Today we leave Quetzaltenango with an early morning bus heading to Guate City: our destination is Antigua Guatemala! To get there we hop down in Chimaltenango and after having a bite we walk another 50m to the other bus station from which we can finally get a direct bus to Antigua.
Once in Antigua we get down in calle Chajon, the street where our super-cheap AirBnB is found on; the plan is to pass year New Year’s Eve together with Lucas (a swiss guys we met on the road) and the Guatemalan family that leaves in the same house. Funnily enough, from the moment we step into Antigua, there’s always constant noises of fireworks crackling and people laughing at every corner: guess everybody is getting ready for the big event!
The beautiful colonial architecture of Antigua has actually gone over our expectations: coloured houses everywhere, clean cobblestones streets, a central park featuring a gorgeous church and lovely handcraft shops scattered all around town. On the most renown street of Antigua, the Fifth North Avenue (that starts from the park La Merced), you can find the beautiful arco de Santa Catalina, possibly the most drawn arch from any Guatemalan painter.
Here in Antigua you can tell straight away that the atmosphere is more touristy; the prices are much higher here than in any other town we’ve visited so far. Luckily, a smart way to eat some good & cheap food is to have a bite at one of the many roadside stands located all around the central park. Everything is super tasty!
The most famous excursion that you can do while in Antigua is climbing the Acatenango Volcano. This involve a long hike, camp on the top, watch the lava during nighttime and after waking up for sunrise, head back down. Unfortunately, if you’re planning to go with a tour/guide expect to pay at least 300-400 QTZ per person! Additionally, for those wanting to go out for just a whole day, an excursion on the Pacaya Volcano is the way to go!
Finally the long-awaited day has come: New Year’s Eve! For the whole day there have been parades, music and coloured lights popping up everywhere. We’ve also seen convites, an interesting tradition for which people dance around the streets wearing masks of famous people or well known fiction characters. Definitely a fun thing to see!
Just after sunset, some men started wearing some kind of structures on them from which fireworks were exploding out and they literally were walking on the busiest streets! We thought someone could get hurt but apparently everybody was so used to it! Minutes before midnight the streets are filled with people! Everybody seem to be walking around now and its nearly impossible to move from place to place. All Guatemala is here to party right in the heart of Antigua!
And finally at midnight the bells ring. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Fireworks start to go off in several places around the city, every time one more beautiful than the other. Some people also start lighting up chinese lanterns: thousands of new year’s wishes flying into the sky slowly fading away.
But the night is just starting!The discos start opening the doors, pubs are filling up and the hostels are still not planning in switching off the lights for an early night. So much partying going on! We get to know people from all over the world and the next day, we still get remained of how “hard” the night before was!
It was such a great day & night! Happy New Year’s Eve to everybody!!!
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