For once, we did not have an epic journey ahead of us to get from one place to another – Antigua was but a mere couple of hours by shuttle from Lake Atitlan. We almost didn’t know what to do with ourselves with less than a half day’s transit ahead of us!

Antigua has a reputation as being quite touristy, and in Guatemala (and most of Central America), that generally means there is a larger expat community living there and in turn, a better and more diverse range of quality restaurants… something which the foodies in us were extremely looking forward to! Especially considering we would be spending Dave’s birthday there and were looking forward to a couple of nice meals out.

As well as better food options (you can get quite sick of rice and beans!), Antigua is also a beautiful, quaint and seemingly well-cared-for town. The small city centre has that same colonial look that Merida had, I guess it is the Spanish influence.

Lots of cobblestone streets laid out in a grid fashion (once you figure out the naming convention, it is almost impossible to get lost!), and the same low, one or two storey colourful terraces that line the streets. I love the colour that the Central Americans are not afraid to use, and wish Australians were a little more brave in painting in their houses. Dave – I am thinking an aqua front with pink windows and a white wrought iron gate…!

A Guatemalan Chicken Bus

It also has a lot of churches!! Like most other towns we have been to, they seem to be mostly Catholic but the imagery and symbolism on some of the walls and sculptures (which was usually designed by the Spanish, executed by the Guatemalans) didn’t always reflect exactly what was planned… unfortunately, when the Spanish found out that the guatemalans labour had essentially been making fun of their religion, the locals were usually executed, the building’s facade destroyed and a new one started. Intense times.

The beautiful yellow and white facade of the La Merced Church (below) is one example of such a church where the locals were not thorough in building what was asked for. The end result though, whatever the path that was taken to finish it, is truly beautiful and the detail is so intricate – stunning to look at, even if a bit macabre considering its history.

One of the other things I love about Antigua is that it is seemingly set in a valley surrounded by mountains, and, volcanos! We were really well and truly entering volcano country now, and Antigua had two of the biggest and best on display, looming over the town, acting as watch guards.

One of these volcanos was Fuego (this one is still active, in fact, its name actually means ‘fire”!), the other is called Acetenango – and within a few days, we would be become VERY well acquainted with these grandiose volcanos. (*You’ll have to read the next blog post to find out more – but the spoiler is, yes, we did see Fuego erupt!)

Antigua in all its colourful glory

Similarly to Lake Atitlan, I really loved living amongst the local Guatemalans and seeing how their days play out and how they spend their time. Despite there being a very large expat community in Antigua (I think it is close to 40% expats!), the locals were front and centre, in all of their colourful costumes, cooking, selling, walking, shopping – and just enjoying their beautiful city.

Antigua life

All sorts of locals in Antigua – even monks!

For Dave’s birthday we started with a gourmet breakfast of crepes and delectable Guatemalan coffee, before heading off on our previously booked foodie and historical walking tour with Arianna, an American expat in her early 30’s and founder of Taste Antigua, who has made beautiful Antigua her home.

The birthday boy with some guatemala coffee – smiles all round!

Taste Antigua Food Tour

Having lived in Antigua for the last three years, Arianna was initially employed for a NGO before realising she had a pretty good idea of the local food hotspots and could offer something new and different to the Antigua tourist market. So she started Taste Antigua, and now makes her living offering foodie tours!

Her tour involved not only a historical background of the town, but also a unique and insightful view into life in Antigua and its residents – expats and Guatemalans alike. We sampled some street food as well as tasty plates from local ‘mum and pops’ comidors, including one that was literally hidden behind a curtain at the back of a newsagency!

Stop 1: El Portal

At our first stop, a little comedor (local restaurant) called El Portal we ate Chile Rellenos – shredded pork and vegetable stuffed bell peppers. The decor was super cute and the clientele was most certainly a local focus. The stuffed peppers were very tasty and also came with a vegetable broth soup which was also really tasty. I was conscious not to eat too much of the rice though after our Eat Mexico walking tour experience!

Stop 2: Streetfood Tamales

Our second stop was the street stand of a lovely old man. Apparently he has been on the same spot near the Tanque de la Union Park next to the San Pedro Church for years, selling Chuchitos. These are tamales wrapped in corn husks, and we tried one which was mostly veggies with a bit of chicken thrown in.  Look how adorable the old guy is! And also here is Dave ready to sample his tamale

Stop 3: Dona Maria Gordilla

For our third stop, we jumped ahead to sweets and stopped in a  very elegant store that is famous in Antiguaa for its desserts and fudge, called Dona Maria Gordillo. Here we had Canillitas de Leche (white milk fudge- ERMAGAHD this was amazing!) and Colochos de Guayaba (which were jellied guava curls and surprisingly were nicely balanced and not overpoweringly sweet).  I definitely enjoyed this stop more than Dave ;0)

Stop 4: Odilia’s

Our fourth stop was actually a little hole in the wall stand we had walked past the previous day and tried to eat here (the smell attracted us!), but the two tables were already taken and we couldn’t be bothered waiting. So it was great when we discovered this was part of the tour!

