Sometimes when the scenery is as exotic as this, it makes more sense not to get dolled up for date night. Have you ever tried walking on cobblestones in the dark while wearing heels? Sprained ankle waiting to happen. I almost full out face-planted several times in the streets of Antigua because of the uneven sidewalks, but I digress…

Back to the exploring scenery thing.

Date night while travelling in Central America consisted of workout clothes, sweaty hair in a bun, and no makeup. On this particular night in Antigua it also consisted of our last hike together, a troupe of clowns, sushi, and sangria.

My husband for some reason always wants to work out together so we decided to walk through those picturesque cobblestone streets then hike up to Cerro de la Cruz (Hill of the Cross) which overlooks the city. We saved up our appetite to splurge on sushi afterwards, which we figured was totally worth it as it was M’s last night in Central America. 

The middle of the woods is always an appropriate time to strike a pose, right?

Overlooking the city of Antigua

I love his freckles

When we were getting ready to walk back down the hill we noticed a bus full of clowns had arrived. What the heck were 20+ grown ass adults in costumes, wigs, and facepaint doing at the top of this hill and why hadn’t I seen them on the way up? AND WHERE WERE THE CHILDREN? There were no kids around! Naturally I had to go find out what was what.

I greeted one of the clowns and he started speaking to me in Spanish. Realizing he mistook me for a local (I mean, look at that tan) I replied, “I’m from Canada, and I must ask, what is up with all of these clown costumes?” 

The look of confusion that quickly crossed his face was something I’d started getting used to when we left Honduras. It dissipated quickly though, and he called two friends over to tell me about how they were Patch Adams volunteer clowns. How unexpected! They were on a trip to Guatemala to visit children’s hospitals and orphanages. 

“Jean Pierre! There’s a Canadian here, you have to come meet her!” the first clown called out (for some reason he thought we would know each other). 



Sadly M wanted nothing to do with the clowns and went roaming with the camera elsewhere, so I have no photographic proof of being surrounded by a group of them hugging and kissing me. It somehow started because of the French-Canadians tradition of bisous (kissing twice on the cheeks) and kind of went from there. The only picture I snapped of them was from when I first noticed the group hanging about.

All in all it was an out-of-the-box date night and a memory that’s pretty sweet to look back upon. You never know what to expect when travelling, right?

Linking up with A Compass Rose.

PS: The Lifestyle Project is going through a redesign this week and there are a few kinks here and there. Don't worry, we're working on it!