I showed you the church next door.
It’s the Church of San Francisco. the part that looks decent was originally built in 1542, which makes it the oldest functioning church in Antigua. It’s been rebuilt several times over the centuries after earthquakes. As you can see, there are ruins to the right. The attached monastery was severely damaged in 1565, 1717, 1751 and 1773. They never rebuilt it after the 1773 quake. The ruins remain, little restored. We walked through there this morning.
In the first picture, you can see the side of the “new” church. The rest of it is a step back in time.
We’re trying not to get ahead of ourselves, but really, it’s pretty easy to imagine staying here another month, and another month. I’m kinda allergic to herd mentality, but there’s good reason why the herd stops in Antigua. I haven’t even gotten into the things to do. There are all kinds of music venues, lectures and tours, social activism (Remember, this is a very poor country and about 1% live like we do.), and dining/food options.
Some of the people here, especially the expats, can REALLY live it up. Alas, we have to actually make our own food most of the time. Our dining options tend toward the cheaper options, like a 10 cent papaya-cicle.
Be well, all of you. Until next time…