Our first morning exploring...

Thursday morning was our first little adventure by ourselves, as most of Wednesday we spent with the group :) Brian and I surprisingly woke up before Kallen (!!!) and went out to the balcony to look through our books and decide what we would do that morning...when K woke up, we ventured out to find some breakfast! One of my favorite things about Antigua was that you could walk EVERYwhere--the whole town is only 10 blocks by 10 blocks and its a grid, so its pretty easy to figure out where you're going (for most people---I had to keep asking Brian where to turn!!)

The streets were just beautiful with OLD Spanish colonial houses and buildings and cobblestone streets---and although we certainly ran into a handful of "gringos"----for the most part its a "real" town, so it was people scurrying to work, and little children running to school, and markets opening----so it was a neat experience to be a part of the culture---especially in the mornings!!

EVERY single morning we ate at the Cafe Condesa---I would have hoped we'd try more variety, but after our first breakfast we totally fell in love with the place, and it became one of the highlights of my day!! Amazing coffee (of course!!), big pancakes, amazing omelets, fruit---it was a perfect start to the day, and Kallen loved the fountain, and the birds and the food :) The mornings were pretty chilly---in the 60's, which was so NICE...

After breakfast we hit the Plaza Mayor which is kind of the center of town----very beautiful little park, surrounded by little banks, federal buildings, cathedrals, etc...and of course the beautiful volcanoes in the background...we went exploring through some of the ruins of one of the cathedrals---Kallen LOVED playing in the dirt and with all the crumbling rocks lying around.

Found a really cute toy shop with beautifully painted wooden toys, and then basically headed back to the hotel for Kallen to take his nap (which was actually a really nice excuse for us to rest!!)...


 

Back at the hotel we stuck our head in at the pool---which was unbelievable!!! This hotel was so amazing---it was VERY sad when we had to leave!!! :)

And then we hung out on the balcony while Kallen slept--a great little morning to start off our trip!! :)