The Last Few Days

The last leg of our trip from Santiago to Panajachel to Antigua to Guatemala City stretched out over two days and was much more relaxing that I expected. It was fun to show Erich some of my favorite restaurants and sites in the cities that I have grown to love over the past three weeks.

Antigua is by far my favorite city in Guatemala and I was happy to be there for one last day and night before we left. While walking around the city, we came across an unmarked shop selling coffee and chocolate.

The owner, who processes everything by hand in small batches was taking a well-deserved rest:

We also found a small place selling pupusas. Pupusas are made by stuffing corn tortillas with cheese and your choice of ingredients. I chose chicken, sweet peppers, and olives for mine. The pupusas were delicious and filling!

We stopped by Tabacos y Vinos to see Ricardo and enjoy one some wine and some delicious espresso.

Ricardo was even nice enough to take us back to Guatemala City on Friday night before our Saturday flight back to Wisconsin. We dropped our bags off at his hotel and then headed out to see Zona 4 where many of the nicer restaurants and bars are located. I had mentioned my love of fondue (which I’ve managed to enjoy three times while in Guatemala!) so we ended up having meat fondue and chocolate fondue for dessert.

We also enjoyed an “obscuro” or dark, Guatemalan beer called Moza that Ricardo assured me was not favored by the locals who drink a lot more lager. Erich and I split the beer, which came in a very strange tall glass:

It was nice to enjoy a stout again, even though it was nothing close to my favorite – Guinness!

One thing I'm definitely going to miss seeing the "Chicken Buses" barreling down the streets that take the locals from one city to another and all over Guatemala City.

I’m writing this entry on our last flight of the trip, Miami to Chicago where we managed to get upgraded to first class, whoo! It was a nice surprise and almost helps me forget that we’ll be spending the night in the airport tonight as our flight is too late to catch the last bus to Madison. We’ll be on the road back home on the 6:00 AM bus after spending the night on a bench near the baggage claim at O’Hare. Ah, luxury….