After arriving in Guatemala city we jumped straight on a shuttle and drove the 1 hour to Antigua. The fact that Antigua was the capital once upon a time but isn’t any longer, has resulted in a city that showcases the best of both worlds; an established food scene and access to everything you need, while still being chill and small enough to walk everywhere.. There are Japanese, Thai, Italian and, Indian restaurants along with blue cheese, Anchor butter, and Mainland cheese at the supermarket (we freaked out at both of those).

We stayed a total of 6 nights in Antigua all at an amazing AirBnB run by a legend of a guy called Irving. For just $26NZD a night we had a private room with private bathroom, a kitchen we shared with only two other people and a rooftop terrace from which we watched Fuego volcano erupt with lava during our homemade breakfasts or yum cheese platters.
While there, one of the other guests called Anne told us of a project she was working on in a small coffee village a wee way away. She looks after the worker’s kids, all of whom are super poor. We had really wanted to do something to help so we offered to go to the market and buy some clothes for them which felt really good. She has since sent us pictures of the little kiddies showing off their new gears. 🙂
The market we got those clothes from was really cool; amazing fruit and veggie stalls, A LOT of fried chicken, clothes, fresh juices, leather goods, pharmacies, meat, everything. It was a really hectic, colourful, awesome market.

We spent our days in Antigua strolling the cobblestone streets, eating yummy food, and drinking micheladas. For anyone who cares, there were four restaurants of note.

PorQue No? Or ‘why not’ in english was an epic TINY little bar/restaurant on the corner of a street. From the street you can’t fathom how there is a restaurant in there, but to the side of the bar there is a little rope and ladder that you pull yourself up with and up the top there are about 5 tables for two. The menu is simple but relly yum and while you’re waiting you draw all over the walls with a vivid. Good times.

The second was a place called Origami. We found this place because the one we wanted to go to was closed but it ended up being delicious. As the name suggests it has Japanese influence and we got the best salad we’ve had all trip and a pork bento bowl for pretty cheap. So fresh and delicious 🙂

The third was another small place called Toko Baru. It was totally no-frills and I had two massive falafal pitas with epic homemade hummus for $6. Not bad.

And the fourth…was Maccas. As in McDonalds. We came because Irving told us it was a beautiful building, we stayed because McFlurrys and Double Cheeseburgers with mayo are freaking delicious. You can see photos below but there was a massive beautiful courtyard complete with water feature, amazing view of volcanoes, and old mate Ronald chilling in amongst all of it. Side note: I’m sorry but McDonalds is epic.

While there we did the Acatenango hike and went to Lake Atitlan for a few days. (Those are in other posts).

Antigua became one of our absolute favourite cities, though actually it’s more of a town. It has the same colour and quaintness of Cartagena but with a little more soul. The colourful facades are cracked and fading in places but it only adds to the character of this place. It was safe and didn’t feel too touristy. With friendly faces everywhere, tuktuk rides around town, unbelievable scenery, awesome markets, and good food, we loved it.