Many travelers who visit Antigua take advantage of the photo opportunity known as Cerro de la Cruz. Cerro de la Cruz is a large cross constructed on a hillside overlooking Antigua. Today I had the pleasure of visiting this location and taking in the beauty of Antigua and it’s surroundings in their entirety.
The day began with us asking locals the whats, whens, and hows of getting up the hillside. We were told that the local police would make the hike with us as a security measure, as the hill is known for petty crime. The problem with this was that we had to find the police station, and apparently no one in Antigua knows where it is… After walking the same 5 block radius for about 45 minutes we were finally directed towards a building that catered to tourists. They pointed us in the right direction and sent us on our way with promise of police at the foot of the trail who would take us up to the cross.
Upon arriving at the foot of the hill we saw a police officer and made our way towards him (the sign at the foot of the hill actually says the cross is in the opposite direction but we assumed the police meant we were in the right place). Much to my dismay however, the police officer simply told us to go on ahead, basically implying he would not be joining. After a few minutes of walking we soon realized that there were multiple officers stationed all along the trail in order to deter any potential muggers. The hike was a bit tough on this Florida boy who is used to flat hills and low altitude but once we arrived at the top the view was out of this world. I was able to snap some shots of Antigua, Cerro de la Cruz, and a statue of Santiago.
Cerro de la Cruz overlooking Antigua, Guatemala
Antigua from the view of Cerro de la Cruz
Cerro de la Cruz and Antigua
Cerro de la Cruz
Cerro de la Cruz from the top of the hill
This statue of Santiago lies further up the hill from Cerro de la Cruz
This is the path up to Cerro de la Cruz, and although this picture may make it look inviting it was a tough walk. If it wasn’t for the girl in front of me completely kicking my ass I would have stopped a few times.
There are a few stone benches one can stop at during the hike to Cerro de la Cruz. I imagine many Guatemalan men bring tourist women here and treat this as a Make-Out Point!
David Hope
Hello Matthew.
What happened to the first picture of the guys on the roof
over looking the city with beers in their hands? I know Jeff but
what is the other guys name? Tell Travis I will be pulling for the
USA in the World Cup even if it is a game I don’t understand.
Take care, we love you guys. Dad
Matt
Well it was in the other post but I took that down to show a better view of the volcano with no clouds around it. I’ll put a lot of pictures up when I get a chance on a day with no plans. Cass is the other guys name. Haha, you should definitely try to watch it. Pretty easy game to understand. Try to get the ball in the other teams goal, you can only make contact if you are going for the ball or else you get a penalty, and the offensive players must not be behind the defensive players when a ball is passed or it is offsides. We are going to be watching a lot of the games over here. Every bar has brackets up and everyone is really into it.
Jared Guillaume
Matt,
Everything looks great! Grandma gave me the link to your blog and I am following you on twitter, so keep the updates coming. Be safe, have fun, and drink a lot of cerveza!
Matt
Definitely drinking a lot of cerveza! The countries best beer is called Gallo which means “The Rooster”. It is actually pretty good and I think over the last couple days we have single handedly kept the brewery open, haha. Definitely more stuff to come.
Ty Guillaume
Buenos Dias Senor Hope
Greetings from Perry County Indiana! I am at Grandma’s right now and she has told me everything about your trip. She has also let all of Tell City know of your doings so you have many Hoosiers watching your progress. I look forward to your blogs as I have studied much Latin American history and took Spanish in college. It looks exciting so far. Sounds like you should have had a Coach Guillaume cross country boot camp experience to get you in shape before all the hiking. I’m glad to here that the woman was enough motiviation for you not to stop and rest on the hike. I got a feeling you will get in real good shape pretty quick! Grandma says not to take any Antigua women up on those stone benches. Well I sign out because I have not seen your equipment video and Grandma said it is pretty cool. Take care and stay away from the Tequilla.
Matt
Ty, good to hear from you. Yes a little cross country boot camp would have helped a bit, but like you said, I think I’ll be getting used to it fairly quickly. I can’t guarantee I’ll be staying away from Tequilla because, quite frankly, it is cheap as hell, haha. I’ll keep you all up to date!
danielle steiner
those pictures are amazing!! wish i could be there 🙂
Chris Hilbert
Pictures look awesome man! Added a few to my wallpaper cycle.
Matt
Nice man, plenty more to come!!
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