I really need to finish up my Guatemala, and for that matter my Thailand posts. After Copan Ruinas we returned to Antigua, to spend our last nights of our trip.
We really loved the colors of Antigua, from the cobblestone streets to the colorfully painted buildings, this is one photogenic town.
After some research I booked our room at the Hotel Casa Florencia. Our usual "M.O." is to book a room for the first night or two and take things from there.
As for how we enjoyed the Casa Florencia…. I ended up booking all our nights on our return trips from Lake Atitlan and Copan Ruinas at the Casa Florencia. The rooms aren't very large, in fact, they are on the small side. Though on our last night, we were given the larger "triple" room on the second floor. I'm guessing that the folks at CF were being nice to us for making the place our base of operations.
What we found most impressive about Casa Florencia, was how clean the place was…..the floor shone and squeaked under our feet. You felt like you could almost eat off that floor.
Hotel Casa Florencia
7a Avenida Norte #100
La Antigua,Guatemala
On many nights, we'd sit on one of the benches outside our room, and have our snack of fried chicken from Pollo Campero, and a cerveza or two. One evening we decided to taste test two of the very popular beers….. Brahva and Gallo.
Brahva is a light lager, very effervescent. Gallo, which is the more popular beer is also a lager, but has a weird "skunkiness" to it, that wasn't very enjoyable. It wasn't just a bad can…. all of them tasted that way. Needless to say, we stuck with Brahva from then on……
On the west edge of Antigua is the market which we only briefly visited. We did spend enough time to take some photos.
If I were to go over all the sights in antigua…. well, I'd have a ton of posts. Instead, here are two of our favorites. On the north side of central Antigua is La Merced, a beautiful church.
And though La Merced is known for what is often called the most impressive fountain in Central America….
And the views from the top of the church…. I found walking the hallways more interesting. The lights and shadows give the place an interesting feel.
La Merced is an interesting way to spend an hour wandering the hallways, checking out the views above, and of course the fountain.
To the Southwest, is one of the oldest churches in Antigua, the Iglesia de San Francisco. Dating back to 1579, the church and the large monastery was destroyed in the great 1773 earthquake.
The church has been rebuilt, but the grounds of the monastery, which once included a library, and even a hospital has not. You can walk and explore the ruins.
And of course, since this is a food blog, I need to include some food. During the evening, you can find vendors outside of La Merced, selling various items that is a good change of pace from all the tourist food.
Where you can get stuff like this….
The Missus always cracked me up when ordering these….. this type of small tamal are called "chuchitos". The term tamale is saved for larger tamals. So the Missus would point and go "tamales…tamales?" And the woman manning the cart would go "no, no, no tamales…. chuchitos!" And the Missus would point again and go, "tamales…." And the woman would go, "no…chuchitos"……. he-he-he….
And of course there was always someone selling tostadas…..
Which always hit the spot……..
Thanks for reading!