Great food and new friends at Antigua, Guatemala

Antigua stole our hearts. What a beautiful city! It’s a place, you’ll end up staying longer than planned. All the old, colorful houses, charming little plazas, hip restaurants, cobblestone streets. From every angle, you’ll see impressive volcanos in the background, wow. But most of all, it’s the friendly locals, who make Guatemala so special.

As we had such wonderful experiences with ResiRest in other countries, we definitely wanted to meet with a local family right here in Antigua. So ResiRest organizes a lunch for us.

Our preparations for lunch

Denise, a sweet Dutch girl, is joining us. We met her earlier on our trip through Guatemala. It’ll be her first experience with ResiRest. She loves the concept of the company and is also looking forward to it.

But first shopping time. We don’t want to go there empty-handed. But what to give to them? What would be a suitable present? We decided on a small plant with beautiful flowers, which will grow some nice fruits during the summer months. Pretty and useful, should be a good gift.

Meeting Yoli

It is early in the afternoon when we take a cab to the bus stop just outside Antigua, where our meeting place is. As we got there, we see a lady with a big smile walking up to us. Yolí introduced herself and we hit it off right away. We started chatting and that didn’t stop till we got on the bus back to the city again. We hand over our little gift, which she really appreciated.

After a short walk, we get to her cozy house, where her children are waiting to meet us. Sweet kids, very polite and interested. They help Yolí in the kitchen. In the meantime conversation continues, not a minute of silence. They really make us feel at ease. A little time later we are served a great lunch of meat, salad, rice & roti. It’s delicious. Everything really fresh.

Personal stories

During dinner, Yolí tells us all about her life, about her husband, who unfortunately passed away, about how she manages to take care of her children. Life isn’t always easy, but the family is doing well now. Very interesting to hear how people live in Guatemala. The kids also join in the conversation and ask us about life in the Netherlands. Some serious stuff, but there was also a lot of laughter. They have a great sense of humor.

Lunch was over before we knew it. Time to get back to the city. But not before we have exchanged numbers with Yoli. And as we left, we were smiling, because we knew we just made new friends. Yoli & her kids also stole our hearts.

You know what to do in Antigua!

Sharing lunch or dinner together is truly a great way to get to know each other. You get to try the local dishes, meet the local people, see how they live and you get to help them a little bit in a fun way.

We had a wonderful experience once again. So, guys, you know what to do when you’re in Antigua.