Antigua

Last weekend (my last full weekend in Guatemala) we decided to travel to Antigua. So Matt, Alex and I hopped in a checked bus early Saturday morning and made our way west to Antigua.

So first off - our chicken bus driver was a LUNATIC. At this point we have been on quite a few chicken buses, and they always take corners a little fast and speed through residential areas like a bat out of hell, but this guys was just "loco."  It was reminiscent of the double decker bus from Harry Potter driven by a shrunken head - luggage was flying off the overhead area and smashing innocent grandmas and you had to have two hands white knuckling the handle bars and two feet firmly planted on the floor to avoid being dislodged from your seat. I would say that maybe it was just that we were gringos and didn't know this is how things were done, but on this bus, native Guatemalan and gringo alike was white knuckled wondering if each turn may be our last.

Anyways, we survived and made it to Antigua (not mentioning our connecting chicken bus which was so full that each seat had three adults and then people in the aisle) in one piece!

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL CITY!  Apparently Antigua used to be the capital of Guatemala so there were a large number of Catholic Churches built that now lie abandoned and in ruin due to a decrease in population when the capital was moved to Guatemala City.

So we took a walking tour and ate and drank our way through the city.

Here is a selection of pics:

All in all it was a great day! So we made our way back to our luxury hostel and hung out on the roof deck partaking in a few beers!

Here are some pictures from our hostel:

We headed back on a Sunday! All in all a great weekend - other than my bout with traveler's diarrhea. But we'll leave that for another story!