Central America, or central europe? July 15, 2010

07.04.10

We had a few more hours to kill in Coban so we set out exploring. The city proved itself to be even more so a culinary paradise when we stepped into an old colonial palace turned Hotel Posado. It was like a Spanish duke’s dream villa with a lush courtyard and cute, colorful nick knacks and antiques filling the halls. As I said, the breakfast was incredible; gourmet huevos rancheros and tipico comida (which is the very common breakfast here; black bean paste, fried eggs, plantains, cheese, tortillas, and salsa, Mmm). Until this moment I didn’t even like coffee!

Lucky for us, today is market day, so we spend the rest of the morning exploring the street markets and taking pictures of colorful locals with their colorful goods.

Due to low tourist season, the six hour bus ride to Antigua was just the two of us and a very friendly bus driver who spoke not a word of English. It made for some seriously terrific Spanish practice trying to discus the world with him.

We had to pass through Guatemala city on the way there which was a bit scary even though we were perfectly safe. All we have heard were horror stories about Guate; not of tourists getting killed, but local gangs extorting the public bus companies to pay them, and randomly killing bus drivers when they didn’t. Just in the last couple years over 300 drivers have been killed this way; not the safest job.

It doesn’t stop them from having pride in their jobs and decorating their busses with wild colors and decals.

As we drove in, Antigua was not at all like we were expecting. It was as if being teleported directly into Spain. Massive stone cathedrals, black iron, marble, and multi colored colonial homes lined the cobblestoned alleyways. We arrived to our couchsurfing hosts home and were greeted by Lainies terrific 6th grade son Miro. The house was a gorgeous hacienda smelling of delicious old wood; among the cutest places we have ever stayed.

And I don’t know why the following picture does not have us with our hosts in it; that was a dumb picture not to take!

We hung out with Miro a bit until we received a very friendly greeting from Lainie. Both got fed up with life in the USA and are traveling the world together, picking new places to live and experience each year. After chatting a bit, Jess and I headed out to the town for exploration before the rain started to fall (inevitable every afternoon).

Our first stop was an old colonial brick and stone cathedral, Iglesia San Francisco, almost completely destroyed by a tremendous earthquake that shattered the city in the early 1700′s (followed by many more earth shattering quakes each century; you’d think they’d stop building with brick and stone…but no). Sometimes great things look even greater when they’ve been obliterated and consumed by nature.

We walked to the city center, noting how incredibly bourgeois the entire place is. International restaurants, pafes, marble fountains, fancy palaces, and horse-drawn carriages clopping down the streets. Not at all what we had expected to experience in Guatemala.

On the other side of town we picked up some ultra cheap, local street food from the much less bourgeois market place. Then we wandered its tiny alleys taking pictures and buying ingredients to make guacamole for later.

The fried Iguana however, we avoided.

We returned to Lainies a bit wet from the heavy rain and pretty quick thereafter headed out to party at a coop. Most of the people we met were living in the city studying Spanish (a very common thing in this city) others were living here working, or volunteering on one project or the other. It was a very informal independence day celebration, but since most of the people were from the USA, and the Guatemalan fixation of setting off fireworks at random times every single day, I guess it sort of counts.

We headed back to Lainies with most of the group and a few others, where Jessica and I prepared a killer guacamole, far cheaper to do here since you can get about six avocados for a dollar! Much of the night was spent conversing and singing to a couple playing the guitar; felt a little hippie kumbayah, but it was a good crowd and a lot of fun!

07.05.10

Early morning we hiked up the base of one volcano to get a terrific view of the city and the many surrounding volcanoes. It was all made even more spectacular with Volcan Fuego shooting bursts of ash every 10 minutes.

The trail to this point is well traveled by tourists, yet three police officers protect it with shotguns in hand due to past muggings. Another reminder that even though this country may seem so peaceful and beautiful, there is a serious dark side. We are smart when we travel, but we’ve heard of others have be too naïve and had a lot of problems.

The rest of the day was spent wandering around, taking tons of pictures of the gorgeous city.

We met a couple again from last night, John and Ameris, and got lost around town with them. Later we met for some truly spectacular coffee, lunch, and chocolate in town.

For dinner we all met at Lainies where Jess and I cooked a massive stir-fry with chicken, rice, pineapple, onions, garlic, tomato, eggplant, green beans, mushrooms….pretty much everything delicious and fresh looking at the market. Dinner was followed by much chatting and a bit of wine.

Antigua was a pretty spectacular city, it is easy to see why so many gringos get stuck here, but there are so many new things to explore. So, we spent our last night in Lainie and Miro’s terrific hacienda.

And as always: Flickr.com/flufflebuns/sets