AI CULTURA 2024 Central America & Colombia: DAYS 26-29 (31 January – 3 February 2024) GUATEMALA: Antigua, Chichicastenango, San Jorge La Laguna, Panajachel San Juan La Laguna.

We were sad to leave our hotel on the water and over a croc !!! Today was a big day of driving starting with the 10min boat ride back to Rio Dulce Port where an older mini-van was waiting to take us on at least an 8hr drive to Antigua. After just an hour the landscape started changing. The lush green jungle gave way to less green open fields with emerging mountains in the distance. Two hours in and we were in dry, brown conditions full of mountains and climbing to over 1,000m. We stopped at a huge restaurant for lunch. Once again I swapped lunch for my blog, eager to finish Post 9 since my work on the minivan was quite uncomfortable. Mission accomplished. The landscape got more and more mountainous as we headed southwest along a huge highway that was named after the first President following the 1944 revolution. This highway connects the Caribbean to the Pacific and was meant to compete with the Panama Canal but never quite got there. There are plenty of local semi-trailers taking goods from the Pacific (mainly from China) to the Caribbean by road but not much international business.

At around 1430 the sun came out and we passed by Guatemala City (Pop 3,095,000) the capital and largest city. This place is 1535m above sea level and the city is spread out over several hills criss-crossed by many valleys. Lots of mountains surround the city with dwellings clutching on for dear life. The traffic is horrendous and the city looks run down and untidy. We did not see the colonial city centre. Guatemala City is the site of the Mayan city of Kaminaljuyu, founded around 1500 BC. Following an earthquake in La Antigua in 1776 it was made capital of the Captaincy General of Guatemala. In 1821, Guatemala City was the scene of the declaration of independence of Central America from Spain, after which it became the capital of the newly established United Provinces of Central America (not including Mexico, Belize or Panama). In 1847, Guatemala declared itself an independent republic, with Guatemala City as its capital. Guatemala City and the original location in Antigua Guatemala were almost completely destroyed by the 1917–18 earthquakes. Reconstructions following the earthquakes have resulted in a more modern architectural landscape.

The remaining 1.5hr drive to Antigua is very scenic and very mountainous rising to 2145m before the descent down into Antigua at 1615m. Antigua (Pop 94,298) is striking. It immediately reminded Antonia and I of Puebla in Mexico – the iconic classic colonial colourful town. It is surrounded by three massive volcanoes: Agua, Acatenango and Fuego. This alone made it our favourite city/town/village on this trip so far – better than Puebla. Agua is dormant, 7.5km from town and rises to a summit at 3,760m putting it 2,145m above the town so it is incredibly dominant and visible from almost every street. Agua last erupted some 10,000 years ago. Acatenango is also dormant, 23.3km from town and has two summits, one at 3,880m and the other at 3,976m putting it 2,361m above the town. Acatenango last erupted in 1972. Finally, Fuego is actually joined to Acatenango but is currently active with small explosions of gas and ash occurring every 15-20 minutes. We actually saw this happen 5 times whilst drinking two beers on a rooftop bar !!!, Fuego is 16km from town and has a summit reaching 3,768 putting it 2,153m above the town. The bad news is that you cannot climb Fuego but the good news is that you can climb Acatenango next door and peer into the active cone of Fuego. Antonia and I will be doing this on 4FEB2024 – so get ready for that one !!!

On arrival in Antigua, we checked in and went on an orientation walk with Aquilino at 1630. This town is gorgeous. Colourful and classic. Back to Baroque on all the churches and the best thing about it are the three volcanoes looming over the structures – it is surreal. We ended up in a Craft Beer Brewery with a rooftop bar. Sipped on a 6% Local XPA as we watched Fuego cough up gas and ash 5 times as the sun set behind it and Acatenango. Simply magic. No wonder this place is the jewel in the Guatemalan Crown !!! Antigua was founded in 1524 and the capital of Guatemala and Central America from 1543 to 1773 when an earthquake damaged it to the extent that the capital was moved to Guatemala City. It was UNESCO protected from 1979 and local council has a strict policy that no modern buildings are allowed to be built. Any new buildings must be designed like the older ones and made to look old !!! Downtown McDonalds is a great example of this hidden inside an orange stucco building with wooden shutters and no arches !!! Antonia and I decided to get some more wine, cheese and olives together with local hamburgers instead of tacos and watch another Stallone movie – CLIFFHANGER !!! She loved it.

The following morning at 6am I went for my 10km run in what turned out to be the most scenic and magical run to date. I saw the sun rise over town and splash orange yellow light on all three volcanoes – magic. The only tough thing about the run was the cobblestone streets and roads – they played havoc on my knees. We then set off at 830am for our overnight home stay in a local Maya home in a little village called San Jorge La Laguna, 104km from Antigua on the very large Lake Atitlan surrounded by volcanoes.

