Antigua. A first look.

Me standing in front of Parque Central. 

Bellies full from a big lunch, we hit the streets – walking towards Parque Central which is ringed by buildings on three sides and by the beautiful Catedral de San José on the fourth. Most of the buildings housed banks and commercial establishments.  With the buildings all draped with purple banners, it seemed appropriate for the trees in the park to also be awashed in purple.  The purple blooms of the jacaranda trees added just the right touch.

First things first, lunch!!

We've settled into our rooms (spartan but comfortable) and gotten a street map. With a restaurant recommendation from the hotel receptionist, we hit the streets in search of lunch.

As we walked towards the restaurant, we passed under Arco Santa Catalina. The brightly colored archway is a symbol of this little town – you see it just about every write up there is on Antigua.

Guatemala, here we come!

When I fall asleep tonight, it will be in Guatemala!!

The SuperShuttle arrived bright and early at my house this morning – 3:30am to be exact.

By the time I arrived at Reagan National Airport, it was around 4:30am. Soon and his brother, Valiant, had already arrived and checked in. Before the van pulled up at the terminal, Soon had already text me to warn me that the check-in line was VERY LONG. Luckily, the flight didn’t leave until 6:15am so I had plenty of time.

Sure enough, the line was a mile long but was able to use express check-in and bypass the line. Got my backpack checked in and then met up with Soon and his brother to go through the security check which we all breezed through.

Now.....that's a wad of cash!

Since Soon and I have convenient access to a Credit Union that dispenses currencies from around the world, we took it upon ourselves to order the Guatemala quetzales (GTQ) for this trip.

We place our initial order with the Credit Union several weeks back. Late last week, Soon asked me if I had received any notification that our currency had arrived. I hadn't heard any word so we decided to go ask in person. The teller told us that our order had arrived a while back, that someone had called us and when they had not heard from us, they took the currency back. So, we had no choice but to place a second order. Each of s put in a purchase order for the equivalent of USD300 in Guatemalan quetzales.