To get from San Marcos on Lake Atitlan to Antigua Guatemala by public bus looked like a bit of a mission, with potentially 5 different buses changing in 4 towns… So we booked a tourist shuttle to take us for Q140 each which we didn’t think was bad for such a long journey.
We arrived in the afternoon on a Sunday, and here in central America, there seems to be a Semana Santa procession every single Sunday in the run-up to Easter. So the streets were closed off to cars, and we managed to catch everyone in the main park central by the cathedral for a procession which was really cool to witness. The square was packed with locals and a marching band followed the paso (float).
We wandered around the streets afterwards and were basically brainwashed into getting a little ceasars pizza, as we saw SO MANY locals eating one, sat on the high curbs at the side of the road or in the park. We got a margarita pizza for just Q30 (£3) and it is easily big enough to share! Bargain! And strangely, it felt like one of the most authentic Guatemalan meals we had, eating like the locals, sat on the pavement! Haha
We were both really excited to visit Antigua, as we’d heard lots of good things about the town. It’s the old capital of Guatemala (Antigua just means “ancient”) so it’s the “ancient” capital, but after being hit by a few devastating earthquakes, the capital was moved (only about about 25km) to Guatemala City. So there are lots of ruins throughout the town from that time, lots of cool history and colonial buildings, and the town is very quaint and pretty, with cobbled streets and colourful facades.
It’s also surrounded by volcanic peaks, and the 3 most prominent to the south are Agua, Fuego (which is very active and erupted just a couple of weeks ago!) and Acatenango. This gives Antigua an iconic skyline (if you can see them through the haze and clouds, that is!). There seemed to be a microclimate here, and the clouds would roll in during the day obscuring the Volcanoes, but it was usually clear in the mornings and late afternoon.
The town is very touristy, and has lots of souvenir shops, overpriced tiendas (local shops) and pretentious coffee shops and restaurants, but it’s a fairly big town which handles the tourism well without losing too much of its charm and authenticity.
The first day we basically just wandered the streets of Antigua, visiting the main hotspots like the central park and the cathedral, the famous arch of convent Santa Catalina, la merced park and church. But mostly, we visited the local market area which has a HUGE second hand vintage clothes market….
That’s because one of the reasons we were here was to hike up Volcano Acatenango.
We’d heard about this adventure several months ago and had been looking into it, but as we got closer and started looking more seriously, we realised it would be a super tough hike. You start at around 2,500m and hike 1000m straight up, to where altitude starts to get you, on loose volcanic soil, carrying all your own gear, 4L of water and food, in the baking sun, then the freezing night… You do all this so you can get up close and personal with the neighboring Volcano de Fuego, one of the most active volcanoes in Central America… It sounded pretty intense…
Since I’d snapped my ACL climbing a similarly sized volcano back in 2014, then snapped my other ACL playing netball, and last year tore my hamstring (yup 🤦🏻♀️)… I decided it was probably not worth the risk for my ligaments, and Dave bravely signed up alone, with XO expeditions.
Since Acatenango is almost 3500m up, it gets very cold at night, so we were looking for a jacket and hat etc, We rummaged through almost every shop looking for stuff which was nice or the right size, but had no joy, and in the end got fed up with shopping.
The hike was tomorrow, so after spending far too long in the clothes market, we headed back so Dave could pack and prepare for the hike. We visited the supermarket so he could stock up on water and snacks, and he went to a pre-hike briefing too, whilst I continued wandering the streets….
The next day, Dave was up super early to start his Acatenango adventure, he left the room at about 6am to head for breakfast with the group and to drive there, then his hike started at 9am.
I got up in my own time, and at about 8am went to a super pretentious cafe for an artisanal (overpriced) breakfast (one which Dave would have HATED!). But since he wasn’t here, I could get away with it!! Haha
Then I headed over to my adventure destination, Earth Lodge. Since Dave was probably somewhere up Acatenango gasping for air, I decided to book somewhere I could enjoy, a little eco lodge up in the hills behind Antigua with stunning views of the 3 volcanoes and potentially great birding!
