Today was our first whole day here in Antigua. It was a Saturday and we didn’t have anything on the schedule. We walked around town, bought some ice cream, enjoyed the fountain in the center of town, and then met up with one of Brett’s neighbor’s for lunch. Adam just happened to be coming to Guatemala this week and knew Brett had served his mission here. He sent Brett an email asking what sites he should see while in town. Of course, when he heard we were going to be here at the same time, he wanted to meet up and say hi. So we did.
Mermaid’s Fountain
We tried to have lunch at Cactus, which has good reviews, but it is really small. We had a group of 10 and it looked like the total capacity of the restaurant was about 14. Luckily there was a much larger place next door. Papi’s BBQ doesn’t sound like typical Guatemalan or even “Latin” fare, but it was really good. I got the namesake burger. Charmaine got a pulled pork sandwich and a maracuya drink. Everything was really good. Charmaine’s pulled pork wasn’t quite as good as Phil’s, but she said it was pretty close. That’s about the highest compliment Charmaine can give a BBQ joint.
After lunch we walked across town and hiked up the hill to the cross overlooking the city. The hike was all paved stairs in the shade with a slight breeze, so it was really nice. The view from the top was great. We could see Agua, of course, and to the far right we could just see Fuego and Acatenango. Fuego was spitting out puffs of smoke every now and then. It was very relaxing to sit and look at the three volcanos and watch the city from the above.
Later that evening we climbed up onto the roof of our place and watched Fuego puff out some more ash. We even saw some lava coming out as the sun set and it got darker. Charmaine did a Zoom meeting with her dad and Steven so they could see where we’re staying and maybe catch a glimpse of the volcano.
