I woke up early enough to have some time to walk around and grab breakfast before my 3 hour Colonial & Culture Walking Tour with The Tour Guide Guy (+502 4948 7363). Another beautiful day in Antigua and decided to have breakfast at Café Condesa.

Hitting the streets of Antigua on my way to breakfast

Sitting by the fountain in a open-air courtyard for breakfast was lovely

After a nice breakfast and some time to relax, I was off again. I was meeting my tour guide, Gerardo in front of the restaurant I ate at, but had some time to kill, so I crossed the street to Parque Central Antigua to walk around. There is a mix of manicured and more natural growing trees and other plants as well as a beautiful large fountain in the middle. This is the main park where indigenous women bring their handmade craft items and other souvenirs. I looked around but had committed to myself not to purchase anything until after my tour to reduce what I had to carry with me for my 3-hour tour. I did meet a friendly indigenous vendor, Ruth who happened to be from the same town as my tour guide, I ended up buying some items from her when my tour was over.

Finally it was time for my tour to start, so I walked back across the street to meet with my guide, Gerardo. I want to start off by saying how friendly and knowledgeable he is about the city, sites, and country. If you find yourself in Antigua, I would say this is a must-do activity! I ended up being the only person on the tour which made it an even better deal and allowed me to request Gerardo give the tour in Spanish so I could practice. This was the first time I made such a request to have an immersive Spanish experience and I’m really glad I did it, especially so early in my 3-week trip. I was able to follow about 95% of what he was saying and had to speak English for a couple of things but otherwise it was refreshing to really use my language skills and grow my confidence in them. This led to me make similar requests with other activities on my trip as the opportunities came up.

The tour as advertised had 8 sites/attractions but we saw far more. There is so much to see in between locations and Gerardo was willing to share about it all. First we walked over to Parque Central because there were multiple sites that wrapped around the park. We started in the middle of the park to see and talk about the Fuente de las Sirenes or Fountain of the Sirens. Next, we walked to the southern side of the park to see the Real Palacio de los Capitanes Generales or Royal Palace of the Captains General. Then walked to the north side of the park to see the Palacio del Ayuntamiento or City Hall. Finally, we moved east to the Catedral de San José or San José Cathedral Antigua.

Located on the east side of the Main Square, you will find the Cathedral that now houses the Parish of San José. Completed in 1680 under the direction of Master Architect Joseph de Porras and Captain Martín de Andújar, the Cathedral suffered major damage in the earthquake of 1773. Left idle until partial restoration of the entrance, baptistry, and two chapels began in the mid 1800s. Regular mass services are conducted here daily. You can view the ruins of the Cathedral of Santiago through the entrance on the south side. Inside Catedral San José, there was a lot to see and to learn about the history of this structure that had been rebuilt and/or repaired multiple times over the centuries as a result of damage incurred namely from earthquakes in the region. There is also a somewhat unique figure of Jesus in this location that Gerardo shared a very interesting story about it.

Black Jesus. The story goes that when the Spanish were in Guatemala they would make fun of the indigenous people telling them that God didn't love them and that it was obvious because the indigenous people didn't have a Jesus/God with the same skin color as them. This made them sad so they went to speak to their spiritual leader who suggested they host a celebration of their faith so that God could show them his love. The result was that they came up with this image of black Jesus. It's believed the black color was a result of soot from the fire at their celebration and it stuck.

On our way to the next location, we walked past Universidad Pontificia de San Carlos. This was not one of our stops but I was able to grab a picture and see through the open doorway into their courtyard.

We then walked around to the rear of Catedral San José where we were able to see through some iron gates to view the Ruinas de La Antigua Catedral Metropolitana de Santiago de Los Caballeros de Guatemala. You can pay to go in and get a closer experience, but I was fine with the quick glance and it allow us to see so much more over the full tour.

Ruinas de La Antigua Catedral Metropolitana de Santiago de Los Caballeros de Guatemala

The next stop was the Iglesia Santo Hermano Pedro de San José Betancur and the Obras Sociales del Santo Hermano Pedro. Santo Hermano Pedro was most known as founder of the first Hospital for the poor in colonial times. Many would follow his lead to provide hospital services to indigent communities.

Iglesia Santo Hermano Pedro de San José Betancur and Obras Sociales del Santo Hermano Pedro

From there, we walked through Parque Union where Tanque la Unión is located on the east side of the park. This historic gathering place was used by people to wash their clothes during colonial times. There are wash basins and circular cutouts for soap. People would travel all day from the surrounding communities to access this facility. It’s hard to imagine in an era with washing machines and technology the idea of traveling so far with your laundry, but this site has stood the test of time and when you are standing there looking at the water pool, it’s not that hard to see why people would come down from the mountains to socialize and use this site with others in the region.

Tanque La Unión looking out on Parque Union

Heading south a block, we reached the 18th-century Ruinas de Convento Santa Clara or Santa Clara Convent Ruins. If you want to enter the site there is a fee, but you can see some of the site from the outside if you are on a budget or don’t have the time. Again I was happy to see what I saw and move on to the next stop.

Convento Santa Clara (this is the only decretive entrance facing the South in Antigua) this is contained within the convent.

Same as previous image except zoomed out

Down one and over one more block to the southeast, we ended up at the Iglesia San Francisco el Grande & Museo del Hermano Pedro. San Francisco el Grande, is one of the churches visited by parishioners for their devotion to Saint Brother Pedro. In this place we toured the church and also visited the tomb of Santo Hermano Pedro.

Depiction of Harmano Pedro inside Iglesia San Francisco el Grande

Images inside Iglesia San Francisco el Grande

Me in front of Iglesia San Francisco el Grande

The alter inside Iglesia San Francisco el Grande

Tree in a courtyard in honor of Hermano Pedro

From here, we started heading north up to Casa del Jade or the Jade Museum. In this wonderful museum I learned a little about the Mayans, their relationship and belief with the valuable Jade stone. The tour was with staff at the museum and well worth it. After the tour there was time to look at the store and purchase items if you wanted to. I ended up with 2 lavender jade stones that I plan to have made into rings. After we left Casa del Jade, we went to Mercado Artesanias el Carmen where there were dozens of stalls and traders selling a wide selection of handicrafts, souvenirs, artwork, and clothing. The vendors are very friendly and will encourage you to buy items, even making suggestions, but ultimately if you tell them you are browsing and walk away they let you move on.

Obsidian on the left and Jade on the right

The last stop on our walking tour before heading back towards the center of town was Casa Santo Domingo. This is a luxury hotel built around the ruins of a 16th-century Dominican monastery that was destroyed in the 18th century by a series of earthquakes.

Ruinas de Convento e Iglesia de Santo Domingo

By this point we were nearing the end of the tour but still had a couple last stops including Arco de Santa Catalina and Iglesia la Merced. Since we were running close on time and I had seen both of these before the tour I asked if instead Gerardo might suggest where I could purchase some good quality local coffee beans in town, as I didn’t have time to travel to any of the surrounding coffee farms. He walked me to a café where he knew the staff who helped me select some beans. From there, we walked back to the starting point and parted ways. I then went to check out the souvenirs that were in Parque Central and met up with Ruth (the vendor from earlier in the morning) and got a bunch of nice handmade items. Before I left the park, I couldn’t resist and got some fresh ice cream then walked back to my hotel to drop off my bags, clean up and get ready for my next adventure.