Miradors, puposas and coffee

Today was a good first full day in Antigua. Spend the morning leisurely enjoying my free hostel breakfast then follow the street up from El Hostal in search of Antigua's mirador, Cerro de la Cruz aka Hill of the Cross. I was told morning is the best time to go for both the sunnier views overlooking the city and optimal chances of not getting mugged. Although according to Lonely Planet, "no crimes against tourists have been reported since the tourist police squad started patroling the area."  Thank you, tourist police squad!

Cerro de la Cruz and Volcan Agua

The walk up is more strenuous then I anticipated because I pick the wrong fork in the road, therefore find myself huffing and puffing up an S trail meant for vehicles. Flashback to me doing something  similiar while searching for a castle in Portugal, only thankfully this time it only lasts about 20 minutes and there are no trucks. On top I mistake Plaza del Santiago for the mirador and wonder why the cross has been replaced with an equestrian statue. A nice park attendent tells me the actual mirador is just a little further up so I continue on and lo and behold there's the cross. And the views! And all the other tourists!

The walk down is much nicer, because I am on the right path this time consisting of pleasantly spaced apart steps. I meet a beautiful American bull terrier with a giant head named Yuma and stop to say hi before continuing on (I miss Shusha! And Kalema!).

Yup this is Yuma

I decide on lunch before my planned afternoon coffee farm tour and head to the restaurant La Cuervita de los Urquizos near Las Ruinas de Capuchinas where the bus comes to fetch all the coffee farm visitors at 1:20 pm. I have a good hour. For lunch I settle on puposo which I've been wanting to try and because it's impossible for me to decide whether I should get the queso, frijoles or cerdo puposo I get the mixta along with a side of broccoli (broccoli!!!!) and a scrumtious jugo de rosa de jicama. Then it's about time for the bus.

The coffee tour on the Filadefia "resort" lasts almost 2 hours and by the end I am overwhelmed by my newfound knowledge about what makes coffee coffee. For example, before it is a bean, coffee is a flower (smells like jasmine!) then a fruit (looks like a red berry!). Also after following in the footsteps of a coffee bean from seedling to plant to fermenting to drying to husking to roasting, etc, I have never wanted a cup of coffee more in my whole entire life. We head to the "coffee degustation room" and I finally get to sample the "complimentary" cup included in the $20 tour.  It's worth every %$#*&$? penny!



Best end of a tour ever!