Antigua, Guatemala – San Pedro Church & Hospital & Volcán de Agua
Slow travel demands flexibility. For example, earlier this year we had planned to stay in Oaxaca, Mexico, for a few months, get some work done and take Spanish lessons. For a decade or more we had heard about this beautiful city and after a few days there, we understood.
Street scene in Oaxaca, Mexico
As background, our arrival in Oaxaca was preceded by a month of travel, at the end of which we were tired, overspent and anxious to settle down and work.
Maybe because of its popularity, bad timing or it just wasn’t meant to be, for whatever reason, we couldn’t find an acceptable Oaxaca apartment in our price range. We tried the expat hangouts like the English-language library, posted apartment wanted signs, worked our ads on Craigslist and talked to whomever we could. The good stuff was taken and the scraps were left. Or, we just didn’t make the right connections. Note: We stayed at Hotel Trebol across from the city market. It was reasonably priced, clean and centrally located.
We might have tried real estate services there as a last resort but by the time we felt the need, the warm and fuzzies for Oaxaca were fading. Frustrated and going through money faster than anticipated or wanted, we started scrambling for alternatives. Five days after arriving, we jumped a bus headed for the beach in Puerto Escondido.
This is an example of what I mean when I say slow travel lacks an infrastructure. In comparison, if the same thing had happened in San Miguel de Allende, a quick email to the highly active mailing list there would have received several responses. There isn’t a comparable communication venue in Oaxaca and most places. Cuenca, Ecuador, has the next-best active list we have found (http://www.gringotree.com/cuenca/).
Flexibility and timing or luck worked in our favor. As we eyed Central America from our vantage point on the beach just north of Guatemala, an email generated from a Craigslist ad popped into our inbox.
Several email exchanges later, a Skype call, pictures sent and a rapport established, we booked a bus heading to Antiqua, Guatemala, which became our home for the next two months.
That was February. Our daughter would be graduating in May with her master’s degree, so we knew we would be in Boston then — okay, time to start looking for an apartment there!