Day 3
Coming from our stay at Lake Atitlan, we thought Uber might be scarce, so our Airbnb host arranged our driver from Panajachel to Antigua. We wanted to spend a night visiting the historic town of Antigua, and it was going to make a good base for our trip to the airport the next day since it was much closer to Guate City. The drive away from Lake Atitlan was much quicker this time, but unfortunately, was much more for difficult for me. The stomach bug was back and the smell of cigarette smoke permeated the car. That combo was no good for my nausea. To make it worse, the road from Lake Atitlan to Antigua was a winding highway down the mountains, and our driver seemed to take pride in his sharp, fast turns. I was hesitant to ask him to adjust his driving because we really wanted to reach our destination quickly, but the drive was pretty miserable.
When we reached our hotel in Antigua, I had to rest for a little bit before seeing the town. Scott used this time to plan a great “itinerary” for the afternoon. As soon as I started feeling better, we walked past the Antigua Central Park and hit up a local soup restaurant. Our late lunch at La Casa de las Sopas hit the spot. I had a beef soup, and Scott had a pumpkin-based soup (their two most recommended dishes). We were literally trading bites because we couldn’t decide which one was better. By this time the rain was pouring, so we hustled down the street to Ferndando’s Kaffee for some authentic Guatemalan coffee souvenirs and a couple cappuccinos to pass the time until the rain let up. Our package of coffee beans lasted about one week back home – loved it!
As soon as the rain let up, we headed back towards the Antigua Guatemala Cathedral. It was beautiful in person. I am always so awestruck by the intricate architectural details in these cathedrals. I would have loved to look inside, but Mass was on-going, and I am not willing to disrespect that. We continued our walk and went under the famous Santa Catalina Arch. Another stunning piece of architecture on our walk! We capped off our outing with a quick visit to the Antigua Brewing Company. We saw the brewery while walking around town, and decided on a spur-of-the-moment stop and enjoyed a couple delicious beers. They were already doing steady business, but it looked like they were setting up for a bigger crowd that night.
Unfortunately my stomach bug was still bothering me. We had wanted to experience some of the Antigua nightlife. We even had some bar recommendations from friends, but I was only up for a quick dinner before settling into our hotel room for the night. Our hotel, Palacio de Dona Leonor, was gorgeous – a converted aristocratic mansion. Its location was perfect, just a block off the main park and central to everything we wanted to see, and it was a lovely place to spend the evening.
Day 4
Blue skies and pancakes were on the agenda for the next morning. After waking up to great weather, we walked across the central park to a place serving the most fantastic pancakes and bacon. We scarfed down our meals at Café Condesa and did a little bit more walking around town since we didn’t get to see as much as we wanted the day before. Antigua is so easy to navigate that in just an hour or two, we had wandered across a few churches, some church ruins, and a market just getting set up for the day. The colorful buildings around the city created a vibrant atmosphere.
Soon enough we were grabbing another Uber and heading to the airport. The drive was blessedly short in comparison to our previous rides (about a half hour), and check in for our flight was a breeze. Just make sure to have a pen on hand to fill our your immigration card before security! Mine ran out of ink mid-form, so we had to buy another “souvenir” in the airport in order to finish filling out the paperwork. All in all, our travel back to Houston was incredibly smooth, including another appreciated upgrade to first class (thanks Scott!). Not a moment too soon, we were at my mom’s house hugging our kiddos. The time Scott and I had together was needed and cherished, but we were both more than ready to wrap our arms around J and A.
