PUERTO QUETZAL, GUATEMALA (ANTIGUA)

You will find that your stop in Puerto Quetzal will simply be a place for your ship to dock as the immediate area holds little interest for cruise passengers.  There is a market dockside but you are going to want to leave the area to find anything of interest.  We opted to go to Antigua.  This is the one time that I booked a shore excursion through the cruise ship company.  I opted for the “Antigua On Your Own” which was the round-trip bus transportation only.  The cost was $51 per person but felt it would be best to use the NCL transportation in the event there would be any problems getting back to the ship on time.  Cruise companies will hold a ship for passengers booked on their shore excursions but will not wait for independent travelers. 

Antigua is 90 minutes away by bus and is designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is most famous for it’s well preserved Spanish Baroque-influenced architecture as well as a number of ruins of colonial churches, the first of which was begun in 1545.  The city boasted a peak population of about 60,000 back in the 1770’s with the bulk of the population moving away in the 18^th century.  By 1850 the population had dwindled to a mere 9,000 and currently runs about 30,000.  The city is laid out in a square pattern with a central square, called Parque Central, and streets running north to south and east to west.

Antigua is also known as a destination for people who want to learn Spanish through immersion. There are many Spanish language schools in Antigua, and it is one of the most popular and best recognized centers for Spanish language study by students from Europe, Asia and North America. Language institutes are one of the primary industries of Antigua, along with tourism.

The city of Antigua is surrounded by three enormous volcanoes.  The most commanding is Volcan de Agua (Volcano of Water) which is located to the south of the city at a height of 12,356 feet.  To the west of the city are a pair of peaks, Acatenango, which last erupted in 1972, rising some 13,045 feet high, and the Volcan de Fuego (Volcano of Fire), some 12,346 feet high.  Volcan de Fuego is famous for being almost constantly active at a low level as we witnessed on our way to and from Antigua.  Steam and gas spew from its top daily with a larger eruption last occurring in September 2012.   

View of Volcan of Fuego (Volcano of Fire) on our way to Antigua

As our bus arrived into the downtown area of Antigua we found ourselves dropped

Making us tortillas at Rincon Tipico Restaurant

in front of the Jade Maya.  We had no interest in shopping at this very touristy place so we began walking to the Central Park area, only 2-3 blocks away.  As we slowly began making our way to Central Park, taking in all the sights and sounds that Antigua has to offer, we walked past Rincon Tipico restaurant.   Although the restaurant doesn’t have a webpage, throughout the day it became very apparent that this was “the place to eat” in Antigua.  

 We watched at the entrance to the restaurant as they made homemade tortillas at the front door, cooking them on a large round grill.   We bought 2 to try them out at a cost of $1 Quetzel - $0.13 cents in US dollars. 

 

Local selling handcrafted items in Central Park

We took our piping hot, freshly baked tortillas and headed down to Central Park.  This area is beautiful but chaotic.  People, people everywhere with more locals than I could possibly count, dressed in bright colors and all of them trying to peddle their handiwork.  In a very short time your mantra for the day will become “No”. 

Adorable girl selling necklaces

Explaining what type of cut I wanted with the dog keeping me in check.

After leaving the Central Park we walked carefully down the cobblestone streets and came across a beauty salon named Dorka’s.  How bad could it be I thought to myself.   I felt it time to get my hair cut and what could be more fun and interesting than to have it done in Guatemala, figuring if I didn’t like it that it would grow out in a month.  The experience turned out to be delightful.   On top of the friendly and engaging staff you couldn’t help but fall in love with their ‘mascot’ dog that sat in one of the chairs as if to say “This is my house and I am in total control here so don’t even think about trying anything.”   The haircut turned out fine and cost a mere $10 USD for a wash, cut and blow dry.  Such a bargain and such a fun experience.  It was here that my friend Marci, very fluent in Spanish, discovered that the Rincon Tipico Restaurant was the best place to eat for the locals.  Since it was now almost 1pm we decided to go back to the restaurant and give it a try. 

 

Chicken roasting over open flame wood.

As we walked into the very narrow restaurant and began looking for a seat, we noticed that we were the only tourists in the place.  Definitely a local hangout and the smells of the chicken roasting made my mouth water.  Both Marci and I opted to have the daily lunch special.  This included roasted chicken, cooked over open flame wood, small round potatoes, flavored by the drippings from the chicken, salad and Horchata, a local rice drink.  The total cost for our lunch was $30 Quetzel, about $3 US Dollars per person.

After lunch we walked a short couple of blocks to a local pharmacy where I made a purchase of an item the locals call “Magic Cream”.  I had asked for a hydrocortisone cream to relieve the itching from the bug bites I picked up at Hagia Sofia.  The cost was $8 US Dollars and it worked just like “magic”. 

At this point we managed to commandeer a tuk-tuk for a 30 minute city tour at a total cost of $10 US Dollars.  You can easily see the city in 30 minutes but a word of caution, because the roads are all cobblestone, your insides will feel like a blended milkshake when you are done.  Don’t consider doing this if you have any type of back problems.    

Mermaid fountain in Central Park

Horse drawn carriage rides available in downtown

Local architecture of downtown Antigua

San Pedro Hospital

City Hall

Local architecture of downtown Antigua

When our city tour was complete we asked our driver to drop us at his favorite spot so we could have a local beer before returning to the ship.  Both Marci and I burst out in laughter as, you guessed it, he pulled up in front of Rincon Tapico.   We ordered a local beer at a cost of $3 US Dollars. 

As time was getting away from us we opted to hire yet another tuk-tuk to get us back to the Jade Maya, our bus pickup point.  We left Antigua promptly at 3:00pm, arriving back to the docks at 4:35pm and sailed away at 6pm.