Saturday, April 06, 2019

Saturday, April 06, 2019

antigua blew me away

Posted by Hippobean at 11:55 PM
Very excited to finally start the Kingdom of the Maya trip. The usual 1 hour ride from Quatemala City airport to Antigua took almost 2 hours due to most horribly heavy traffic. I've never seen traffic this bad. Not even in Southeast Asia. But along the way we got some views of Quatemala. After the monotonous city views, up and down a hill, suddenly we came upon narrow cobblestone streets with brightly colored houses flanking both sides. It was like we just walked into the old colonial era. Very picturesque. Reminiscence of my childhood. Our hotel the Posada Don Rodrigo was an old refurbished colonial house. One of the first five houses in the ciudad de La Antigua Guatemala, the building was known as La Casa de los Leones due to the double lions flanking the building entrance. It was once owned by a Spanish government representative Don Sancho Alvarez de las Asturias Y Nava. Now a hotel with traditional colonial style and character. The rooms had heavy double wooden doors but small windows that looked out to the courtyards, so very dark rooms. Mine had a tiny window, 2 tiny bathrooms, 1 with a sink and shower and another with a sink and toilet. Not practical. But the furniture, bed, desk and armoire went well with the colonial style. Rooms surrounded the 3 separate courtyards. The open area of the restaurant had an altar of Virgin Mary, so maybe once upon a time, it was the family's chapel. Just outside the hotel, on the left we could see the Volcán de Agua and on the other end of the street, the Arco de Santa Catalina, where A stayed 40 years ago in the convent cloisters. Behind it, the Iglesia de la Merced, painted yellow with white accents. In the afternoon, instead of going out to explore town, we just chilled in the courtyard chairs. Possibly one of the best meals in this trip was at the Posada restaurant. We've ordered 2 chicken stews, one Antigua style with red sauce and the Quatemalan in green sauce. The Antigua red won. Absolutely flavorful. However, it came with dark meat and bony so not much to eat. The night was chilly and even under 2 woolen blankets, I felt cold.

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