Antigua

I met Steven at the airport and we made our way via taxi and "chicken bus" (old school buses from the states and Canada newly painted with loud colors and christened with names like "Juanita", "El Dorado", y "Señora Blaca").

I had heard that Antigua was extremely touristy and had been warned against visiting by numerous other travelers, but found it to be charming. The city is much smaller than Xela and seems much older. The city is littered with the ruins of old churches destroyed by earthquakes centuries ago and they are fascinating to see. There are definitely more tourist centered shops here than in Xela, but it is not touristy in the "Disney" sense of the word.

We found a room in an affordable guesthouse where the resident parrot amused us by alternatively laughing and crying in an amazingly human voice. We spent the afternoon relaxing and wandering around the city and turned in early in order to be rested for our trek up a local active volcano the following day.