"Bienvenidos a Guatemala!"

Antigua, Guatemala

Wheels down finally...5:15 am. Couldn't sleep a wink on the four-hour flight,  nervous energy I think. I'm so thrilled to be putting a fresh new stamp in my passport, right next to the one from Costa Rica last year. 

We're starting our journey in Antigua, and shuttled there from the airport for only 168 quetzales for two people, or $24 US. Not bad I suppose considering the prices I saw online prior to arriving.

On the drive, I was shocked to see about 50 McDonald's, Pizza Huts and Pollo Camperos. After an hour of windy roads and traffic, we arrived at El Carmen Suites. Turns out we had to wait about 6 hours on little to no sleep before getting a room. No use wasting precious moments, so since we couldn't check in, we opted for a rooftop breakfast and caffeine overdose instead. The view was amazing - both the scenery and the food. Nicole ordered poached egg with salsa and fresh fruit; I went traditional - eggs, beans, cheese, platano maduro (fried plantain) and fruit. 

After eating, we still had time to kill so decided to take a stroll through the town. Walking along the sidewalk and pebble-stoned streets, I noticed the amazing Spanish-influenced architecture, live cultural music and, surprisingly...Instagram walls everywhere! The streets were shockingly clean, especially since I did not notice any public trash cans for blocks at a time. The people are amazing, hard-working, kind and very welcoming to foreigners.

After walking for a couple of hours, we finally found a local restaurant, but by then I was so delirious I don't even remember what was on my plate - all I know is it was delicious. As we walked back to our hotel we were caught in a downpour on a corner - it rained, hard, for about 15-20 minutes.

Finally, our room was available! It was larger than we had expected, and mercifully we finally got to crash. Although we were super excited to get exploring, what was intended to be a 30-minute nap turned into, ummmm, a 5-hour nap…

The following day we woke up early, had breakfast and set about exploring the town. We visited so many places, including Cathedral San Jose, Santa Catalina, the ruins of a 16th-century cathedral mostly destroyed by an earthquake in 1773, Glacy Ice Cream and Fat Cat Coffee.

After an adventurous day of shooting photos, exploring the beauty behind wooden doors, we had dinner and called it a night as we had an early wake-up call at 4:30 am to Honduras.