We soaked up all our remaining minutes on the lake, eating breakfast on our patio, reading in the hammock, going for one last dip in the water.
And then we packed our stuff and caught a lancha back to Pana, where our driver met us to take us back to Antigua. For whatever reason, there were lots of police out on the highways back. At one point, we got pulled over into a check point. Anthony handed over his passport, we sat and waited awhile, and then his passport was brought back, and we continued on our way.
Upon arrival, we checked in to our new AirBnB, a beautiful home built right into the ruins, just a block from the arch and 3 blocks from the main square. It had a lovely patio overlooking the backyard patio, and then a rooftop terrace giving us little glimpses of the sites around us.
We were starving, so we went out to grab lunch. It was Thanksgiving back home, afterall, which meant we had to feast. So we got papusas. Which happened to be across the street from some ruins we had not yet seen, so once we were done eating, we walked over, paid a small entrance fee, and wandered around.
After exploring Antigua awhile, we went over to Sky Bar to have a drink with a view (what wasn’t covered by clouds anyway). Overlooking ancient Antigua, drinking Moscow Mules and listening to Of Monsters and Men play on the radio, we laughed about the fusion of cultures.
After the sun set, it started to get chilly, so we left to find dinner. We walked through the park, noticing that they were setting up for something there. We grabbed a small, healthy dinner and then came back to the park. There was some kind of performance going on, so we stood and watched for awhile, enjoying the festive atmosphere.
Eventually, we went back home to enjoy some wine on our rooftop terrace.
I woke up the next day, our last full day, with a sore throat. We went to the pharmacy for meds, grabbed a small breakfast at a bakery, and then walked to Simoon Tours for our Mountain ATV tour.
Our guide showed Anthony how to drive the ATV, I hopped on behind him, and then we were off, bouncing all the way through town and then up the mountain to San Cristobal El Alto.
From here, we had a great view down to Antigua and over to the volcanoes. We wandered through some gardens, ate some tasty loquats from the trees, and then returned to our ATVs to ride back down to Antigua and then back up a different direction.
At some point, we parked again, and then got into the bed of a truck for a Guatemalan taxi up the rest of the way to Hobbitenango, Guatemala’s version of Hobbiton, and honestly, it’s pretty adorable.
There are a few different restaurants and bars tucked behind the hobbit doors. There’s mini golf and archery and bag toss and various other games to play. Further up the hill, there are some viewpoints and some hammocks to relax in.
Once we were done exploring, we went back to the truck to take us back down to our ATVs. We rode to Earth Lodge, an eco-friendly lodge, restaurant, and avocado farm, to eat some lunch. I was starving, so we ordered about half the menu and talked with the other couple on the tour who were from Germany. We shared travel stories and compared traditions from our countries.
When we finished, we hiked back up the hill to our ATVs and rode over to Cerro de la Cruz, an excellent viewpoint out over Antigua. We were pretty quickly able to spot our house/rooftop from there, which was pretty cool.
We hung out for awhile, talking with our guide, and then we headed back to town, tour over.
I was sick and worn out, so we went back to the house for a nap. But I didn’t want to waste our last night in Guatemala, so we ventured back out that evening for dinner, walking through our favorite parts of town. After dinner, we went to the square, where once again, a stage was set up, and a young woman was singing in her indigenous language. We discovered that it was some kind of cultural festival.
We stood there and enjoyed the free concert for some time, and then decided to go out for one last drink, stopping in at some fancy looking place right next door to our house.
We talked for awhile over cocktails, thinking back over the whole trip and what we were looking forward to about going back home. We went up to the terrace, watching some lightning in the distance and listening to the various sounds of the cities.
The next morning, we had time for one more breakfast in the city, and then we went back to pack up and catch our ride to the airport, sad to leave but looking forward to the next time we come back.
