Guatemala- Antigua

We survived the crazy long route to get to Antigua fairly easily. Our flight from San Jose left at 6:30am so we had to be up at 4....when we finally arrived in Guatemala we were all exhausted, our first day was kind of spent in a fog. For some reason I had this idea that Antigua would be very similar to Granada, I convinced Johnny to not book anything until we arrived figuring we could just wing it. What I did not anticipate is the sidewalks are so narrow they barely allow 1 person to pass let alone all of our luggage....the roads are all cobblestone which sounds quite charming and physically looks nice, but makes for very poor conditions when your trying to wheel anything!

Needless to say, we were all cranky and tired and sat around a cafe trying to find something cheap.

notice the narrow sidewalk, imagine trying to roll a million bags with 2 kids in tow...ugh!

We were all so cranky in this pic, only Anneka showed how we all felt

We have been told by everyone how cheap Guatemala was so at the very least we were expecting to pay the same prices as in Nicaragua, I was a little surprised that everything we looked at was around $70US a night...(I know still sounds cheap, but we have been pretty consistent with $40-$60 a night all through Central America and we were hoping Guatemala would be the same). We ended up biting the bullet finding a really nice hotel, fairly central for $68USD. (I do want to point out, that if you are single or even just a couple you can get by super crazy cheap...once you add 4 people the cost drives up dramatically).

The view from our rooftop

Casa Mia Hotel- very lovely courtyard

This guy was guarding a parking lot next to our hotel he seriously looked about 12.

The next day we set of exploring....Antigua is much more laid out then Granada I was surprised how big it was. After wondering around for a while we  decided to take the girls to a small chocolate museum where you can actually make little chocolates. As we already visited a cacao farm in Costa Rica, I thought this would be a nice treat and a way to reiterate some of the stuff the girls had already learned, (homeschooling at its best!) What a "sweet" little place this was (I know, I know totally lame!)...we were given an interesting little lesson on how the Mayans made chocolate and then the girls got to pick out their molds and make their own using sprinkles, cookie crumbs and marshmallows  to decorate. It was such a fun way to spend an hour. 

 

We then went to a restaurant Rincon Tipico, that was recommended by our new friends Margee and Mike...  was very cheap and so delicious! For $20 we had a full chicken dinner, drinks and a beer.
(it was so delish we went back again another night!).

My fave restaurant in Antigua-where all the locals go.

Our hotel was right across the road from the outdoor market, I have heard this place is a must see so we decided to finish our day there. I have never been to Istanbul, but I imagine this is what a grand Bazaar looks like.  This place is HUGE!! While the street vendors on the outside surrounding the main market are interesting by themselves—the main attraction is entering into the main covered market!! Get ready to have your senses bombarded, with stall after stall of a massive variety of items. 

women in traditional clothing selling produce, we bought a bag of apples for $1

walking inside the covered market you can easily get lost

Right in the centre of the covered market

We had to take a pic of all the chicken buses waiting to pick up passengers

We walked around for ages and still didn't cover everything, as it was starting to get dark we decided to come back another day. The next morning we had another early rise and shine 6am pick up! This time we were hiking the very active volcano Pacaya. The drive took over an hour to get there, but we had heard that it was pretty strenuous so we wanted to get there early rather then later in the day when it was so hot. When we arrived our group went with the guide and he asked if anyone wanted to take the horses up. Johnny and I knew we would get one for the girls, but no one else in the group opted for one. We set off on a brisk pace and I was surprised to see a huge group of men following us on their horses. I asked the guide about this and he said that eventually some people would be so tired they would request a horse half way up...funny thing was the price got higher the closer to the top you were! He was right a few people from our group did cave and get a horse.

This was probably my favourite thing we did in Antigua, the views from the top were incredible. I couldn't believe that every now and then you could hear a loud rumble that sounded like thunder and you could see puffs of smoke coming from various vents throughout the lava fields. It made you very aware of how volatile Mother Nature can be. The coolest thing for the kids was when the got to "roast " marshmallows over one of these vents (I put quotes around roast as you really only heated the marshmallows, they never actually flamed up...it was still cool nonetheless). The hike down wasn't nearly as difficult, so we opted for the kids to ditch the horses and walk down....they were troupers as it was a little harder then we thought but we all persevered and in the end had a great morning. 

roasting the marshmallows 

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 That afternoon we went back to the market, and did a little more site seeing around town. We were leaving the next morning for Monterrico and we both feel we really could have used a couple more days here. Everyone I know that has traveled to Antigua has absolutely LOVED it... I liked it for sure, but I think a little of my heart was left in Nicaragua so I just couldn't muster up the love that I wanted to...that said I think I needed to explore Antigua more to really get a feeling for town...Unfortunately for us, we have to be in Belize in 11 days and I am desperate to see some baby turtles, so our time has been cut short hopefully I will be able to visit again some day.