Montezuma's Revenge

After a long night and morning of gastrointestinal distress, today we took a three hour tour of the city.  The tour was by Elizabeth Bell, owner of Antigua Tours by Elizabeth Bell.  She's an American who moved to Antigua in 1969 and has become very active in promoting and improving the city.  It was a good tour and we got to see many of the sites.  We also scheduled a tour for tomorrow with her company-my aunt will tour a coffee plantation and I will zip line through it.  We also scheduled a volcano hike for Thursday. 

The last stop on today's tour was Santo Domingo, another huge old ruined cathedral that has been slowly excavated over the last 25 years (it was under 6 feet of volcanic ash).  They've done a great job with it.  They've combined the ruins with modern amenities to make a hotel, cathedral for weddings, restaurant, etc.  Antigua is really trying to use tourism to dig it's way out of poverty and places like Santo Domingo employ lots of locals.  In addition to this location, you can take their free ride up the mountain to a second location.  This one has a sculpture park and very nice restaurant among other things.  I tested the digestive water there with some mushroom bruschetta and margarita pizza.  The mushroom bruschetta had mushrooms marinated in lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper and it was the best thing I've tasted in a while and everything seemed ok to my digestive system.

Picture time! 

The cathedral at Parque Central.  Nice in the front, in ruins after the initial entrance (which is now the only interior).

Parque Central (Central Park)

The General's Palace.  Abandoned when the capital was moved.  Now being renovated.

A dead Jesus for the Holy Week procession

Fallen column in cathedral

The ceiling of the cathedral

You can see that much of the ceiling collapsed during earthquakes.

An excavated crypt under the cathedral.

Looks like St. James made an impression (this shell is his symbol).

Dominos delivery via motorcycle

A guy trimming the vines with what has to be an 8 foot machete

Part of the excavated and restored cathedral at Santo Domingo

In one of the museums at Santo Domingo

In an art gallery at Santo Domingo.  Water faucets and corn.

A view of Volcano Agua from Santo Domingo

The grounds of Santo Domingo, ruins and restored.

In a crypt under Santo Domingo