Our trip to Antigua

I had been trying to post about Shane and Isabella and upload their picture but the blogger doesn't seem to like the picture I had selected. I will take more of Shane and Isabella and see if those work. I tried a different picture and it worked so that's why this post is about Antigua.


An old cathedral we visited

me and Isabella in the driver's van

Me and Isabella in front of a fountain

Ok, these are a few pictures from our trip to Antigua. I have plenty more but they haven't been edited so I will post them later to show more of the city. We hired a driver named Jose and left for Antigua at 8:00. It's about an hour drive which didn't seem like it because we were to busy looking out the window and listening to Jose tell the history of Antigua. He was very knowledgeable and personable. We got there and went to an old Cathedral that is mainly a tourist attraction and not in use anymore. It was very beautiful. We then went to the Jade factory. Guatemalan jade is nothing like Asian jade. It is much more beautiful color wise and much harder. We then looked around the showroom and of course had to buy some stuff. Not that they twisted our arm or anything but it was all so beautiful. We then went to a beautiful hotel (the name escapes me at the moment) and I will post pictures of that after I edit them. There are alot of weddings held there and they are booked up 2 years in advance. When I post the pictures you will see why. It is just so beautiful. Then we went to an authentic Guatemalan restaurant to eat. The menu had English but Jose helped us order. I got rooster (I was skeptical but it was good) and Allen got relenos (I think that's what it was and he enjoyed his too). The tortillas are nothing like you get here. They are thicker and VERY good. We drank lemonade that was carbonated and that was also very good. We then went to another Cathedral that had a service going on. We got to walk thru and watch some of it. It ended up being a first communion service and the children were dressed up almost like brides and grooms. It was so beautiful but we didn't want to invade their privacy by taking pictures. We then went to a park across from a cathedral which is kinda like central park. They had horse drawn carriages, fountains, and benches to sit on. It was very busy with most of the people being locals. We walked around and took pictures and more pictures. Outside that central area, every street looked the same. There were alot of shops but we went to the handicraft market instead to shop. It was HUGE. There were so many booths that it was impossible to see it all. Jose stayed with us some but we also walked around on our own at the market. I would have bought one of everything if I could have. After the market it was time to go back to the hotel. Let me say that this WHOLE day Isabella was sooooo good and never even cried. She slept in the stroller some. The locals never gave us a second look. I guess they are used to seeing Americans and that's how they make their money--off of tourism. We had such a nice time and never felt threatened in any way. Isabella slept the whole way back to the hotel. It was truly a wonderful day with beautiful weather also. We are so glad we went to Antigua. As I said I will post more pictures of the actual city next time so you can see why we loved it.