On the way we stopped to visit the town of Chichicastenango (Pop 81,220). The road leading here follows a ridgeline with views on either side. We could see the distant volcanoes of Lake Atitlan as we topped out at 2600m. Chichicastenango is a K'iche' Maya cultural centre. 98.5% of the municipality's population is indigenous Mayan K'iche. Of the population, 21% speak only K'iche, 71% speak both K'iche and Spanish, and the remaining 8% speak only Spanish. This town is famous for its handmade textiles (especially women’s clothing), its markets and its Synchrotheistic Catholic-Sharman Faith, very similar to the town of San Juan Chamula in Mexico. On arrival we walked to the famous local markets selling anything and everything. So colourful. So crowded. So many things to buy. Next to the market is the 400-year-old church of Santo Tomás. It is built atop a Pre-Columbian temple platform. K'iche' Maya priests still use the church for their rituals, burning incense and candles. In special cases, they burn a chicken for the gods. Each of the 18 stairs that lead up to the church stands for one month of the Maya calendar year. We had the good fortune to meet a K'iche' Maya priest or “Sharman” but the later term is not popular. He explained the Sharman beliefs, which ground themselves in the four natural elements of Earth, Wind, Water and Fire. They believe in the natural healing powers of these elements and they perform many long rituals to heal people of physical, mental and even spiritual ailments. They believe in multiple gods and in reincarnation. He then performed a cleaning ritual on those who wanted it. His wife assisted. From here it was a short walk to the colourful K'iche' Maya Cemetery which contains tombs of every size, shape and colour. After this it was loads of free time, which was all spent shopping by Antonia. I tagged along as an accessory and occasional adviser. She did well and bought everything she wanted and at good prices. Things were cheap and reasonable quality for the price.

Our final drive to our overnight family stay in San Jorge La Laguna was only 32km but took 2 bloody hours to get to due to the incredibly windy and twisty and uphill road. A spectacular view unfolded as we made the descent from a high of 2600m towards Lake Atitlan. Side note to say that Mobile Data in Guatemala is excellent. Antonia and I bought a 1GB eSim for 15 days at only $7.50USD and it was mostly 4G in most places that we drove. Australia should be ashamed. Antonia and I were lucky. Our homestay was right on the central square in front of San Jorge (St George) Church. The others had to walk and climb. We stayed in different houses in pairs. All our hosts were in front of the church to greet us. Our host Teresa greeted us and took us to her humble home just seconds away. Teresa has a big family. She is one of seven siblings. She lost her husband in 2011 and had to raise her six children alone, the youngest being 8 and eldest 18. Teresa lost one of her sons in a building accident just 3 years ago. Teresa turns 50 next week. A difficult but amazing life. She couldn’t understand why I was not married and wanted to find a husband for Antonia. So funny. We met Teresa’s niece (daughter of her eldest brother) and her son. Teresa gave Antonia a traditional dress to wear then introduced us to her youngest daughter Nitke who arrived from school. She turns 21 soon so hit it off with Antonia immediately. Nitke taught Antonia how to make tacos from corn-dough and then cook them on a wood fired stovetop. It is not as easy as it looks as you will find out in the film. Antonia was on fire. Her Spanish came in very handy and she conversed with confidence as I filmed. The house was very basic. One big room with kitchen and dining table. A covered outdoor space with sink and running water and entry into two separate bedrooms each with two beds. We slept in one and Teresa and her youngest daughter in the other. Finally an outdoor toilet and washing space by bucket – just like my dad’s village in Peristera Greece !!! Suffice to say that Antonia and I skipped the cold-only bucket shower. Instead we talked with Teresa using Google Translate for difficult questions and Antonia’s Spanish for the majority of questions. Teresa makes necklaces and bracelets from little shiny beads. Her brother sells them at a tourist viewpoint (Miradores) above the town. Her sons work for a small construction family business that builds houses. Her daughters are mum’s with two grandkids and counting. The youngest is unmarried and attending college. It is hard to believe that Teresa raised 6/5 kids in this little house. We had dinner at 8pm. This is the typical dinnertime. Typical bedtime is 10pm and rise is 6am. Dinner was very simple but tasty. Rice, Beans and Cheese with homemade tomato salsa or green chilly sauce for the more adventurous. Everything is grown locally. People make and bake fresh tacos every single day. I brought the family 3 litres of wine – just as well since just after dinner Teresa’s two brothers and their wives and two kids turned up. One of the brothers had his birthday that day so we sang Happy Birthday in Spanish and tucked into the wine. The family mostly spoke the local K'iche' Maya language. The 8 year old granddaughter Samantha only spoke Spanish so she just zoned out on her mobile when the K'iche' Maya was underway !!! We finally got to bed at 11pm. It was a fun night. One of our best.

