the rescue efforts for the recent Fuego eruption. We did our research, scouring Facebook posts and asking everyone we knew, trying to find a place that needed volunteers.

Queso & Rui wanna go with me to Antigua!

Many reports indicated only organized and professional groups of volunteers were being allowed into Alotenango, where most of the survivors are being sheltered. Escuintla needed help, but we thought the distance might be too far for one day.
With a few good leads, Iva and I got on a chicken bus at 7 a.m. from Panajachel to go to Antigua.

Map of Volcán de Fuego's path of destruction and surrounding towns.

The map above was taken from an amazing article at OKAntigua. (<-- click!) Tons of information there. Go read it...when you're done reading my blog, of course! 😁

The 3-hour chicken bus ride passed quickly as Iva and I chatted away. We arrived in Antigua, had a quick breakfast at The Most Beautiful McDonalds in the World 😄 and then headed to our first stop. Tropicana Hostel.

At Tropicana, we met Valerie. As far as I could understand, she was a traveler who simply jumped into helping the hostel's owners and other guests in gathering donations, sorting supplies, and coordinating deliveries into the affected zone. Valerie briefed us on their activities and then hesitantly told us that they actually didn't need any more help today. The guests of the hostel had been so eager to help that everything was taken care of at the moment. She told us they were doing a donation run but it wasn't until 5pm, so we couldn't stay to join in. She introduced us to one of the hostel's owners, Dean, who thanked us warmly and then bustled off to attend to business. We left our donations at the hostel and then Valerie walked us over to Revue Magazine's office a few blocks away.

Tropicana Hostel looks like a super fun place to stay if you are a young person looking for a rocking party! 😎 It is only a block from the central park and has a little pool, a rooftop patio, and offers tours to hike Acatenango, the volcano NEXT to Fuego. Besides all that, everyone there was so friendly and generous and lovely. The work they've done for Fuego rescue efforts is amazing!

A small portion of the donations at Revue's offices for Unidos Para los Animales

The Revue office is a donation center for Unidos Para los Animales. Giant bags of dog food were stacked in the corners. Medical donations were arranged neatly on every flat surface. We met Terry, whose eyes filled with tears as she spoke about the disaster relief efforts and the pet owners who went back into the danger zone to retrieve their dogs. She also told us about a vet in town who is treating animals with burns on their paws from the hot ashes.

Terry and Valerie talked about their respective donation campaigns. Valerie donated a good amount of Tropicana's funds raised to UPA, and I donated my small bit of cash as well. The secretary wrote up official receipts and spoke about how important it is in Guatemala to be "above board" on all donations.

We asked about volunteering to help the animals today, even just cleaning cages or anything. Terry was touched by our offer, but the Unidos' shelter is way up in the hills and the recent rains have made it difficult to get there. She took the phone number of Tropicana Hostel and promised to let them know if they needed volunteers.

Back to Tropicana, we spent a brief moment saying our thank yous and goodbyes, then headed off walking to Hotel Real Plaza. We had seen a post on Facebook that they needed help with washing sheets and towels. The Hotel has converted their ballroom into a center for the firefighters and other rescue team members to sleep at night.

At the hotel, we were directed around to the back entrance. There were many people bustling around with supplies. A lady sat at a table taking names. She told us that they had enough volunteers for the current time. We asked if they knew of any other places that needed volunteers. A flurry of Spanish between several people and then they sent us off to find a shelter where there were "many children" who needed someone to play with them.

At this point, we were footsore, hot, and frustrated. While it was wonderful to meet people who were helping, we didn't come here to chat! And ironically enough, we were heading back exactly to the place where we started: the chicken bus terminal.

As we walked, our feet crunched on the gritty black ash that coated the sidewalks. We stepped aside for people sweeping ash from their homes, or hosing it away into the gutters. We passed firefighters collecting donations. We saw sign after sign after sign proclaiming in hand-written letters, "Centro de Acopios!" (donation center) Everywhere we looked, people were coming together to do what they could for the damnificados (casualties) of the eruption. (What an interesting word.)

One of the many handwritten signs indicating a donation collection center.
These nice folks helped us towards our final destination.

We circled the block where we thought the shelter was. Neither of us had thought to write down the directions. We asked everyone with our limited Spanish, "Buscamos un lugar con muchos niños. Un refugio? Huérfanos?" We weren't even sure if it was a shelter or an orphanage or what. We just asked and asked.

