This tour will take us all over the Panchoy Valley around Antigua. We start off on the North side of the valley at the city´s most iconic landmark “El Cerro de la Cruz” or the peak of the cross. Here we get a birds-eye-view of Antigua, a front row view of the Agua Volcano and admire the colonial Spanish style architecture of the city below.
After admiring the view, we head back down and cross the entire city to the base of the Agua Volcano to the town of San Juan Del Obispo, a local artisanal chocolate factory located on the foothills of the Agua Volcano. At “Chocolateria Antigua” we are shown parts of the process of making hot chocolate from cacao to the finished product. Once finished at the chocolate factory we will walk next door to a local wine store where we get to taste local wines from various fruits such as Nispero, Jocote, Mango, and others.
Our next stop is a local Jade factory in the town of San Pedro de las Huertas. Here we are shown how the Jade rocks are converted into fine jewelry as well as a selection of finished products. We get back on our ATVs and head over to the first capital city of Guatemala which was “Ciudad Vieja.” We park by the central plaza and visit the first cathedral built in Central America in the year 1534.
Our last stop before lunch is San Antonio Aguas Calientes; in this village we visit a local and traditional textile museum and market where you can purchase local gifts, clothing, and textiles.
The last stop is our lunch stop at a macadamia nut plantation “Valhalla”, before or after having some food and drinks we are given a small tour of the plantation and shown the cultivation and collection process of the nuts. Once finished with lunch we will head back down to Antigua.
