My Antigua Hotel Doubles as Church Ruins

Agua Volcano visible the gardens of my hotel

I decided to treat myself to a much more luxurious hotel than where I normally would lay my head. Prices were down because of COVID phobia. And I got cheated out of my 60th birthday celebration last year. So I decided I was worth a splurge.

I am staying in the Casa Santo Domingo on the edge of Antigua. That is a courtyard just over from the row of rooms where I am staying. As I may have said before, my room has a pool view, which no one is using due to some combination of mild temperatures, rain storms, and COVID-induced limited capacity at the pool.

Lots of religious art because this used to be a church.

Until the earthquake.

Antigua was largely destroyed by a massive earthquake on July 29, 1773. The city lay largely in ruins. The Guatemalan capital then was packed up and moved to the present site of Guatemala City, which made zero sense since Guatemala City was just as earthquake prone. (Most recent massive quake: 1976.)

The ruins of the old church are still used for Sunday mass once a week.

 

There is a roof, but it's otherwise open air.

And for you preservation absolutists who want to be horrified that they built a luxury hotel around the unreconstructed (but shored-up) ruins of great church, relax. There are plenty of other churches in ruins in Antigua. Church ruins are as common in Antigua as casinos in Las Vegas.

The un-ruined parts of the hotel complex are quite nice.

And they have parrots poolside.

Maybe around seven or so.

They like to squawk, but only during the day. The museums on the hotel grounds -- and there are several -- are largely closed (including the chocolate museum), probably all casualties of COVID. The spa, like the hotel spas in Las Vegas, has very limited capacity. But the birds are open for business.

They sleep at night. So I can, too.