A Guatemalan Adventure… & a Big Move
Exploring Antigua…& the beginning of a new chapter for us
Hola, amigos 😃
It‘s been awhile since I posted an update on our lives in El Salvador. So much has been happening, it’s hard to know where to begin…
Tom and I just had our 13th wedding anniversary. And, wow—we had no idea our lives would take so many crazy twists and turns when we said “I do” all those years ago!
Our trip to Guatemala was tons of fun and a huge highlight of the last month.
We also helped a poor, beat-up street cat, moved to the mountains…oh, and I ended up sick in bed for several days, so it feels AMAZING to be able to do things again!
Funny how much I missed sweeping the floor when I was too weak to do it. I missed my morning swims, and cooking for my family. I absolutely hate staying in bed…BUT it made me that much more grateful for what I can normally do…so, there was a silver lining, I suppose.
The timing was bad—it was just a few days before we needed to move. Our girls were excitedly packing boxes, as I lay in bed, willing the sickness away, remembering that if I pushed myself too much I’d never get well. I was so thankful to be feeling better by the time we had to be out of the house near the beach in San Blas.
Rewind a few weeks: We decided to go to Antigua, Guatemala, and returned just a week before our big move. Maybe that was part of my exhaustion. But sometimes if you don’t “just do the thing,” then it never happens. There’s always an excuse…and we knew we’d have a few coming up soon.
So we booked the place, asked a friend to feed the cats, Tom got his coworker to cover for him, and off we went. The girls had never been to Antigua, and for Tom and me it had been almost 12 years! I messaged our Guatemalan friends who live near the beautiful colonial city, the ones who’d taught us Spanish over Skype for 4 years straight. They were eager to see us and to meet the girls. We’d met up with them in Antigua 12 years ago. But now that we have 3 kids, that feels like a lifetime ago!
We packed up and left late Thursday morning, thinking it would take about 5 hours. We’d decided to take our Salvadoran friend’s advice, and cross at the less sketchy border crossing to the north, where he said there’s less likelihood of needing to bribe anyone, but it would add an extra hour to our drive. It took us over 3 hours just to get there. The crossing went smoothly, and we carried on our way.
Between the drive and a few stops, it ended up taking us 7 hours to get to Antigua. We found our little hotel as it was starting to get dark. The host was friendly and helpful, and we enjoyed our stay in a cutely decorated room with 5 beds, a hot shower, and breakfast included out on the veranda with a view of a volcano.
We were pleasantly surprised at how quiet our hotel was, especially not being far from downtown. Antigua is a higher elevation, at 1,500 meters, so it was refreshing to have cooler weather. The vibrant colours and old colonial buildings of the city are what stand out the most to me. No one is allowed flashy signs, not even McDonald’s! Tourists from around the world come to see this amazing, colourful place.
On Friday we explored Antigua, walking its cobblestone streets, taking in the sights and beauty all around us. Volcanoes standing in the distance, colourful hand-crafted items and old cathedrals with intricately carved images and art inside and out. Street vendors wearing traditional dress were selling vibrantly-coloured items. After finding a great restaurant, we enjoyed a delicious dinner of Indian food and amazing falafel.
We had heard that Guatemala has the best zoo in Central America from a few friends. So, we decided to check out the Zoológico Aurora near Guatemala City. We headed out early on Saturday, and enjoyed seeing all the amazing animals from around the world. The time at the zoo was great, but the 3 hours in traffic afterwards was much less enjoyable. Next time we’ll plan to go on a weekday. 😄
On Sunday, we met up with our friends in the town square. They had brought their now adult children, who were just 7 and 8 when we’d last seen them. It was so lovely catching up with them over delicious Guatemalan food at a restaurant they recommended. Their kids were friendly with the girls, and we all conversed in Spanish for about 2 hours.
Then we took the girls to Santo Domingo, the magnificent ruins of a convent that includes 5 museums. Since many people were buried right there, some of the museums have displays like this…
And a few of the museums have Mayan relics and art—some pieces are over 2,000 years old.
We went to a yummy, but overpriced Mexican restaurant that evening, and packed up the next morning after breakfast. While driving home, we talked about how we’d noticed several differences in Guatemala versus El Salvador.
On average, people were thinner and healthier looking, and there was less fast-food, and less American influence compared to El Salvador.
Guatemala had more beggars, and more street vendors trying to make a sale. Some of them seemed more willing to try to hustle tourists, but maybe that’s because of where we were.
Even though people were friendly in Guatemala, in general they still seem friendlier here.
There’s more English spoken in El Salvador, but less of the old culture like the brightly coloured indigenous clothing of Guatemala.
It’s hard to believe, but we’re living in the mountains now. We wake up to cool, crisp, fresh air, the birds singing, roosters crowing, and only the occasional faint sounds of motorcycles off in the distance. It’s a stark contrast to the intense heat, humidity, and highway noise of where we were for the last 18 months. Not that it wasn’t beautiful, but we were all more than ready for a change. And it already seems to be beneficial to our overall health.
