December 2011: Antigua Guatemala

El Arco de Santa Catalina/The Santa Catalina Arch

Day 3 in Guatemala City we awoke early and drove out to adventure in Antigua Guatemala, a former capital city of the country.  The name 'Antigua Guatemala' means "Ancient Guatemala".  Its full name is Santiago de Antigua, but is commonly referred to as just Antigua or La Antigua. The Spanish conquistadors founded the city in 1543. For over 200 years, the Spanish military made Antigua the center of its operations.  It was from Antigua that they governed what is almost all of present day Central America.

On September 27, 1717 an earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 7.4 struck the area of Antigua and destroyed more than 3,000 buildings.  Another earthquake in 1773 further destroyed what remained in Antigua causing the Spanish crown to order that the capital city moved to a safer location.  In 1775 the capital city was officially moved to where present day Guatemala City now sits, and in 1776 Antigua was ordered to be abandoned. Of course not everyone left Antigua, and what is left is what we explored.

The streets of Antigua are arranged in a rectangular grid, with the Parque Central in the center of the grid. After parking our rental car, we began exploring the city on foot. One look at our map in hand and we knew we wouldn't be able to see it all in one day, but one day is all we had so we aimed to see as much as we could. We made sure that at the very least we hit the highlights. As we walked along, once again the old architecture, wooden doors, cobblestone streets, and bright colors caught my eye.  What follows are some of my favorite images we captured that day.

A beautiful canopy of bougainvillea

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The Santa Catalina Arch was built in the 17th century. It originally connected the Santa Catalina convent with a school, the nuns used the arch to cross between the two buildings without having to go out onto the street.  It's located at 5a Avenida Norte y 2a Calle Poniente.

Local artists sit and sketch and/or 

paint the Santa Catalina Arch.

There are shops, stores, mercados (markets) all over Antigua where you can buy local crafts, textiles, and souvenirs from all over the area. One the largest stores we visited was Nim Po't. Nim Po't is located just south of El Arco on 5a Avenida Norte. It is a consignment store housed in an old building that seems to be have been converted into a large warehouse.  The collection of textiles and handicrafts was very large, and quite impressive.

"Barriletes" (Giant kites for the annual kite festival)

Beautifully colored clothing and other woven textiles

Amusing T-shirts for sale:

*"Guatever" = a play on the American saying "whatever"

*"Du Yus Pikin Glish?" = Do you speak English?

*"Fijese que..." = when a conversation begins with this phrase, watch out! It's literal translation means, "focus".  Its figurative translation is, "You see...what you were asking about...". Basically, when you hear this you know bad news will follow it.

*"Guat zap?" = a play on "What's up?"

*The last t-shirt, "Los Guatemaltecos somos...", filled with emoticons gives a descriptive list of what it means to be Guatemalan.

Beautiful local crafts

Marimba--someday I would love to own one!

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Iglesia de La Merced/La Merced Church

North of El Arco is La Iglesia de La Merced. The detail on the exterior of this Baroque styled church was amazing! It is located at 1a Calle Poniente y 6a Avenida Norte.

Inside the Iglesia de La Merced which opened in 1767.

Fountain and detail outside of Iglesia de La Merced
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Brightly colored textiles could be found in almost every shop in Antigua. I love all the colors!  In one of the stores I found a blue bag that I couldn't leave behind--it is now my new temple bag. The bag is made from a huipil that has been paired with leather and repurposed into a bag. (A huipil is the traditional brocaded blouse worn by Mayan women throughout Mexico and Central America.)

Another "repurposed" bag that caught my eye in one store, was a messenger bag made from a coffee burlap sack. Guatemala has been a major contributor to the coffee bean industry since the mid 1800's.  Today it remains one of the top ten countries to export coffee worldwide.

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When we walked to the Parque Central, we found a bench to sit on, rest our feet, do some people watching, and plan the rest of our day.  There were some pretty neat buildings surrounding the Parque Central.

Catedral de San Jose, Parque Central

Palacio de los Capitanes Generales, Parque Central

A Christmas ornament. 

Hanging on the outside of a shop next to Parque Central were some beautiful Christmas ornaments that were woven like baskets. I only managed to capture a picture of one of the angels as we walked along side the shop. I wished I could have bought one of the beautiful deer to put on our front lawn! I didn't buy any of those ornaments because I knew they were too fragile to survive the trip back to the U.S. in an airplane cargo bay and even if it made it to the U.S in one piece, there would be no room for us to transport it in our car from one state to another.

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La Compania de Jesus

on the corner of 6a Avenida y 4a Calle Poniente

My mom remembers climbing among the many ruins throughout Antigua as a young girl with her siblings on family outings. In a modern-day effort to preserve what is left of all the ruins so that they'll be around for many years to come and be able to tell their story, most ruins are now "closed" and only viewable to tourists from the exterior.

Back view of La Compania de Jesus 

From where we stopped for lunch at Piccadilly Restaurante, we had a nice view of La Compania de Jesus. I loved the old water spout on the building across the street from our table! 

At this point in our trip we decided we wanted a break from all the "authentic" food we had been having, so it was time to try something a little more "familiar".  We ordered a brick oven pizza that hit the spot!

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Iglesia de San Agustin

7a Avenida Sur y 5a Calle Poniente

Las Ruinas de la Candelaria

We ended our explorations at some ruins that were off the beaten path, Las Ruinas de la Candelaria. As it turned out, these were my favorite. They were so majestic! Because they are a ways off from the center of Antigua, we were the only ones there when we stopped to see them so it was very peaceful.  It was a good way to wrap up our self-guided tour. 

Our view as we drove back into Guatemala City.