This past weekend we went to Guatemala! The Black Eyed Peas had a concert in Guatemala City on Saturday night, and while that was originally our incentive for going, we found time to make it to Antigua as well.
Antigua is a small town about 45 km outside of Guatemala City. It is touristy yet traditional at the same time. Nearly all the streets are cobblestone and there are dozens of old churches scattered within walking distance of each other. The town is known for its churches and its shopping and we made the most of both. You will have to look carefully to notice that no church was repeated in the pictures below…there are just that many. We also managed to spend a small fortune, but are excited to finally have an original painting to hang in our apartment as well as several Christmas gifts and some silver earrings and cuff links for ourselves! All in all a wonderful weekend and definitely worth the 9 hour bus ride!
One of the many old churches in Antigua.
Another old church…this one faces el parque central.
Another church.
In front of another church!
The courtyard of a building we ducked into.Antigua has beautiful weather…mid 70s and sunny…there are lots of different plants and flowers around.
This monastery was destroyed during an earthquake in the 70s. There is no longer a roof, but many of the doors and passageways are still available to explore. Alex thinks this ledge was probably a pulpit because you enter it from a stairway behind the wall.
No roof means for beautiful views of the sky!This building was a church, but was destroyed in the same earthquake as the monastery.
A few blocks off el parque central is this arch across the road. It leads up to one of the many churches. This road also had excellent shopping along it!
One of the artesania markets we went to had table after table filled with small statues and toys. Here are some colorful wooden animals!
This stand in the market had just a few blankets to choose from!
And here we are back in Guate City on Saturday night…we couldn’t take our cameras to the concert, but this is right before we left! The concert was awesome and it still seems surreal that we saw the Black Eyed Peas in Guatemala City!
From Russia with Love 
Looks like a great trip last weekend. Bill
LikeLike
Wow. Textile heavenATC
LikeLike
I want to know if there is any hidden significance in all the church pictures. They’re all beautiful and it sounds like you had no trouble bumping into one right after another. You know, I’m just a minister trying to decode everything.
LikeLike
Can you take a picture of your new painting and show it to us?
LikeLike
Wow what a fab trip. I was in Antiqua some years back. It was really neat.I love all the colorful fabric and craft pix’s. Shopping sounds great. If you like to shop of course. I promise to download pixs of my last art unit for you. (cave art-Lascaux cave)
LikeLike
Es increible como la influencia religiosa creo una cantidad de monumentos. Me imagino que la diferencia en las igleasis es debida a la cantidad de ordenes religiosas las cuales le pusieron su toque original. Me da gusto que se la esten pasando bien.
LikeLike
I want to see a picture of the original painting you bought!It souds like a great trip.
LikeLike