As well as Guatemala being a favourite place to visit, the old capital of Antigua was also high on people’s lists.

The former colonial city sits in a valley surrounded by volcanoes, including the active Fuego, and along the cobbled streets the brightly coloured buildings house every type of business.  With many foreign visitors the food choice is amazing and you’ll find every diet well catered for. 

The city was founded in 1543 as the Spanish colonial capital but after a devastating earthquake in 1773, the capital was transferred to Guatemala City.  Much of the city was rebuilt in the colonial style and some pre-1773 ruins also remain.  

Our main reason for visiting was to experience the Semana Santa festival and also for June to attend a Spanish school for a week – four years of Duolingo provides plenty of vocabulary but not all of it relevant to life on the road!  After 20 hours over five days of one on one tuition and conversation, I can definitely say the confidence in speaking has grown.

We arrived well ahead of Semana Santa, or Holy Week, to secure a good spot on the campsite which we knew would be busy.  Boy do they pack them in!  But despite all the rigs on site, we were not disturbed except for when one of the processions passed along the road right behind the van.

Semana Santa was like nothing we had ever experienced before; the sights, sounds and smells were an assault on the senses, all commemorating the final days of the life of Jesus.  There were daily processions involving thousands of people from the city and surrounding villages and vigils held in the churches.

The huge wooden andas, or floats, each weighing up to 3,000kg, were carried on the shoulders of over 100 cucuruchos (bearers) dressed in long robes with the main floats being followed by smaller ones carried by female cargadoras.  The highly decorated floats are surrounded by people swirling incense burners as they parade through the streets for hours at a time.

One of the joys of travelling is being able to immerse ourselves in new cultures and this was certainly an experience not to be missed.

There are places along the PanAmerican where travellers seem to congregate and Vagamundo Camping is one of them.  We are by no means alone on this route and in Antigua we met up with several other vans whose paths we had previously crossed on the way here: Roland and Coli who we last saw in Canada, Boris and Tanja with whom we spent Christmas, Seb, Franzi and family who we visited in Mexico after the birth of their daughter, and Bernie and Rolf who we saw just before we briefly returned to the UK at the end of 2024.  A few beers and long lunches were enjoyed, exchanging travel tales and future plans.

We returned to Antigua after our second trip to Lake Atitlan as we were still waiting for a delivery which had now been delayed several times. We walked over 20km in two days exploring the city now that the crowds of Santa Semana had gone.  We visited ruins and museums, punctuating our wanderings with good coffee and food.

We haven’t yet really touched on the restaurant scene; you can eat in small family establishments or opt for fine dining in restaurants up in the hills with views across the city. And as for the bakeries, well we weren’t deprived of good bread or cream cakes!

We had some amazing meals here mainly down to recommendations from Neil, a fellow Brit traveller who with his wife Pat, has spent a long time in Antigua.  We were hoping we’d actually manage to finally meet up in person but we missed each other by a few days.

The climate here was perfect – hot days and cool nights, and it was hard to drag ourselves away from Antigua, it really had everything we could have wanted and we will return.

For more photos take a look at our Facebook page ClewleysOnTour

Camp site 

Vagamundo Camping, Antigua: Q160p/n, Q140p/n for stays over 5 days.  Large grass campsite for any type of camper, RV, truck, and tents plus glamping in the various vehicles around the site.  Electric points and water taps are scattered around and there are no fixed pitches.  The site has toilets, showers, a pool and decent bar/restaurant, offers a laundry service and is a short walk from the city centre.  They are also happy to receive deliveries for those staying at the site.