Antigua

Antigua is a beautiful town, claimed to be the prettiest town in Central America. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town was the Guatemalan capital until it was moved following earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. It was abandoned sometime after 1773 for several years but was slowly repopulated in the 19th ccentury. Whilst the town is being rebuilt, the Cathedral and several churches are still, and will remain so, in the same state as left by the devastating natural disasters.

Our hotel is the Jardin de Lolita, and her garden is beautiful. Roses, strelitzia, bourgainvillia are blooming everywhere and the lemon tree is full of fruit. There are cages dotted around the garden with green parrots and toucans in. One of the parrots whistles whilst another turns upside down and says "hola".

Above the town is a cross on a hillside with an amazing panoramic view of the town and the Volcano Aqua behind it. We took a tour with the police (recommended for safety) up to the cross it was absolutely breathtaking.

 The hotel has a small kitchen area that we can use and a fridge so we've been to the supermarket and stocked up, its rather nice having breakfast on the roof terrace looking at the volcano.

This is a place you could live. There is fine dining mixed with cheap local eats in the market, its quite an eclectic mix.

There is a great farmers market on Saturdays. The flowers were unbelievable. We bought a little wooden thing to make guacamole with, but given the amount we're eating at the moment it could be some time before we bother at home. It's also possible we may be clucking when we get home, away hasn't gone by that we haven't eaten chicken.

We take a bus to Ciudad Vieja, the chicken bus, Sunday morning is for market and church there, so we do a bit of both. Our good deed for the day is helping a little old lady home with her shopping, strangely she wants us to pay her when we get there - not sure how that works!