Guatemala is know for its coffee. So when you are in Antigua, you best make it out to the Filadelfia Estate and check out their coffee plantation. Oh, and while you are there, hop on one of their tricked out Mercedes trucks and do some high adrenaline zip-lining between mountain peaks. You won’t be disappointed.
The main gate to the entrance of the Filadelfia Estate.
One of the large roundabout fountains on the premise.
A look South West at Volcano Fuego from the estates restaurant.
Here is where they let us hang out for a few minutes so we could buy and try some of their freshly grown coffee. They even had some lamas for the kids.
After we were all gathered up and loaded up on the large trucks, we headed up the mountain road, through the coffee plantation.
I was sitting in the front row of the truck.
A view of Volcano Agua as we ascended the mountain road.
Looking back, you can see the outskirts of Antigua and the mighty Volcano Agua in the distance.
There were two sets of zip-lines. This one was the slower one. The sign reads something about the altitude being 6,500 pies.
However, our group was headed to the faster set of zip-lines.
At our stop, armed guards emerge from the forest to greet our zip-line instructors.
Up on the platform, here is a look before you get to shoot through the trees and then over valley to the next mountain peak.
A member of our group takes off from the platform.
I managed to keep control of my camera as I shot across. Here is a photo about halfway. You can see a little white spot at the end of the cables. That’s the landing platform.
I managed to spin around, and took a shot looking back from where we were starting from. These cables are secured to that one big tree.
Halfway across, a view of Volcanoes Fuego and Ancatenango. That’s also the mountain road we were driving up on.
I spun around twice and took another shot looking back.
Almost across. That’s the return zip-line in the top of the photo.
I finally made it across the valley. It’s hard to tell where the zip-line started.
The team waits for the next zip-liner. Who, if you look closely, is in shot, but super tiny.
The little knot on the zip-line is used to slow down the rider so they don’t slam into the platform.
Then they drag you up onto the dismounting platform.
We hiked up to the return zip and this is by far the best view I have seen of the volcanoes and Antigua.
I was first on the return zip. So I managed to get photos of our group as they made their way in.
It’s hard to tell, but the platform we were launching from is at the top of the ridge, above where the road ends. Not that white dot. The return zip was a lot steeper.
A closeup of the last shot so you can see the platform a bit better.
It was a bit windy when we were going, so not all of us were able to make it to the platform.
A shot of another person going across the first zip-line.
And a final shot of Volcano Agua.
aaahhh, memories!