Moving a family of 5 is not easy. I didn’t have time to get things organized or pre-packed, because of being sick for 5 days. And now that we’ve got kids’ bikes, some furniture, 5 cats…and more stuff than we’ve had in almost 3 years, it took a LOT more effort!
We had quite the week of craziness with moving!!
Monday: Packing, de-cluttering, and donating items to charity on minimal energy levels.
Tuesday: Tom took the 2 older girls up to our new cabaña, brought some stuff, and got the keys. The caretakers removed most of the bedding, generic pictures from the walls, and all the dishes from the kitchen…we prefer using our own stuff.
Wednesday: Just 2 days till we had to be completely out of our house, and have it totally cleaned. Some Canadian friends came bright and early to help, so we loaded up Tom’s work truck and their SUV. I stayed home to keep packing up.
But after just 20 minutes, Tom called, saying the truck had broken down, and they were stuck on the side of the busy highway to San Salvador on an s-curve. There they were with a truck loaded with boxes, furniture, 3 excited girls, and 2 distressed cats—in the heat—completely unable to move. Tom was stressed, busy figuring out what to do!
It was the clutch—it smelled like burnt metal—we later found out it was toast! I needed to go and get the girls ASAP. Thankfully, a friend of ours was available to rescue our load with his truck. And Tom’s coworker was able to come and wait for a tow truck. I drove up, gathered up the girls, a cat, and a few boxes, and we caravanned another 40 minutes up the windy, often narrow road to our new little home.
We returned for another small load later, with the help of our Israeli-Canadian friend and her SUV. We rode together back up to the cabaña, and she agreed that the road is a little loco in some places. We unloaded the cars, wolfed down some pizza, said goodbyes to our friend, unpacked a few necessities, and spent our first night up in the fresh mountain air.
Thursday: We were all up by 5, as the cats were anxious about their new home—they love it now! The girls were excited to go and play at the park in the cool air before breakfast. We headed back down to the beach for a busy day of packing and cleaning. We had a LOT to do still, and I wondered if we could finish in time. Since we were in a bit of a panic due to the time crunch, Tom rented a truck to help us with the remainder of the move.
Thankfully, I’d hired a local lady, who came highly recommended by friends, to help us out. She was amazing, scrubbing the house till it sparkled. Even her young daughter was eager to vacuum and mop, and did a great job! My girls helped out for awhile, and then spent a few hours with a friend. It was a long day, and we got back up to the mountains after dark—not fun for me driving the windy road in the dark. We’d grabbed some hot bean and cheese pupusas for a late dinner.
Friday: Tom had to run errands for work, so the girls and I spent the day at our new mountain home. They were happy to play at the park and meet some new canine friends. We were almost immediately adopted by this friendly little dog who the girls named Canela (cinnamon). The cats don’t seem to mind her now. ☺️
I was eager to get unpacking, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the little wooden kitchen cabinets had ample room for our things, despite this being a smaller place. And I discovered that the outdoor shower could double as a small storage closet, since we have our indoor ducha—a HOT shower! It’s quite the treat to have warm water for showering in this cool climate.
I managed to unpack and organize most of our things by Saturday evening. Then we had some friends up for brunch and a walk around our little mountain community on Sunday morning.
My friend remarked, “The air up here smells like fall—my favourite season.”
And her husband said, “It’s like another planet up here!”
It is. And we love it. We were all due for a change—it felt like our physical and mental health depended on it. We were all struggling for the last few months on the beach. I’m sitting here writing at 4 pm, there’s a cool breeze, birds singing, I’m wearing more clothes than before, and I’m not hot…just right! I think it’s possible I was sick a few weeks ago because of a lack of fresh air. Being inside with a/c pumping all day can’t be good for humans.
We are all thankful for the calmer lifestyle—la vida tranquila…and the fresh air—el aire fresco—up here en las montañas.
⛰🌺🌳🐿
Thanks to ALL of our friends who helped us out with the move! 🙏 We couldn’t have done it without you guys! 💖💖💖
Thanks for reading 😊
Until next time, friends!
¡Hasta la próxima amigos!
As always, lovely to read of your adventures. Moving is rarely easy, but yours definitely takes the cake with the truck clutch breakdown. I can only imagine!
I too spent some time living on the coast of Mexico, but also couldn’t manage the heat very well, feeling like a a zombie sweating through each day. The mountains is definitely a breath of fresh air, as you say. I never get tired of the weather!!
It sounds like your new mountain home has a nice balance of tranquility and community… the ever so cute Canela is probably pretty happy to have such a lively family move in. Bonus!
Enjoy the newness, take lots of photos; so it will feel like you’ve always been there. 🙂
Another great adventure! Makes me want to pack our bags and explorer more of God's beautiful creation. Now I just need to convince my wife we need to go and explore El Salvador. 🙂