Finally, surprisingly, the most wonderful man who was directing chicken buses asked us if we needed help...in English! I said we were looking for a place with lots of kids, maybe orphans. He said, "Un albergue?" Yes! I know that word! It means shelter or hostel. He pointed us down past the maze of moving chicken buses and said, "Cerca el carro rojo." (Near the red car.) We literally dodged buses and mud puddles to get there and finally found the place! 😁

Iva at the entrance.

There is no sign because the shelter sometimes operates as a home for abused women and children. Most recently, it was a shelter for homeless people. They had been evacuated to make room for refugees from Fuego.

The organization is called The God's Child Project or La Asociación de Nuestros Ahijados.Click the names to go to the websites.

The place was busy and a bit chaotic. A lot of people seemed to be finishing lunch served on plastic trays. We spoke to one woman about why we were there and she then passed us off to ... a child! Ha ha! Literally, our guide was a girl maybe 10 or 11 years old. Her mother coordinates the shelter. She spoke English very well! We got volunteer badges and went to work. 

First job: sort donations. I got to be in charge. Just kidding! I got the clipboard and the chance to work on my Spanish vocabulary. Azúcar, cinco bolsas. Frijoles, dos bolsas. Papel higiénico, 24 rollos. I even learned some new words, thanks to the young bilingual girls who were helping.

Sorting donations.

After that, Iva mopped the kitchen floor and I swept ash from the hallway. We got to take a look around the facility, which is quite small, but very efficient. All around us, adults were busy with lists and boxes and interviewing for intake. A group of firefighters sat in the corner, quietly eating lunch. We briefly met the shelter's coordinator (Sandi, our guide's mom) and asked if she knew that Hostel Real Plaza needed mattresses. She said she did and they had provided as many as they could. Then she rushed off, so busy and focused!

The sleeping area.

The indoor play area for small children with a TV and a ton of toys!

Lots of donations. 

In Guatemala, single-serve water comes in plastic bags. These are bags of bags of water.

I spoke with the young girl who was our guide what was going on at the shelter. She knew quite a bit! She told me that the people staying at the shelter had lost their homes. They would stay at the shelter for two to three months until their new homes are built in a safe place. She said that all of the families at this shelter had been guaranteed a new home in collaboration with "an American company". I believe she was referring to ConstruCasa. <--click!
She also said that the area where the people's homes were is now a sanctuary. Another girl corrected her and said, in Spanish, "No, the word is cemetery." I said, "It is both. A sanctuary and a cemetery." 😢

Trucks leaving to deliver donations.

Volunteers sorting clothes and moving mattresses.
That's Agua volcano in the background. She doesn't erupt.

Another volunteer told us that it was time for an activity outside at the table. Craft time! We opened up packages of donated colouring books and markers and modeling clay and storybooks. Iva and I joined the kids in colouring and making plasticine creations. 😁

Iva at the end of the table, doing a maze.

Some of the children were very shy but others opened up right away and happily shared their pictures and plasticine creations. There were several international students there, ages 10 to 15 roundabouts, who were fluently bilingual. They helped us with our translations to admire the kids' work. ¡Tan bonito! ¡Bien hecho! Muy bien! (So pretty. Well done. Very good.)

I made the kitty on the left. Then a girl put down her kitty to the right. Hmm. 😆

Iva and I had been on our feet since 6 a.m., so she smartly suggested that we should take a wee break to grab some food and water. I suggested we look for bubbles for the kids to play with. Who doesn't love bubbles?
We went to the nearby Despensa Familiar, a grocery store, and I stood patiently in line behind a Guatemalan man buying boxes and boxes of donations: dog food, feminine hygiene products, soap, toilet paper. His receipt was longer than my arm!

We grabbed some mediocre pizza, found some bubbles -- Iva nearly bought all of the ones for sale -- and headed back to the shelter. Well, I'll tell ya! As soon as Iva pulled those bubbles out of the bag, they were snatched from our hands by smiling children! Burbujas! 

Iva took this great photo of some of the kids blowing bubbles.

We spent the rest of our time blowing bubbles big and small, and I bid them a safe journey to the sky. 😊 "Adios, burbuja! Bien viaje!" (The kids thought I was weird! Nothing new there!)

