Guat's up? Volcanos and Views in Antigua

 

I had no real expectations for Guatemala, to be honest. It was a volcano to climb, a ruin or two to look up, and a country to pass through on my way further south. But that was before we arrived in Antigua mid-December, and now we're having a hard time bringing ourselves to leave!

The first thing I noticed about Guatemala? The bathrooms. They  had toilets that flushed - at least most of the time. This was a huge improvement over most of Mexico. 

Second thing I noticed? The many, many auto "love" hotels on the highways, with names like "jardin secreto" (secret garden) or "toro fuerte" (strong bull). These usually had hearts all over, closed garages where you could hide your car from view of prying spouses, "promises of reliable wifi, and some very reasonable hourly rates. 

One of the many auto love hotels on the highway

Ivan's favourite urinals in Antigua at the Hub

Sadly, the third thing I noticed was the masses of migrants, mostly Indigenous, making their way through the highlands towards the Mexican border. I'm not sure I would have noticed if Ivan and I hadn't spent the last 18 driving hours listening to a book on tape about the immigration crisis in central America.

I have no photos, as most people don't like their pictures taken when they are at their lowest, but there were hundreds of people, many in their beautifully coloured and embroidered traditional clothes, weaving on makeshift looms by the side of the litter-lined road while camped down amid the plastic McDonald's drink cups crumpled chip wrappers thrown by passing cars. Their children would stand at the side of the road in clusters waving at passing motorists. They had with smiles on their faces, trying to look friendly and (I guess) flag down drivers. Which made me so sad, especially having just learned that less than 1% of the few Guatemalans who make it to the US will actually receive asylum - or at least that's roughly what the statistics were a few years ago. I can only imagine that the odds are even less in their favour now.

stock photo of Guatemalan Indigenous clothing

(Sidenote: Throughout our idyllic stay here we've also met several Guatemalans who had recently been deported back, some who had lived in the US for years. It's one thing to read about the crisis in the news, another to see it for yourself. For anyone truly interested in this issue, I encourage you to read Everyone who is Gone is Here: the United States, Central America, and the making of an American Crisis by Jonathan Blitzer.)

Speaking of books, fun fact: for fans of Le Petit Prince, the author crashed in Guatemala in 1938 and spent several months recuperating here. Legend has it that it was this ancient city of Antigua, surrounded by volcanoes, that inspired the Prince's home, asteroid B-612. If you'll remember, he swept his planet daily - much like the street sweepers still do here in Antigua, given the amount of volcanic dust that settles here every day. And I know this is true because I was often woken at 6 am by the sound of cane brooms sweeping under our Air BnB window.

With that image in your mind, let's get into some highlights from our time in the fabled city of Antigua, where Ivan and I have been staying this past month. 

Recommendation: Play Guatemalan Sunsets in the background to get ready for the spectacular Guatemalan pics to come...

Living in a Fairy Tale

The town is indescribably gorgeous - and (thanks to the diligence of street sweepers) remarkably clean. Unlike elsewhere in Guatemala, where we saw people throw bags of garbage out of their windows while driving (I'm looking at you, Lake Atitlan), the streets here are cleaned all the time. The gardens, too, are constantly  and carefully tended. Everywhere we went we were blown away by the beautiful tropical blooms and cacti, with Olly and I having to stop all the time to try to identify them. 

(Ursula - this series of photos is for you!)

Nopal

Parrot flower - largest flower in the world

Hanging lobster claw

Golden Shrimp Plant

But beyond the forever-flowering vines and trees, Antigua has got the absolute best views. Situated in a high valley, the city's rooftops yield vistas of green hills, blue and purple volcanos, rolling columbous clouds, and  - best of all - erupting Fuego. At night, you can even see the lava light up, a bright red and orange flame, when Fuego explodes.

Fuego volcano erupting behind me at the Hub brewery rooftop patio

Ivan looking at Agua from another bar rooftop, Sky View

Our Air BnB rooftop view. We saw all three of the top volcanoes: Agua, Fuego and Acatenango - while sitting on our patio chairs.

Our sunset view - yes, every day was this beautiful

The Ruins 

The flowers are gorgeous. The volcanoes are stunning. Now throw some ruins in there - actually, throw them EVERYWHERE - and you have the fantastical, Disney-like Antigua aesthetic that makes you feel like you are living inside a fairy tale.

