"San Antonio Agua Calientes" Top 5 Page for this destination Outskirts of Antigua Tip by toonsarah

From San Pedro we drove through the old (that is the second) capital of Guatemala, Ciudad Vieja to this, the final village on our route. It was interesting to see that the abandoned capital was still a lively place, but with little of the grand architecture that makes its successor so special. On the outskirts some new, rather affluent-looking properties had recently been built, but following a destructive mud-slide earlier in the year property prices in this usually highly desirable area had tumbled and many lay empty or were for sale by owners now desperate to leave. We saw some of the destruction for ourselves – great gashes in the fields, roads in the town damaged and crumbling, a house with its corner missing.

In San Antonio Agua Calientes we visited the house of a local Maya family, on the outskirts of the village. The Maya here came originally from the Lake Atitlàn area when the latter was colonised by the Spanish, and are therefore of a different group to others in the area. Their traditional costume is red rather than blue, and they work hard to keep their traditions alive, including weaving in the traditional patterns. The weaving here is considered to be among the best in the country.

Carolina welcomes visitors to her home who come to learn how the weaving is done, see her impressive collection of historic huipiles from various villages in the region, and of course to shop. She spoke good English and showed us several items, explaining the traditions behind the patterns. I wish now that I had bought something more substantial from her than the little oven glove that we chose for Chris’s mother, but only two days into our trip we had not yet determined what if anything we wanted to buy, nor where to buy it. So as we weren’t ready to buy, we didn’t like to take up too much of her time and raise expectations. Nevertheless it was lovely to see the fine work and to watch her and her daughter at work using the traditional back-strap or waist loom.

In the centre of town is another fine Baroque church, though without the bright colour of San Pedro Huertes, but again we didn’t go in.

Directions About 5 miles west of Antigua and served by chicken buses from the terminal behind the market if you prefer not to take a tour.