I was lucky enough to snag an amaaazingly cheap round trip ticket to Guatemala and decided to visit Antigua, which is about an hour away from Guatemala City.
Antigua is an old Spanish style city situated between three visible volcanoes. It's a blend of ruin-like and renovated old buildings, cobble stone streets, cafes, art galleries and street vendors.
Honestly, I didn't do too much research about the city prior to my visit. I had heard through the grapevine that it was good place to visit, lots of art and good food, which sounds like my kinda' place. So when I saw the ticket, I went for it.
The city is visually stunning. I love old peeling walls, brick and iron work doorways, and Spanish tiled roofs. Antigua was the kind of place that kept me visually stimulated my entire visit.
I was surprised at the mix of new and old. Not only just in the architecture, but even within the community. There were hip, stylish cafes and galleries intermingled with indigenous (Mayan) folks walking the streets in traditional clothing.
There are textiles everywhere you look. You cannot imagine the stunning array of textures and colors, all hand woven and dyed.
Bartering is a huge part of the shopping process here. I'm not a fan of bartering - it's not something I'm good at nor something I feel comfortable doing. I'm a get to the point kinda' gal. Tell me what you want for it and I'll decide if I want it. But that's not how it works in Guatemala, which I learned. If someone gives you a price and you say no and start to walk away, they will literally chase you down the street (in a friendly way!) offering lower prices. Everything is already so ridiculously inexpensive for the variety and quality, that I feel bad bartering. But, that's how it is....so you do what you gotta do.
In the center of town is a huge store named Centro de Textiles Tradicionales. It's enormous! So many different styles of textiles made into clothing, blankets, pillows, wall hangings, you name it - they sell it. Additionally, they sell all sorts of other odds and ends. Like these strange masks and dolls.
Not to mention this Jesus chair. (???)
There is an ammmaaaaazing market where you can find just about anything. The fruits and veggies are out of control. Varieties I've never seen before. It's such a shame you can't take produce on the plane. I would have taken suitcases full! And of course homemade pastries, tortillas....yum.
These buses are super funky, but be careful because the drivers are maniacs on the road!
On my last day I strolled through the Museo de Santiago. The building is gorgeous, it looks like a castle. Inside there is a room which exhibits old torture tools, including an actual chamber where the torture used to take place. If those walls could talk!
I only visited for 4 days and I felt that wasn't nearly enough time to linger the way I would have liked to. I took so many photos - enough that it would probably be better to just do another post all together with additional photos. I'm keeping my eyes open for another ticket bargain. As soon as I see one, I'm outta' here!
Years ago while traveling in Central America, her husband and her were in the back seat of a cab for a long distance trip from the airport to their destination. The driver and his friend were sitting in front chatting back and forth in Spanish, assuming that the two Gringos in the back seat didn't speak any Spanish.
After a few hours on the road, her husband began to develop a migraine headache. She asked him if perhaps he'd like to have a quick neck adjustment to let off some of the pressure. He laid himself across the back seat as well as he could and she quickly did a little wiggle, wiggle, snap with his neck.
The chatter in the front seat stopped.
The cab fell silent.
The driver's friend whispers out of the side of his mouth, "What the hell was that?!?!"
The driver responds, "I'm not sure, but that's how I kill my chickens!!!"
Since I live in a small, but bustling little town, sometimes it's easy to forget that I actually live in the country. Just a short drive way there are farms, roaming cows and people riding their horses down the road along side cars.
About 2 hours outside of town, there's a farming community where the primary crops are watermelon and yellow melons (which are a lot like a honey dew). It's a beautiful area to drive through, especially if the rain has started and revived all the vegetation after many long, dry months. There is about 3 miles of road, lined with farm after farm, surrounded by crops of bright yellow and green melons beneath deep foliage. Tucked away from the road there are cute, little country farm houses with laundry fluttering on the line and old farmers sitting on the porch in a rocking chair.
