Antigua and Villa Canales

Arriving in Antigua was a bit exciting. Even though I'd technically already been there twice, I hadn't spent more than a combined 3 hours in the city- not much time to explore. 

I wasn't meeting up with my friend until 7pm, so I had the entire day to do as I please. My appetite was a demanding attention, so I ended up at a cafe a stone's throw from my hostel, where my world was opened up to a new concept: Café miel. 

Coffee with cinnamon and honey, topped with foam. I swiftly downed two cups and a delicious Guatemalan breakfast that became more of an accompaniment for the coffee than vice versa. 

The rest of the day was spent taking care of errands I needed to run- nothing to share, though it was needed. 

Around 7 I headed to Rainbow Cafe to meet up with Andrew, a friend from childhood who has worked at an NGO in Antigua for the past two years. It was pretty fun to see him and hear about the work he is doing, and the food did the trick. He gave me some Latino music to check out, and we split. 

It was on to Guatemala City the next day to meet my Guatemalan aunt. 

Around 5pm she walked up to me sitting on a bench outside Mcdonalds and said "Jeremy...?" Backpacker packs are a convenient giveaway in situations like this, but also a pretty good target, so I stayed in a fancy hotel lobby until just before meeting her. 

Mara is awesome. We hung out at mcdonalds for quite a bit, getting to know each other. We waited until after rush hour was over, then took a 45 minute cab ride to Villa Canales where she lives, and the next few days felt like what they were- staying with family. It was pretty easy to slip into feeling "at home," and even easier to let myself be convinced to stay a couple extra days and push back my reservation in Utila. It was also the first time in Central America that my brain started hurting from trying to use Spanish consistently for the first time in two years. I really enjoyed and appreciated the opportunity to meet Mara, and by the end of my time with her I had standing invitations to come back and stay with a bunch of her other friends and relatives as well. :) guess I'll have to be back at some point. 

Here are a couple pictures from our time together, which include a tour of the palace in Guatemala City, a rather bad camera angle of all of us, and some other choice shots. 

Cathedral

Palace, front

Central square from palace

Cathedral again

Press room in palace

Another

Mara is on the right 

Courtyard in palace. Note the kid's level of interest. 

Honestly though this kid's too cute. 

Big flag

House in Antigua. We went back for an afternoon

This church was destroyed, but for the facade, in an earthquake. 

Horse tour of Antigua. 

Anyway I had a great time with Mara and company and I was sad to go, but I had to stop postponing my reservation in Utila. It was time to go to Copán for a couple nights and then trek to the bay islands. 

Kindly, Mara took a taxi with me to the bus station at 5 in the morning, and by 7 I was headed off to cross the border with Honduras and check out Copán. I changed the rest of my Guatemalan quetzales to Honduran lempiras with the money changers there, and prepared to find a hostel and lunch after my midday arrival.