Latin America 2011: Day 1: Antigua
One long day before the trip even starts, then a charming 12:30am redeye flight to Houston. At least Continental's airplanes were fairly new Boeing 737-800's and 737-900's. George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) in Houston is also very clean and very modern, so the airport food, mediocre tho it always is, was at least served in a nice food court.
Arrival in Guatemala City was met by a blast of heat and humidity, although it really wasn't bad, then a quick meeting with the driver and a rapid arrival in Antigua-- after passing a collection of smoky chicken buses, Walmarts, and Burger Kings, of course. (globalization at its finest?)
Quick nap in the hotel, examined the wreckage of Sam's destroyed filters (and gave him the replacements I'd brought with me), then off to explore all the churches and buildings in Antigua. One or two were very well preserved and quite magnificient for such a small town, while others had collapsed in earthquakes and only existed as ruins.
A snack at the fried chicken chain, Pollo Campero, before somemore wandering (Antigua is a rather small town) and then dinner with the tour group (both ending and beginning!) at Fonda de la Calle Real. Peten loco, the local speciality, was an interesting taste-- very unique. We had some extra people-- Tara and Rachel-- there, as the first part of the full tour had just ended, so it was pretty cool to see how their experience had been. Plus they'd already gotten used to Sam taking pictures of everything the past 10 days so they were already used to being blinded by camera flashes!