The Luxurious Part of the Trip

Day 4-5: ANTIGUA!!

So, I have to admit, I LOVED this part of the trip. Antigua is a small town that resembles the streets of Europe, I think. It's actually pretty small, in radius, but the streets are made of cobblestone and the houses and stores there are brightly colored. We arrived in Antigua in the evening and checked into our hotel, which was awesome. This was by far the best hotel we stayed in during the trip. It was called Meson Panza Verde, which really had kind of a rustic quality to it. Dallin and I splurged here and got a suite, which included a big canopy bed , its own fireplace, and a private balcony with this huge hammock hanging in it. The restaurant here was FANTASTIC!! By far, one of the best meals I've had in a LLLOOONNNNGGGG time! And the grounds were gorgeous -- made up of all kinds of exotic flowers and plants. At night, they'd bring in local artists to perform so people would sit around the bar and lounge or dance (and I've got some fun pictures to show you of this too!)

Enjoying some fine dining at Meson Panza Verde

Posing for pictures on the rooftop terrace

Mom & Dad shaking things up with a salsa dance!

Day 5: Elizabeth Bell

The next morning we had arranged for a tour of the city by a woman named Elizabeth Bell. She was absolutely wonderful. Her parents had moved her from California to Guatemala when she was only 11 and she's stayed ever since. Not only did she know everything about the history of Antigua and it's current political and economic state, she's also dedicated her life to improving the quality of life for the native people of Antigua, to cleaning up the streets, bringing in more tourists, and preserving the heritage and culture of the people there. She and the foundation she runs, have really started excavating some of the local buildings there and putting any of the "treasures" they find in nice museums , in hopes of luring more tourism dollars into the city. She was truly a fascinating and really inspiring woman.

Elizabeth leading our tour group

The rest of our stay in Antigua was spent walking the streets, visiting the different stores there and shopping, and eating delicious food. While in Antigua, we tried a new dish called pepian dish. It is a chicken stew with a tomato based broth and spices that I couldn't quite figure out what they were. But it was delicious!

Pepian Chicken!

Posing in the center of town

How do you add heat to a dish? Try one of these!

Antigua definitely had a rustic charm to it.

Hitting the cobblestone streets

And of course, no post about my Guatemala trip would be complete without me obsessing over the flowers and plants there. Everything grows big out there -- all of the flowers are HUGE, the leaves from some of the plants are almost bigger than I am, and everything is green. Its fantastic!
Check out the leaf! It's almost as big as my mother!