Antigua, Guatemala
I arrived in Antigua, Guatemala on October 9th with an intention to stay a while but with no real ideas about how long or what I wanted to do or see while there. I just knew that at some point, plans would need to be made for what came after Guatemala.
I spent my first day enjoying the cool temperature and getting some sleep after the long journey from Flores. On day two or three, I can’t remember, I discovered that November
1st was All Saints’ Day & Day of the Dead in Guatemala and I might not want to miss the traditional kite festival, so I decide I would stay and attend. This might also be when I decided that i’d visit Lake Atitlán after the kite festival.
Between my arrival date and November 1st, I spent a lot of time walking the cobble stone streets, taking pictures of church ruins, looking for cheap restaurants, searching for cafe’s with good WiFi, bakeries with chocolate croissants and generally doing a whole lot of nothing. October is rainy season in Antigua so I enjoyed lots of time staying warm and dry in my AirBNB enjoying books, drawing and watching Netflix.
Besides hunting for ruins, WiFi and pastries, there was that time my travel buddy and I hiked a volcano (see Fresh Wounds), another time I satisfied my creative appetite with an outstanding watercolor class and finally, there was the half day I spent at the kite festival in Sumpango, a highlight of my time in Antigua. I enjoyed my first picocita, Guatemala’s version of the michelada, I learned about the pre-columbian tradition of building and flying giant, vibrantly colored kites, I witnessed family members of the departed clean and decorate gravesites, I got a few impressive kite close ups and I got to spend the day with some really nice people, including a Philadelphia native that I would soon hike to a Yoga Forrest with.
