An Introduction to Antigua, Guatemala

Antigua is a lovely gem of a city surrounded by several volcanoes.  Coming here is like falling through a rift in time and being transported back to the colonial period of Central America.  Let me explain:

Antigua (Then called Santiago) was the third capital city of the Captaincy-General de Guatemala, the colonial government, founded in 1524.  It was destroyed and rebuilt several times by fires, earthquakes and volcanic activity, but served as the capital until 1773 when the Santa Maria Earthquakes destroyed most of it.  At that time, the authorities ordered the capital moved to a safer location and created Guatemala City - today a booming metropolis of 3 million people.

Antigua was abandoned in a state of ruin.

Slowly, some people started coming back (to join the poor who never left) who set up community in what was left of the old colonial city.  Because of this, the city retains its 17^th century charm – including cobblestone streets, low colonial buildings and many ruined and collapsed churches and convents. 

 

In the 1940’s efforts began to preserve the historical character of the city and it was later named a UNESCO world heritage site.  The entire downtown is considered an historic monument and all restoration and building must preserve its character – hence, time travel.  Here is a short little article from UNESCO explaining more if you are interested.

The city is stunningly beautiful. With colorful low-rise buildings facing the cobblestone streets, giant wooden doorways with fancy peep-holes and door knockers and lots of ruins churches to explore.  The streets are narrow (and always crowded with cars, motorcycles and tuktuks), and one must be very careful as one walks to not trip, fall or break a bone on the cobblestones and uneven walkways. 

Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the city sits in the Panchay Valley at 1,530.17 m above sea level.  To the north, there is first the small hill Cerro de la Cruz (Hill of the Cross) which you can climb up and get a wonderful view of the city.   You can see directly across the valley to Vulcan de Agua (Volcano of Water, so called because of its constant cloud cover at the top).  Off to the west, on rare clear days, you can glimpse Vulcan de Fuego (the fire volcano, so called because of the active lava and fire plumes sometimes visible) and Vulcan Acetenango in the distance.

The city is laid out in a very formal, colonial grid pattern:  the streets are either North/South (and named Calle Norte 1,2,3, or Calle Sur 1,2,3, respectively) or East/West (Calle Oriente  1,2,3 or Calle Poniente 1,2,3 respectively) all centered on the main square – with a large fountain and lots of trees and always crowds of people – vendors selling fruit, trinkets or crafts, families picnicking and tourists gawking at all of it.  It’s about 16 square blocks in total and you can walk the entire city in a day, although it is easy to get distracted wandering through markets, craft stores, ruined churches, etc.

I have become very fond of the giant wooden doorways for the houses here.  Usually, the giant doorways lead to courtyards with multiple dwellings (or shops, etc).  The doorways often have peep-hole windows and fancy iron door knockers in the shape of a lion, a hand, even an otter!

Our apartment is on the north end of the city on a quiet block.  To get to us, you have to first enter through a giant wooden doorway into a spacious, open-to-the-sky courtyard.  Around this courtyard, there are two floors with several other apartments.  Then go through a small tunnel that holds the laundry room, and out to a back building that holds our apartment with its gorgeous garden.  We are so far back from the street that it is very quiet, most of the time.

It's always warm, not too hot, and humid with frequent rains this time of year.