The wedding in Guatemala

Meson Panza Verde
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The trip to Antigua, Guatemala was wonderful. The weather was like San Diego weather – cool and overcast in the morning, afternoons warming up to a balmy 78 degrees, the cloudless sky painted a beautiful blue; evenings required a sweater for the ladies, children, and the elderly, and short-sleeves for 6’4” sweathogs such as myself. I perspire at the thought of sweat, so to have glorious weather for a week was like a dream come true. The gastronomy was just as good, and the people there were even more hospitable that imaginable. I only wish Americans could be as nice. The majority of tourists, predominantly Americans, were the most unfriendly while we were down there. Enough about that, though.

View from our private garden
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We arrived in Guatemala City close to 1pm; by 2:15pm, we were in Antigua, the 3^rd capitol of Guatemala. Antigua, which means “city of antiquity”, is a Spanish colonial city of around 30,000 people. It is surrounded by mountains and three volcanoes: Volcán de Agua, Volcán de Fuego, and Acatenango. They are collectively known as Tres Hermanas, or Three Sisters, and Volcán de Fuego is one of three active volcanoes in Guatemala. Back in the late 1700’s, Antigua was destroyed via lava; the Spanish then moved the crown to Guatemala City, which is still the capitol as of today. We got to our hotel, which was stunning (see below). We then ambled through the nicely designed grid comprised of colorful Antiguan streets. All I can say about day one was that as nice as it was, the trip got better. Much better.