One DOWN

I have finally, at last, and definitively (more or less) finished the tourist guide I’ve been writing on Antigua. There’s no real telling when it’ll appear on the internet to public eyes, but at least I’m done with it! Although now I’m only going to go to Granada, Nicaragua to start writing again instead of climbing to the highest point in Antigua (I think I’d pick the Cerro de la Cruz) to throw my computer symbolically from the edge.

I really am fond of this city, though, and I want to share a few of the guidebook-style reasons why. I’ve got hundreds of pictures and somewhere around 25,000 words describing Antigua, and countless synonyms for abused guidebook terms like “patron” and “welcoming”. Top some :

The canary-yellow splendor of La Iglesia de La Merced guards over the northern reaches of Antigua.

The market's edges trickle imprecisely into the bus terminal, envelop the Mercado de Artesanias, and sprawl into the parking lots behind the covered stalls.

In 1999, the Posada del Ángel made history when Bill Clinton spent the night in their Rose Suite, the first time a US President had slept on Guatemalan soil.

The same faultline that created the majestic volcanoes overlooking the city has flattened it with powerful earthquakes several times.

The day was finally sun-flooded and warm again today, and Fuego, the only active volcano visible from Antigua, spat and burped and dribbled dabs of smoke all day long.