ANTIGUA is antique. Founded in 1543 and served as the colonial capital for 233 years until it was demolished by an earthquake in 1773, which made Guatemala City the capital. The population is now 40,000 and it’s a melting pot of people. Unesco declared Antigua a World Heritage Site in 1979. It is embraced by three volcanos and lots of color.

The town and ruins of Copan, Honduras were funky, wonderous, and spiritual. We loved it. Check it out:

“AMERICAN OR LOCAL?” Jorge Martínez, our Tourin tour guide asked us about the breakfast we were about to have in El Salvador’s capital, San Salvador. “Local!” We all agreed, so he took us to this place that appeared to be a take-out kitchen. As we walked up, we were escorted in and then out to a lovely landscaped courtyard. Once seated, Jorge ordered “pupusas” (the national food) for us and explained how the best pupusas are made of rice flour. When they arrived we watched Jorge peel his fat looking pancake open with his fingers. Kent tried it and exclaimed, “Ouch,” and dropped his pupusa. Jorge laughed and said in his good English, “Your fingers aren’t conditioned.” So we used our knife and forks to split them in half. Steam rose and the mouth watering scent of chicken, beans and cheese swooned us. Soon we too were lavishing the pupusas with salsa and chowing down. (In the photo to the right you can see how profuse mangos are. Below the photo shows tamales wrapped in green plaintain leaf on the left and rice flour pupusas on the right. ) 

Full to the gull, we took off for the historical site of Joya de Cerén. This was a small Mayan settlement that was buried under volcanic ash when Laguna Caldera Volcano erupted in AD 600. Three compounds have been discovered and uncovered. They believe there to be eighteen different compounds. Joya de Cerén is the only site that gives clues as to how the people farmed, stored food, cooked, and grew flowers and vegetables.  A few shots to split your pupusa!