Guatemala City to Antigua

I woke up early enough this morning to be serenaded by the birds intersperced with the obnoxious traffic noise. The motorcyles are the worst offenders. The birds were nice.

I have a shuttle prebooked to pick me up this morning from the hostel to take me to my new temporary accomodations in Antigua.

Here is a brief introduction to Antigua, Guatemala.

Antigua was founded in 1543 as the capital of the Spanish conquistadors in Central America. The town was thriving until, in 1773, Antigua was hit by two massive earthquakes that destroyed a big part of the town, including some of the best Antigua landmarks.

After this tragic event, the capital was moved to a new, safer place, and Antigua became a provincial town that eventually became one of the biggest tourist attractions in Guatemala. In 1979, Antigua Guatemala was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Now you know as much as I do. 

The Doug Long travel agency schedule my shuttle bus from Guatemala City to Antigua. I am all packed and waiting out side the hostel to be picked up... waiting, waiting. Finally I decided to check my reservation... I booked it for tomorrow, not today. I still wanted to get to Antigua today so I started exploring options. I mentioned this to the lady at the desk and she got all excited, dashed outside looking for someone. As it happens, a girl staying at the hostel had booked a car to take her to Antigua. She was more that happy for me to come along and split the cost of the ride. It ended up being less than it cost me for the shuttle. On the way to Antigua, I was able to cancel my shuttle for a full refund. Life is good.

Antigua is way different from Guatemala City, it is much smaller and there is little to no newer large buildings. The streets are all cobblestone. Speeding is not an option. Speeding over the cobblestone would shake everything in your body and vehicle to pieces Motorscyles seems to be the transportation of choice.

I arrived early at the hostel. I had a couple hours to blow before it would be ready. 

The market was only a few blocks away so I headed that way. It was a typical small town market. Lots of fruits, vegetables and small craft items.

Adjacent to the market are the busses. In Africa it is called the bus rank. I have no idea what it is called here. There are lines of busses, commonly refered to as chicken busses. To get to where you are going you just need to ask and someone will direct you the right bus.

Next to the lines of busses I found a food stall to have an early lunch before heading back to hostel.

I had a plate of chicken something with rice and broccol, with blue corn tortillas on the side. Pretty Good. I think it was about $2 usd. 

This is the cook of my delicious meal.

 

Returning to the hostel, it was time to check in and get my bed assignment.Although this again was a slide in from the end setup. This time the beds were double size rather than single, brightly painted. My bed right next to the window, on the bottom. perfect. 

After dropping off my stuff it was time to go exploring more of the city. I headed to the city square, the zocolo.