More Antigua! But first, other things.
We drove past a funeral. It was quite sad. A police officer had been killed. I love how the whole neighborhood showed up and was walking with the family to show support. There was also a band playing mournful walking music and I think we as a nation need to get on that.
I saw a fountain and I liked how they planted flowers birds-of-paradise flowers the fountain. Plus there was a pigeon and I am on Team Pigeon 4 Lyfe. Extremely pro-pigeon. Not ashamed of it.
Okay, so Antigua. The buildings are very short and the roads are extremely wide because if an earthquake destroys a building and it pitches forward it doesn’t knock down the building on the opposite side.
There is a former nunnery in Antigua, Convent of las Capuchinas. It cost a lot of money to become a nun and that, combined with the constant battery of earthquakes, caused the nunnery to be shut down.
The grout that holds those brick walls together was a mixture of sand, gravel and egg whites. The city apparently ran out of eggs during the construction of this building.
The wine cellar for holy ceremonial wines was build like a doughnut with a big column in the middle which is how it survived all the earthquakes. It has great acoustics so the nuns used to go down there and sing and maybe sample the wines.
And there are gardens which are beautiful. It’s not too hard to have a gorgeous garden in Antigua, I saw many of them.
As we walked along the street during the sunset on the last night we found a rooftop bar in an old mansion-type home. The fancy older buildings reminded me of Spain. They tended to have huge scary exterior walls:
And gorgeous compound-like interiors with gardens. This was no exception.
When we went up to the roof you could really appreciate how the city is nestled in between the mountains.
• | • | • | INTERMISSION | • | • | •
Dia de los Muertos-type dolls! Same store as the decorated antlered skulls. I showed restraint and did not buy them.
• | • | • | INTERMISSION OVER | • | • | •
That’s all my photos on Antigua. I only have four photos for the town of Panajachel, a town on the edge of Lake Atitlan (more about Lake Atitlan in a bit) so let’s go through those.
CHARCH! In Panajachel we visited the church. I liked the architectural style
The inside of the church looked like and upside-down boat.
And there was a nice carved monster holding up the display board in the back.
Here was the biggest surprise for me in Panajachel. Stay with me here: There is a semi-famous artist from Vienna Austria named Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928 – 2000). His artwork is extremely distinctive. It’s difficult to mistake it for someone else’s work. Here are some examples.
Which is why I was pleasantly surprised to see a rather large mural featuring some of Hundertwasser’s work in this small village in Guatemala.
Whattup, Hundy? How you doin’?
Okay, coming up next: Lake Atitlan. Get ready for the most insane plants you have ever seen.