Day 221: Adios, Antigua – Guatemala – Jan 24th

Our last day in Antigua, we felt like we had to explore some parts of the city we never wandered…. and we were glad we did.

We saw the church ruins that, despite the complete facade over looking the central square, the rest of it is actually in shambles. Built and rebuilt twice in the 1700s when Antigua was the capital city of this country, the final earthquake forced the government to relocate, and left this church untouched in shambles. The main columns have stood the test of time, or at least repaired, leaving the sky to blanket the roof like a surreal painting. We also went underground into the crypt, and the dark, damp, musky interiors of an empty crypt was not too great, especially just finishing the novel Angels & Demons no too long ago. Wandering into 3 more churches, we called it a day.

After having the best tasting smoothie EVER (fresh, tree-ripen fruit will probably do that), we grabbed a quick beer with one of our house-mates we bumped on the streets. Dinner was fun and delicious, as we bumped into the owner of this gourmet ice-cream shop we chatted with another time. Apparently he also runs this restaurant, and his disarming personality and interesting menu lured us in. Jiajia had a pizza that’s not yet on the menu and which the owner named Wendy (yes, the pizza is called Wendy!), and Alan had the Unicorn Steak (literally)…. hilarious! We finished our meal, walked outside and as we were sitting at the steps of a cafe reminiscing about this city, fireworks lit up the sky, as if it was the city’s way of saying good bye and farewell….

Antigua may not be the ‘perfect’ location as a tourist short on time, but for us this place has captivated our hearts. A small city that you can walk from corner to corner in about 20minutes, it has all the amenities of a big city and delicious coffee+chocolate, world-wide cuisine, cozy coffee shops and anything you’d want. The rest of Guatemala is also at your fingertips, if you’re willing to do some traveling. The people here are amazingly friendly and you never know who you’ll bump into or what will chance out of these meetings.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Antigua and couldn’t recommend it enough….if you have at least 2 weeks time and want to learn some Spanish at 1 of 60 language schools!