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Day
2 (March 5, 2014) Antigua
Before
We’ll spend the morning visiting what we haven’t seen in Antigua.
Before lunching, we’ll leave the colonial city to
reach our hotel in Lake Atitlan, after a 80 Km drive, which we should
cover in one hour and twenty minutes. Hotel y Centro de
Convenciones Jardines del Lago
is besides the dock where the
ferries leave. If we have time, we could visit one of the 12 villages
around the lake.
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After
At 4:15 AM we are well awaken. We make some time until 6
AM. At that time, being daylight outside, we feel as we can take our
shower and dress.
At 7 AM the breakfast starts at hotel, but we leave before, walking
along the Central Square, looking for a better option. We find it in
Café Barista, where we eat a sort of omelet covering a mix of cheese,
ham, tomato… delicious! I take my breakfast with a shake of mango and
parsley.
 
Then we turn to the popular arch with the clock. The
streets are looking beautiful: wide, with the floor made by cobbles and
bordered by long and colorful walls hardly higher than 5 meters.
 
 
When we reach the “Merced” we can see a lot of live there.
Today is Ash Wednesday and the people are leaving the church with a
dark cross drawn in their foreheads. We’ve got into a souvenirs store
and started with our shopping. When we explain to the girls in charge
of the store our next step is climbing to the “Cerro de la Cruz”, the
sighting spot in the hill with a nice view of the whole city and the
volcano, if it is not hidden like today. They tell us we only should go
up there in big groups. As we don’t know any big group, we don’t go.
 
Instead, we walk down to Capuchinas and close the circle coming back to the hotel to leave the shopping bags..
 
 
When we’re out again we explore the Central Square nearby,
with the Cathedral and the Palace of the Knights. We take that street
because it ends in the handicraft market, which results to be too
local. Then we get into the Artisan market, which result to be too
touristic.
 
Our time is coming: we must check out hotel no later
than 12 PM and we’ll be picked up at 12:30 PM, so we’re coming back
looking by the shops in our way.
 
Once at hotel, we pay 2000 quetzals as total by the room
and last night dinner. At 12:30 PM exactly our driver appears.
We do the three hours ride in a crowded van, passing through cities and driving manners recalling us to the African ones.
The hotel has got great views to the lake and the three
volcanoes across the lake, but they’re completely hidden. Is it
possible we leave Guatemala without seeing any volcano?!
 
That thought makes us go out to the garden while we’re
lunching at the moment we see Volcano San Pedro silhouette when the sun
is behind it.
 
I eat “ceviche” of shrimps and “tapavenas” and my wife
chooses tomato soup and meat: 180 quetzals in total. We end so full we
go directly to the room and I only go out for a short exploring of
Panajachel town before making our efforts for not being sleeping before
9 PM. We almost manage it.
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