Antigua is a small town with a central plaza (Plaza Mayor), a lot of churches and small streets, and a big market very fun to walk around. It has a lot of Spanish colonial buildings, some of which have been restored after a massive earthquake in 1773 and a very peculiar charm that we discovered while walking around. One of the things I enjoyed the most was the ruins of La Recolección, which used to be a monastery, we payed our entrance and were amazed by the sights. It´s all ruins lying in the middle of a park walking distance outside of town.  We were allowed to carefully climb and jump around like kids on a playground, taking photos and just soaking up the sights and calm fresh air. These were the only ruins we were able to visit but we heard there’s a number of other options scattered around town.

As a small, calm and beautiful town, there are a bunch of options to have a nice meal or a good cup of coffee, a couple places we tried are: Café Condesa, a big house with a central patio, a bookstore and great food and mood, right next to the central plaza; and BellaVista Coffee, a place with a very pretty balcony that has astonishing views of Volcán Fuego and around town, it serves great breakfast and locally grown coffee.

In our only morning there, some of us woke up early to run through the cobblestoned streets and up a mountain where lies a cross and which has a fabulous panoramic view of the town and some of the volcanoes. We had heard and read that you had to be careful about when to climb ‘cause it might be a bit insecure at some specific times but going there just after sunrise we didn’t even get the feel of insecurity at all.

We went back to Guatemala City in another shuttle van, rented a 4x4 Toyota Outlander (that we had no idea how useful it would turn out to be) and spent the rest of that day exploring the city; walked some streets downtown and around the Plaza de la Constitución, where we took a photo from one of the dozens of exotic artificial dropbacks, and also went and walked around the zoo and ate there. There were a lot of people and the animals seemed to be well taken cared of and in good living conditions, nothing spectacular to see, but a good way to spend a sunny afternoon walking around with friends.

We woke up early on the next day to hit the road and avoid some of the morning rush hour traffic, since we had to cross the city. It was a long 4 hour drive battling with GPS and internet signal to get to El Biotopo del Quetzal  and have breakfast before a morning hike. We were in the middle of the jungle and walked around some marked trails for a couple hours slipping here and there as we crossed small rivers, waterfalls and watchpoints. The circular trails ended in a natural pool where most of us jumped in just to make sure we didn't regret it later, the water was freezing cold.

The next part of the trip was by far the most complicated, heading towards Lanquín to find a hostel we had payed in advance for two nights. GPS on the phone was not as clear as we hoped it would be and we reached a point where the roads turned to small unpaved ways right next to cliffs on tall mountains. The biggest problem was it was dark already and there was absolutely no artificial light but our headlights so we had to drive slowly and carefully.

I don’t wan’t to get too much into this next part of the trip since it was by far the most disappointing and uncomfortable. Now that we are back we all laugh about the couple nights we spent at Zephyr Lodge, a very “cool” looking hostel we found wondering around Pinterest a couple of weeks before the trip. When we got there at night, they had given up the cabin we had reserved, guests were loud, the place was full of unwanted creatures (such as roaches, toads and big spiders), rules were absurd, food and drinks were overpriced; but worst of all, the staff was incredibly rude and unkind to us. I can say that the only nice thing was the pool; this is a place we would absolutely recommend avoiding to find cheaper and more authentic hotel options in Lanquin, Semuc Champey or around.

Besides the unwelcoming hotel experience, we made the right choice when we rented that big truck since we were able to get to Semuc Champey by ourselves, on our own and not depending on the schedules and tours of 4x4 vehicles departing from the hostel. It took us a bit more than an hour to get there and the place is absolutely wonderful. We walked through the longer and upper trails to find the Mirador with an impressive view that makes people get in line for selfies.

Cahabón River runs under these limestone bridges that form a beautiful set of natural pools were you can chill and swim, and so we did for two or three hours.  There are lockers for you to leave your belongings but locks are not provided and since we didn't think about that, we had to bring our things with us and take turns swimming to keep an eye on them because the place can get busy and there’s constantly people swimming and passing around.

This was, hands down, the highlight of our trip, when I realized I had gone through so much in terms of transportation and getting around and driving and walking and moving, to find myself surrounded by a group of people I care so much for in this idyllic place.

Next day we drove back to Guatemala City only stopping for breakfast and spent one last day there, we visited the Mapa En Relieve, a big space in a park destined to a map that recreates the territory and topography of the country, with a height scale of 1:10,000. It´s a surreal and fun place to visit, plus there’s always the chance of getting a good casual chat out of the taxi drivers, ours talked about insecurity in the region, the actual president of Guatemala being a former Clown, friends they had in Mara Salvatrucha among other things.

That last afternoon, we chilled at the hotel and laughed about all the memories we had made in such a short period of time.