Thread: [Articles] Guatemala

Guamgirl, that was a very good article. I enjoyed reading it. I and my wife went to Guatemala about 4 years ago or so. We went to ANTIGUA for only about two nights. We walked all around that town and even the square. That place looked awesome with VOLCAN DE AGUA, VOLCAN DE FUEGO standing out just like that. Huge massive and scenic volcano standing right there. I took some awesome pictures of that whole town, walked all over the place. Saw some old FRANCISCAN ruins and walked all over those early churches. I wish I could post them here, but they are in 35 mm film and I would have to scan those to post. I remember eating in some hotel where President CLINTON stayed, and I remember eating at POLLO CAMPERO. We didn't do the Lake Atitlan trip as you did, but we've been meaning to go back for some time, but this seems harder to do when you have way other more places to visit and see. So we missed the Atitlan trip, but we made it to Niagra Falls for instance. DID YOU EVER VISIT THE TOWN OF GRINGOTENANGO? Get it? "Gringo" + "Tenango"? Apparently an inside joke in Guatemala due to alot of retired "Gringo's" or Americans. Seems like all villages and towns in Guatemala end in "TENANGO". I remember the MAYAN'S in the square being quite aggressive in their sales of blankets and other arts and crafts. Pretty colorful and creative people, reminded me alot like the Indonesians in Bali with their creative crafts. Earthquakes really shook those early foundations a long time back. In fact, ANTIGUA has some interesting history of the early Conquistadores.


PEDRO ALVARADO
The Cathedral of San Jose was built between 1543 and 1680 and Guatemala's conquistador, don Pedro de Alvarado, is believed to buried in an unmarked tomb behind the building.
His wife, Beatriz de la Cueva de Ubeda, became governor after his death, but died in September 1541 during the eruption of the Guatemalan "de Agua" volcano.

BERNAL DIAZ DE CASTILLO
"The (True History of the Conquest of New Spain"). In it he describes many of the 119 battles in which he claims to have participated, culminating in the fall of the Aztec Empire in 1521.
As a reward for his service, Díaz was appointed governor of Santiago de los Caballeros, present-day Antigua Guatemala. He was also buried in the Cathedral next to Plaza De Armas in Antigua.

Yes, Antigua is something else. Those streets made of cobbled brick really stand out. Lots of European back packers. I had a brick oven pizza in one little place there. Cerveza GALLO. One of these days, I'll make it back.

Haven't checked this site out for a while but decided to give it a looking over recently. So yes, I'm here for now. I posted some new pics on NICARAGUA. Many seem to post here and fly the coop from lack of participation I think. I posted over 40 pics and got two comments on them. When I commented on other pics, I got no responses. Go figure.

I'll check out your blog and give you some input. Hang tight.

I agree, Antigua is beautiful! I spent 4 days there, and I can't wait to go back. But I would suggest a hostel over a hotel. Much less expensive, you'll meet up with other travelers, and much more personal and authentic than a hotel. I always stay in hostels when I travel, hotels are so boring!