My trip to Antigua

My trip to Antigua (and Tikal)

When I went to Guatemala, I knew I would like to visit different parts of the country, however, I did not know exactly what parts and places. I came back from Madeira, enjoyed a few days with my family, went to the university, then, I hosted a “visitor” from Madeira in my country. Straight after, I went to Mallorca for a week where I was working and when I was heading back home, I was correcting my theses, so I could print it out and bring it to my university.

It was a very busy time for me, so I did not have too much time for reading about Guatemala. When I was on the plane, I read a story book, not a guide book. I actually did not have any guide book. Though, I knew Guatemala has some volcanoes which I would like to climb.

 Holiday time

When I got to Santiago Atitlán – a little village/town – which happened to be my new “home” for some time, I was very excited about starting my volunteering job. I was supposed to teach, however, it took nearly two weeks to get into the school properly. First, there were only some informational meetings with my “boss” and when it looked like I could go to the school to teach, schools were on a holiday regime. There were always some celebrations, so that it why schools were closed so often. When there was not a celebration, there were elections.

What is also interesting – people keep asking me how come that I went to teach during July and August when it is a summer holiday time. In fact, it is summer for us, but not for people from Guatemala. They have got “summer holiday” in December.

Well, the point where I wanted to get was that when I finally realised there was a prolonged weekend again, I decide to go for a trip. I wanted to visit Antigua.

Getting to Antigua

Imagine, travelling in Guatemala is pretty confusing and it can be a huge stress. Or at least, this is how I considered that. There are no timetables, so you cannot find how to get from the point A to the point B and you do not know at what time.

It is not that easy to realise where a bus stop is and as I was too pale to look like a local, I was always afraid of how much I would be charged again. There are no fixed priced, so once (when I still did not know the real price) I was charged even more than double of the original price.

Picture: I did not really know what was waiting for me when I was on the way to Antigua.

I contacted a girl from Antigua what was using Couchsurfing whether I could stay in her house. She was lovely and I was so lucky to meet her. She informed me that there is another girl (Kiki) who would stay in her house these days. As Kiki was travelling to Antigua from the same lake, we decided to meet and go to the journey together. We met in Panajachel and I was really happy to have a travel buddy. The journey was much easier, then!

We reached Antigua

When we reached our destination, we walked to the Jennifer’s house. We met her and as Jennifer needed to leave the house, she explained us where things were and left is. So we rested a bit and went outside to get to know the famous antique town.

Antigua is really beautiful. Even though, it used to be the most important city, it is not too big. I think that if you stay in Antigua one or two days, it is enough.

The architecture is astonishingand totally unique in Antigua. What I like the most was a hill where you can see the whole town from. Moreover, you walk there through a tiny forest so you feel like being in a nature.

Picture: It was possible to see the whole town!

There is also a hotel where you can enter and you will see parrots, antique walls of the buildings and also some pieces of visual art hanged on walls. The design of the court is very beautiful and definitely worth visiting. This part of the hotel is opened to everyone. You can enter without paying any fees and then there is a part which is paid. So if you like the place and want to explore it more, you can get the ticket and go.

Picture: You can see these colourful parrots in the court of the hotel.

Supermarket

It might seem unreal but when I got to a supermarket in Antigua, I was really happy. It seemed like being in a different world! When I was living in Santiago Atitlán, there was a supermarket, but it was quite small and expensive. When someone needed something, the person went to buy it to a street market. There was everything that was needed. There were vegetables, some fruit, toothpaste, toothbrushes, clothes, shoes and other things. Obviously, the goods were limited. So when I got to the supermarket in Antigua and could buy cheese, I was really excited.

Other days

I went to Antigua also for that reason of knowing that there are some of the main volcanoes near Antigua. i mean volcanoes which people can climb. That was one activity, which I definitely wanted to do.

 Later on, I organized a volcano trip for Kiki and me. I described everything in the article called I climbed a volcano! It was needed to contact a guide who would take us there. So in fact, it was our guide Neri who organized everything. I just contacted him.

After climbing the volcano very early in the morning (or late night), I was wondering whether I should stay in Antigua and then go back to Santiago Atitlán or continue to Tikal.

Picture: If you go to Antigua, climbing a volcano is a worth thing to do!

It took me a lot of time to decide, but I finally bought a ticket to Tikal where one of the most famous pyramids were.

Photo gallery