No, not incredible: well-nigh infallible. I once spent four hours wandering aimlessly in White Sands National Monument, going a dozen different directions among acres of indistinguishable white sand dunes, and came out just 30 feet from where I went in. Yes, mind you, I thought I was 30 feet above were I went in, when in fact I was 30 feet below and walked 100 yards before I figured it out. But I knew that I was close.
So, I met these two very personable young British women in the taxi to Antigua, and after I helped them get a hotel I suggested we have dinner. I told them I would meet them at their hotel after I checked into mine. I didn’t want them to come to my hotel, because, if they got lost in the dark, they wouldn’t be able to ask for directions–neither spoke a word of Spanish.
Just to be safe, I took my Rough Guide to Guatemala with map of Antigua just in case (inset right–click to enlarge). But it was easy. My hotel, Posada La Merced, was in the south-southwestern corner of the city at the "Y", and they were in the northwest corner of the city near the "C." The city was laid out in a grid, in the streets were all numbered like in Manhattan (Avenidas were N/S, Calles E/W, and instead of Fifth Ave. splitting the city into East and West, Parque Central split it in all four directions). The avenues even numbered in the same directions: Avenues went lower in number the farther east one went. Streets were different–the highest were the furthest south.
Anyway, all I needed to do was walk from West 8th Street and 5th Avenue South to West 1st Street and 7th Avenue North… Simple, right? Not quite. Read on…
With my infallible sense of direction (combined with some initial
orientation advice from a local about where Parque Central was) I
proceeded to walk. After passing through Parque Central, though, the
neighborhood became increasingly residential, and I know that the
girls’ hotel was in a highly commercial zone. There were few street
signs, and those I saw had no numbers on them. They were more like
Calle Don Jorge de los Cojones Grandes, or Avenida de Santa Elena de
las Cabezas de Vacas Santas (I read later that in the past couple of
years, Antigua has begun to return to the historic street names, and
now prohibits certain signs, including modern street signs. Even the
stop signs are in glazed tile). Until I saw a sign for Segunda Avenida
Sur. How could I have started in the south-southwest part of the city
on 5 Avenida Sur, made it to Parque Central in the center, and then
managed to go back the way I came, but way further east?
I trudged back to Parque Central and asked a policeman which way was
North. Somehow, I must’ve gotten turned around going into Parque
Central the first time. So, I was back going Northwest, but I still
couldn’t find that major busy street the girls’ hotel was off of. I
took a closer look at the map, and realized I was aiming for a hotel
with a similar name, but in a different part of the city. The one I
really wanted was dead west of Parque Central next to the Market, not
northwest of it. I was there in five minutes. Not surprisingly, they
were gone. I was at least 30 minutes late. Can’t blame ’em. I left a
note apologizing, and suggested we grab lunch the next day.
Then I went back to Parque Central and had dinner at the first
restaurant I saw. It was 9:30, and I think our taxi had dropped me off
before 8pm.
When I left to head back to my hotel, I made sure to confirm which
way was south first. All I had to do was walk three blocks south and
take a left. Which I did. Only, my hotel wasn’t there. There wasn’t
even a multi-story building on that block other than the Hotel Antigua.
So I looked Hotel Antigua up on the legend. It was represented by the
letter "Y." I started looking for a "Y" on the map to get my bearings.
Only to realize that I thought "Y" represented my hotel–the "Y" was
just to the left of my hotel on the legend. My hotel was, in fact,
represented by "C" to the right on the legend and was in the
north-northwestern corner of the city, not the south-southwestern
corner of the city.
I smacked myself in the forehead while heaving a sigh of relief. My
sense of direction was still infallible. My map reading skills just
sucked.