It was getting late in the afternoon and we knew we had a long trip ahead of us, so we decided to call it a day. As we were leaving, Iva stopped to give a monetary donation. Sitting at the table was a man that I had heard speaking English earlier. We started to talk to him and found out he was the founder of the God's Child Project, Patrick Atkinson. He only had a brief moment to talk, but I felt so lucky that we had that chance to meet him. Read more about Patrick's amazing backstory here. 

Asociación Nuestros Ahijados de Guatemala. In English, the God's Child Project.

Then it was time to get back on the chicken buses for the arduous trip home. I wanted so much to complain about the packed bus, the loud music, and the greedy driver who kept piling people in, but I was too tired and too aware that I should be grateful I'm alive. So I kept quiet and we arrived home in the dark at almost 8 p.m.

A long but eventually successful day. It was good to help, even though it wasn't what I expected to be doing. I think we did some good, so that's all that matters. Here is a summary of all the places we visited and learned about so you can click and learn about them all. Thank you!

The God's Child Project
Facebook page for Nuestros Ahijados
Tropicana Hostel
Revue Magazine
Unidos Para los Animales
Hotel Real Plaza
ConstruCasa
Iva's donation page at Amazine Me Movement

----------------------------------------------------------
RULES OF BEING A GOOD VOLUNTEER

1. Listen to the authorities. If they say you have to leave the area, leave the area.
2. Do what's needed. Volunteer work is not fun and games. You are there to help in whatever capacity is needed. Wash dishes. Fold towels. Carry boxes back and forth and back and forth. If someone asks you to do something, just do it. No complaints.
3. It's not about you. Sure, take a selfie or two. But know that you are there for others, not for your own ego. Share your selfie and promote the cause. Then get back to work.
4. Be prepared for the situation. You may be volunteering in an unsafe area. Before you go, understand the dangers of the situation. Tornado? Earthquake? Landslide? Volcano? Know your evacuation route. Wear proper equipment -- good shoes or boots, long pants, dust mask, etc.
5. Take care of yourself. Some volunteer work can be emotionally distressing. Other work is physically draining. Keep track of your state of mind and energy levels. It's okay to take a break. It's okay to go to the bathroom and bawl your eyes out. Deep breaths. You're doing great. Get back into it.

Fuego Volcano Goes BOOM!

Volcán de Fuego (Volcano of Fire) near Antigua, Guatemala, is erupting!
I'm never there when it's blowing its top. When my sister and I were in Antigua just last weekend, it was smoking a bit, but now it's really going off.

Whoa, that's a lot of ash.

0:35 is a golf course that is famous for being so close to the volcano.
1:10 no sound but you can see how fast the smoke and ash rises up.
1:40, you can hear the sound of it erupting!
2:08 you can see all the ashes that fall on the city of Antigua.

That golf course above after the ash settled this afternoon. Surreal.

The perils of living close to an active volcano -- ash on your car, in your house, on your head!

The Guatemala City airport is closed due to ash. It can bring down planes when it gets sucked into their engines. And they'll have to sweep the runways clear as well. 

CONRED is the emergency organization in Guate that monitors this stuff. Their Facebook page is full of good tips and such. Loads of pictures and videos popping up all over Facebook. 

Cars caught in the lahar. (mud flow from the volcano)

EDIT: Death count is now at 25. Many caught in lahars and pyroclastic flow. 😪 ("A dense, destructive mass of very hot ash, lava fragments, and gases ejected explosively from a volcano and typically flowing downslope at great speed.")

UPDATE: The above video is Fuego but not the eruption from June 3rd. Sorry! I'm leaving the video up though since it's very cool. 

Don't worry, dear readers. I'm miles from Antigua, and the three volcanoes at Lake Atitlan have been dormant for years. If one ever does erupt, it's most likely to be Atitlan Volcano and it's the furthest from me, way across the Lake. That would be exciting for me, so far away and out of danger, but horrible for those living near the volcano. I hope the vulcanologists can work on predicting eruptions more accurately. This one took people by surprise, I think.

Click here to read a good article on why Fuego's eruption was so deadly this time.

The Amazing Volcanoes of Guatemala

Revue Magazine (REVUEmag.com) is an English language magazine in Guatemala that publishes free paper copies of their magazine as well as a vast array of online articles. They promote "the best of Guatemala through articles on travel, food, culture, people, business, health, and community service." I follow them on Facebook and enjoy their monthly photo contests immensely.

