Sunday, Day 2 in Antigua, Guatemala
Day 5 of vacation, day 3 of Antigua, another 5 to go.
Current photograph count: 729
It will probably take me months to go through all the photographs I've taken here. Well, that's the downside of getting a digital camera, I suppose.
Sunday, we got ourselves oriented in Antigua, went to the ruined cathedral that in front of the main market square, and visited an abandoned cloister.
We also thought we reserved a hotel room at a cheaper hotel for the rest of our stay (more on that later).
Background: Antigua is famous for the number of churches/cathedrals it has. There are dozens of them, and this is a quite small town, easily walkable from end to end in less than an hour. Most of these churches were destroyed in earthquakes in the 18th and 19th centuries (that's what being at the foot of an active volcano will do for you). Note: I don't actually have my guidebook with me at present, so this is to the best of my recollection, which is not that good, as most of you know.
We were woken up early by the chimes of church bells calling the hour - the 6 a.m. hour, to be precise. And then the 7 a.m., and then - eventually we rolled out of bed. Casa de Santa Clara has an automatic coffee machine that produces steaming full cups of bitter black coffee, and a bowl of sugar is put out to be added. When we walked out of the hotel, we were startled to see a parade of tuk-tuks driving by in a blare of horns, streaming balloons and flags. After wandering around trying to find a good, non-crowded, reasonably priced place for breakfast, we ended up eating lunch at 11:30 at La Casa de Flan, a small restaurant off the main market square with French posters up all over the inside and an eclectic menu. Phil had a burger (that he now blames for making him sick) and I had the "traditional" carne tacos. In Guatemala, traditional seems to mean meat and sauce wrapped around in what is similar to a thick corn tamale coating and then fried, served with lettuce and quesa on top. It's tasty, but not what I would immediately identify as a taco.
The Antique Book Museum is located off the main square. It is a couple of rooms of glass cases holding pages of manuscripts and just general old books, the sort that one could find at a used-book store. It is somewhat interesting, but not necessarily worth the price of admission, and not a must-see.
Then we visited Convent Las Capuchinas, a convent that fell to ruins but is gradually being restored. Usually this costs a small fee to enter, but we happened across it when a coffee festival was being held in the main courtyard, so access to the buildings and grounds was free. Also, free coffee! The convent has been repaired back into good condition, and we could see the nuns' cells, the ancient stone cathedral, and descend into the basement. If you come to Antigua, it is well worth the trip. They are in the middle of transforming some of the upper chambers into a museum, and apparently also hold film festivals inside the old stone cathedral. If there ever was any ornamentation, it is long since gone, but age and history permeate the stone structure in the same way as in the castles of Europe. Tropical plants edge the small park on the convent's grounds, where families like to sit and relax in the afternoon. Little kids were playing an impromptu game of football (soccer) when we visited. The underground chamber doesn't seem like much at first, but one of the other visitors had a lovely tenor voice, and as soon as he sang, we understood. It makes a wonderful sound chamber. The sound resonated through the chamber as if a choir of Gregorian monks had snuck in behind us.
Next, we went to the ruins of Catedral de Santiago, which borders one side of Antigua's Main Plaza. The original cathedral was built in 1543 and destroyed by an earthquake. Most of it has not been restored, though the surviving walls and sculptured arches have been maintained. Fallen columns lie across the ground, and tropical flowers blossom in the corners. Stone saints and angels stare down with blank eyes at the tourists intruding into their territory. There are burial crypts beneath the old cathedral, but the bones themselves have gone astray over the centuries. There is an underground altar guarded by a soot-blackened Crucifixion. At first, I couldn't figure out why my flash photographs were coming back with huge light bubbles on them, until I realized it was the carbon reflecting back from all the walls of the underground tomb/altar. While we were walking around the ruins, a young Guatemalan boy, a tourist, climbed into one of the high empty stone shrines and did a standard saintly pose, hands clasped, eyes raised to heaven - much to the amusement of everybody within eyeshot.