 

Most of the ruins are colonial buildings destroyed in the 1773 earthquake, which was so big - magnitude 7.5 - and so devastating, that Spain moved the capital from here in Antigua (which was then called Santiago de los Caballeros de Guatemala) to it current location at Guatamala City. And yes, knowing this fact did make me nervous every time I heard Fuego erupt, which is pretty often.

Colonial ruins abound in this city. They're behind the basketball court, inside the resorts, over the fence, under your feet. I've lost count of all the ruins we've seen so far and still, every day, we discover another. Here's just a selection of a few of them. 

The famous Antigua Arch

The streets by the square with Acatenango Volcano behind

A seventeenth century cathedral ruin

Amid the rubble

A former monastery I think. To tell the truth, it's hard to keep track

An old school and hospital - and popular picnic spot

My favourite store selling herbal remedies

Fountain in town square

The old church by the basketball courts and outdoor gym

A month of visits!

But the best part of our time in Antigua has been all the visitors we've had. We're approaching four months on the road, so it was a joy to see Cohen for Christmas. Then came Ivan's brother Olly and his partner, Amanda from Australia for New Years. Our friends, Marla Segol and her adult children Goldie and Orry, joined us early in January.

Cohen packing for our hike

Merry Christmas in Antigua!

Olly and Amanda

The Bolliger Boys and Amanda

Ivan with (from right) Goldie, Orry, me and Marla with Pacaya volcano in the back

Now onto some of the amazing adventures we had with everyone!

Adventure 1: Climbing Volcanos

After a week acclimatizing, Ivan, Cohen and I took the "adventure" package to hike the famous Acatenango volcano where you treck an arduous 1,500 m to stay overnight near the peak. At camp, you can watch the adjacent volcano, Fuego, spurt lava. 

(There's a livecam that runs 24/7 if you want to see for yourself. As one of the most active volcanos in the world, you're likely to see something if you wait long enough - eruptions are every 5 - 15 minutes. The guides told us it was most active between 10 pm and 3 am, though I can't think why a volcano would be affected by sun and could not verify that fact.)

The hike (operated through Trek) was close to six hours, and we reached almost 4,000 m above sea level. Unfortunately for us, the day we booked a storm was heading towards Mexico and its winds were passing through, making it too windy to walk the ridgeline that would have brought us even closer to Fuego. 

Also, having chosen the non-glamping "adventure" version meant being in a nylon tent on the exposed side of the mountain as opposed to being snug in a canvas tent on a raised cot. The winds were so strong the night we stayed that one tent collapsed and Ivan and I kept getting woken up by the tent slapping our heads. The wind and sleet were coming at us almost horizontally in the early hours. 

Then, to top it all off, despite the training Ivan put me through running up the nearby hill for a week in preparation, I still got altitude sickness and had a rough, insomniac night unable to feel my pinkies followed by a headachy descent and a day prostrate in bedm rehydrating. 

But it was a total blast (literally). My only regret is not getting the "glamping" package. That and not drinking another litre of water. Lesson learned.

Ivan and I - note the tree leaning in the wind behind...

Fuego erupts! The whole point of the hike.

Ivan in the cloud forest

Our guide and a well deserved rest at the top

Ivan saving a fellow hiker locked in the bano with a machete

In the could forest

Passing 3,500 meters

Fuego the next morning - clouds cleared and winds gone

Descending in the calm morning

The next volcano we climbed was Pacaya with Marla and the younger Segols. You used to be able to see lava flowing all the time at Pacaya, which suddenly became active in the 60's. But the lava hasn't flowed in recent times. A private geothermal company has been generating energy in the region to sell to Mexico and elsewhere, which  locals suspect may be hindering Pacaya's activity. So, we still roasted marshmallows in a lava oven on the lava fields, but they weren't really roasted so much as warmed. But everything else was amazing - especially drinking hot chocolate and watching the sunset above the clouds.

At the top of Pacaya

Our local guide, a 62 (or 72 - my Spanish isn't great) grandfather of six who hikes Pacaya at least 3 times a week

Me and a wet horse in the middle of a cloud

View from the peak of Pacaya

The Pacaya lava fields

Sunset begins...

Descending Pacaya after sunset

The Segols, readying to descend

Sunset from Pacaya

Antigua Holiday Celebrations with Family

Being able to celebrate with family was the best gift I got for Christmas this year! As I wrote a few posts ago, it is VERY noisy and busy during Christmas season here, so we all kind of adapted our usual traditions to where we were.