September's contest has been exceptionally jaw-droppingly AWESOME because the theme is "Volcanoes of Guatemala"

Click here to see the amazing volcano photo submissions!

Here is just one photo that shows the beauty and power of Volcán Fuego near Antigua, Guatemala.

Photo by Rafael Bautista Fotographía

I'm sorry if the link to the contest goes "dead" later. I'm not sure how long they keep the photos active after the contest ends. Enjoy it while you can!

Antigua With My Sister

I purposely took the chicken bus from Panajachel to Antigua early in the day so I could spend some time walking around Antigua. I'd only been there once before and it was a very focused visit -- the fruitless search for glow bracelets! This time I got to wander the streets as I pleased, basically just following my curiosity.

The main part of Antigua is very easy to navigate. The city streets are in grids, and all numbered. The ones running east-west are calles (streets) and the ones running north-south are avenidas (avenues). The lowest numbers are in the north and east. The big volcano (Agua) that can be seen from almost every intersection is in the south. So you can't really get lost for more than a block! Plus, it's easy to remember where the Central Park is -- 5th and 5th.

Antigua has all these broken down churches, which are fascinating but also kinda weird. Why not restore them?

The classic Antigua shot of the Arch and Volcan Agua (water volcano).

The volcanoes were shrouded in clouds most of the time but my eyes were still drawn to them.

This is such a beautiful church! It reminds me of the one in San Cristobal.

The intricacy is astounding!

I highly recommended going inside the churches. Quietly, of course. 

Standing in the middle of the street. I always wonder how long those cobbles have been there. How many people have traveled over them? If rocks could talk!! :D

The Antigua market is HUGE! So much fun.

And I thought the Despensa in Panajachel was low class. Wow. (And they didn't have any kitty litter. Grrr.)

More run-down churches.

A not run-down church in the Central Square.

OMG the Antigua McDonald's on 4th Street is the most beautiful McDonald's EVER. Video on my YouTube channel.

Suzanne had booked The Feathers Hotel for us to spend the night, so I checked in there to have a rest after my walkabout. As I was flipping through Spanish movies on the TV, my phone rang. Suzanne's flight had been delayed by three hours and she quite ingeniously got onto Facebook at the Newark airport to appeal to my friends in Guatemala to somehow get a hold of me. Amazing Iva was the lovely friend who took the initiative to call me on my cell phone and saved me a boatload of waiting! (Thanks, girl!)
I contacted the shuttle service I had hired, Omega Car Services, and spoke with the fantastic driver who agreed to change our pickup time for a small increase in price. I mean, we were going into the city at midnight on a Saturday! Of course, I agreed to the price increase, just glad to have a reliable and safe way to get into the city and back out again quickly.

Outside the Guatemala City Airport at midnight! Big TV playing ads and also warnings about how you can go to jail for money laundering.

The arrival area in the airport is outside. I remember being shocked that people had to wait on the street to pick up their loved ones. Not very good planning, that. But watching people hug and laugh and cry when meeting passengers is super fun. And it was lovely and warm, so no complaints from me! Plus my sister arrived!!! YAY!!

We chatted like crazy all the way back to the hotel, then zonked out. We got up pretty early, considering our late night, and wandered the streets of Antigua. We spent a lot of time sitting near the church just chatting. We were treated to some amazing loud fireworks too! And a parade and a bicycle race. Always something going on in Guate. And this was all before noon. :)

The first picture I took of Suzanne. We went into a pretty church by our hotel and she did her morning prayer.

I took Suzanne to see the yellow church and we had breakfast from the friendly ladies cooking out front.

Don't be afraid of street food! This was Suzanne's breakfast. It was a breaded and fried chicken and veggie patty with guacamole and veggies and beans and all sorts of good stuff. We ate standing up near the fountain, using the ledge as our table.

At 12:30, we got in our nice shuttle for the beautiful drive to Panajachel. Much nicer than the chicken bus, that's for sure! And it was more restful time for chatting and catching up with mi hermana.

I've got many more blog posts to do about my sister's visit but they will have to wait until another day. It's Power Outage Day today! That means another day of doing chores and reading books and going outside. Yay!

Chicken Bus From Panajachel to Antigua

Just a quick post for travelers about how to take a chicken bus from Panajachel to Antigua in Guatemala. A few pics of Antigua as a bonus at the end.

