Today was another great day in Guatemala! I woke up and the temperatures were perfect under a sunny sky. Today I wandered the streets of Antigua with Julio. Antigua is about an hour outside of Guatemala City. It was the second Capitol of Guatemala. It is a very small town, which is great to just wander around. Julio took me to two different churches today, a cathedral that was destroyed by the earthquake, and the main square. Antigua was very busy today as mass was being held in all of the churches. It is also a town where people from Guatemala City go to on Sunday's for lunch and relaxation. It is a very special little town. All of the streets are cobblestone and almost every building is colonial architecture. I'm pretty sure the town is a UNESCO World heritage site, but I may be wrong on that. Mostly we just walked around town and saw all of the main sites, plus a couple Julio thought I might be interested in seeing. I really loved this town.
After wandering around town for most of the day, we headed back to Guatemala City. Julio asked if it was ok to stop by his house on the way into the city so he could drop off his luggage so he could take the bus home after dropping me off. I was excited to do this. We arrived at Julio's house and one of his grandchildren and his daughter ran out to greet us. I was invited in, and I met the family, minus Connie his wife. Connie was having lunch with a friend. Julio lives in a small house with his wife, daughter, son, and three grandchildren. I imagine the house is about 700 square feet with 7 people living there. There is no running water and Julio is not happy about this, but it is what his family can afford. Not much privacy for anyone in that house. I was so happy to meet his family, and they all greeted me and were welcoming. It was a great thing to see how his family lives and I really appreciated that he wanted to show me. After dropping his things off, he brought me to my hotel. I was sad to say goodbye to Julio, he was a great guide and a great person to spend the last 4 days with.
I'm in Guatemala City for about 10 hours. I have to be ready tomorrow morning at 5:00am for my flight to Flores. In Flores, I will be visiting the Tikal national park, with Mayan ruins. Then an overnight at Tikal and I'm off to Belize on Tuesday for 3 days of fun in the sun! The trip seems to be going pretty fast. I am kind of looking forward to relaxing on the beach in Belize for a few days though. It has been a non stop tour of Guatemala since I arrived.
More tomorrow...