I got there about midday for a hot stone massage I had booked, (which was incredible) then checked into my little hut, Agua. It was a private house on stilts amongst the cloud forest, and the second I walked back out of the room after dropping my bag, I saw a beautiful motmot.
I saw the Motmots (it seemed to be a nesting pair) every single day I stayed here, and ended up having one of my top wildlife encounters to date, as it felt like I started having a genuine relationship with them, communicating by tail wags (on their part, not mine), and my (awful) impressions of their calls, (which did get good in the end, I think)…
Earth lodge was amazing and I just spent the day chilling and birdwatching, but unfortunately the clouds covered the volcanoes for me ALL day and night, and I was really worried that Dave might be completely enveloped in cloud, which would mean he wouldn’t get any view of Fuego or of the stars ☹️
As I lay in bed that night, peering out of my window looking towards Acatenango, I realised, this is the first night that Dave and I have slept apart since June last year…
I woke up to another cloudy view, but fortunately, the Motmot was right outside my room again haha, it was bliss, and I spent almost all of this day just chilling and birdwatching again.
Then at about 3pm, Dave finally joined me, back from his exhausting hike, I was eager to get the lowdown, but he was absolutely knackered, not feeling too well, and COMPLETELY CAKED in volcanic dust!! He got straight in the shower, which ran black with all the dust haha.
Once he was mostly clean, I got the full story, and fortunately, he did manage to get some great views of Fuego, as he ended up climbing ABOVE the clouds haha!
He said it was the hardest thing he’s ever done! And in the end, didn’t walk all the way to Fuego, just to the Acatenango base camp, but still he got some EPIC pictures!
We chilled together that evening, and I told Dave about my new Motmot friend, and right on cue, he came to visit us and sat with Dave by the hammock for 30 minutes 😊
The next day we were supposed to check out of Earth Lodge and do ANOTHER hike (well, my first one) up Pacaya Volcano, which is supposed to be an easier hike in the region, but is still an active volcano with epic views of Agua, Fuego and Acatenango, however, Dave was completely dead, mostly from the decent, and he was hobbling about barely able to walk. So we decided to cancel the Pacaya trek and stay one more night at Earth Lodge instead to let him recover.
We woke up to the first clear view of the volcanoes we’d had since being here, and it was incredible!
We spent our days chasing hummingbirds and woodpeckers, and mostly just chilling and chatting to the Motmots. We observed some rare behaviour too actually (I searched it afterwards)…. Motmots are actually pretty unique little characters, they are fairly large birds, and don’t tend to flit about much. They build burrows in the soft soil banks and perch in the mid-canopy, sitting quite still, surveying their kingdoms haha. So they are often overlooked or hidden in the trees and people don’t notice them much. But when you do, they are so beautiful, usually bright greens, oranges and blues, with black eye patches and flashes of turquoise. Strangely, they are bright and colourful, yet also blend seamlessly with their environment…. Most Motmots also have unique tail feathers, which end with a racquet shape, but these Motmots here didn’t have that – these were blue throated Motmots.
But even without the racquet tails, they still exhibited the best bird behaviour, which is to wag their tails! They swing their tails like a pendulum, tick tock, tick tock, and apparently they do this when they feel threatened or excited, but I also read that they do it to communicate too, and I definitely saw that, the pair wagged their tails at each other, but also to me and Dave too, and I’m fairly sure they weren’t threatened by us, because they kept following us haha!!
I also saw them being quite curious and checking out other birds. During one afternoon when I was following one Motmot through the trees, I saw it land on a perch next to another bird, on quite a few occasions. One time, it landed next to a thrush, which startled the bird, so it hopped to a lower branch. But the Motmot followed it and jumped down onto the same branch as well. They sat next to each other for a while, the Motmot all the whole wagging it’s tail 🤣
The other behaviour they have is to call and respond. If you mimic them and make a Motmot noise, they will call back to you!! And in our experience during our time here, they also come to you!!