Cohen got seriously into tortilla making (and all things Masa) during his time in Antigua. He is perfecting his form back in Hamilton. Here he is presiding over our Mexican-inspired Christmas dinner.

Christmas dinner: Mexican Christmas Salad; homemade tamales; spicy sweet potatoes; mango pico de gallo; salsa verde; and creamed swiss chard. For dessert, my favourite cake - Carlotta con Limon!


We celebrated New Years with Amanda and Olly following a Guatemalan tradition of eating 12 grapes at midnight, one for each ring of the church bell. We did it an hour early so we could hit Antigua town square.

Antigua square at New Year's Eve. At first we were confused - it was the only time we didn't hear fireworks and the crowd was relatively tame, until... 

Ivan, myself and Olly ready for the fireworks...

BANG! Antigua did NOT disappoint on New Years.

More fireworks - it was crazy loud and fire cracker dust was raining from the sky. Madness!

Then the lights of 2025 went out, and those of 2026 turned on, and suddenly it was the new year.

Short Visit to Lake Atitlan

We did not stay long at Lake Atitlan. Only one night, as a matter of fact, which is definitely not enough. To be honest, I wasn't super excited to go there. I mean, I'd heard it was beautiful but I thought that was all hype. Until I got there. 

Wow. 

The lake is surrounded by volcanos (more volcanos!), including the Cerro de Oro, which many say was the inspiration for the shape the Little Prince draws representing a boa constrictor swallowing an elephant. 

Panoramic of Lake Atitlan, with the Cerro de Oro centre

View of Cerro de Oro from the hot tub

Evening on Lake Atitlan

Fisherman using a cayuko (flat-bottomed boat carved out of a single log) to fish

Ivan and Olly in the hot tub

While there we enjoyed one of the best meals I've ever had in Guatemala, sat in a hot tub under the stars, sauna-ed, kayaked the lake, and ended it all with a visit to the local market where Marla got tapped on the butt by an elderly woman who chastised her for blocking traffic. Gringos, beware and keep moving - abuelas don't have time to waste on Sunday when there's dinner to cook.

We also accidentally walked into a gang club house, but that's a story best told in person.

Monterrico Beach

It's pretty cool, temperature-wise, in the mountains and Antigua. So before we sent Cohen back to snowy Canada, we decided to drive the rather treacherous three hours to the coast and hit the beach.

We stayed in one of Guatemala's top beaches - Montericco. Think hot black sand, sudden drop offs, crashing waves and miles and miles of views. Not to mention ATVs. All day, all night, teenagers riding up and down the beach on gasoline-guzzling, exhaust-exuding four-by-fours. So not a place for relaxing exactly, but great people watching and wave diving and especially sunset ogling. 

The day we arrived, the storm front was still making its way up up the coast. In the sunset, we could see the storm funnel pretty clearly, as well as flashes of lightening bolts in its centre. 

Playing pool at our beach "resort", the Hotel El Delfin. Think cots with mosquito netting hanging from the ceiling, padlocks for room locks, and communal bathrooms. We're pretty sure this is where Cohen and I caught our brutal illness, which hit us both hard the next few days.

But this made it all worthwhile.

Here you can see the storm funnel  I was talking about 

I'll leave it there for today. I have a lot more to share - market going, street food, concerts, campground living and (if I play my cards right) maybe even salsa dancing. But the temperature's just dropped and the Ivan's making me vegan sausages on a charcoal grill, so got to go.

Wishing everyone a happy January and hoping you are all well!

Top 10 Mexican Memories from Oaxaca and Chiapas

 

Apologies for the delay everyone, but we've been hosting family and friends since mid-December in Antigua, Guatemala (more on that later). It has been gloriously busy, full of firecrackers, fine-dining fiery volcanoes, and friendship - but not a lot of time to sit down and write.

In the meantime, I realize that Mexico was short-shifted and I'd missed relaying some amazing experiences. So here's a short re-cap of Top 10 memories from Oaxaca and Chiapas.

1. Oaxacan Street Art

Walking through Oaxaca is like being a piece of glass inside a huge kaleidoscope; as you walk the colours around you shift and change with every streetscape offering a new view.

Anyone recognize this? It's the streetscape Ivan used for his painting of little Sian skipping down the Mexican street. Still the same 25 years later!

I believe this one needs no introduction.