I had to go to Antigua because my sister was visiting from Canada. She was flying into Guate City late at night and it was recommended to us that she stay overnight in a hotel in the city or in Antigua and travel to Pana the next day. We chose to get a hotel in Antigua so that we could spend the next morning exploring the city before catching a shuttle to Pana. (So glad we did! Antigua is lovely!)

I had asked for advice from the helpful folks in the Panajachel Facebook Group. I was expecting to hear that I would have to take several chicken buses to get from Pana to Antigua but I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there was a direct bus leaving Panajachel at around 10:45 am and it would cost only Q36. And I was even more pleasantly surprised to find out that this information was actually true! :D

I arrived at the parada de autobuses (bus stop) on Calle Principal at 10:40 on a Saturday morning and noticed several gringos hanging about. The helper asked for my destination and told me to wait for 10 minutes. Very shortly, a green and cream Rebuli chicken bus pulled up and everyone scrambled onto it, including the majority of the white people waiting. It was the most gringos I'd seen on a chicken bus!

Then the fun began. The bus drove to the north part of town near the market to see if there were more passengers. Then it drove back south past the bus stop and stopped on the side of the road 100 meters down to drop off some big parcels off the roof. Then we did a 3-point turn at the fire station and went back to the original bus stop to see if there were more passengers. Went up to the market a second time, circled back past the bus stop a third time, and finally left Pana at 11:05.

Moral of the story: if you're late for the Antigua direct bus, just wait and it will come 'round!  :D

The ride was beautiful, as usual, but was basically a giant blur as the driver was going insanely fast. Like LUDICROUS speed. Pretty much every time I get on a chicken bus, I imagine that it's my last day on Earth. It was pedal to the metal the whole way, with very brief stops to pick up passengers.

Departed Panajachel 11:05 am
Tecpan 12:15 pm
Chimaltenango 12:45 pm
Arrived Antigua 1:40 pm

COST Q36
TOTAL TIME 2 hr 35 min

If you can't make the direct bus from Pana, you can do the more complex route.
Pana -- Solola -- Los Encuentros -- Chimaltenango -- Antigua
Estimated prices are Q3 -- Q3 -- Q20 -- Q10
As always, don't be afraid to talk to the ayudantes (bus helpers) to make sure you're on the right track. Buses run very frequently during the daylight hours.

The Rebuli chicken bus that took me to Antigua. Rebuli is the company name. All the buses in their line are painted the same colours.

The bus station in Antigua is huge! So many pretty chicken buses.

Antigua chicken bus station. It's not far to walk to the Central Square.

After arriving in Antigua, I checked into our hotel and then went walking. It's a lovely city. I'll write more about it in the next post. My dinner? WENDY'S!! Oh, it was sooooo good. And a really pretty restaurant too, with two floors and lots of comfy seating. A single hamburger combo cost Q43, or about $7.41 Canadian. Pretty expensive, actually. But then again, I'm always comparing everything to local prices in Pana like three tacos for Q10! Spending Q40 on a meal is a lot for me now. :)

The sign inside the Wendy's at the Central Park in Antigua, Guatemala

One of the many half-destroyed buildings in Antigua. A fascinating city. I highly recommend a visit.

More blog posts to come, as soon as I can get them up. The six days with my sister went by so quickly! I've managed to upload the videos to my YouTube channel so head on over there to get a sneak peek of all the fun we had.

My First Trip to Antigua

I've been helping to organize a Halloween party for my fave bar here in Panajachel, Gringos Locos, and wanted to get some cool Halloween decorations and most especially glowing things to spice the bar up for the big spooky night. I messaged a party store in Antigua on Facebook to try to get neon glow bracelets and they assured me they had packs of 100 for Q70. I told them I was going to make a special trip from Pana to Antigua to buy them.

Super excited, I asked my friend, Jo-Lori, to come with me. She is an American expat who has been living in Guatemala for several years, volunteering with Mayan Families. I was pumped when she agreed to come with me! Girls trip! YAY!

We paid Q160 each for a round-trip shuttle ticket from Pana to Antigua and back through a travel agency called Tierra Maya on Santander. As I've mentioned before, I believe all the travel agencies in Pana cooperate to offer the same price for shuttle tickets no matter where you book, and then consolidate all their customers to fill up a shuttle, rather than sending shuttles with only a few passengers. This time, we were pretty lucky to have a shuttle with only Jo-Lori and me plus one other couple. The trip to Antigua takes three to four hours, depending on traffic.