We also saw the rebuilt church (technically not a cathedral) next to the ruins. Though it was a Sunday, we were fortunate in our timing, as we snuck in between services and so avoided the glares of those who came to worship. Life-size statues of the saints and Jesus lined the walls of the church, and the main altar was a golden marvel.
The Kafka Cafe is a restaurant that you won't find in any guidebook, but we were well-pleased to discover it. In a town where most meals cost 40-60 Quetzals at the reasonably priced restaurants and expensive meals easily run 100-150Q, Kafka's costs 25-40Q, and they offer a few true bargains: notably, a peanut butter sandwich for Q5, and a delicious"traditional breakfast" of toast, egg, fried plantains, black beans, and coffee for Q10. Their Q8 Cuba Libres (Rum and Coke) attract the backpacker crowd, or those who want to relax (literally - they have hammocks) in a casual environment. I had the BBQ Chicken, which was just cooked chicken with barbecue sauce poured over it; not fine dining, but not bad either. Phil ordered the Bolognese Pasta, which was more buttery than a standard American spaghetti but entirely delicious!
Phil also fulfilled one of his primary missions for this trip: the purchase of Cuban rum and Cuban cigars.
On our way back to our hotel room after a relaxing dinner, we got caught in a sudden downpour. The heavens opened up, the streets cleared (an impressive feat in Antigua), and the Rain Gods scoffed at the feeble powers of our sole umbrella, a small green plastic thing purchased earlier in the day. I got soaked up to mid-thigh by the rain, but the umbrella performed its duty of shielding my camera from the rain. Phil was on his own; he turtled under the Lynx windbreaker he'd thrown into his suitcase at the last minute. It was a wise decision - our backpack (on his back) stayed relatively dry. However, our pants, socks, and shoes were dripping when we arrived back in the hotel. By now, we've learned that in the rainy season, nothing will dry from being hung up in the bathroom; it's been 2 nights, and the clothing is still damp. Our shoes dried on our feet the next day during our trip to Lake Atitlan.
Side note: Entertainingly, the owner of this internet cafe seems to be quite fond of The Black-Eyed Peas. And now I've spent my allotted time here. More later, of course.
Current photograph count: 729
It will probably take me months to go through all the photographs I've taken here. Well, that's the downside of getting a digital camera, I suppose.
Sunday, we got ourselves oriented in Antigua, went to the ruined cathedral that in front of the main market square, and visited an abandoned cloister.
We also thought we reserved a hotel room at a cheaper hotel for the rest of our stay (more on that later).
Background: Antigua is famous for the number of churches/cathedrals it has. There are dozens of them, and this is a quite small town, easily walkable from end to end in less than an hour. Most of these churches were destroyed in earthquakes in the 18th and 19th centuries (that's what being at the foot of an active volcano will do for you). Note: I don't actually have my guidebook with me at present, so this is to the best of my recollection, which is not that good, as most of you know.
We were woken up early by the chimes of church bells calling the hour - the 6 a.m. hour, to be precise. And then the 7 a.m., and then - eventually we rolled out of bed. Casa de Santa Clara has an automatic coffee machine that produces steaming full cups of bitter black coffee, and a bowl of sugar is put out to be added. When we walked out of the hotel, we were startled to see a parade of tuk-tuks driving by in a blare of horns, streaming balloons and flags. After wandering around trying to find a good, non-crowded, reasonably priced place for breakfast, we ended up eating lunch at 11:30 at La Casa de Flan, a small restaurant off the main market square with French posters up all over the inside and an eclectic menu. Phil had a burger (that he now blames for making him sick) and I had the "traditional" carne tacos. In Guatemala, traditional seems to mean meat and sauce wrapped around in what is similar to a thick corn tamale coating and then fried, served with lettuce and quesa on top. It's tasty, but not what I would immediately identify as a taco.
The Antique Book Museum is located off the main square. It is a couple of rooms of glass cases holding pages of manuscripts and just general old books, the sort that one could find at a used-book store. It is somewhat interesting, but not necessarily worth the price of admission, and not a must-see.
