Antigua, Guatemala, 0 miles

A nice day off in a lovely city, that was today. Not too much on the agenda, no errands or chores, just whatever we felt like and nothing at all. We woke up in our lovely tent to the sounds of Spanish Soap opera blaring through our courtyard window. I think it was the first night in many that I was awake before Mike.

First stop by the wireless café that had great coffee. I updated the blog, enjoyed a delicious cup of Guatemalan roast and had a delicious Apple Struddle – yum! Mike got to get a few more pages into Don Quixote. After our relaxing morning and breakfast we set out around town with my camera; some great photo ops here! We pretty much cruised the entire town, down every little interesting side street; many beautiful buildings. I got some great shots which I plan on posting to the blog, I guess we can call today the ‘artsy’ photo shoot day…

We sat in the park, read our books and watched all the shoe-shiners buffing away at anyone’s shoes that could possibly be shined. Yes, everyone in this town has very shiny shoes. The shoe shiners range in age from about 5 to I’d say 60+. Mike and I were debating how long the Senors had been at the job? Did they start when they were 5? They just walk around with their little kits ready to buff out any shoe they cross. I have to say I enjoy watching them and am not bothered mainly because as soon as they look down at my feet they see sandals and turn away.

We walked by a pet shop, the first I’ve seen since we left the states. In Xela my teacher kept telling me stories of how in the ‘past’ they used to eat dog!!! All throughout Mexico and from what I’ve seen of Guatemala, the dogs are not treated like man’s best friend; it is very sad. Today at the pet shop there was a little basset hound puppy that looked at me and said ‘take me with you’. I gave him some love, and brainstormed of how we could take him along on our journey. Give him in my jacket at the border crossings??? Put him in the pannier? Mike made me feel better by reminding me that in this town people have money, and whoever buys that puppy will for sure give it a good life…hope so.

For dinner we enjoyed two delicious pasta dishes at a little wine café; very tasty. I think I’m going to have to add the creamy chicken with sun dried tomato and broccoli to my recipe list; a winner. There are plenty of great restaurants, cafes, bakeries and ice cream shops in this town. Of course plenty of them quite expensive for Guatemalan standards, but it’s really nice to have such great food options.

Tomorrow we’re off to El Salvador in the morning, looking forward to a new country. I expected to hear or see Adam sometime today as he wanted to try and drive through the remainder of Central America with us. Maybe we’ll see him tonight or in the morning.

Beautiful

Churchy

Yeah!

Rustic Antigua

Umm...Keith???

Walkin'

Runnin'

Did this shirt shrink?

Hello Sir!

Caught them!

Yes...I'm alive too...