Exploring the Ruins
- jill
- Jun 28, 2021
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 4, 2021
June 14, 2021
Woke up to a lot of noise around 5am...not sure what it was. Lay in bed until about 730, then Charlie came to visit and we played with her ball (almost chewed in half now) and watched RuPaul's Drag Race. Decided to move going to see Cerro de la Cruz (a place with a great view of the city) to tomorrow morning and have a relaxed start to my day. This is the view I woke up to. Incredible.
At about 1000am I called an Uber to go get some breakfast and saw some women and children in the street working bowls of corn to make tortillas later. Right in the middle of the street. I made it to El Local, which is a hidden gem. It is on the inside of a building and has a courtyard with tables. Healthy foods. I ordered avocado toast (with feta, fried egg, lettuce, tomato and chili flakes on thick bread with a side of spicy chips with a garlic mayo sauce) and a tropical smoothie with shaved coconut on top...delicious.
There was another couple there doing some laptop work...speaking English, though she had an accent--German, maybe? They had pretty much set up shop there and ordered coffee. That's the life. At one point it started to rain a bit so we all headed inside where I finished my smoothie.
From there, I headed to Casa Santo Domingo, which is an old monastery built in the 1500s that was destroyed by the earthquake in 1773, and is now a 5 star hotel and bunch of museums. At first, I couldn't figure out how to get in. The museums are closed thanks to COVID, but I thought maybe I could look around the hotel itself. It took me awhile, but I finally found a way in underground. Several pieces were on the walls along the way. Then you come to a courtyard with lots of flora and a parrot who had his own little hut outside to stay dry in the rain which was still coming down. Beautiful fountain there too...but of course it was off thanks to our good friend, the 'rona.
I was determined to find a stronger dog toy for Charlie so I headed to the Antigua Market. On the way there, I stopped at El Viejo Cafe for a mocha and to kill some time before my Antigua walking tour which didn't start until 3. I'm starting to see a lot more stray dogs here, but no cats. Seems all the travel blogs that described what Guatemala was like were referring to Antigua rather than Guate City.
I can't quite figure out driving here--no traffic lights at all in Antigua. Some streets are one-way and some aren't. Some don't look like roads, but are. I can't imagine what this does to the suspension of a car (esp Uber drivers)! I want to give money to everyone here, and I want to feed all the doggies. When I pointed out all the dogs to Erwin, he said that yes, you see them as "babies," but he sees them as a problem. I can't say yes to everyone, so it is easier to just say no to everyone, I guess.
I seem taller than most people.
I bought a toy for Charlie...which was destroyed that evening within about 15 minutes or so. Well, I tried :-)
At 300pm, I am killing time inside Iglesia de Merced, the church where the tour is meeting in 30 minutes. It is very pretty, very old (built in the late 1700s) church...but inside, it looks a bit chintzy compared to Italian churches. No real sculpture or artwork here...just mannequins and fake flowers.
Once again, I wind up the only person on the tour with Klaudia. She speaks okay English, but we speak a combo of English and Spanish to each other which gives me some good practice. It was a really good tour--lots of history, which I like. Saw a lot of ruins and all the tourist spots.
Finally headed back to the Airbnb to play with Charlie and order some dinner. Had some food trouble tonight--the first two places were either not open or didn't have what I wanted, but finally found a panini place that was pretty good.
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