IN THE DETAILS
The coffee museum is followed by a visit to La Merced Church, whose construction began in 1548. This is followed by a walk down to Las Capuchinas Convent, inaugurated in 1736 by nuns from Madrid. It was seriously damaged by an earthquake in 1773 and subsequently abandoned. Restoration began in 1943 and continues into present day. They say that God is in the details, and I become a little obsessed with the architectural details myself. I could spend all day here exploring every nook and cranny, but time is limited so I pacify myself taking as many color and (mostly) black & white photos as I can.After lunch, Claudine and I set out to explore Antigua. The city was founded in 1543 as La muy Noble y muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de los Caballeros de Goathemala, the Spanish colonial capital of Guatemala. The city is encompassed by three volcanoes: Agua to the south and Fuego and Acatenango to the southwest. Its streets are designed on a grid system with Calles running east and west and Avs running north and south. Besides the volcanoes, another good landmark if someone were to get lost is the Arco de Santa Catalina, one of the few original constructions to withstand the 1773 earthquake.
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