Vibe Check, Antigua Guatemala

Thanks to Gen Z for amplifying a great word

Feb 09, 2025

Author photo, Antigua, Guatemala, Feb. 2025

(It should take about four minutes to read this weekend’s newsletter, which runs to about 865 words. There are links at the end for source materials. Thank you for spending time with Snack.)

One of the funniest things I’ve read recently was a 21st century take on the Old English poem “Beowulf.”

If you’re not familiar with Beowulf, it’s an epic hero story of unclear origin. Estimates for its creation range from 600 AD to 1000 AD.

Many writers have translated Beowulf, including J.R. Tolkien, author of “The Lord of the Rings.” I like the 1999 translation by the Irish poet Seamus Heaney.

Here is how Heaney describes Beowulf near the start of the poem (my bolding below):

“And a young prince must be prudent like that, giving freely while his father lives

so that afterwards in age when fighting starts

steadfast companions will stand by him and hold the line.

Behaviour that’s admired is the path to power among people everywhere.”

Here’s how John-Clark Levin translated that into Gen Z terms last year for McSweeney’s Internet Tendency (also my bolding below):

“.. a young prince must be woke like that,

Sharing that bread with his homies while his father lives

So that afterwards in age when peeps get salty and opps start catching hands

A squad of BDE companions will stand beside him #iykyk

And hold the line. Passing a vibe check

Is the path to power among people everywhere, no cap.”

That last line delighted me. It made me laugh aloud, an actual LOL.

A recent trip to Antigua, Guatemala, shown below, reminded me of the line about “passing a vibe check.”

Thanks to Gen Z folks for playing up “vibe,” which long has been one of my favorite words. “Vibe” evolved as a shorthand for “vibration.” It refers to the feeling that a person or place gives you.

Ambius, a company that provides plants for offices and businesses, did a 2023 survey on the importance of “vibe” in attracting and retaining customers.

Pennsylvania-based Ambius has a clear bias here. But I give it credit for including details about the survey in its press release. Ambius said 2,000 U.S. residents and 1,040 Canadians, split evenly by generation, participated.

“While 18 to 26-year-olds were most likely to use the word ‘vibes’ to describe how a place feels (48%), 27 to 42-year olds weren’t far behind (47%) – and even surpassed their Gen Z counterparts in the United States (47% vs. 42%). Combined among the U.S. and Canada, that’s almost twice the rate of Baby Boomers ages 59 to 77 (22%),” Ambius said.

As a Gen Xer who loves both the word “vibe” and plants, I noticed my cohort was left out the discussion above.

But we do get a mention on the discussion of “biophilic design,” which refers to incorporating living things into the spaces where we spend time.

“This is particularly relevant for those looking to attract a younger demographic, as 80% of millennials and 74% of Gen Zers championed biophilic design. Gen X (ages 43 to 58) followed behind at 63% and Baby Boomers at 53%,” Ambius said.

Bougainvillea and More

“Biophilic design” is one of many reasons Antigua passes the vibe check.

Many of the small one-story homes in Antigua are covered with bougainvillea, which is part of the abundance of flowering plants and trees in the city.

Jacaranda trees produce gorgeous lavender flowers when in bloom.

What’s now called Antigua first emerged as a Spanish colonial center in the 16th century. Construction of impressive churches continued for many years despite fires, floods and earthquakes.

In 1773, earthquakes destroyed much of the town. Leaders of the time had enough, and soon ordered the relocation of the capital to what is now called Guatemala City.

The former capital thus is known as Antigua Guatemala, usually just Antigua.

Regulations prohibiting construction of new buildings helped preserve Antigua’s 16th-century Renaissance grid pattern and Baroque-style monumental buildings, along with its cobblestone streets and plazas with fountains, according to UNESCO.

There seemed to be many more tourists when my husband and I visited Antigua this month than when we stopped there 20 years ago during our honeymoon.

Tourism is on the rise in Guatemala, fueled in part by trips made by cruise passengers. Many of them make their way inland to Antigua.

But Antigua didn’t seem overrun by tourists as has happened with many other quaint small towns.

You can understand why people still flock to Antigua.

It’s a great place to walk and wander cobblestone streets and then have a coffee in one of many pleasant courtyards. People browse in small shops with nice handicrafts. Tourists can walk up to Cerro de la Cruz park among the local people and take in the view.