Antigua

A lot has happened in the past few days.  I’ve decided to write one blog, but I will break it up by day.

The public basins

Convent at La Merced 

Wednesday: Thomas and I decided to take a walking tour around Antigua following the travel book we brought with us.  It was a great way to see the highlights of the town.  My favorite part of the day was seeing the public basins where women still come to wash their clothing on occasion.  Near these public basins, there were several street vendors grilling food and selling tacos.  We decided to buy a light lunch from one of the vendors.  We got a chicken leg/thigh, tortillas, salsa, and guacamole for about $2.60!  We also had the opportunity to see a funeral procession, which was quite interesting.  There must have been at least 200 people all wearing some shade of black following the pall-bearers carrying the casket, and at the back of the procession there was a 12-piece band playing music.

Thursday: Thomas and I had plans to go shopping in two smaller towns just outside of Antigua.  The first town, San Felipe, is supposed to be known for its jade, silver, and ceramics.  When we arrived in San Felipe, there was a small market set up outside the church in the center of town.  Much to our dismay, the place was practically deserted except for some people selling food and some t-shirts—apparently market day is the only day they sell their crafts.  We quickly decided to leave and come back to the town on Saturday, their market day.  The next town on our stop was Pastores, a town our guide-book claimed is known for its leather work.  We took our next mode of transportation, a tuk-tuk (a smaller 3-wheeled taxi), to this small town that really consisted of about 2 blocks lined with boot-shops.  Once again, we were sadly disappointed because we were not interested in boots, despite their beautiful craftsmanship, but were looking for other products.  After walking the length of the town looking for a taxi or tuk-tuk to take us back to Antigua, we decided to take the local bus, which was our only alternative to walking.  Needless to say, Thursday’s shopping excursion was rather disappointing, but on the positive side, we got to experience almost all modes of ground-transportation in a matter of a few hours!

Jill and Thomas on the volcano

View of Volcan Pacaya 

Friday:  Today was an amazing day!  Thomas and I woke up early to catch a 6am shuttle (arranged though a travel agency) to Volcán Pacaya, a still active volcano near Antigua.  The shuttle drove up a bumpy, winding road for about 1 hour until we arrived at the base of the volcano.  When we stepped out of the shuttle, we were surrounded with children selling walking sticks for 5 quetzals. Despite the children claiming they “were necessary” for the hike, we decided not to purchase any, although many in our group did.  Then, we proceeded on our steep hike up the volcano.  Thomas and I started out at the back and we noticed a large group of people riding or leading horses behind us.  When I turned around to get a better look at the horses, one of the locals asked me “taxi natural?” (natural taxi).  Apparently it is pretty common for out-of-shape foreigners to start the trek and then pay to ride a horse the rest of the way up the volcano.  After a little over an hour of hiking up hill, we reached our stopping point.  Although there was no lava, our tour-guide showed us areas where you could feel the warmth coming up from under the ground.  We were even able to roast marshmallows in one of the holes!  The morning was really fun, but Thomas and I were quite tired by the end of the trip.  We decided to have a nice dinner in one of the restaurants in Antigua to celebrate our last night before traveling to Tecpan tomorrow.  

"Taxi Natural"