El viaje

After Jim was fully fixed we went straight to Antigua. Lu was still not on top of things so we started exploring the next day.

The reason why i waited with the post was to loose a little of my initial disappointment. Some times it is better to let the demon cool off. He is not entirely gone and i doubt he will leave entirely. But lets start at the beginning. The every looming danger of the volcanos is quite the sight. Especially as you drive in and see it for the first time.

You can not really look away from it since there is constantly a different cloud getting stuck at the peak. And they move fast, every 5 minutes it looks completely different.

Antigua wasn’t the Spaniards’ first choice for a capital city. That honor goes to Ix-imché, settled in 1524 to keep an eye on the Kaqchiquel, with whom they had an uneasy truce. Things got uneasier when the Kaqchiquel rebelled, so the city was moved in 1527 to present-day Ciudad Vieja on the flanks of Volcán Agua. That didn’t work out either, the town practically disappeared under a mudslide in 1541.

And so it was that on March 10, 1543, La muy Noble y muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de los Caballeros de Goathemala, the Spanish colonial capital of Guatemala, was founded. The long-winded title attests to the founders’ reverence for Saint James, to whom their early military victories were attributed.

Antigua was once the epicenter of power throughout Central America, and during the 17th and 18th centuries little expense was spared on the city’s architecture, despite the regular ominous rumbles from the ground below. Indigenous labor was marshaled to erect schools, hospitals, churches and monasteries, their grandeur only rivaled by the houses of the upper clergy and the politically connected.

At its peak Antigua had 38 churches, as well as a university, printing presses, a newspaper and a lively cultural and political scene. Those rumblings never stopped though and for a year thecity was shaken by earthquakes and tremorsuntil the devastating earthquake of July 29,1773.

A year later, the capital was transferred again, this time to Guatemala City. Antigua was evacuated and plundered for building materials but, despite official mandates that its inhabitants relocate and that the city be systematically dismantled, it was never completely abandoned.

And maybe it should have been.

But the beautiful first. There basically are 6 ruins left that you can visit.

But you have to pay to actually walk in. 80 Quetzales for 2 people. But you pay each time. So 80 times 6 , thats 480. I am not stingy when it comes to these things but i find it ridiculously overpriced because its ruins and they just stand around and they are not being maintained and it takes 2 minutes to look at them and all of Tikal costs 150 all day…

But breathe.

Then as you stroll through the beautiful architecture. This is what you see:

So you walk in and while these buildings have beautiful courtyards:

You are being bombarded with the history of Taco Bell.

And see some gringo or Spanish colonist asshole with a fucking sombrero .

All the while being hustled every 10 steps for having to buy a selfie stick or an equally ugly sombrero.

Knowing that this is the way of things it did not bother us too much but it still leaves a bitter aftertaste. Especially since this supposed to be the highly appraised Antigua!

But the city has more indigenous blood on its hands then people realize and maybe this is just another way of history repeating itself.

Back to beautiful. The hotel.

This was a very good spot for Lus birthday. The view of the volcano, mixed with the flowers and a piece of banana bread was quite the treat.

The feeling was off. Even the letter of Bill Clinton ( who stayed in the hotel) could not help the feeling that now we are being the colonists that are taking advantage.

Even though we waited with the post and we did give Antigua a real chance , it did not make the demons leave.

For people who like unauthentic fake disneyworlds this is just the place. I think seeing the Mayan selling the selfie stick right in front of the expensive hotel right next to the extensive history of Taco Bell is what put the demon in.

We are not one bit surprised the city got destroyed by the gods below.

But Lu is in a good mood and feeling better.

I love you ♥️

Lake Atitlán here we come!