On the day of check out, we hadn’t seen the Motmots yet… So we stood in the middle of the forest and made their noise, like a little “woo” or “poo” whistle. We did it as loud as we could. Nothing at first, but we kept going… Then we heard one respond, from our right, quite far away, but it kept answering our calls and getting closer and closer. Then we heard the other, on our left, it also got closer and closer. Until eventually, they both landed on the same branch above our heads, wagging their tails! We’d literally called them over to us, it was amazing!! Dave had managed to get the Motmot mimic nailed faster than me, which earned him the nick name “Motmot whisperer”!
We had an amazing time at Earth Lodge, birdwatching, chilling, relaxing and recovering, but not only was it quite pricey there, but it was also relatively far from Antigua, and there was loads we still wanted to see in the town, plus, we also wanted to see another procession if we could and I was desperate to try and see some of the famous “Alfombras” of Semana Santa. So we booked 3 more nights down in the town to take us through another Sunday, and reluctantly left the Motmots behind… I’ll definitely never forget them.
Back in Antigua, we visited properly all the places we wanted to see, and went to a few ruins across the city. We went inside Santa Clara Convent and then to San Francisco Church and to see Saint Hermano Pedro. Then we walked up to Convent Caphuchinas and went inside there too. We had a great day exploring Antigua, and of course we topped it off with another little ceasars pizza haha.
In the afternoon, we stumbled upon a mini procession done by very small kids, they were carrying a paso with the help of some adults and were followed by some very proud looking parents eagerly filming them 😊
The final day was Sunday, and we’d planned to get up early and visit Finca El Pilar, a park up on the hillside which is apparently very good for hummingbirds, then come back to watch the Semana Santa processions in the afternoon, but when we got out into the street at 7:30am, we saw there were loads of Alfombras out in the roads ready for the procession… We had to stay here and look at them, some of them are INCREDIBLE!
Alfombras are basically like carpets in the streets made from coloured sawdust, or sometimes completely natural materials like pine needles, chopped conifers, vegetables and flowers. They are so beautiful, and they pave the way for the procession, so once it gets there, they get walked all over and completely destroyed!! We rushed around the town to see as many as we could before they were destroyed.
Apparently the procession today started at 3am and would continue all the way until midnight, the streets were PACKED!! Like actually crazy and we loved being able to witness the Alfombras, the procession and all the locals enjoying it. We think many people must have come to Antigua this weekend from all across the country. The town had a festival atmosphere and we caught the procession several times throughout the day as it continued on its path.
Wow! What an amazing time on Antigua. Not only did I have one of the BEST wildlife experiences in my life (making friends with a Motmot), but we also really got to experience the rich culture and heritage of Antigua, with the Alfombras and Semana Santa processions. AND, Dave got up close and personal with an active volcano, and got some of the best star pics he’s ever taken! It was such a perfect mix of everything, and is a destination we wouldn’t hesitate to visit again!
Facts and tips
We stayed at:
- La sin Ventura – £33/night (private ensuite)
- Earth Lodge – £69/night for private treehouse
- La Casita De Angie – £21/night (private ensuite)
- Tropicana Hostel – £38/night (private ensuite)
Our fave was definitely Earth Lodge, but only for the room and the Motmots, the service here was a bit odd, just lots of work away students who didn’t have a clue what they were doing half the time.
In Antigua centre, la Casita De Angie was the best, as it was perfect price, with a hot shower and ensuite, just a short walk from town, but when we extended to stay longer for another Sunday practically all the accommodation was booked up and the cheapest we could find was Tropicana, a party hostel, but the room here was nice, definitely not worth almost £40, but we’re glad we stayed a few extra days regardless 😊
We ate at:
- Boheme Cafe – overpriced small meals
- Little ceasars – £3.50 for a huge pizza
- La Union – pretentious breakfast
- Rainbow cafe – ate here practically every meal, was big portions, very tasty and super affordable!
- Earth lodge – expensive, but nice, and we had no other choice!
Travel Alchemist 
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