Mornings we walked to the Parque Central, the tree-lined square in the heart of Antigua. From a bench near the trickling fountain, we watched young boys peddle shoeshines, and Mayan women in traditional dress dangle colorful necklaces. Local residents chatted, and tourists gathered for guided tours. Around the park rose ancient buildings, reminders of Antigua's historic past.
Founded in 1541, Antigua became the wealthy capital of Spanish Central America. Churches, convents, monasteries, and palaces lined the streets. But an earthquake leveled most buildings in 1773, and the capital moved to Guatemala City. Today the remaining ruins and old colonial buildings attract visitors interested in the city's storied past.
We enjoyed those historic monuments as we strolled around Antigua, but we took equal pleasure in the everyday life of the city. We greeted people along the narrow sidewalks and received a friendly "Buenos dias" in return. We stopped to enjoy a family group of Mayan musicians performing in the street. When we saw a gaily painted intercity bus, we listened for the driver's assistant to shout "Guate, Guate," summoning passengers bound for Guatemala City. Twice we took a bumpy ride in a tuk-tuk, the tiny three-wheeled vehicles that serve local people as taxis. At the bodegon, the closest thing the city has to a supermarket, we mixed with local shoppers while we bought milk and bananas. At the crowded Mercado Central, we admired heaps of shiny tomatoes, fat carrots, and spicy peppers grown by Mayan women in surrounding villages.
Eating lunch in a sunny courtyard restaurant, we watched a woman shake ripe oranges off a tree with a pole. At another restaurant, we enjoyed an elegant dinner in a vine-covered alcove beside a pool with rose petals and candles drifting on the water. On a visit to the Monastery of St. Francis, we knelt by the tomb of Antigua's saint, Pedro de San Jose Betancur. Hermano Pedro collected alms for the city's poor in the 17th century and was canonized in 2002. Emerging from Sunday Mass at historic Nuestra Senora de la Merced, we discovered food vendors grilling chicken and ears of corn on the church lawn while local families enjoyed a picnic lunch.
We came home with rich memories of Antigua. Was eight days too long to spend there? Not for visitors open to the everyday charms of the ancient city.
Kathleen Stevens lives in Pitman, Gloucester County. 
