It has been 10 months since Oliver and I received a phone call telling us that it’s time to leave Panama and begin a new adventure in Guatemala. Everything happened very fast, Oliver basically had to pack a bag and and leave the next day and I stayed a week longer due to my friends visit. From life on the beach we now found ourselves in the most charming colonial town I have ever seen. We could now organise our lives better, having the simple pleasures of renting our own house made us feel like we were really starting a new life.
Antigua is basically only 10 by 10 blocks so after a month you pretty much know all the faces, in comparison to Panama I found it very refreshing and welcoming. People actually smile and say hello to you on the street which is something I wasn’t used to. The Guatemalan culture is extremely rich and you can experience it on every corner from; textiles, art, food and music. Antigua is an expats paradise, because not like in other Central American countries the access to western products is relatively easy, but my favourite store – La Bodegona has the best selling techniques (well the funniest ones anyway) where they tape random products together, there’s even an FB page called “shit taped together in La Bodegona” where you can buy toilet paper taped with cup or cereal with a can of sardines…absolutely brilliant!
Antigua is surrounded by like 4 volcanos which adds to the charm to the picturesque surroundings, when my brother came to visit we managed to hike the Acatenango one and stand at the summit looking in to the mouth of the famous sister volcano Fuego. It was one of the most challenging hikes I ever had to do. Scarily howver, a few weeks later Fuego volcano decided to REALLY explode and in doing so killed about 1,500 people and covered entire towns in ash. On a slightly brighter note, our favourite days are of course the rare moments where we can forget about work and do what we usually do, find random spots and take pictures. Well, to be completely fair it’s me making Oliver be my model and harass him for half a day.
We’ve made incredible friends and our life has become more “normal” in terms of; eating out, cleaning the house and having lazy bed Sundays. We even have a freaking dog now. I mean WTF! Basically, what happened was I had to leave the country for 3 days for a visa run. When I got back half conscious after an 18 hour journey I find a 3 legged dog lying in my bed. Obviously at first I was confused and furious, but the little bastard made me fall in love with her in less than an hour. So there’s that. I’ve learnt my lesson…I am never leaving Oliver alone in a house again, because fuck knows what he will get in the future…he would probably adopt a bunch of birds or something.
I miss the warm though, Antigua is forever spring and I regret every complaint I had about the Panama weather. Not only that, people here start drinking very early, all the bars only have licences until 11pm which is absurd for a Polish person, or any other Europeans I guess. If you would want to have a drink in every bar though in Antigua it would probably take you more than 2 months if you tried to visit 3 per day because there are so many, which is insane considering how small Antigua really is.
Of course Guatemala is not only about Antigua, it has so many micro climates it’s crazy. We like to go down to the beach which is like 2 hrs away and chill by the pool. I know that sounds stupid “to go the beach and sit by a pool” but the waves are monstrous and the riptide is sooo strong that I haven’t been in the water once. We also decided a week ago to go on an 8 hour adventure to see the famous Semuc Champay waterfalls, and I was too busy to look for a pet friendly hotel that it didn’t even cross my mind that there might be dog restrictions on entering the waterfall natural reserve. Well there was No dogs allowed. Epic fail! We ended up chilling by the river all day gypsy style with a blanket and a six pack.
Last but not least I somehow convinced one of my close friends from Warsaw to drop everything, move to Guatemala and work with me in this madness of a lifestyle. Im extremely proud of her because not only she adapted crazy fast but also is super professional which proves that friends can work together and there is always a way. When there isn’t a way there is always a way.
The people you see on the pictures are my inspiration and thanks to them I can continue with my love for photography which will never end. Each one has a strong personality and each one taught me a different lesson.
