Under the volcanos

We have had a really wonderful day - not just because Christine bought a handbag and a pair of shoes –but because we have been doing one of the things we like to do on holidays and that is to tramp the streets of a beautiful city. That city is Antigua Guatemala where we have spent the day in gloriously warm sunshine. Antigua is a colonial city surrounded by four volcanoes, two of them still active and one of them with two peaks and wherever we went in the city we were aware of their looming presence. Until 1773 when it was heavily damaged by an earthquake Antigua was the capital city and until that time was considered the finest city in central America. Since 1972 efforts have been made to preserve what was left of the city and it is was made a UNESCO World Heritage Site but with another major earthquake in 1972 the conservation attempts received a further setback, Today it is a city full of very attractive and colourful buildings with Maya women in their colourful costumes sitting in the Parque Central or hawking their trinkets and woven goods in the streets. There are many fine religious buildings: 22 churches, 14 convents and 11 monasteries – most of them in ruins with huge pieces of masonry lying around like giant jigsaw puzzles; we have to say that as ruins they seem far more interesting than if they had just been yet another baroque church. Gregg came back with over 100 photographs – it’s a blessing for you, dear reader, that blogger only allows us to upload four or five.



Other attractions in the city include some really good restaurants, an ice cream parlour (today’s flavour of choice: avocado) a few really good coffee shops (it has been hard to find good coffee in central America as most of it is exported to bring much needed income into the countries) – so Gregg has had his fixes of espresso and Christine had a very refined teapot full of Darjeeling, there is also a profusion of flowering plants trees and shrubs. No holiday is complete for Gregg unless he visits at least one cemetery so we went along to the Cementerio San Lazaro but were quite disappointed as all of the tombs were painted white and not the vibrant greens, pinks and yellows we had seen when driving through the villages. Another highlight of the day was the buses.