Adventures in Central America: Antigua, Guatemala

50!  Today I flew from Houston to Guatemala, and have now visited fifty countries in my lifetime.

After landing at GUA, I made use of a friendly shoeshine man to find a shuttle for Antigua, Guatemala's first colonial capital, and the main tourist centre.  When the man found out where I was from he was very excited and asked what the exchange rate was between Canadian dollars and American dollars, which seemed odd.  He was disappointed when I told him a Canadian dollar was worth about 70 US cents.  The question seemed much less odd when he pulled out a Canadian $5, then a loonie and a toonie and asked if I would exchange them for American.  At first I was thinking this had to be a scam, but all appeared legit.  I offered him $5 US, then we both agreed $6 was better, so I made the deal.  Of course Canadian currency is useless to me right now and the US cash was useful, but I was happy to help.

Anyway, I was the first one on the shuttle, and had to wait maybe twenty minutes for some more passengers.  Then we drove into Guatemala City and to a hotel where, lo and behold, we picked up three flight attendants from the flight I had just come in on.  They had already had a chance to check in and change.

Guatemala city traffic was awful, so half of the 90 or so minutes from GUA to Antigua was spent in traffic jams  Eventually however we got out of the city and onto the Pan-American Highway (Central American Highway 1).  The highway climbed significantly as we left Guatemala City and there were some good views down below.  We made good time and soon left the CA1 to take another highway that descended extremely sharply into Antigua.

Once here, I walked to my hostel, Hostel Villa Esthella.

There, go figure, a girl from Ottawa checked me in.  My room is adequate; the hostel's highlight is clearly it's rooftop terrace, with views of Antigua and the hills and volcanoes around it.

I headed out to get cash, eat a late lunch, and climb up to a place called Cerro de la Cruz (hill of the cross), where there is a large cross and an outlook over Antigua.

Unfortunately it was quite hazy this afternoon, so the view was limited.

Antigua reminds me a lot of the Panama City neighborhood of Panama Viejo, where my brother and I stayed in 2015.  Lots of old buildings, many restored, and plenty of tourist infrastructure--small guesthouses/hotels/hostels, cafes, restaurants, and so on.  

There are certain buildings (mostly churches, I think), that can be toured, but really just walking the streets feels exotic and museum-like.