Last week we took a school holiday and travelled to Antigua and Semuc Champey. The trip was really about Semuc but given we didn’t need a whole week there and the travel is a whole day from Xela we decided to break it into two destinations.
Antigua was even more beautiful than I expected with the grand colonial style buildings and gorgeous green gardened courtyards in the centre. We wandered the town just taking in its ambiance. Although one drawback was how touristy it was after being in Xela for over a month. Inflated prices and lots of tourist shops and bars take away from the culture of Guatemala and hurt the wallet.
It seems like they have more of a typical wet season there where it’s not up in the mountains and so we experienced the rain and storms rolling in every afternoon. Because of this, we made a point to get outside and see the town and it’s surrounds early in the day and then relax in a cafe or the hostel during the afternoon storms.
The hostel had a little rooftop terrace that we sat up on every morning as the sun rose, watching for eruptions and the distant rumbling from Volcan Fuego, one of the three active volcanoes in Guatemala. This was the best time of day as the skies were clear and the morning quiet.
The dominating feature from anywhere in the town is Volcan Agua, a massive old volcano right beside town. We took a morning to hike up the local hill that overlooks the town and gives great views of Agua. We also snuck into the cultural centre early in the morning and so didn’t have to pay the entry fee to look around the gardens and sculptures. There is also a macadamia farm nearby that serves amazing macadamia pancakes. After busy morning all around town we caught a bus out there for lunch. Little did we know they stop serving pancakes at 11am. That was upsetting, so we left with empty stomachs but went on to find an awesome taco place back in town.
We didn’t climb Volcan Acatenango while there so we might have to detour back but we did do a trip out to Pacaya which had some lava only a few months ago. It looks like a moonscape with all the recently dried lave flows.
