Antigua

So Antigua is the place that everyone assumes you are traveling to when going to Guatemala. It is an extremely old quaint city with cobblestone roads that turns out to be a bit safer than Guatemala city.  It's only an hour from us so it will be a good neighbor to have. After reading about almost 30 different hikes and bike rides from our Lonely Planet book we were lucky to find just one that was going out that day. Our one and only option was a 5 hour bike ride through the villages surrounding Antigua and we took it. Miten, our British guide Ed and myself. The highlights include: the gorgeous scenery of 3 volcanoes, observing women who walk miles through the hills with a basket of clothes to wash it in the community fountain, visiting a village known for its weaving where women create such ornate and beautiful tapestries and clothing, visiting a macadamia nut farm where they gave us facials with the oils from the nuts, having every Guatemalan pronounce Miten's name as "Ming" (which I think now adds an Asian twist to his background) and being stuck in one of the villages due to Miten's bike breaking in the middle of the road. After his bike broke we decided to stop at una tienda and buy some cervezas, the local one called 'Gallo'. We then naturally got into a game of futbol (aka soccer) with 3 five year olds.  To no fault of our genuine soccer skills we lost. badly. The star player of the 5 year olds was a boy they called Gordito who proceeded to lift up his shirt and do a belly dance (or the truffle shuffle according to Miten) every time he scored. Quite entertaining.