Antonia woke at 5am to walk to the Miradores with some of the group for a sunrise view of Lake Atitlan surrounded by the three volcanoes: Atitlán (3,537 m), Tolimán (3,158 m) and San Pedro (2,995 m), which compose an imposing panorama around the highland lake. Lake Atitlán (Surface Elevation 1562m) lies in a crater, created by a great eruption of a volcano, the Chocoyos Eruption, approx. 85,000 years ago so reaches a maximum depth of 340m with 154m average depth. The lake is oval in shape, approx. 18 by 8km and 50km from Antigua. All three volcanoes around it are dormant. Atitlan last erupted 12 times between 1469 and 1853. Toliman erupted an estimated few thousand years ago. San Pedro also erupted many thousands of years ago. The views offered by these three volcanoes and the lake is unique and one of the world’s greatest sights. It looks prehistoric and is the highlight geography of Guatemala. I missed the walk to sleep in and fly my drone from the town square at 730am so I could get the best view of the Lake and Volcanoes. I am glad I did because tomorrow’s weather was hazy.

We left the little humble village of San Jorge at 830am. It was sad saying goodbye to Teresa but I managed to show her drone footage of her village and the lake and volcanoes from 500m up. She loved it. The drive to nearby Panajachel (Pop 18,330) only took 30min. It is right on the lake and very touristy. There is nothing to see here but people use it to get to the three popular lakeside villages of San Pedro, San Juan and San Marco because they all specialise in making chocolate and textiles from scratch. We caught a 30min speedboat to San Juan because it has the most to offer. Sadly the view of the volcanoes was obscured by fog and some low cloud. I brought along my drone hoping the fog would burn off but it never did – in fact it got worse as the day got cloudier and windier. Our visit to San Juan La Laguna (Pop 14,286) was interesting. We listened to the cacao bean growing and chocolate making process explained to us by a young lady with a wicked sense of humour. We also listened to the cotton growing, spinning, colouring and weaving process for textiles like we did in Mexico. The next two hours were spent walking, filming and shopping. Antonia ended up buying three dresses and was over the moon with her purchases. Good deals too. The boat ride back was terrible. The cloud and wind had picked up and the waves were big enough to pick up our little boat and crash it down. By the time we got back to Panajachel I felt like my brain had moved 10cm !!! I was planning a swim on arrival but the waves were too big and the wind was howling. No swim and no drone. Lucky for me I had yesterday’s drone footage from San Jorge. We spent the afternoon from 1pm onwards relaxing. Went for a leisurely walk and returned to the hotel for a quick cat nap and watched the first episode of GRISELDA on Netflix as recommended by my brother. The evening relaxation continued with an excellent takeaway meal of beef & pork, salad, veggies, guacamole and wedges whilst watching RAMBO FIRST BLOOD – Antonia’s continued reverence for Sylvester Stallone. She found it too slow !!!

I gave up my run the following morning hoping to get in my swim and drone for better views of the volcanoes. It was not to be. The weather was terrible. More cloud and wind so hardly any views of the full volcanoes. I wish I could control the weather. We left at 830am for the 3.5hr drive back to Antigua. On the way the weather improved as we went from cloud to fog to sunshine with scattered clouds. Finally Antigua showed its face under complete sunshine and I wasted no time checking in and leaving Antonia and the Group to walk 10km over the next 4hrs to photograph and film this favourite city of mine so far. I visited the following places: Cerro de la Cruz lookout, Museo La Merce de Histric Wayside Cross, Iglesia La Merced, Arco de Santa Catalina, Convento de Capuchinas, Museums Promenade, ChcoMuseo, Plaza Central (Museo del Libro Antiguo, Catedral de San Jose + Ruins, Palacio de los Capitanes), Tanque de la Union, Convento de Santa Clara, Iglesia de San Francisco, Museo del Santo Hermano Pedro. The highlight was the Cerro de la Cruz lookout because you do not need a drone – the entire city is laid out before you with the majestic Agua Volcano dominating in the background.

I returned to the hotel at 4pm and sent the drone up from our hotel rooftop. I then packed for the gigantic almost 4000m volcano climb tomorrow and started blogging when Antonia burst into the room at 5pm after a 3hr walk with the group. A bunch of us set off at 5pm for a terrific farewell dinner at a nice local Guatemalan restaurant serving cold Rose and the best stewed dishes you can imagine. Tonight was an early night ahead of the next special post – our two-day climb of Acatenango Volcano !!!

Enjoy the photos of Antigua, our favourite city so far…