Our shuttle was supposed to pick us up at 9:15 but of course was late and arrived closer to 9:45. Then we picked up the other couple near the docks, as they had come over from Santa Cruz. We had a wonderful chat with them as we rode. Kevin (...or maybe Keith... sorry!...) was an young American who had been traveling the world for a year. His girlfriend, Maddy, was from England, and had joined him here in Guate to learn Spanish in Antigua and to Scuba dive in Lake Atitlan. We had a great conversation with them and it made the long drive pass very quickly!

They had been living in Antigua for the past while so I made sure to pick their brains before we parted ways in Antigua. They recommended a great, inexpensive Indian restaurant as a place for us to have lunch after we had finished our shopping.

Our lovely shuttle bus driver jumped through hoops to try to drive us to the Halloween store, which had only given me the very obscure address of: Km 5.5 carretera a ciudad vieja. I had posted the address to the Guatemala Expats Facebook page to get some help on the directions, and received some clues but no definitive location. Our driver asked traffic cops, strangers on the street, store owners, pretty much anyone until we finally arrived at what we believed to be the right location.

The driver asked some people standing at the entrance to a plaza at kilometer 5.5 on the highway if there was a party store in the strip mall. They said, "No." Alrighty then. Off we go again! Jo-Lori had spotted this little sign just a few doors down, so we let the shuttle go on it's way, and we went in to check it out.

Infantile fiestas? I'm in!

Well, this first stop was a bust. No store, and the waiter at the restaurant could only suggest we check the plaza that we had just been at. We trudged back down the side of the road and into the plaza. We needed a bathroom and were lucky to find a free public one. The sign gave us a few moments pause.

I guess I'm a moon?

We walked around the corner from the bathroom along the strip mall place and.... GASP!! Could it be???

Antigua party store! 

The party store!! I was so thrilled! We had succeeded in our mission!
Or so I thought.

Entering the store we were greeted by a lovely young woman. The store was obviously new, very clean, with sparse shelves of various party items. There were some Halloween costumes, basic masks and stuff, pirate hooks, tiaras, etc. However, there were no glow sticks to be seen.

I asked the clerk, and she said, "No, no hay." (They're aren't any.) Um, what? We clarified that this was indeed the store I had been messaging on Facebook. Jo-Lori has much better Spanish than I do, so she took command and asked that the clerk call her boss. A brief phone conversation ensued but the answer was no better. The glow sticks were in a warehouse or someone's house or basically somewhere not at the store, and no one could get them today. "You have to come back another day," they said. Yeah... NO. I was furious! Jo-Lori explained to them that we had come from Panajachel. Still no luck. Ooh, I was mad! But what could we do? So we bought a few little things and left.

The Panorama Plaza, km 5.5, Antigua, Guatemala

Standing on the side of a highway in the middle of nowhere outside Antigua, my mood was bleak. I had spent so much money to come all this way to get nothing! As Jo-Lori said, "Epic fail." I took a few moments to quietly sulk.

I had to force my dark mood to pass. I was in Antigua, Guatemala! The sun was shining and I was with a nice friend. Who needs stupid glow bracelets anyway?
Being the good Girl Scout that I am, I had written down the addresses of a few other stores that might be helpful for Halloween stuff, so we found a tuk-tuk and headed to a store called Nimpot.

Driving thru Antigua was an adventure! The roads of Antigua are almost all cobbled and very bumpy. I was gawking out the window so much that I actually hit my head on the side of the tuk-tuk. Owie!

We arrived at an intersection and the tuk-tuk driver pointed us down a road that was closed to traffic. Hey! We had inadvertently arrived at the infamous arch of Antigua, shown on so many postcards. Cool!

That's me in the pink shirt! Goofy tourist photo.  :D

The arch looking from the other side. The volcano behind it was covered by clouds or I would have included it in the shot.

The Nimpot store didn't have the type of costumes we were looking for but it still was a very cool store to browse. I will definitely go back there to buy some things when I have more money.

Nimpot Store, Antigua, showing some large kites that they fly for Day of the Dead, November 1st.

Yes, Nimpot had costumes... but not for gringos! Those are all masks and costumes worn by people in processions.

By this time, we were super hungry, so we attempted to find the Indian restaurant our shuttle friends had told us about. We hopped in a taxi and headed in what we hoped was the right direction. Well, we did find an Indian restaurant... but it was not the one with a Q36 menu. Oh well!