Then we visited Convent Las Capuchinas, a convent that fell to ruins but is gradually being restored. Usually this costs a small fee to enter, but we happened across it when a coffee festival was being held in the main courtyard, so access to the buildings and grounds was free. Also, free coffee! The convent has been repaired back into good condition, and we could see the nuns' cells, the ancient stone cathedral, and descend into the basement. If you come to Antigua, it is well worth the trip. They are in the middle of transforming some of the upper chambers into a museum, and apparently also hold film festivals inside the old stone cathedral. If there ever was any ornamentation, it is long since gone, but age and history permeate the stone structure in the same way as in the castles of Europe. Tropical plants edge the small park on the convent's grounds, where families like to sit and relax in the afternoon. Little kids were playing an impromptu game of football (soccer) when we visited. The underground chamber doesn't seem like much at first, but one of the other visitors had a lovely tenor voice, and as soon as he sang, we understood. It makes a wonderful sound chamber. The sound resonated through the chamber as if a choir of Gregorian monks had snuck in behind us.
Next, we went to the ruins of Catedral de Santiago, which borders one side of Antigua's Main Plaza. The original cathedral was built in 1543 and destroyed by an earthquake. Most of it has not been restored, though the surviving walls and sculptured arches have been maintained. Fallen columns lie across the ground, and tropical flowers blossom in the corners. Stone saints and angels stare down with blank eyes at the tourists intruding into their territory. There are burial crypts beneath the old cathedral, but the bones themselves have gone astray over the centuries. There is an underground altar guarded by a soot-blackened Crucifixion. At first, I couldn't figure out why my flash photographs were coming back with huge light bubbles on them, until I realized it was the carbon reflecting back from all the walls of the underground tomb/altar. While we were walking around the ruins, a young Guatemalan boy, a tourist, climbed into one of the high empty stone shrines and did a standard saintly pose, hands clasped, eyes raised to heaven - much to the amusement of everybody within eyeshot.
We also saw the rebuilt church (technically not a cathedral) next to the ruins. Though it was a Sunday, we were fortunate in our timing, as we snuck in between services and so avoided the glares of those who came to worship. Life-size statues of the saints and Jesus lined the walls of the church, and the main altar was a golden marvel.
The Kafka Cafe is a restaurant that you won't find in any guidebook, but we were well-pleased to discover it. In a town where most meals cost 40-60 Quetzals at the reasonably priced restaurants and expensive meals easily run 100-150Q, Kafka's costs 25-40Q, and they offer a few true bargains: notably, a peanut butter sandwich for Q5, and a delicious"traditional breakfast" of toast, egg, fried plantains, black beans, and coffee for Q10. Their Q8 Cuba Libres (Rum and Coke) attract the backpacker crowd, or those who want to relax (literally - they have hammocks) in a casual environment. I had the BBQ Chicken, which was just cooked chicken with barbecue sauce poured over it; not fine dining, but not bad either. Phil ordered the Bolognese Pasta, which was more buttery than a standard American spaghetti but entirely delicious!
Phil also fulfilled one of his primary missions for this trip: the purchase of Cuban rum and Cuban cigars.
On our way back to our hotel room after a relaxing dinner, we got caught in a sudden downpour. The heavens opened up, the streets cleared (an impressive feat in Antigua), and the Rain Gods scoffed at the feeble powers of our sole umbrella, a small green plastic thing purchased earlier in the day. I got soaked up to mid-thigh by the rain, but the umbrella performed its duty of shielding my camera from the rain. Phil was on his own; he turtled under the Lynx windbreaker he'd thrown into his suitcase at the last minute. It was a wise decision - our backpack (on his back) stayed relatively dry. However, our pants, socks, and shoes were dripping when we arrived back in the hotel. By now, we've learned that in the rainy season, nothing will dry from being hung up in the bathroom; it's been 2 nights, and the clothing is still damp. Our shoes dried on our feet the next day during our trip to Lake Atitlan.
Side note: Entertainingly, the owner of this internet cafe seems to be quite fond of The Black-Eyed Peas. And now I've spent my allotted time here. More later, of course.