Antigua, Guatemala

Before arriving in the States, we took a brief trip to Guatemala.  We booked our tickets out of Guatemala City instead of San Salvador so we decided to go the day before and stay in Antigua for the night.  We have visited Antigua before and it's one of our favorite little places.

The last time we went it had taken about 5 hours to get there.   I did some research online and found people seemed to be getting there a lot faster than that.  Eduardo and I decided to take a different route and sure enough!  We got there in about 3 1/2 hours from our house to Antigua.  That was awesome.

We took Eduardo's mom and his Tia Dominga and her husband, Don Nacho.  It was a good drive and we were all so excited to get there.  We got a hotel right away so we could park the car and unload our bags.

Eduardo and I then went straight to the place where we have bought bulk jewelry in the past and we met with the shop owner again.  Liliana went with my MIL and the others to a church down the street, leaving Eduardo and I the freedom to shop until we dropped!  Ha!  It's so fun to pick out all the beautiful jewelry, but it's also overwhelming.  I got a nice different assortment of stuff than the last trip to bring back to the States and sell.  I know it was a risk investing more money when it was the last of the money we have, but I'm confident we will make a good profit.

After the shopping, Eduardo and I made an impromptu stop at a little tequila bar and shared a drink.  That was a rare experience and it was exciting to be spontaneous again.

We then met up with everyone else and tooled around the town.  We did more shopping and eating and before we knew it, it was the end of the day.  We went back to the hotel and relaxed a bit.  I figured out how I would fit everything in my suitcases ;)

Then in the evening, Eduardo, Liliana and I took a stroll to see the town at night.  We came across another bead shop that had just opened up with some spectacular things I couldn't resist.  We will definitely be going back there again!  Liliana finally passed out in our arms and we continued back to the hotel after picking up some food to go.  Eduardo and I got to spend some alone time while Liliana slept and it was a great last night together.

In the morning we headed into Guatemala City to the airport.  It didn't take as long as we thought and we were there really early.  Liliana and I had to wait by ourselves a LONG time as no person other than the ones flying are even allowed in that airport.  I would have waited outside, but Liliana was anxious to see the airplane.  Had she known the plane would be an hour late, she probably would have opted for staying outside too.

It was a sad goodbye.  Eduardo had told me not to cry, but as I walked away from him, I couldn't hold back.  The tears quickly flowed down my face as we entered the airport.  I tried not to let him see me, but couldn't resist one more look back.  It was a lot harder than I had expected the goodbye to be.  Just thinking about it makes me tear up again.

But anyway, Antigua was a great time again.  I can't wait until our next visit!!