Colonial House Drains Onto Sidewalk

La Antigua Guatemala’s sidewalks were not meant for walking. Sidewalks in La Antigua Guatemala are narrow and uneven, with so many 2 or 3-feet inclination ramps and potholes that you can easily fall down. On top of that, in the rainy season, you have be careful with the colonial house drains; both, the ground level drains and the roof drains spouts and Spanish-tile roofs which drain the rainfall right in the middle of the narrow sidewalks. Did I mention the sidewalks are narrow? 😉

Initiatives like La Antigua Guatemala Without Barriers are a good start to make the sidewalks even enough, but do not solve the problem of the narrow width and rainfall drains. In my opinion, the best solution would be to make the entire Antigua Guatemala a pedestrian town, like it was in colonial times. This would be a win-win situation for just about everybody. Some exceptions could be made for horse-powered carriages and golf-type carts for carrying loads to businesses.

What do you think, should I run for the city mayor seat? Who knows, maybe I turn out to be the Barack Obama of La Antigua Guatemala. 🙂

lavenderlady says:

July 10, 2008 at 10:09 am

If I lived there, I’d vote for you…and I love the idea of a pedestrian town.

Lucky says:

July 10, 2008 at 11:20 am

Please do it!

Santiago says:

July 10, 2008 at 12:07 pm

I had an English Language student several years ago who worked for a city planning company in the capital. He said they had a five year plan for LAG and one of the several parts of the plan was to have parking lots at the major entrances to LAG and non residents of LAG would be required to leave their cars in the lot. The parking fee would include bus (a trolley looking bus) to Parque Central and return. Wonder what happened???

Kris says:

July 10, 2008 at 8:53 pm

I guess that it wouldn’t be much fun in a wheelchair or something like that?

MaggieD says:

July 10, 2008 at 9:57 pm

…ah, yes, the sidewalks…made even narrower by the protruding windows and/or people sitting or sleeping in what seems always the narrowest or busiest places. Especially fun are the sidewalks that have caved in and have maybe a 12″ dropoff, and even more fun after a heavy rain and you land in 12″ of puddle. Walking in the dark NOT recommended! But all those things are what makes the town so special. Pedestrian town – oh, that would be WONDERFUL! I can’t imagine that it could ever be possible, but maybe a compromise – like on weekends maybe? — just suggestion for after you’re elected. 🙂 But, please, don’t change the sidewalks (except for maybe more wheelchair access), the town just wouldn’t be the same!

sompopo says:

July 11, 2008 at 5:33 am

Now Rudy, you may want to think twice about associating your name with the Obamessiah. 🙂

coltrane_lives says:

July 11, 2008 at 8:08 am

Rudy, great idea. Why don’t you run for mayor of LAG. 🙂

Mick Euan Tait says:

July 30, 2008 at 10:49 pm

I live in Antigua and have a daughter that uses a wheelchair. I would love to see the pavements fixed so that they were wheelchair friendly. Each pavement should be of uniform width (wide enough for a wheelchair and a pedestrian side by side), a uniform height (with ramps at the end of each block), have no severely sloping garage entrances crossing the pavement, and have no missing utility covers or holes. Am I asking too much?

It would also be great if Antigua was a pedestrian town, or at least 3 blocks in each direction from the parque central.

One last idea: a few years ago, about a quarter or a third of Antigua benefited from the removal of all the electric / phone / cables from overhead and the removal of modern posts. These were replaced with underground cables and antique looking light posts. What a difference! Not only for the visual aspect, but for the fact that there are no posts in the middle of the pavements. It would be great if the Mayor continued with this project, but I guess this won’t happen until Rudy is elected!

Colonial House Drains Onto Sidewalk

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