Tuesday, February 19, 2019
San Pedro to Antigua
Our vacation days are getting low, time to head back to Antigua. Tom had visited Santiago in 1997 and wanted to see how it had changed since, but it was not to be since he was laid low yesterday by a travel bug. We could have stayed here yet another day, but there's still things left undone in Antigua, and, hey, it's always good to leave something for next time!
At 8:00 we went downstairs, and while I waited for breakfast to be served, Tom went around the corner to the nearest travel agency to see if we could get on the tourist shuttle to Antigua later today. Luckily, there were indeed two seats available ($15 ea.) Score! They will pick us up at the travel agency at 1:30. I asked the hotel people in my rudimentary Spanish if it was okay to stay till 1:00. No problema.
With Tom feeling better this morning, we walked over to Las Piedras, which I'd visited yesterday. Today there were tons of tourist police around, so we were reluctant to bypass the “Prohibido la Entrada” sign, but the views were just as good from the non-prohibido side of the sign. I don't think the tourist police would have stopped us though. My impression was that they were there to protect us and were mainly just harassing the local youth. That's certainly what it looked like anyway.
Unlikely thoroughfare
The quiet side of San Pedro
Fishing boats
We weren't real hungry at lunchtime but figured we better eat something before getting on the shuttle. At the hotel restaurant we got an order of fries – just one order, remembering how large the portion sizes were last night – and it was more than the two of us could finish! Then we checked out, settling the bill for the three nights - cash only, in the local currency, but with such an inexpensive room, we had plenty of quetzales to cover it.
Just before 1:30, we got “picked up” at the travel agency by a guy on foot, who then led us on a walk to the shuttle, parked on the main road in town near the pier. Well, hell, if someone had told us that's where the shuttle actual leaves from, we could have met him there. Ha! We were the first ones on the shuttle, an oversized minivan, so we got our choice of seats. The driver then had to turn the large vehicle around on the narrow, busy road, which seemed like it was more nerve-racking for me than it was for him. I guess he's used to it. I, however, closed my eyes.
The shuttle stopped twice more in San Pedro to pick up passengers, then again in San Juan and San Marcos, and we were actually off at 2:10 p.m. It is a steep and winding road away from the lake before you get on a main road. The views were outstanding, but I'm sure glad I took my Dramamine. I thought the shuttle was full, but we stopped once more in Santa Clara, a mountain village high in the clouds, and stuffed in two more passengers, then five minutes later we were on the Carretera Interamericana.
There was a stop for banos midway in our journey, and we arrived in Antigua at 5:15 p.m. This time the driver didn't take everyone around to our various hotels but just dumped us all off at the corner of Avenida 7a and 1a Calle Poniente. No tip for you! But since we'd booked at the same hotel where we stayed previously, we knew where we were going, only about three blocks away. Antigua feels all cosmopolitan now, with its wide thoroughfares and all, after a week in the lakeside villages.
We checked back into the Posada Dona Luisa for three nights. Our previous room on the second floor wasn't available, so I'd chosen a large room on the ground floor this time, room 3, a triple with two full beds and one twin, so we had tons of space to spread out. This room was more expensive, 1,260Q for the three nights, with breakfast, or about $55 per night. Still very reasonable for Antigua. The other room was $35 a night, which was a STEAL!
Back at the Posada Dona Luisa, Antigua
The hotel front desk called the travel agency they work with and made us reservations to hike up Volcan Pacaya tomorrow and shuttle reservations to the airport on Friday. Plans for the remainder of our trip have now been set in motion...
Tonight we ate at The Londoner Pub, which was exactly that. I had a superb chicken kiev and Tom had the popular steak meat pie. I had the El Zapote porter I like so much, and Tom ordered a ginger ale, because the antibiotics he was taking to fight off his travel bug don't go with alcohol. The beer was a little expensive, but the food was cheap. The bar was quite convivial!
Tom
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