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Antigua Guatemala


Bus Station in Antigua

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But we didn't always eat in the camper - we treated ourselves to dinner out most nights. We had a very good dinner one night in a restaurant called Sangre - it was probably the most expensive dinner we have eaten since leaving the United States, but it was definitely worth every Quetzal! We also discovered a great cake place just north of the main square in 5 Avenida Norte. All the cakes are baked on the premises - we shared 3 different pieces there, and took 2 with us for later. It was fortunate that we hadn't tried this place until our last day in Antigua or we may well have left there several kilos heavier!
Also on our last day there, I wandered into a building to check out the courtyard, as we often do when it's possible. The houses here have some lovely courtyards and they are often surrounded by a variety of commercial concerns - galleries, cafes, and craft stores. I discovered a shop selling 'Handwoven Wearable Art' and found what I had been looking for since Mexico. The indigenous, mostly Mayan, people wear the most amazing coloured, hand woven clothes. I have always wanted to have an example of it, but couldn't decide to buy it in the form of the clothes they wear, because it would end up in a cupboard and never see the light of day again. This shop, Las Sirenas, run by a German who has lived in Guatemala for 20 years, had exactly the sort of thing I had been looking for - a jacket incorporating a beautiful piece of hand-woven fabric in a garment I could actually see myself wearing. So Antigua ended up not only being an expensive sojourn due to accommodation and food, but also due to this beautiful piece that I just couldn't leave behind. (If you are going to Antigua and would like to be tempted by the beautiful things Las Sirenas offers, the shop is in the same building as Café Condesa, on the western side of the main square.)
We left Antigua rather reluctantly early Monday morning, but we are both ready to continue our journey in a new country and to have some new experiences. The first priority was to find somewhere to re-fill our propane cylinders. With the help of a manager at the hotel, we had an address of one place just south of Guatemala City. Of course, just having an address is no guarantee of finding what you are looking for! We were eventually successful (after turning around 3 times) and then it took over half an hour of waiting for the job to be done. In Mexico, it usually took 10 minutes at most, and the gas companies were everywhere. In Guatemala we have found that you really have to search for them and just because you find one doesn't mean they will be able to fill our type of cylinder.
We also took time out to shop at a large supermarket nearby. Hiper Paiz, which is owned by Wal-Mart, sells quite a lot of items that are unavailable in local grocery stores - tiendas. We have utilised the supermarket a number of times in larger towns in Guatemala in order to stock up on unusual items like muesli from Germany, butter and cheese from New Zealand, soy sauce and soy milk from Hong Kong, wine from Chile at a reasonable price, and various other luxuries. I don't think that the majority of Guatemalticos can afford to shop there, but the presence of these supermarkets is definitely evidence of a growing middle class.
The next problem was finding a way around Guatemala City. We had no desire to drive through it and had some detailed instructions, as well as a map, to drive around it. But the best-laid plans as usual were not enough. In the cacophony of advertising signs and traffic everywhere we missed one turn and finally found ourselves in Zona 1, almost in the centre of the city. It is not an attractive city at all and we were not tempted to stop - just kept trying to get back to the main road that would put us on the CA9 to travel west toward the border with Honduras, which leads straight to the ruin site of Copán. We were using the free map provided by INGUAT, the Guatemalan tourist service, and it was actually quite helpful in getting us where we wanted to go, with limited stress. Even with the very slow moving traffic out of the city toward the east we managed the trip from one side of the city to the other in 1½ hours.
We arrived in Chiquimula, which is about 80 km from the border crossing, with a good part of the afternoon left to find somewhere to spend the night. We were surprised at how affluent the town looked in comparison to the mountain country in the west, with many modern-looking buildings and large bank 'palaces' - the area seems to prosper from surrounding cattle farms. Once again we found the town very crowded and many of the streets narrow, with pedestrians, hand-wheeled carts, bicycles, tuc-tucs, and cars everywhere. This made the search for a couple of recommended places quite difficult. In the end we found a hotel outside of town with plenty of space to camp, and spent a relatively peaceful night. The next morning we were on our way into Honduras.
We had been in Guatemala for almost 10 weeks and enjoyed the countryside a lot. The time spent in Panajachel was very full with Spanish lessons, but we were both getting a bit restless to move by the time it was over. It's good to be back on the road again.


 
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