DAY 11, Guatamala
January 25, 2023. According to the ship’s newsletter, we docked today in “Precious Puerto Quetzal.” It’s another commercial port, not much different from Chiapas. Unlike Chiapas, the newsletter displayed a photo of Antigua, Guatamala, a UNESCO Heritage Site located about 5,000 feet above sea level, in the middle of the country. I took an excursion there.The bus ride was comfortable, the roads all good. It took almost 2 hours each way; half on a four-lane road at 50 MPH, half on windy two-lane roads. The guide was excellent. She was full of intriguing facts: Most of the population is indigenous, and that includes 60% Mayan. Most of our view of the city was through the bus windows, and that was enough for me. Building is strictly regulated. Everything is according to UNESCO rules: Spanish colonial style, single level, stucco walls with a prescribed set of colors, . . . There were a lot of ruins of Catholic buildings: monasteries, cloisters, churches and so on. They are the remains of buildings destroyed in an 18th century earthquake, when the city had to be abandoned.
We had two stops—a jade factory, where we heard about how Guatamala is one of the very few places where it can be found, and the central square, with fountains and cafés, and strolling vendors trying to sell you local handicrafts. I had a cup of really good Guatamalan coffee.