Being the melon lover that I am (well, really I don't discriminate when it comes to fresh fruits or veggies!), we stopped at one of the roadside stands to buy a few melons ripe off the vine. Can you believe that 5 melons cost only $2. Yes please!!!
We pulled to the side of the road and began chatting with a vendor, and out of no where, this small pink piggy snuck up behind the heap of melons, started grunting and hungrily gobbling the melons.
Mmmmm, yellow or green, yellow or green??
The guy turned around, flailed his arms and yelled at the pig, shushing the squealing fuzzy pest away.
He turned back around towards us, resumed his chatting and before you knew it, the piggy had circled around and launched an attack on another pile of melons.
The man repeated his defense tactics and charged the piggy, who once again ran off squealing, lickety split!! The man rolled his eyes, let out a long, slow tired sigh and told us that every day, all day, that's what he does. Keeps the pigs away. Poor guy.
As we drove away, I saw the piggy making his next round through the melons. What a way to spend the day.
Every December and March there are local fiestas in Villa Real, the small town outside of Tamarindo. These fiestas are small town carnivals complete with food stands, carnival rides, LOTS of drinking and drunk people and of course, a bull ring.
There's lots of fun activities that go along with the fiestas. One is the Baile de Polvo (the Dust Dance) which takes place in the bull ring (minus the bulls!!) and marks the beginning of the fiesta. It's called the Dust Dance because well, when you get a few hundred people dancing in a dust ring, you make a big dust cloud.
Another event that takes place during the fiestas is the Tope -- a horse parade where riders meet in the center of Tamarindo (the Circle) and ride to the fiestas in Villa Real - about 2 1/2 miles away.
The Tope this year took place on St. Patrick's Day, Sunday, March 17. I personally didn't care to ride. It looks like a lot of fun, but sadly I'm not too keen on riding horses. I think they're awesome to look at from afar, but I'm actually a little afraid of them. And they say animals can sense fear so I thought it would be best not to take any chances. However, the hubby and our good (hilarious) friend Fabio decided to participate so I opted to be the photographer for the day.
For those wanting to actually mount up and ride, you pay a nominal entry fee which entitles you to ride with the group, a free lunch and of course, a complimentary "drink" - which to most people means beer.
Good For One Drink
If you have your own horse, that's great, but if not you can rent one from Jeronimo, who seems to be the go-to guy for the best horses. He has a house and stables in Villa Real and for $30 you can rent a horse for the event.
We arrived at his place around 10:30 a.m. and hung out there for a bit watching him prep the horses. The horses definitely sensed that a party was in the air. I'm sure these horses have been through a million of these things before. I'd think it's as big a party for them as for the people.
Around 11:30 or so, the guys finally got their horses and the party officially began!
After doing a bit of riding on the dirt roads behind town, me and the guys met up in Tamarindo to people watch, and of course, have a few drinks. Little by little, spectators, horses and their riders filled up the Circle. Salsa music floated through air and everyone, including the horses, was in a festive mood.
Every year this guy mounts up his own sound system to his horse and blasts salsa music. Classic!
By around 2:00 p.m. the show got on the road and the riders started heading out of town. About midway between Tamarindo and Villa Real there is a rest spot (aka drinking depot) where the riders cash in their drink and meal tickets. I'll take a long shot guess here and assume that most people have more than their "1 drink ticket" entitlement!
Us "non-riders" got in our cars and headed out to the fiestas. It took the riders around 2 hours to get from Tamarindo to Villa Real and by the time they did, a good number of them appeared to barely be able to stay on their horse. Poor horse! We all stood along the side of the road like we were cheering runners coming over the finish line.
I love this dancing horse!
As the sun set over the backdrop of the fiesta, people met up around the food and beer stands and in the cantina and shared laughs about the day.
Until December.......
Here's a gallery of all of my photos from the Tope.
I was surprised at the mix of new and old. Not only just in the architecture, but even within the community. There were hip, stylish cafes and galleries intermingled with indigenous (Mayan) folks walking the streets in traditional clothing.
