Antigua Guatemala

The Spanish founded the city on 10 March 1543, after a lahar from the Volcán de Agua buried their second capital in the Almolonga valley in 1541. As Santiago de los Caballeros it became the third seat of the Kingdom of Guatemala, which reached from Chiapas to Costa Rica. Religious orders filled it with churches, convents, schools and hospitals: the Jesuits opened the college of San Lucas in 1608, the University of San Carlos began classes in 1681, and the Franciscan tertiary Hermano Pedro de San José de Betancur founded shelters for the poor and the Bethlemite order in 1656. The chronicler Bernal Díaz del Castillo was buried here.

Earthquakes shaped its fate. The San Miguel earthquakes of 1717 damaged the Royal Palace and prompted talk of moving the capital; the San Casimiro earthquake of 1751 struck again, though prosperity and a new water supply followed. The city reached a peak of some 65,000 people in the 1770s, but the Santa Marta earthquakes of 1773 destroyed much of it, and the capital moved to the valley of La Ermita, today's Guatemala City. Most of the population left.

What remained became La Antigua, the old city. Only about 9,000 people lived here by 1850, and a liberal government decreed that confiscated church property be turned into schools; the Jesuit buildings became a market in 1912. Earthquakes in 1917–18 and 1976 damaged churches that had survived 1773. The architecture and layout won the city UNESCO World Heritage status in 1979, and tourism and language schools are now its primary industries.

Antigua's identity is religious and colonial. Its celebrations during Lent and Holy Week are very elaborate: each Sunday of Lent a parish sponsors a procession, and in Holy Week brotherhoods carry huge platforms bearing images of Christ and the Virgin over carpets of dyed sawdust, flowers, pine needles, fruit and vegetables, which families spend hours making and which are swept away once walked over. Holy Week processions have been held every year since before the capital moved away.

The cult of Hermano Pedro, a Franciscan tertiary from the Canary Islands who cared for the city's poor and was canonised in 2002, draws steady pilgrims to his tomb in San Francisco el Grande. The Palacio de los Capitanes Generales houses the National Museum of Guatemalan Art.

The town is also one of the best-known places in the Americas to learn Spanish through immersion, with many language schools drawing students from Europe, Asia and North America. The surrounding valley is Kaqchikel Maya country: the Kaqchikel still call the Volcán de Agua Hunapú, and villages such as San Antonio Aguas Calientes are known for backstrap weaving in traditional patterns. The marimba is Guatemala's national instrument.

The 2018 census counted about 46,000 people in Antigua Guatemala, the most populous place in the department of Sacatepéquez, of which it is the capital. Tourism dominates the economy — hotels, restaurants, tour agencies, Spanish schools — alongside the coffee grown on the surrounding volcanic slopes, one of the country's named coffee regions.

Traffic on the narrow cobbled streets is a constant issue, and tuk-tuks, chicken buses and tourist shuttles crowd the routes in and out of town.

The day starts early, with the market busy from the morning and chicken buses leaving for the valley villages. Parque Central is the meeting place, full of families, vendors and visitors through the day. The volcanoes are part of daily life: Fuego erupts frequently, and its eruption of 3 June 2018, the largest of its current period of activity, buried the community of Los Lotes on its eastern side and left a heavy death toll; it has erupted repeatedly since.

Antigua eats the cooking of the central highlands. Pepián, a thick meat stew thickened with gourd seeds and made with chicken or beef, tomato and chilli, is one of the oldest Guatemalan dishes, with colonial and indigenous roots. Tamales colorados, red with tomato and achiote and wrapped in plantain leaves, are eaten especially around Christmas, and on 1 November families prepare fiambre, a huge cold salad of cured meats, sausages, cheeses and pickled vegetables. Hand-patted tortillas, black beans, fresh cheese and cream come with almost every meal.

The municipal market is where the town shops, with produce stalls and comedores serving set lunches. Around the main square the restaurants are more international, reflecting the many foreign students and visitors.

Coffee is the local pride. Antigua is one of the country's named coffee regions, its beans grown on volcanic soils at altitude, and farm tours on the surrounding slopes show the work of picking, washing, drying and roasting. Atol, a warm maize drink, is sold at markets across the highlands.