Sign language training on the street

Just an everyday mural

And another

Ivan in the streets of Oaxaca

2. Oaxacan Street Drinks

I know they say don't drink the water, but with over 80+ traditional drinks in Oaxaca, you really have to trust the street vendors here. I only got to taste a fraction of what was on offer, most notably a rose-scented atole made with a corn fungus called huitlacoche, an agua fresca with cactus and chia seeds, and - a MUST if in town - tejate. 

I can't describe them all here, but check out this post of the 87 traditional drinks one photographer undertook to document.

Agua Fresca on the street - matching colours a coincidence!

The BEST margherita in town - the dried lime slices here dehydrating at the bar behind me as we drank 

Mescal tasting (and buying!)

3. Oaxacan Food

But a woman can't live on drinks alone. (Actually, in Oaxaca you probably can, to be honest.) The food here is world famous - and for good reason. There are herbs and plants that only grow in Oaxaca and its surrounding hills, and the care, cultivation and use of indigenous ingredients is part of the reason that Mexican cooking is recognized by UNESCO on its "Intangible Cultural Heritage" list. 

Tlayudas were a specialty of the region, but anything with tortillas were on offer everywhere we went along with sweet, fresh mangos and melons, and all types of fresh-roasted nuts and seeds. 

Meat (unspecified type) tlayuda from a street vendor

Mole dinner at a local market. Swimming in sauce, just the way I like it.

4. Going to Cooking School

A few years ago, when making a Mexican meal for my family, I swore I would one day conquer the seven moles of Mexico. I had two under my belt before hitting Mexico. But now I have learned, from chef Oscar, who taught us traditional Mexican cooking for a morning, that there are possibly hundreds of moles. Oscar himself claims to know 54. So it looks like my ambition to know all the moles of Mexico may take many more years, and many more dinners, than expected.

At the Casa Crespo, under Oscar's tutelage, we learned to make masa dough from dried corn (using the nixtamalization technique), cook Oaxacan tamales, ceremonial tortillas, use avocado leaf to flavour black bean soup, whip up a ceviche and margueritas along with three types of salsas in roughly 10 minutes, and top it all off with corn ice-cream (helado de elotes).

A stand outside the local market where Oscar told me you'll find the local, organic producers as opposed to the venders selling from wholesalers, who are generally inside. Helpful market hint if you're in Latin America.

Inside the market

Oscar leading us out of the local market. I'm holding an amazing herb, Herbo Santo, for our dinner.

Mole Almondrado - one of Oscar's 54 moles.

Appetizers and sauces at the cooking school

4. Undergoing a Spiritual Cleansing in a Temazcal

The memory I find myself returning to again and again is the spiritual cleansing we underwent in a Temazcal operated by a healer/herbalist in a small town outside of Oaxaca (Cevierum Temexcal Oaxaca) . We went with an American couple we'd met at our RV park. After a quick drink of pitiona (lemon verbena), we were hustled into a small, earthen dome where a healer walked us through the ceremony, which was in three parts. First, we had to heal the physical body, then the energetic one, and finally the spiritual one. 

Generally, what happens in the temazcal stays in the temazcal, but I can say that we slathered or breathed in at least thirty different herbal concoctions throughout the exercise, and ended in individual bath tubs, literally bathing in tea and sound. It was amazing and purifying - a great way to end 2025.

Here's our temazcal hut

In the healer's garden

5. Oaxacan Transport

Our RV park was in Thule, about 15 minutes away from town, so we soon got onto the Mexican public/private transportation system. You can always get a cab of course, but it's more fun riding the crazy-decorated re-purposed school buses  cans and cabs called colectivos. 

One such ride, not to be forgotten, involved hopping into a cab-turned-colectivo with a roughly 6-foot-tall German woman we'd met at the RV park. At first it was just the three of us, but two locals soon joined us, so we were six to a car, with one of the men curled into a tight ball beside the long-legged German, who ended up practically in the driver's lap, bouncing along trying to avoid the gear shift. One thing I can say is that the buses here were more reliable than OC Transpo  - and a heck of a lot less expensive (~10 Pesos each way).

View from inside the Thule colectivo

6. Hierve el Agua

Just outside of Oaxaca, way, way, way up in the hills are petrified waterfalls called Hierve el Agua. They're geological formations made over thousands of years of calcium-rich water trickling over the cliffs, depositing calcium on their way. 

