Antigua - The original capital of Guatemala

We went to Antigua 3 weeks ago and its taken me way too long to put these up.  It was a beautiful town with a big Spanish influence.  Each house down every single street was a different color than the one on either side of it.  The colors were all strong and vibrant.  It was a great place for pictures.  The only draw back was that for almost the entire time that we were there, the volcano in the back had clouds covering the top.  Please remember to click on any picutres that you would like to see full size.  Please also comment to let me know what you think...



 A very popular mode of transportation in Guatemala

3 street vendors and some beautiful columns and arches that are part of the naval building in Antigua.

One of the oldest churches where native rituals are still preformed. 

Traditional native outfit.  You would see this on street vendors and the indigenous.

Ahh, el Volcan de Agua...the Water Volcano.  Gorgeous isn't it? 

I really like this view of the volcano.

This is an indoor artisan market. 

I saw these 2 kids and had to snap the picture.  They are waiting for someone that needs their shoes shined.  It is sad to see kids that are under 12 years old working on the streets trying to make money for their families.  You would either see kids working as shoe shiners or little girls and boys right next to their parents selling jewelry or what ever else their parents were selling on the street.   I also couldn't decide between color or black and white.

 

This man was painting the famous Antigua arch which is seen in the next picture.



The Water Volcano looks so small in this perspective.

An there the volcano looks huge once again. 

This spot was gorgeous, I just wish that there had not been clouds covering the top of the volcano. 

As you walk by what seem to be houses, you often find a big market inside. 

Just look at the amazing colors!  The big structure in the background is the Mercedes church. 

Another picture that I had to snap as I walked by an open door.

Almost the same situation here, but believe it or not, this is the lobby to a small hotel in Antigua.  It is really pretty. 

I thought this would make a cool photo since the outside of the building was old looking like all the rest but the inside had shiny modern floors and a simple table with some chairs.  Very clean cut on the inside. 

Perpective shot of a wall of sheet metal. 

This is the skeleton that is left of an old church. 

An electricians nightmare!

This just doesn't seem safe...

As seen on facebook :) 

Street vendors come up to you from nowhere.  We had just stepped out of the restaurant where we ate lunch and this lady came right up to us.  Check out her child on her back.

This was the view from El Cerro de la Cruz (the Hill of the Cross).

In this shot I tried out a new preset that I got for Lightroom.  This preset is supposed to make the picture look infrared...I think its cool. 

My beautiful aunt 

For a brief moment while we were on the hill, the volcano's peak was visible.

This was a panorama shot that I put together in GIMP.  This is made up of 3 different images. 

As we drove away from Antigua and got on the highway, I had wished that we had seen the volcano for a longer period of time with no clouds covering the top.  We were driving on the highway and were about 5 miles away from the town when I looked to my right and saw that as the sun was setting the clouds had vanished.  The volcano could be seen in all of its glory again but we were so far away and on a highway.  I still took out my camera as fast as I could and snapped this shot.  I was lucky to get it as a millisecond slower and I would have taken a picture of blurry trees!  I really like the motion shown and the giant volcano resting calmly in the back enjoying the sunset.