Antigua -

Trip Start Aug 16, 2003

Trip End Apr 21, 2004

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Where I stayed

Hotel La Sin Ventura Antigua Guatemala

(Antigua Guatemala hotels)

Flag of Guatemala Antigua, Guatemala
Monday, February 23, 2004

Flores is ranked second next to La Aurora in Guatemala City, in the country's league table of important airports...which amused us as it resembled little more than one of the second class bus terminals we had waited at in Mexico, but with considerably less technology. As an international airport, this did not inspire much confidence, and we were both acutely aware of the less than encouraging safety record of flights in this part of the world. Looking at our tiny twin-prop plane as we strolled out across the tarmac to board did not alleviate our worries, but in fact, we had little to fret over, as our trip on the Racsa flight lasted only one hour and was without incident. It was when we touched down in Guatemala City that we realised something was amiss...

We had assumed that we would be deposited at the main terminal of the capital, jump in a shuttle-bus and take a short ride to Antigua. On collecting our luggage from the hold of the plane ourselves, and with no terminal building in sight, we discovered we were on our own, and miles from anywhere

At Another Town Square

. It transpired that we had bought a ticket very much within the budget range, and as a result were delivered to the cargo/freight airport. No taxis would stop for us (it seemed everybody else had telephoned ahead) and our location did not appear on our map. We had also run out of Guatemalan Quetzales as there were no banks on Flores...

After waiting in vain for a quarter of an hour, I decided that we should try and find an ATM and hail a cab from somewhere more populated. Thankfully, we were soon able to withdraw some cash and jump in a taxi for a fifteen minute journey to the main airport. From there we had to fight our way past security guards to enter the arrivals part of the terminal so that we could book ourselves on a shuttle-bus to Antigua.

Another crazy drive ensued and just under an hour later, we pulled up at our hotel in the pretty, tourist town of Antigua. As it was a Sunday night we found that many of the restaurants were closed and our first two choices were not available. The town was very quiet and so we finally plumped for a Mexican place near to our lodgings.

Continuing our state of 'nothing going to plan', the hotel or reservation service we had used in the capital had cocked up our booking and we had to change hotels the following morning

Examples of Houses In Antigua

. Once again relying on the Lonely Planet Guide, we booked into 'La Sin Ventura', described as having 'sparkling rooms'. We shortly discovered that they were in fact the complete antithesis of sparkling - our description would involve words such as drab, dingy and depressing. Still, it was only for one night!

Not wishing to spend any longer than was necessary indoors, we made our way a couple of doors up the street and had a fabulous breakfast at Cafe Condessa. We have really enjoyed sampling the excellent coffee here in Guatemala, and so we enjoyed more than one cup each before buying a pound of roasted beans to take home with us.

We spent the afternoon exploring the town, but both felt that we had now had our fill of wandering around the same type of locations: the obligatory town square, the church, the cathedral etc - it had all become a bit routine, sadly. I think at this point, because of this and given the dismal appearance of our room, we both began to feel pretty homesick. We noticed that we had begun talking more and more of returning home and what comforts/luxuries/everyday items we were looking forward to. We consoled ourselves with the fact that we would soon be doing something slightly different in the lakeside town of Panajachel, and then again in Honduras, but home has definitely become more and more appealing

Guatemala, Gotta Love It!

!

During the evening as we crossed the town square to go out for dinner, we noticed the profusion of armed 'Tourist Police'. We felt a certain ambivalence towards them, as on one hand, their presence was reassuring, yet on the other, their necessity was disconcerting. The 'powers-that-be' had decreed that their services were necessary in order to dispel the growing incidences of tourist muggings and assaults and have stationed these officers at strategic points around the town. The police would even act as guides to take tourists to known trouble spots, but we felt we could probably live without a nocturnal visit to the cemetery (one of the areas covered)!

We had booked another shuttle-bus to take us to Panajachel, but were not due to be picked up until 12.30 pm the following day. We once again enjoyed a fantastic breakfast at Cafe Condessa and wandered around to a launderette to pick up our washing from the previous afternoon. As we turned into a side-street, we noticed something of a commotion, with the ends of the road cordoned off to traffic. Soon spotting a number of cameras (tv and still) and a swathe of skimpily-clad beauties (I'm not sure in which order I noticed them!) we realised that we had stumbled across a photo-shoot with about half a dozen models! Purely in the interests of providing evidence of this unexpected (and quite frankly) fascinating spectacle, I joined the throngs of (male) onlookers in taking a few snaps myself! Mysteriously, I did not feel quite so homesick, all of a sudden!

With Andrea dragging me away, we left the scene to the professionals and made ourselves ready for our trip to the Lago de Atitlan and Panajachel.

Dan and Andrea