The lady running this actually blew our minds, she was simultaneously making tortillas from the masa dough, then frying them, as well as cooking the pork and chicken, serving the customers and plating up each meal. She was adorable and her food was a highlight of the tour.

We tried Pupusas de Queso (an El Salvador in origin dish which is a tortilla stuffed with, in this case, beans and cheese) and topped with a pickled cabbage salad, as well as a barbecued pork fillet called Adobado – this was delicious, especially with the pickled red onion! Of course, there was a lots of frioles (refried beans!).

Stop 5: La Canche

Our final stop was probably the most bizarre – we went into what looked like a teeny news agency, walked past the counter through a curtain and into a dark room where a guatemalan family were sitting down to their lunch.

Arianna pulled up a few chairs at another small table and before we knew it we had a stew, called Rellenito de Platano, in front of us! Arriana referred to the stew as comfort food, and combined with the nann style tortilla, she was right!

Our final dish was another dessert although not super sweet, called Pepian. This is basically made from plantain (kind of like banana but used similarly to potato in that it replaces fries over here) and cacao – it was like a donut but much denser and not so sugary – I like

All in all, Arianna runs a slick business – the food was good although didn’t really blow us away, but I think that speaks more to the tastes of the traditional Guatemalan dishes than her tour itself. If you’re ever interested in seeing Antigua with an insider and tasting some good local food, I recommend Taste Antigua for sure! Here is her Website and her Facebook page.

More Birthday Shenanigans

Later that afternoon, we caught up with Mick and Kath who were almost finished a week of Spanish classes in Antigua, and with whom we had arranged to catch up for dinner and birthday drinks. Starting at a pub called the Londoner, we enjoyed a few cold beers over some English tunes, then moved to a funky wine bar where the more glasses of wine you order, the cheaper they get – my kind of wine bar!

Next stop of our pseudo-pub crawl was a teeny little hole in the wall bar called the Snug, and whilst it may have fit 10 people comfortably, there were about 20 of us in there so it was nice and cosy!

When the barmaid found out it was Dave’s birthday, she sent a tequila shot his way, and one for Mick as well. After quickly shooting this down with lemon and salt, she proceeded to send another THREE Dave’s way! Glad this was not me, as tequila and I do not have a great history together, and I only have to smell it to feel sick!

Birthday Shots!

After another few drinks at the Slug, we thought it might be time to line the stomachs and so we headed to Pappy’s BBQ Steakhouse, renowned for its Texan-owners pulled pork and bbq ribs. Just what the birthday boy had ordered!

Little did we know, but we arrived just in time for the monthly quiz night, and with a delicious meat platter in front of us, and numerous drinks under our belt, we gave the other competitors a good run for their money. The birthday boy was in particularly good form, especially with the first round of questions, which were focused on music – right up Dave’s alley!

By the time the quiz came to an end, we were certainly very jolly and, surprise surprise, we actually finished up in second place in the quiz, to the surprise of pretty much everyone around us! It was a great night, but it wasn’t over yet – we finished up with another few drinks at the Snug, before calling it a night. Luckily for Dave and I, we had the luxury of a sleep-in the following day whilst poor Mick and Kath had an 8am Spanish class to get to… sorry guys!

I wish I had more photos of this night, because it just got funnier and funnier, – unfortunately (or fortunately?!) we were all too busy having a grab time so the shots pics are all that I managed to take!

More Antigua

On one of our other days in Antigua, we just wandered around exploring, and meandering – the best way to see a place in my opinion!

The famous Antigua clock tower – its on all the postcards so we had to get our pic taken in front of it!

Whilst with Arianna we had learnt Antigua used to be the country’s capital until earthquake after earthquake decimated it, and the country finally decided to move the capital to Guatemala City – seemingly a very common thing in Central America!

One of the victims of the earthquakes was the huge cathedral on the edge of the main town square. We decided to make a special trip back to visit the cathedral ruins – they were pretty crazy, and what was even more amazing was that if you didn’t know to look behind the existing Cathedral, you would never find the stunning ruins!

Behind the façade of the existing large (but relatively simple) cathedral are actually the ruins of the huge cathedral that loomed over the town square all those decades ago. After one too many earthquakes bought the city to its knees, the council decide not to even clear away the rubble of the decimated Cathedral, and so you can walk amongst the ceiling-less walls and see where the huge domes of the original(ish) Cathedral were.

Cathedral Ruins

The New Cathedral

Casa Rustica

Our accommodation whilst in Antigua was a cute little guesthouse called Hotel Casa Rustica, and it was a pretty budget friendly option right in the centre of the action. I think we paid about $40 a night for our private room with ensuite, and we had access to a full kitchen, a couple of rooftop terraces and basically a pretty, clean and welcoming place to come back to each afternoon.

They also kindly gave us a discounted room on our last night as we would be leaving at 2am to catch the loooong shuttle to Leon, so I would also highly recommend them.

Antigua, all in all, was a great spot to spend a few days and a lovely place with lovely people. As I mentioned, we also celebrated Dave’s birthday here which makes it extra memorable.

However I haven’t yet shared with you Dave’s birthday present from his lovely parents which involved the aforementioned volcanoes Fuego and Acatenango… stay tuned for the next blog to find out more… !