Walking, walking, and more walking

This is a beautiful city to walk in.....cobble stone streets, houses and businesses of all colors, wonderful, friendly people, and ruins of churches destroyed by earthquakes with the backdrop of volcanos rising in the distance

We started our day at the artesian market next to the public market...

And where the chicken buses start and end their routes.  These are old school buses from the United States that are driven down here and transformed inside and out to carry people from place to place.  There are now 22,000 of them in the country and are one of the cheapest ways to get around.

We walk toward the Central Park and come across a church that is beginning to be restored to some level.  I think it is the Iglesias y convento de San Agustin. 

The workers said it was OK to go inside and look around. Their are men inside attacking the vegetation with workshops set up inside for the work ahead.

They have safety ropes, but they are even up on top of the highest arches. This guy can be seen as a speck on the farthest arch just above a crack in the arch.

This massive slab fell and is leaning on the outside wall and they have already stabilized it from below with brick work. You can see it in the picture above the back of the SUV

Antigua is anchored on the south by the Pacaya Volcano and the north by the Cerro de la Cruz.  We wanted to walk up to the cross to see the city from above.  

Two more volcanoes to the west of the city

It is quite a walk through town to get there and then there are over 300 steps up to the cross.

View from the Cerro de la Cruz

After resting and enjoying the view we walked back down and stopped at the Iglesias de la Candelaria

Temple de Santa Rosa de Lima

Then the ruins of Iglesias El Carmen

Lastly, we came across this lovely church around the corner from where we live....but it is not a church, it has been converted to an hospital.

It is the middle of the afternoon already and we've walked and walked through this old, beautiful city. It is time to get our bathing suits and go for a swim before dinner, which of couse means more walking.

Walking Antigua

Our hotel from the outside

Inside...our gardens and room

We walked to a textile museum first ....regional  huipiles

We went to the ruins of the Catedral de Santiago...built,  beginning in 1545 and mostly destroyed in the earthquake of 1773.  Many of the arches remain while the massive domes collapsed

A small sliver of the original entrance hall has been rebuilt and houses the parish of San Jose where a mass was just starting with a beautiful song, sung by this family

We meandered through the Central Park 

And then on to the arch of Santa Catalina built in the 1690's

To the baroque church, Iglesias de la Merced, built 3 centuries ago to withstand earthquakes and it has

I lit a candle for Lola (the one in the center)

We spent the rest of the afternoon in Casablanca Santo Domingo which was a convent and sanctuary for the people of that order.  Now amongst the ruins it houses museums, a church, candle and chocolate factories, and a 5 star hotel.  It is a massive place and we needed a map to get through it.

And then homeward bound through the streets and street markets

Dinner and we almost made it home before dark which is hard to do as it gets dark early

Onward to Antigua

Sunrise from our balcony on our last morning here.  It poured last night and we thought we'd be leaving in the rain, but nope.......

Relaxing before we go

Goodbye Bamboo Hotel

Took the launch back to Panajachel and had time for more shopping before we had to catch the shuttle.

We returned to the same shop we went to before to see the only man we've seen who still wears the traditional dress of his region.

And his daughter and granson

A 3 1/2 hour shuttle ride to Antigua.  First things first.....  Our hotel shares a pool with several other sister hotels so we walked the 6 blocks for a refreshing dip.

Walking back pass past the central plaza, a man playing the pan flutes and guitar drew us into an artesian market.

We found a place for dinner. We had quessidias and Suzanne had a Thai latte which was delicious.  It gets dark as soon as the sun goes down in the tropics and so it was dark for our walk back to our hotel. 

I got sad news when we got back to our hotel. Kila and Kathy had to have my cat (16 1/2 years old) put to sleep as she was failing and wouldn't make it until my return.  The morning I left on vacation.  

Lola is the Russian Blue cat on the right. I will miss her!