We met up with Emilio around 1000 and walked back into town, so random street scenes often without explanation/comment but then a bit of pertinent info on certain buildings.
For some reason these two guys made me chuckle, I think it was the chap on the right's hat which reminded me of a clown's.
I'd love to know the story behind this image.
Isn't his ice cream cart adorable!
In fact a Super Trouper pushing that converted wheelbarrow over cobbles all day - Nuts anyone?
Beautifully framed by the trees, this is Fuego; an active volcano which lies just 16kms west of Antigua and spews gas and ash throughout the day. It has erupted multiple times since 2000, the last major one being in 2018 when 215 people were killed and in fact just 2 weeks after we got home I read a report that it had erupted once again and many people had been evacuated and the airport closed. I contacted Emilio and he said that fortunately there'd been no fatalities this time.
An impossibly large building to get in one picture, this is the front of 16th century San José Cathedral which was largely destroyed by the 1773 earthquake and only ever partially rebuilt.
Impossible to get perfect symmetry without lying on the floor.
I'd love to know where the steps were supposed to lead to, maybe if I'd hung around the pigeon would have shown me.
From the entrance steps we had a great view of Fuego puffing out its ash. As you can imagine I was considerably more interested in taking these photos than looking at the inside of a ruined cathedral.
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Opposite the entrance is one of Antigua's university buildings which has rather lovely carvings on top.
I just want another excuse to photograph Fuego.
This is looking back to the other side of town and Agua.
Next stop was the Museum of Colonial Art which was housed in this fabulous building.
This is a popular place to get married (or at least to have your photos taken in) and I think there were quite a few weddings happening over the next few days.
I must confess I didn't pay a great deal of attention to the exhibits as I was far more interested in photographing this young lady who was celebrating her 15th birthday.
La Quinceañera: Widely celebrated in Guatemala, this tradition marks an important milestone in a girl's life. It’s another example of religious syncretism (combining of Maya cosmovision and Christian beliefs). Historically native Maya people had a life expectancy of around 30 years and so 15 year-olds were in their prime of life and would marry and start families at that age. Young girls were sent away to learn about history and cultural traditions as a way to prepare them for married life and then they went back to their communities to celebrate their fifteenth birthday. During colonization, those ancient traditions mixed with Christian beliefs; the mass was added to the celebration and then the ball gown and ultimately quince años became a social event, a way for the families to “present the quinceañera to society” and announce that the girl was of marrying age. Today, the quinceañera tradition is a celebration of life; a way of marking a girl’s transition from being a child to be a young woman and a way to celebrate their femininity, their life, and the opportunities they will have in the future. As with many traditions it has now been hugely commercialised and judging by what we saw (dress/make up/official photographer/lighting rig etc) it must cost the family a fortune.
I must thank the official photographer for his patience in allowing me to gatecrash his shoot - not sure it'd be as easy over here!
I'm presuming this is her sister and no doubt she'll go through the same when she "comes of age".
Different street repairs, same outfits.
Christmas is coming.
No this isn't the same building the clowns were repainting, but if they have any paint left over they could do a quick touch up job.
Look how Volcán de Agua dominates the town.
Ian being my stool pigeon (hope that's the correct term)
Obviously from the colour this was by La Merced but I don't recall the lilac candles.
Adjoining the church is a ruined convent which had a rather splendid 18th century fountain in the courtyard.
The rooftop also gave us a great view of Fuego.
The organised group tour was now finished and we were free to wander around again on our own.
I only took this cos I loved the way her culottes matched the walls.
This garden was open to the public but to be honest it didn't look worth the c.£10pp entry fee (no doubt 10p for residents) so I took a couple of snaps through the fence.
Yes, you can just walk around the RHS of the arch!
It's Friday today and Antigua is getting ready for its annual Flower Festival which starts tomorrow and will see over 40,000 flock to this small town - rather glad we're leaving first thing!
This was another "from the hip" shot which I've tried to straighten (hence the white edges) but I think I may have been cursed taking it.
Little boys the world over love chasing pigeons and I love photographing them doing so.
This is rather fuzzy as I was a bit too close to the moving vehicle for my settings, but what a lot of sponges!
On the recommendation of Gill and Tom we'd decided to eat late afternoon in an Argentinian Steakhouse, not really my thing I know, but I do enjoy a cremated burger from time to time. As crowds were beginning to arrive for the festival we thought we'd better book but spent an age trying to find the place. All addresses are referred to by grid and although we knew which street it was in, we walked up and down asking for a long time before eventually finding it and reserving a table for one hour later. Of course when we went back the place was practically empty, apart from Gill and Tom who'd enjoyed it so much yesterday they'd gone back. They'd warned us previously that the portions were huge and maybe to skip starters, but somewhere during the ordering process of a bottle of wine, two beef burgers and chips it all went wrong - I think it was when I ordered the wine and the waiter than asked Ian what he wanted to drink . The waiter was very proud of his passable English and I so I didn't want to switch to Spanish so tried to explain that the wine was to share. Obviously used to people complaining about the large portion sizes he must have thought that the whole order was to share - good job they'd bought us a complimentary delicious amuse bouche. We both could probably have eaten more but maybe not twice as much, so perhaps they did is a favour. Whatever it was a lovely meal in a lovely restaurant.
Whilst we were enjoying our meal we could see a flower installation being done in the ruined building opposite so wandered over when we'd finished dinner.
I can never resist Strelitzia reginae
On many of the photos where I've cloned out the annoying E signs - they mean No Parking and as you can see from the van at the end of the street, are usually ignored.
We bumped into another very pretty Quinceañera who again was very happy for me to take her photos (and so was her official photographer).
As the sun was starting to set we did a final quick walk around the main square.
Good to see that Uncle Walt's influence has no boundaries (Disney Frozen)
Antigua has been a wonderful place to visit; great hotel, lots of interesting buildings, lovely people, safe streets - I shall be sorry to leave it, except that the 40,000 people arriving tomorrow might give it a very different feel. I'll leave the last word or puff to Fuego.
