Antigua is a photographer’s dream for street pho­tog­ra­phy. The city in itself is very pic­turesque with its small streets, colour­ful façades and the vol­ca­noes in the back­ground. It is also safe enough to walk around with a cam­era in hand. And the week between Christ­mas and New Year is a busy time in the city, where locals and trav­el­ers mix.

This is prob­a­bly the most pop­u­lar city in Guatemala. It’s one of these places where you think “yeah, I could live there.” What’s not to like? Great food—probably the most inter­est­ing mix of comida tipica and world food can be found here—,historical build­ings and a rel­a­tively mod­ern way of life. Unlike Guate, Antigua is easy to nav­i­gate, even though the cobblestone-paved streets can be hard on the feet and the knees.

The city in itself hasn’t changed much since 2003. We even had the same desayuno Antigüeno as we used to have at the Rain­bow Café. The place and the dish are still here, eight years later. The build­ings are the same and we can find our way easily.

Yet, there are a few sub­tle dif­fer­ences. For once, Antigua has been “yup­pi­fied.” Eight years ago, the few busi­nesses that specif­i­cally catered to hippy grin­gos were cafés with book exchange ser­vices and numer­ous small restau­rants that showed pirated movies on a big screens in the evening. Nowa­days, you can find a few spas, a hand­ful of fran­chised cof­fee places where drinks are almost as expen­sive as Star­bucks’. The only movies shown are doc­u­men­taries about Maya kids and lit­er­acy in the high­lands. In some restau­rants, the food is cer­ti­fied “organic” and the menu spec­i­fies that veg­gies and fruits are washed with puri­fied water.

Okaaayyyy…

The gap of wealth within Guatemala is also fas­ci­nat­ing to observe. Antigua attracts wealth­ier trav­el­ers from all around the world more than back­pack­ers, but it also attracts local tourists. On one hand, you have the locals who barely get by—the kids who sell can­dies in the chicken buses, the Maya girls who sell neck­laces etc. And on the other hand, there are groups of Guatemalan tourists who, cam­eras in hands, have their pic­tures taken with the “exotic” Mayas.

Weird.

People-watching is still a fas­ci­nat­ing activ­ity, per­haps more than ever. The var­i­ous mixes of trav­el­ers and locals are strangely obliv­i­ous to each other’s’. Most peo­ple brush the sell­ers off: “no gra­cias.” It’s hard to do oth­er­wise when every five meters, you are stopped by some­one sell­ing flutes or colour­ful bags. The old ladies pray­ing non-stop at the many churches don’t seem to be dis­turb by tourists tak­ing pic­tures of Jesus and Judas. And nuns do their shop­ping at the local super­mar­ket (no, they don’t buy booze—I checked).

Three Maya Women

From the Church

Two Nuns

At The Market

Pray­ing

War and Peace

Tuk Tuk

Armed

Maya Woman and Child

Can­dies Seller

Scar­face Eating

Shoe-shine

At The Market

Sell­ing News­pa­pers (and Reading)

Related arti­cles:

1. Copán Ruinas
2. Tikal and the Lost World of the Mayas
3. Vil­lages Around Lago de Atitlán
4. Ko Phi Phi Ley
5. Antigua, Guatemala