The start of our adventure happened the very first night we arrived in Antigua. Fresh off the aeroplane, two gringos waltz into the busiest weekend of the year in Guatemala, Easter.

To add to the hilarity of it all both Ross and I had read online that it’s easy to find accommodation in person because it’s cheaper (without the fees or hostelworld.com) and widely available the entire year. Well we knew when we first arrived it was mighty busy. There were families, backpackers and police everywhere. At the time we thought man this is super touristy and proceeded to ask around for accommodation. After being laughed at by the first few hostels for us admitting we had no reservations, it became clear that we had picked possibly the worst night of the year to just wing it to find accommodation.

Walking around with all our gear, going hostel to hostel and being repeatedly turned away our fears of spending the first night outside were growing. Approximately 13 hostels later we did find one that was willing to negotiate (dammit I can’t remember who they were!). The staff at the front desk gave us a lifeline “You can sleep on the beanbags in the reception area for $10 and store your stuff as well”. Ross and I were beyond relief and proceeded upstairs to enjoy and ice cold cerveza (Spanish for beer) while looking at the gorgeous view of the surrounding mountains.

As turned it while it was a religious festival, it was also a massive opportunity to party and expirence the cultural vibes at the same time. Coloured wood chip art pieces laid on the road, floats being carried around and thousands of people singing (we heard that around 95,000 people were in the city which is normally 45,000).

We drank together with some of the locals who worked at the hostel and got shown around a lot of the hole in the wall bars that wedged into a disorientating maze of people, thank you Will!

The following morning there was one thing I was super excited to try, authentic Guatemalan coffee and boy was it tasty.

Café Negro Por fovor!

Caffeinated from the excellent coffee, the same hostel staff, Will wanted to show us around to enjoy the Spanish architecture preserved from the colonial era.

Some of the cathedrals were devastated during earthquakes since they have been built.

These photos of the very old (of about 500 years, for Australians anything over 200 years is ancient) convent called, Casa Santo Domingo. Now a hotel with colourful parrots and birds roaming around the courtyard it offers a historic look back when the Spanish had settled 500 years ago.

Imagine these bells as your door bell, epic!

Fruit laid out artiscally around the fountain, cool!

Thank you again! Look forward to reading your comments! See you next blog. Jules