First Tastes of Antigua

Having two Latin American locations called Antigua can be confusing, especially when both are popular places to visit.  Besides being an island and the other a city, their names are spelled the same but pronounced differently.  The Caribbean island, Antigua, is pronounced An-tee-gah, while the popular Guatemalan city, Antigua, is called An-tee-gwah.  Just an interesting trivia tidbit.

Far too touristy, was my initial thought when we drove into the city. I can’t remember when we’ve seen so many tourists in one place.  . . perhaps Grenada, Spain last May?  And on the days when a cruise ship is in Quetzal Port, a 90-minute drive away, the number of tourists in this small town doubles.  After weeks of small-pueblo immersion, deep in color, old ways, and culture, weaving through throngs of Anglos on the Antigua’s sidewalks with their lanyards, sun hats, and travel attire was a shock. 

After having spent a few days here, I have to admit that my perception is softening. It is no wonder so many people visit Antigua. The city’s natural setting is dazzling. Imagine massive white clouds drifting through a big blue sky unaltered by signs or tall buildings. The stand of green mountains ringing the city are interrupted only by three volcanoes in the near distance. The geography is utterly staggering. This romantic town is lovely and historic with its churches, plazas, and great old aristocratic houses graced with flower-filled center courtyards. Despite its overwhelming charm, however, Antigua’s modern personality is rooted securely in attracting tourists’ dollars.  There are untold travel agency storefronts touting tours and day trips to Atitlan, chocolate factories, volcanoes, and more. And, it is often challenging to find restaurants serving typical Guatemalan food in the heart of town, but steak houses, Mexican food, Mexican Fusion, Sushi, Italian, and Chinese restaurants are plentiful. We even passed a Ramen bar yesterday. . . . in Guatemala??? Although there are artisan centers where locally woven fabrics and trinkets are made and sold, people selling similar crafts (many of which I suspect are mass-made) fill the parks and the entry to every attraction. 

Yes, Antigua is touristy but the climate is enticing; it is a natural wonder with daytime highs in the mid-seventies and lows in the 60’s. More than that, sitting on a park bench and watching the nearby volcano, Fuego, belch smoke is an indescribably thrilling experience. Occasionally, we think, “Is this real?” 

As is our custom, we took a guided walking tour during one of our first days here.  These tours are a wonderful way to get a big dose of an unfamiliar city’s personality, history, and culture. Our far too large group for hearing all the guide had to say, was filled with a bunch from Belgium, the Netherlands, another bunch from Australia, a few Americans, and people from Germany and Croatia.  While we missed a lot of the information the guide had to share, we had great fun chatting with the other travelers, particularly the young’uns from Australia!  I admire young people who temporarily chuck their jobs and invest in travel.  Why wait until retirement?  Get out and do it!!  Those, particularly from Europe, tell us it is easy to find good jobs there so they resign and travel for a year. Afterwar4ds, they rejoin the workforce with new skills and persepective.  Many young people we meet say they would like to follow our example when they retire (gentle words for “get old”) and live their elder years traveling the world. 

In our tour, we saw that the city is low-profiled and its pastel-colored houses and buildings are set in a perfect square grid of cobblestone streets that branch out north, south, east, and west from its huge central park.  The city is clean.  There is no litter even in the parks.  Crumbling ruins of churches and cathedrals illustrate the country’s history of Spanish religious grandeur that sadly was brought to its knees by earthquakes.  Before 1773, the thriving city of Antigua, then the capital and economic center of the Kingdom of Guatemala, had over 30 churches, 18 convents, and monasteries.   A rendering we saw of what the city might have looked like at that time showed church domes and crosses dominating the cityscape.  After the devasting series of Santa Marta earthquakes in 1773, most of the city was reduced to rubble. No church structure here today is older than that time. The once huge and opulent Antigua Cathedral for example, orignally built in1545, was destroyed by earthquakes in the 1600s and rebuilt 100 years later with an austentacious 18 chapels each with its own dome and soaring two-story arches. In its prime, the cathedral was considered the most beautiful architectural and lavish work at the time but the 1773 earthquake’s direct hit to Antigua all but destroyed the masterpiece. The remains of that church, the parish of San José, facing the city’s central square is only a sliver of its former structure. Its services are conducted today in the entrance hall of the original buiding just behind the still-standing antiquated facade. Behind that remaining hall, though, are the haunting ruins of the main part of the cathedral. Piles of massive chunks of broken pillars that fell during the earthquake lie here and there beneath vast archways where in the absense of original domes and roofs, are subject to the elements, rain and sunshine as a day may deliver.  The architecture and engineering that took place in the design and construction of grand churches like the Antigua Cathedral, is awesome and strolling through its ruins makes one feel small and insignificant. Despite these emotions, I am repeatedly stunned by the lavish decadence in these churches and their ruins.  I think of what times might have been like in the 1500-1700’s when Spanish colonies had only two missions:  find and send extracted wealth to the home country and convert the native heathens to Christianity at any cost, even by force.  I try to wrap my mind around the notion that at a time when people lived purely off the land and at the mercy of God, immense, elaborate churches with priceless statues, and carved altars leafed in gleamimg gold and silver were being built.  I think about the unimaginable expense involved and the little people, like the indigenous peoples who were put into slave labor raising timbers and laying stones one by one in the name of God and Spain.  Was this for God or the Pope, Spanish royalty, or the Bishop? Did God approve and was He honored? 

While we don’t yet know Antigua very well, I do not want to close on a less-than-positive note. Antigua is a destination people who travel must visit. It has excellent hotels and restaurants.  It is easy to get to especially from the US, and there is a world of history, art, and adventure here.  Antigua is picturesque; the surrounding volcanoes make a picture-perfect, mystical landscape. The culture here is largely unchanged since the 1800s due to the Mayan blood that runs through its peoples’ veins and conversely with their strong roots in traditional Catholicism. Of the 15 million people in Guatemala, 44% belong to one of 22 Mayan tribes.  That great level of remaining Indigenous identity is rare for most modern Central and South American countries.  Guatemalans are naturally pretty people; with lovely and friendly personalities.  Many are well-educated; many have no education at all.  And while they are not pushy, each one on the street or in a shop yearns to sell you something, be it a tamale, a cup of juice or artfully sliced fruit, an avocado, a chirimoya (custard apple), a potted orchid or a colorful handmade table scarf, an embroidered blouse, a bracelet, headband, tiny Maya doll, beaded jewelry, a flute or tiny drum, or jade.  It is all here, and everyone is selling something.  

Hang in there with us for the next few weeks as we go far beyond scratching the surface of this beautiful, enticing country.