August 10
We slept well in Antigua but the room is nothing to write about. We had the best room in the house to start with and it contained a double bed and a small single bed and a couple of benches and a table and a built in closet/wardrobe, with a private shower and toilet. The plumbing system in GUA is lacking somewhat and all paper must be disposed of in a trash can that is provided everywhere. There may not be toilet paper but you have a trash can for it.
Our walking tour started with a hunt for breakfast and once fed we met with a tour guide, Elizabeth Bell. She is a US citizen who has lived in Antigua and made it her home for a very long time now. The tour was a lot of fun and we had a brief introduction to Antigua and the people of Guatemala. It was a great way to begin to understand just a little about how the people live here. We saw the ¨hidden¨Antigua. Many of the places we visited had two doors. The outside door was generally heavy duty metal with great big locks but once opened you might see some extremely beautiful homes with grassy courtyards with flowers everywhere and trees. It was a surprise to see the life inside. Don took some great pictures and someday you may be lucky enough to see them.
On the second day in Antigua we did look for a different place to eat but finally decided to stay on the safe side and stayed with La Fuentes. We thought that we arrived at school we would be able to learn of more places safe for us to eat. The object being to stay healthy so we could study and learn Spanish. The toilet failed on our room on the second day. They moved us to a smaller room which was a real challenge. It had a bed and one bench and no place to put the luggage. It did have a newer bath with shower. We looked like squirrels trying to arrange things so we could function. We packed a day pack for our trip to Picaya Volcano -- an active volcano, which was planned for 6 am the next day. We packed some snack food and had to carry at least one liter of water a piece for the volcano.
My souvenirs from Antigua are a Jade pendant (no chain) from the Jade factory which we toured on our own before the Walking Tour. We were escorted by the owner of this factory so we had a most excellent tour. Then we found a pretty purple wrap around skirt in a GUA design and a white GUA style ¨peasant¨blouse. We bought a Spanish prayer book. We also buy a lot of water and cokes to drink. Water is very heavy to move around.
We stopped at an Internet cafe & checked our e-mail and sent a brief message to everyone on our list. By then it was dark and we bought a coke to take back to the hotel and drink on the roof so we could watch the craziness below. There are no stop lights in Antigua and very few stop signs and the road markings are mearly decorations. It is an adventure to get from one place to another. There are cars, trucks, motorcycles, and a motorcycle type taxi called a ¨Tuk-tuk¨all driving kamikaze style and people crossing streets in between. Life is an iffy thing on the streets of Antigua. We went back to our new rooms and showered and with luck hoped to sleep. There was a party/fiesta or some reason for people to gather all night. The door bell rang like crazy and finally at about 3 am I called out of our window ¨Por Favor, Buenes Noches. (Please, good night!) and the noise stopped. With two hours of sleep we were ready to start a new day (yeah right) climbing a volcano exhausted. All total however, it was a good day.