To get to the site involves navigating incredibly narrow village streets, and passing numerous "artisanal mescal" makers driving donkeys or horses around a grinding stone, preparing agave for the mescal they sell in hand-labeled glass bottles containing not just worms but also scorpions and snakes.

Artisanal Mescal Making

Me by the petrified waterfalls

Swimming in the lagoon overlooking the highlands

Petrified waterfall

Lagoon

Another petrified waterfall, seen from below

7. Monte Albán

You can't do southern Mexico without hitting a pre-Hispanic ruin or two. Monte Alban is one of the most astounding of these sites. The former capital of the Zapotec kingdom, Monte Alban was established before 500BC and built upon for the next thousand years. The place is huge; the feeling of standing in that massive great square is really hard to describe. If you're interested, watch this video.

Monte Alban from the highway.

Palace

Descending the Palace stairs (like an old woman - it was very steep)

Overlooking the central square

Overlooking the central square with Ivan

The day we arrived, the trees were flowering, releasing this intoxicating, sweet floral odour. Like nothing I ever smelled before. When I looked the tree up on Seek, I found that it was native to the area, growing only around Mexico: ipomoea pauciflora, or cazahuate, a tree relative of the morning glory vine and sometimes called Tree of the Dead. Very appropriate.

Best smelling tree in Mexico, Tree of the Dead

We'd been to Monte Alban twenty-five years ago and I seem to recall a pretty basic operation. Now there's a detailed museum and the site is even larger than I remember. While they've excavated a lot more of the site since we were here last, there's still a lot of mystery left - many tunnels to excavate, and pictograms still to decipher. 

Ivan in a tomb 

Tomb's entrance

The coolest buildings for me was the observatory, which was aligned to the constellations, and the building bearing the "dancing ghosts", or danzantes. Archeologists originally thought the carvings portrayed dancers, but now believe they represent the local chiefs that had been captured, tortured, mutilated and offered for sacrifice during local wars. How interpretations can change...

8. Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca 

The cultural museum of Oaxaca is full of excavated artifacts and cultural relics housed in an the former Monastary of Santo Domingo de Guzman. Some rooms are simply two or three relics, with a name like "drink making", capturing Oaxacan life, but other exhibits are extraordinary, like the relics from Tomb 7 from Monte Alban.

A funeral urn

Another one

My favourite part? The views into the spectacular (but off-limits) botanical cactus garden and the view over the square to watch a Mexican wedding in full dancing-paper-mache glory!

Oaxacan wedding paper mache dolls, ready to start dancing

The view of the wedding procession, just before the bride and groom exit the church

The Oaxacan botanical cactus garden

9. San Cristobel de las Casas

Finally leaving Oaxaca, we stayed for several nights in the beautiful, rustic San Cristobel de las Casas before heading to Guatemala. We hadn't been able to go here last time as Chiapas (the state) was in revolution in 1998 following the Zapatista uprising. Now the town is awash with young, British tourists looking for cheap happy hours. 

But the feeling of revolution is still evident, particularly as the "Cola Wars" rage on, with Pepsi and Coke vying to be the drink of choice to accompany Pox, a sacred alcoholic drink, and drive electoral decisions by offering free drinks in the weeks leading up to an election. You can see the battle raging between tiendas offering one or the other beverage, while small protest stickers saying (in Spanish) "Coke is not a ceremonial beverage" try to convince locals to fight against the cola giants, particularly as they've left the region's water supply contaminated. 

Catedral de San Cristóbal Mártir

All the things you can't do outside a day care. See if you can figure them all out:)

Church doors festooned with flowers for the Virgin of Guadalupe celebrations

Town square

10.  El Chiflón Waterfalls

Finally, just before crossing the Guatemalan border, Ivan and I stayed in the parking lot of the ecotourism resort for the most spectacular waterfalls in Chiapas. A bit costly, but the one hour hike through the jungle to the top of the mountain to see the massive cascade and feel its spray on our faces was well worth the price.

El Chiflon

Down below

The colour of the water was spectacular

Downstream, where we can swim

Jumping spider in the bathroom!

And that about sums up our top 10 memories from December last year. We're now in Antigua, Guatemala and I'll be sharing news on our adventures here on Wednesday. Also, I've started posting to Instagram for those who prefer short bursts, so please feel free to connect with me there. 

Keep warm, keep well, and I will keep you all posted.