The series of unfortunate events getting from San Marcos to Panajachel to Antigua for Palm Sunday
Travel Day between destinations in Guatemala
This day is the whole reason we switched up the original plans for our trip. We were originally planning to visit the beach down south, but instead we decided to make another stop in Antigua for Palm Sunday.
This morning we had some breakfast at Circles Bakery in San Marcos— smoothie bowls and a breakfast sandwich for Robin. Then we packed up and left our Air Bnb, bought a sandwich to eat later, and got on a lancha back to Panajachel. From there, we had a 14-person shuttle pick us up and take us back to Antigua.
All in all, the traveling took us about 5 hours from one Air Bnb to another. The windy roads are not for the faint of heart. The curves are one thing, but I think the worst part was our driver going from 0 to 60 and then slamming on the brakes for every bit of traffic or speed bump 🥴🤢
People were passing around motion sickness pills, but there was one person who just couldn’t handle it. We had to pull over for her to puke on the side of the road, and it looked like everyone was feeling the same way. Luckily, Robin was strapped into the baby carrier and slept through the worst of the curves. Then, an hour outside of Antigua, we had to switch vans… but we made it eventually!
As we made it into the outskirts of Antigua, it was so exciting to see how much it had transformed since we were there just a few days ago. They close all the streets in Antigua for the Palm Sunday procession, so that was just beginning as we rolled in.
We checked into our Air Bnb first, got an early dinner at Hector’s Bistro in Antigua. One of the best belly laughs of the trip happened at dinner–Benjamin was trying to order a Dr. Pepper and the server couldn’t understand him. He looked to me for help saying it in Spanish, so I just over-enunciated “Doc-TOR PeppAIR” and the server instantly understood me. After he walked away we had a good laugh about it, and we’ve been laughing ever since. After dinner we walked around and people-watched allll the crowds that came to Antigua for the same reason as us: Palm Sunday!
We got some dessert (tiramisu for me, artesanal ice cream for Benj) which we ate while we walked around, then headed to our Air Bnb to sit in the hammocks.
Tomorrow: Palm Sunday!
Follow along for updates on our entire trip to Guatemala with our 11-month-old daughter!
If you’re like me and you read travel blogs wondering, “Should I use this itinerary?” – because how do you know if the blogger would do it the same way a second time? I’ll just say, I highly recommend this route! Our original plan included some beach time down on the Pacific Coast, but you’ll see we changed our plans mid-trip. I’m so glad we did!
