Antigua Guatemala - City Guide

Anatomy
Nestled in the Ponchoy Valley, Antigua is dramatically set between three volcanoes: Volcan agua to the southeast, Volcan Fuego to the southwest, and Volcan Acatenango to the west. Antigua served as the capital until it was moved to Guatemala City following the 1773 earthquakes and a few buildings remain from this era. The central point of the city is Parque Central and calles are labelled east and west of this point. Buses arrive at the Terminal de Buses, four blocks west of Parque Central.

People
The majority of Antiguenos are of a mestizo (of mixed Spanish and indigenous heritage; 56%) and are practising Roman Catholics. The region's indigenous Mayan people speak Cakchiquel and continue to practise their nature-based religion along with Roman Catholacism.

Typical Antigueno
Antiguenos typically start the day early the same way they finish it - with a meal of eggs, beans, fried plantains and plenty of tortillas. A two-hour siesta follows lunch, the main meal. They are social, polite and refined in the arts and enjoy the marimba and mariachi music played at frequent festivals and celebrations.

Defining Experience
Visiting the museums and ruins strewn about town, studying Spanish while living with a Guatemalan family, summitting Volcan Pacaya, hiking or horse-riding to the Cerro de la Cruz visa point, buying vividly coloured, traditional handmade traje (clothing) in the market, and watching the passing parade during elaborate religious celebrations.

Strengths

• Cathedral of San Francisco
• Elaborate religious celebrations during Holy Week
• Intensive Spanish-language courses
• Climbing the stunning Volcan Agua
• Charming Spanish baroque architecture
• Parque Central
• Inticately beaded crafts
• Embroidered huipiles (embroided blouses)
• Unique and weathered doorknobs and knockers
• Colourful, cobblestone streets
• Shopping for Mayan crafts
• Volcanoes
• Mayan water-lily blossoms and vegetable motifs adorning the church of La Merced

Weaknesses

• Twisting ankles on coblestone streets after a drink
• Leaving
• Pleading for accommodation in the busy season
• The sheer number of tourists in the busy season

Gold Star
Parque Central - the gathering place for locals and visitors alike. On most days the plaza is lined with villagers selling handicrafts to tourists; on sunday it's mobbed and the streets on the east and west sides are closed to traffic. Things are cheapest late on Sunday afternoon, when the peddling is winding down. At night, mariachi or marimba bands play in the park.

CitySpeak
Will it be an earthquake or volcanic eruption next?

Starring role in...
Riotous Rhymes 'n' Remedies by Sylvanus Barnes
Garden of Life by LHC Westcott

Import

• Spanish-language students
• Cafes
• Colonial architecture
• The Spanish

Export

• Coffee - some of the world's best
• Ceramics
• Beaded handicrafts
• Singer Ricardo Arjona
• Handmade traje
• Carved ceremonial masks
• Huipiles

SEE Samuel Franco Arce's photographs and recording of Mayan ceremonies and music at Casa K'Ojom.

EAT the Sunday buffet in the Cafe Condessa

DRINK Zacapa Centenario (a fine guatemalan rum)

DO enrol in an intensive Spanish-language and culture course.

WATCH the afternoon handicrafts trade around the 1738 fountain in Parque Central, to the sounds of mariachi or marimba bands.

BUY colourful beaded and embroidered handicrafts, ceramics and carved wooden masks.

AFTER DARK explore Antigua's atmospheric bars and see if you can practise some of that new-found Spanish.

URBAN MYTH
Antigua really comes alive in Semana Santa (Holy Week), when hundreds of people dress in deep-purple robes to accompany the most revered sculptural images from the city's churches in daily street processions remembering Christ's Crucifixion. Dense clouds of incense envelop the parades and the streets are covered in breathtakingly elbaorate alfombras (carpets) of coloured sawdust and flower petals.

VITAL STATISTICS
Name: Antigua
Date of Birth: 1543: when it was founded and served as the colonial capital for the next 233 years.
Population: 20,000

This is an extract from Lonely Planet's : Cities.

25 March 2006