We returned to the hostel and spent the rest of the afternoon getting cleaned up - showering, getting our laundry in a bundle so the hostel could wash it, checking email, and napping. A little after 6pm, we decided to head out for dinner. Tom still wanted meat, so we went looking for a steakhouse we had seen while walking the night before our hike. We stopped and took pictures of some if the many beautiful church ruins in the city, which are all beautifully lit at night, and wandered around the park in the center of town.
We went down the street where we thought we had seen the steakhouse, but couldn't find it. It was starting to rain just as we were walking by a small cafe specializing in Guatemalan food called La Fonda de la Calle Real so we decided to give it a try. We have to send a special thanks to the rain gods for that one, because it turned out to be delicious. They had beef tenderloin on the menu, which Tom ordered, and it was delicious and perfectly prepared. I ordered a medley of Guatemalan specialities, including pepian, kak'ik, and estofado - all stew dishes, one with chicken, one with turkey, and one with beef - along with a tamalito and rice. Yum! We went back to the hostel and were in bed before 9pm, with clean sheets and a good mattress feeling really good on our trail-weary bodies.
We spent most of the next day exploring Antigua. We started at the bus station so we knew what we needed to know in order to get the chicken bus to Lago Atitlan the next day.
Then we went looking for the steakhouse we hadn't been able to find the night before. We wandered through some ruins, took some pictures, wandered in and out of shops, talked to people on the street, and generally got to know the town a little.
We had pork tacos for lunch, beautifully presented on a square slate plate, with each of the three corn tortillas a different color.
We learned that you don't see most of the town from the street, but have to go through the shops and restaurants to get into the courtyards of each block to see the real beauty of the town. I ate sesame ice cream and bought a pair of jade bead earrings. We visited the Choco Museo, where I successfully tempted fate and ate the chocolate without getting a headache, since I figured it was all naturally processed. We drank the Te de Cacoa, and had to buy a few bags of that to take home, along with a few varieties of chocolate bars.
Overall, it was a very fun and relaxing day, which is actually unusual for us on vacation since we are usually all about trying to cram in as much activity as possible. But, after three strenuous and somewhat stressful days of hiking, it was just what we needed.
That night we went out to dinner at the Cafe Escobar Steakhouse, and had probably the best meal out we have had in Mexico and Central America, if not ever. The steakhouse is on the street across from one of the beautifully lit church ruins, and we got there early enough that we got a seat in an open window right on the street with a perfect view of the church.
A man playing a guitar even wandered by and serenaded us through the window as we were eating! We took the waiter's suggestion and ordered the premium sirloin for two, which turned out to be an excellent choice. They have steaks, which I'm sure are good, but this was a hunk of sirloin roast which was grilled to rare perfection and carved into 1" steaks right at the table on a hot grill with sizzling onions. For our New York friends who know the Conesus Inn and the Red Ossier, this was that quality of meat. This place may have been even better than those two excellent restaurants, because the sides weren't just throwaways, but were almost as good as the beef. We had a mixed green salad with dried cranberries, green apple slices, red onions, goat cheese, and a balsamic dressing, along with baked then fried potato chunks that were delightfully seasoned. We ate every last crumb, and didn't regret any of it.
Overall, we found Antigua to be a foodie's paradise, which surprised us since Guatemala isn't generally known for its food. Every single meal we had was delicious, from the included breakfasts at the hostel to the over-the-top steak dinner. Price wasn't even an issue; even the least expensive meals were great, and the steak dinner was pricey by Guatemala standards, but still inexpensive by US standards - about $80US for what I described above, with a bottle of decent Cabernet. The first dinner we had where Tom had the steak and I had the local food was only about $40US, and also included a bottle of wine. The pork taco lunch was $6.25US each, and included a beer. We had excellent local style breakfasts at the hostel, and those were included in our $30US/night room charge. We would definitely consider mini-vacations in Antigua in the future, just to eat.
We have slightly more mixed feelings about whether we would choose to stay in a hostel again. We ended up at El Hostal at Old Town Outfitter's recommendation, and we don't regret it. For the price, it is well worth it and both Tom and I get a little twitchy about paying too much just for a bed and a bathroom when we really don't intend to spend much time in a hotel anyway, so it was nice to spend just $30 a night, yummy breakfast included. We prefer a private bath, but everything was so clean and the towels and linens were so nice - better than a lot of "nice" hotels where we've stayed - that it wasn't a huge big deal. However, we agree that the types of guests hostels attract could get a little wearing if we were there for more than a couple of days. El Hostal is set up around a central open courtyard, with three dorm rooms and three private rooms, all sharing the very nice men's and women's bathrooms. It's arranged so this large common area is where everybody gathers, and that's what happens - 24 hours a day. It was nice during [our] waking hours, when we didn't mind talking to people, but when the drunk sorority girls on parent-funded self-exploration trips returned from their night of partying at 2am and decided to continue the party in the common area rather than their shared dorm room, it was annoying. I'm sure it woke up anyone trying to sleep in their dorm room as well, but my point is that some of the hostel travelers are so self absorbed with their experience that they forget to be polite, but that's just the nature of a hostel. We also met some people who were very interesting and who would never have dreamed of being that rude, but there were a few others who were less intentionally annoying, explaining that they were spending three or six or whatever number of months traveling because they'd been out in the work world for four or five or six years, so they figured they deserved it and their parents didn't mind being their safety net. There were a few who were doing it all on their own, and more power to them, but there were enough with a serious sense of entitlement that we just wanted to tell them to grow up. Maybe we are just too old for hostels, although when we were there, we did meet other middle aged travelers who just didn't want to spend too much on hotel rooms they didn't use except to sleep. Or maybe, being about the same age as the safety net parents, we just feel bad for them since they've probably worked steadily for thirty or more years without feeling that they deserve a break every five years or so, and if they didn't have to be on hand to bail out their entitled kids, they could do what Tom and I are doing and enjoy having their own adventure.
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