Doing Life Different: A Recent Trip to Antigua, Guatemala

Several weeks ago me and my assistant Chris drove to Antigua, Guatemala on a four day business trip. Some really cool folks from Business Connect, Lou and Jereme, put together a Sawyer distributors mini convention for Latin America and very generously covered all the food and lodging cost for us. All we had to do was get there.

So, leaving early on a Wednesday morning, we got in our "office" (my little, silver Isuzu pickup) and headed for Guatemala, a 590 km drive. What should have been a 10 hour trip ended up taking 15, but we arrived safely in Antigua around 8 pm.

A view down 6th ave looking towards Volcan Agua in the distance.

I love Antigua. I lived there way back in 1980 and have the best memories of my time there. What was then a quaint, low-key, tourist destination has become, unfortunately, "tourist central". Even with it's high prices, foreigner-crowded streets, and having lost some of it's old world charm in the process, Antigua is still a place worth visiting.

Sawyer distributors from Latin America

Pictured above is our group of distributors from all over Latin America. We had a lot of fun together and everyone shared what they were doing, what was working for them as well as some very new and innovative ideas using Sawyer filters to purify water. A very worthwhile trip.

Some of you may remember reading my blog post, El Volcan Agua; a story from the past, where I tell of some of my adventures as a 17 year old boy in Antigua. In this post I wrote about climbing Volcan Agua and of a little Mayan maiden named Rosita with whom I whiled away many afternoons sitting with her in the central park where she and her mother and sisters sold Mayan weavings and souvenirs. I'm not sure what they thought of me back then as I spent hours sitting with them, studying Spanish and chatting, but they were always kind and generous to me, and this at a time in my life when I desperately needed that.

The final afternoon we were in Antigua, we all went down to the market where the souvenirs are now sold (vendors can no longer sell in the park). At the first stall I came to, I asked if by chance there was anyone there from the village of San Antonio Aguas Calientes. "Yes, who was I looking for?" After much questioning and double checking of names, the woman told me that she was Rosita's cousin. Rosita and her sister Bilma had booths several blocks away and when Sara called them, to my amazement they actually remembered me and all of my family. I spent a good hour or more reminiscing about the past and catching up on family news. Sadly, their mother, Maria, had passed away three years earlier.

Rosita, myself, Bilma and Seldon

All in all, Chris and I had a great time. Many thanks to Lou, Jereme and Mike for all the work they did to make this happen and for their generosity. Definitely need to do this again next year!

For those of you who read my blogs as a travel log, here is a bit of useful information should you be thinking of traveling from Honduras to Guatemala.

Although longer, taking the coastal route out of San Pedro Sula through Omoa and crossing the border just south of Puerto Barrios is by far the better option than either El Florido or Aguas Calientes...unless of course you live near Copan. We returned through the El Florido crossing and the road on both sides of the border for miles is intolerably full of washouts and potholes. Last February when we arrived in Honduras, Aguas Calientes was no better.

Below are a couple other photos I wanted to share.