Antigua Guatemala, a UNESCO world heritage site, is surrounded by Volcanoes and is renowned for its Spanish colonial buildings and architecture. In the fourth picture below, you can see how Antigua is built like a grid - something that was inspired by the Italian renaissance to help facilitate movement.

The picture above is one of my favorite pictures from the entire Guatemala trip. It was taken in a market, in the middle of the day, where it seems like most people in the city go to shop for their local produce, along with many other small items like clothes, jewelry, school supplies, and so so much more. People are just being people. Chatting, bargaining, asking, yelling. It seemed authentic, something that many other tourist spots didn’t grasp.

Some tips for visiting Antigua:

1. Try their local cuisine. Guatemalan cuisine traditionally includes corn, tortillas, beans, rice, and various different meats like pork or chicken.

2. Wear sturdy shoes! The ground is mostly cobblestone and you want to make sure you can walk without tripping.

3. Take a walking tour/coffee tour: Guatemala is known for their coffee (coffee beans pictured at the bottom), and we were fortunate enough to take a coffee tour on ATVs. You learn a lot of history by walking on foot and hearing what the locals have to say.