KIRAN GOES PLACES
Day one: chocolate, jade and a sing-along we didn't see coming
On the way in we got a sneak peek of the volcanoes from the plane, Acatenango and Fuego, the two big ones nearby that we'd actually be climbing a couple of days later. We checked into Hostal Antigüeño, a genuinely nice surprise, tables to eat at, lounges, lockers for bags. It almost doesn't feel real here, cobbled stone streets, colourful low buildings, and a volcano sitting in the background of pretty much every view.
A sneak peek of Acatenango and Fuego from the plane, before we'd even landed.
First things first, coffee, at Fat Cat Cafe, seriously punchy stuff. Classic start to a Central America trip, coffee, taco, then probably a nap. We went for tacos at Takul instead, cheap, tasty, with the best guac we'd had, the avocados here just hit different. Homemade tortilla chips, thick maize base tacos, lime juice everywhere, and I tried every sauce on the table like a child left unsupervised.
Guatemala is famous for coffee and chocolate, so we signed up for a chocolate making workshop at Ek Chuah, a local family run place named after the Mayan monkey god of cacao. We learned how cacao was once used as currency and in rituals, tasted raw cacao (horrifically bitter, tastes nothing like actual chocolate), and got walked through fermenting, drying and grinding before being let loose in the kitchen. We made our own chocolate in molds, sugar, nuts, and I went rogue with chili.
Ek Chuah, named after the Mayan monkey god of cacao, mid chocolate lesson.
Then our instructor, an absolute madman in the best way, got the whole group singing some kind of chocolate anthem while we sipped hot cacao. None of us knew the words and somehow we were all still singing along. A slightly darker fact from the same session, cacao was once used alongside human sacrifice for a special drink for the gods, which sounds absolutely foul.
Our finished chocolate, sugar, nuts and one very deliberate bag of chili.
Next stop was the Jade Museum. Jade was a massive deal in Mayan culture too, symbolising life and power, worn as jewellery, buried with the dead, even set into teeth. Worth a visit for the history alone even if jewellery isn't usually your thing. As the sun went down we wandered the cobbled streets, everything golden and a bit magical, before dinner at Samsara, a chilled vegetarian spot, falafel tortilla for me, Korean barbecue tacos for Sam. We went full tourist afterwards with a Guatemalan chocolate crepe from Luna de Miel, dripping chocolate, sat on the edge of the street with our legs dangling off a bench. Ended the night at Café No Sé, candlelit, dark, moody, the kind of place that'd be called hipster back home but just felt cool here, an incredible mezcal list and occasional live music.
Day two: coffee farms, a viewpoint, and the arch on every postcard
Breakfast at Café Condesa, right on the main square inside an old colonial building with courtyards and creaky floors. Huevos Guatemaltecos, refried beans, fresh fruit, bread, and coffee number two of the trip. In Central America it's basically rude not to eat beans for breakfast, and these were genuinely great.
Running late, we jumped in a tuk tuk that rattled us all the way to Finca Philadelphia, a working coffee farm just outside the city, founded in 1870 and still run by the same family 154 years later. Since it was harvest time, there were people out picking bright red coffee cherries by hand.
Harvest time at Finca Philadelphia, coffee cherries picked bright red by hand.
We saw the plants from seed to full grown tree, popped open a cherry to find the bean inside, watched the washing and drying process on massive concrete slabs, then put on stylish hairnets for the roasting room. The way the roasted coffee was stacked up ready for export honestly felt like a scene out of Narcos. Best part was the tasting lab, where master tasters check every batch, we got a full demo on how to properly taste espresso, little stir, little sip, cleanse the palate with water. Intense but genuinely sweet, no graininess at all.
Back in the city for lunch, an açai bowl at Café Café (so good they named it twice), followed by a cheesy basil pesto crepe for fuel. To make the most of our last few hours, I set up a self guided walking tour, starting at Cerro de la Cruz, a hike uphill out of the city to a massive cross with the best view over Antigua. You can properly see the colonial Spanish grid layout of the city from up there, volcano looming behind it all.
The view from Cerro de la Cruz, the whole colonial grid laid out below.
Next was Iglesia de la Merced, a big yellow church with white detailing, seriously photogenic, and built to withstand both earthquakes and eruptions, with Mayan influence visible in the carvings outside the entrance.
Iglesia de la Merced, built to survive both earthquakes and eruptions.
Then the Santa Catalina Arch, probably the most iconic spot in Antigua and on every postcard. It was built so nuns living secluded lives could pass between two convent buildings without being seen from the street, the clock was added later. From there we hit Mercado de Artesanías El Carmen, a market that felt like it went on forever, endless clothes, jewellery and trinkets from the outside you'd never guess was even there. I hunted down a poncho and got it, and unlike a lot of street markets, no one here was pushy about a sale.
Mercado de Artesanías El Carmen, bigger inside than it has any right to look from the street.
We finished the walk at Parque Central, always lively with vendors, families and pigeons everywhere. On one side is the cathedral's face, but behind it are the actual ruins, what's left of the original building after it was levelled by earthquakes, still standing in a kind of stubborn, broken way.
The ruins behind the cathedral's face, still standing after the earthquakes that flattened them.
Last stop was Tanque de la Unión, an old public wash spot where people once gathered to do laundry, now a peaceful spot with a volcano view through the trees. Dinner was at Fridas, highly recommended and absolutely bustling every time we'd walked past. Easily the best meal we'd had in Central America so far, mushroom veggie pineapple pizza for me, fajitas for Sam, and that lovely habit restaurants here have of giving you three levels of salsa, not spicy, medium and dangerously hot.
You could easily spend a week in Antigua between the markets, churches, cafes, chocolate and coffee, but our next stop from here was climbing straight up one of those volcanoes we'd spotted from the plane, Acatenango.
Next stop, climbing straight up one of these.