Famous volcano of Guatemala visible from almost anywhere in Antigua. It stands tall ensuring that it is never forgotten.

The famous chicken bus of Guatemala. These are re-painted American school buses.
Main square of Antigua was lit, decorated and filled with dance and music on NYE 2014. 2013 was put up on the building for one last time on 31st Dec 2013.

Just outside of Antigua are several small villages with architecture of it's colonizers. Such pretty churches are abundant. As sunset approaches,  families with children start coming out in the public spaces such as the courtyard of this church or public gardens and by the time it's dark, there is abundance of chitter-chatter, loud music, jingles of the ice-cream seller, shrills of children playing and laughing, these villages comes to life! 

Every house has a different bright color on the exterior, wooden doors and windows with iron railings for extra protection...It makes every cobblestone street feel like a scene out of a fairytale. The mountains in the back drop just add another level of serenity and beauty to this place.

The people of Guatemala stole our hearts. They were the most kind hearted, gentle and polite people we met in our journies. Sitting in America where everyone is always careful of security measures, dare I say, over-careful, we have forgotten that other countries are also made of people with history, culture and politics...In USA, Guatemala has been reduced to a criminal country...a country that provides us cheap labor and illegal immigrants. In reality we found in to be as humane of a place as any on this planet, where people love their families, want peace and desire prosperity. Having stayed under-developed, it has managed to preserve it's family-values, cultural values, human relationships....etc etc....