Antigua

I want to start with a quote that I heard today in the most unlikely of places, which happened to be one of the newest children's movies out right now: Mr. Magorium's Wonder Imporium, which said: "Your life is an occasion; rise to it."

Ray and I both have been taken in by Guatemala and while today was full of beautiful and wonderful things, which you can easily read through below, we were in the richest area in this small country, and we were surrounded by people that begged, or sat in the street because they had no work, or desperately tried to sell trinkets to make a living. At the end of the day, despite all the beauty that I'm posting below, I just felt like crying. May we all rise to the occasion and use our lives, and every breath to make a difference, not letting a moment go by wasted.

Here is a photo of the mountainside where we did not go today, but where real life in Guatemala resides.
We visited one of the finest Guatemalan coffee stores around. Apparently, George Bush visited this site and bought 50 lbs of coffee when he came to Guatemala. The picture below shows part of the coffee process. We were able to taste it, and despite everyone's love of Starbucks, and I will probably be stoned by saying this, but it was the best coffee I've ever tasted. It was smooth and rich and had absolutely no aftertaste. It was incredible.
One of the things that was amazing about Antigua once we arrived was the beauty of the foliage and flowers. They were incredible in ways that I've not seen before and everywhere. This picture below has hanging flowers that are actually relatives of orchids. They were just beautiful.
One of the supremely fun things about today that had no learning value in the slightest was the excitement of being close to real parrots. There were all kinds of parrots just hanging out in this one fun little hotel spot. Aren't these just amazing photo shots?


We met an incredible person today, who was our friend in the tour: Muhamad. M, if you are reading this, I'm so sorry that I have no idea how to spell your name! He was one of the best parts of the experience and is from Belgium. This is one of the best shots I got of him in our trip today. As Ray said: his enjoyed his company as much as the experience of Antigua.
Walter is our steady, much-appreciated driver. He is to the left and I cannot begin to tell you how great the tour was and how fun & funny Walter is. We rode in a car with a funky right passenger door and Walter had this wiggle-the-lock-while-wiggling-the-door-handle trick that no one else could copy, but he insisted on doing it instead of letting me just slide out the leftt-hand door! But he was incredibly knowledgeable about the Mayan people, and the area, so he could answer any and all questions about churches, oral history, saints, and all things of the Guatemalan culture.
One of the amazing things about Guatemala is that they have five (?) active volcanoes, one of which is Coban, which is one of the top three hot-spots of the best coffee. There were also beautiful mountains, which this particular photo is. We were able to take photos of one volcano, but because of the haze of the day and the volcanic ash that floats through the air, we were unable to see the top of the volcano.
In the world there are only two places where you can find Jade. One is Guatemala; Ray thinks he remembers the other is Burma. Anyway, this is a marimba made out of jade plates. The jade is beautiful and out of our particular price range, but we got some fun photos. Kim, I tried to get a photo for you of a jade elephant, but the flash made it a bit imperfect. Alas.
This is jade artwork one could purchase of the Guatemalan national bird, the quetzal. It's beautiful like a parrot, with a long sweeping tail. I wish we could have seen a live one of those, but I believe they are rare.
We were able to go to a Mayan market and I bought all kinds of things. It was hilarious because M. was trying to negotiate prices, and here I was wanting to help people who are just trying to make a living as best they can -- so I was slipping them an extra five or ten queztales, which is about a dollar. The only problem was that as soon as one person sees you are willing to buy, you are like fodder for sharks. I was surrounded multiple times by people selling many items. They were super-sneaky and would say, "Only 1 dollar!" and you would be so surprised, you'd turn around and try to buy something for a dollar only to be scowled at and told the real price of $20 or something. The first time it happened, I thought I misheard. By the fifth or sixth time, I had caught on to the sly trick. :)
The special blouses the women wear are called, "wee-peels." The spelling of the real word just messes me up on how to say it! But do you see how these women have very similar shirts? It's because each tribe, for lack of a better word, has a type of shirt that says who they are. For instance, the women in Panajachel, where I wish we could have gone today as well, all wear a more purple shirt, where are these are primarily white. It is a cultural shirt that many choose not to wear for fear of discrimination, though we were told that the image of Mayans is changing in Guatemala and they are beginning to take pride in their history.
Moriah, this photos is solely for you, as there were lots of loose dogs in the streets running alone and in packs of all kinds. But this one looked exactly like Jack, forever given the breed name of: Bulgarian Street Dog. :)
Here are Ray and I in the market and me with loads of bags of things. I just couldn't get away. Ray wanted to walk down another row of "vendors," but I looked at him like he was crazy because I was just going to have to buy something from another 10 people! It is REALLLLLY HARD to say no!
The photo above is one Ray snapped of me buying some items, which it turns out I have a knack for! I can buy up a storm! Unfortunately, Ray told me we were out of money, and then I found out it was a trick -- not really, he had forgotten about money he had hid in a secret place in his wallet. Ai ai ai!
This really amazing architecture above in the yellow church is called "icing" in Spanish. Appropriate title, isn't it?
Let me just tell you: we went into this one store where a gay man hit on M. and he had to explain that he was married and expecting a baby (YAY!), but before that, we were overwhelmed at how MUCH was in it. This was super typical of Guatemala that stores packed in as many items as they could fit. It's like Walmart and not -- all at the same time.
These guys played some incredible music on our way into an incredible restaurant for lunch. They were selling CDs, but alas, I had been fooled that we had no more money!

Our lunch table was directly behind this iron rail, and we had a perfect view of this lovely woman who made tortillas from scratch and served them hot, like fresh bread before our meal arrived! She was super fast, and since it is the American way, I just had to top it off with a little salt!

Here's an up-close shot of tortilla making.

This photo above was actually our view beside the tortilla-making gal, while we ate our incredibly fabulous lunch. I LOVED the gardens.
Antigua's history is one of being the capital of Guatemala, which is no longer, and dates to Colonial days. Very similar to Charleston, S.C. in the way the buildings are preserved and construction has many specifications.

This was a candy store we found. Tell me you do not want to eat here! Oh my goodness!!

I waited especially to catch a photo of this fun vehicle with only three wheels. Hybrid? no. But interesting!
I just wanted to show you a photo of the police, which look surprising like the guards that stand in all the doorways. They actually seemed like nice folks, despite the idea of having guns in the wide open. It feels a little like being in the wild west.

And our fun day ended with this fella who juggled apples(?) in the center of a busy street, hoping for tips from the passing cars. We gave him a dollar to take his photo. :) Unfortunately, the light turned green, so the shot isn't quite centered up.

Meanwhile, if you had read this far, I have to say that I love you and want to kiss you, as it shows some real love of our family. If you would be so kind as to post a comment, I would just love it. We have lots of folks that read our website, but the posts just make my day! I always holler to Ray to come listen so I can read them to him! Anyway, tomorrow we leave for the States, and we'll be home around 10:00. Still our hearts are here for many reasons. Love to you all, and thanks for reading. -- R & K