Pushkar Indian Restaurant, Antigua, Guatemala

Jo-Lori at the entrance to Pushkar Indian Restaurant.

So who would have thought that I'd eat the most amazing samosas in my life at a Indian restaurant in Guatemala???  They were soooooo good! Jo-Lori ordered a huge spread of dishes, kinda like a sampler meal, with Chicken Korma and Raita and Naan and all sorts of yumminess. The restaurant was in a beautiful, tranquil garden. It was superb!

Time had flown by far too quickly and by this time we had less than an hour until our shuttle bus back to Pana. We had no clue where we were in the city so we tried to find a tuk-tur or taxi to take us back to the central park. We stood for ages on the street with no luck. Where are all the tuk-tuks? We're not in Pana anymore, Toto! Everywhere people were driving their own cars. Not at all like our little lake town.

A decrepit building across the street from the restaurant.

Finally, I attempted to get a taxi number for a travel agency. Then I realized I couldn't call the taxi because I didn't know where to tell him to pick us up. The travel agent told me the intersection name, and I told Jo-Lori, and she called... and the taxi company was confused! So a nice man asked Jo-Lori for the phone and explained to the cab what intersection we were at. So helpful!

Back at the central square, Jo-Lori sat down with a hot chocolate while I quickly explored the area, hoping that our shuttle would be late so I would have more time to see things!

I showed this picture to Bert and he called it "the lactating fountain". :D
Yes, the ladies are spouting water out of their nipples. Stay classy, Antigua!

Hard to see them but those are green parrots in the trees in the park! I was super excited to see them. They were noisy too!

Random large awesome building with cool architecture.

I popped into few stores, still desperately searching for Halloween stuff. I kept checking back to see if the shuttle had arrived. No? Okay! Into one more store! But everyone I asked had never heard of pulseras luminosas or glow bracelets, or if they did know, they didn't have any. If only I had had more time! I'm sure I could have found a party store somewhere in the city.

Alas, our shuttle finally arrived and we climbed aboard. I snapped one last photo of the Volcán de Fuego (volcano of fire) out of the window of the shuttle as we drove away.

Volcán de Fuego, Antigua, Guatemala, on a cloudy day

The ride home was a blur. I was immensely disappointed that I had not found the things I was looking for, yet I had a really good time with my friend and enjoyed an amazing meal. I focused my attention on the lovely scenery passing by and let my worries drift away.

It got dark before we got home, and Jo-Lori and I passed the hours sharing stories. We were held up by a broken-down chicken bus on the road at one point. For some reason, they were blocking four lanes of traffic trying to get the bus turned around to go back up the hill.

Broken down chicken bus on the highway

We were right at the head of the line, anxiously waiting for the police officer to signal us through so we could get home! It took soooo long, I was considering just asking all the impatient drivers to gather together to PICK UP the darn bus and turn it around by force! The tow truck driver was really having a hard time figuring out how to turn the wheels to get the bus to go any other direction than straight into the ditch. Ah, Guatemala. You're so fun!

Finally, we got back to Panajachel and were dropped off into the madness of Santander. I was relieved to be out of the shuttle and stretching my legs. I was hoping to hit up the grocery store and head home for dinner but someone else had a different idea. I was chatting with Jo-Lori when a cold nose touched my knee. I looked down... wait a second! That's Calvin!! That's my dog??? What the...??

Calvin was on Santander, mooching it up at a street food cart. He was super excited to see me... that is until I tried to grab his collar to drag him away from the people eating. Then he growled and snapped at me. BAD DOG. I quickly called Bert to come with the leash to take our errant foster dog home. He said that Calvin had gone up into the garden about 15 minutes ago and figured he had just gone into the grass to go to the bathroom. He hadn't realized the dog had hopped the fence!

I said goodbye to Jo-Lori and waited for Bert to show up with the leash. Calvin was not happy to be taken away from his free meal of taco scraps, and he was really not happy that he got chained up at home!

So, a day both good and bad, and certainly memorable! Can't wait to go back to Antigua with Bert. Now that I've had a sampling of the city, I am eager to see more. Will try to stay overnight next time though, for sure. I'd love to see the volcano erupting at night!

Here's a short video of the fountain in the Central Park of Antigua.
Until next time, my friends. :D