Antigua Pics

This is the view from mom's balcony at the house. Yes, that is a volcano...I have no idea which one but its not Pacaya...which is the active volcano that the 4 of us will climb this week....even mom. I bet you guys cant wait for those pictures.

We stopped at the market to buy a bunch of fruits. Again, this picture makes it seem a lot calmer and more sterile than it really is. The market is crazy and bustling. We kept asking this poor lady, "Que es?"...what is this? what is that? We still had to come home and look them up online.

We took our landlord's suggestion and found Hugo the ceviche street vendor. We werent sure about street ceviche inland and found out that it wasnt even Hugo but the ceviche was delicious...Here we are in the central park trying to eat the ceviche without making a complete mess...we were not too successful at the mess part

This is the cathedral off the central park. We saw people coming in and out and decided to see what was going on. It turns out that this is the time leading up to Semana Santa (Easter). On the floor of the church is this "rug" created from bits of flower and who knows what color bits. It was surrounded by fruit offerings...pineapples and melons.

Guest Post from Anna in Antigua

So here we are in Antigua Guatemala....our first step into Central America.
Thursday we arrived at Guatemala City Airport pleasantly surprised. The airport, barely one year old,was very efficient and organized.It was good to have Carlos, our driver, waiting for us so that we did not have to navigate the sea of taxi drivers and then explain that we were going to la casa de Gregorio in Jardaines des Antigua. Our driver knew where to take us.
As we drove through Guatemala City to get to Antigua, it became clear why Debbie and Rob stay out of the big cities..traffic was horrible (it was rush hour), smoggy and not very pretty or interesting.
Once we hit the road outside the city, as the road moved into the countryside on decent divided road towards Antigua, the air cleared up and we were surrounded by lush green mountains,and views of volcanos and locals on scooters, bikes,and on foot along the side of the road. Lots of winding roads with s shaped curves.
Arriving at the house was great. Debbie and Rob greeted us at the gates of our home for the week .....homey, warm, comfortable with all the amenities .....Debbie and Rob look great,suntanned and happy.
Once we got settled, the four of us headed to town for true Guatemala dinner...what a taste treat.  Sorry no camera.... so no photos of that meal.
Today (Friday) we explored the center of Antigua, visited the mercado and put the area under our feet.

Impressions....this is Sante Fe, New Mexico "only realler". Has the Spanish Colonial architecture and colors but also alot of ruins from the earthquakes.  Antigua has not been recreated (yet) so one it does not feel as touristy...yet.Locals may disagree. The place is filled with restaurants, shops, boutiques,local street vendors and of course the huge market.
You can find everything want in the market....trinkets.souveniers, pirated CDs and DVDs,fresh produce,meat and on and on....a total maze of sights, sounds and smells.

People......all walks of life.....tourists (like Irwin and I), travellers and backpackers(like Debbie and Rob), expats  (from all over America, Europe) and locals that are those of Spanish descent and Mayans.

Antigua with my parents

Here we are in Antigua, Guatemala.  My parents arrived on Thursday and rented us an amazingly beautiful house.  Rob and I are enjoying a big bed with fluffy blankets and our choice of 5 bathrooms.  We've also been enjoying the car that came with the house.  For the first time, we are finally mobile can go wherever we want.  Even though Antigua is the biggest town that we've been in, its actually pretty small.  We are a short drive from the town but in town, it doesnt really make sense to drive because everything is really in walking distance and the town is so beautiful to walk around in.  I've decided that when people come to visit, I am going to let them make some guest posts so that people can get a different perspective on the experiences.  The next post will be from my mom.

Santiago Atitlan

This morning, we went to another town on the lake. Santiago is a very interesting place. Its much less touristy than the other towns that we have seen. Its very mayan, with very few spanish speakers. We first went to the big catholic church...actually the first church that we have visited on this trip. It was beautiful and has a lot of history from the recent civil war. In 1981, the town was attacked by the military. The priest, an Oklahoman, allowed locals to sleep in the church at night where they thought it was safe. He was killed for protecting the people and the church has a memorial for him. Its amazing how recently this all occured.

We then hopped in the back of a truck to go see Maximon, an important Mayan god. What you cant see in this picture is that besides Rob and I, the truck was packed with Mayan women. I easily stood a full head taller than all of them. For all you short girls out there....Jamie..Nikki...come to Guatemala, you will never feel taller. I mean it, these arent children that I am taller than but full grown women.

This is Maximon. Every year he moves to a different house. People come and pray to him. They bring cigarettes, alcohol and money. He lives in a room that is thick with the smoke of incense. He always has a lit cigarette in his mouth.

Santiago had a nice big market. Its so hard to truly capture that atmosphere of the markets in pictures. They are bustling and the smells are incredible.

Tomorrow we go back to Antigua to meet my parents.

Dogs

Everyone knows how much I love dogs. I've been wanting to do a post about dogs for awhile. Guatemala is crawling with dogs and there are a few distinct kinds. There are the poor, skinny stray dogs that we consider the local dogs. Then, in the toursist areas are the ones that we call the tourist dogs. They may or may not live on the street but they are very social and well fed. We've been here long enough to know them well...the little black dog and the big rottweiler live at zoola but we see them all over town. There is a whole group of puppies that hang out on the street that our hotel is on. Even in the coffee shop that we are in right now, there is a huge doberman snoozing on a couch. We often see a dog just sitting in the middle of the road, casually licking himself until a tuktuk comes speeding up and the dog casually gets up and wanders out of the way just in time.

This is Lulu's guatemalan cousin...actually she is on vacation from Florida but we just had to stop and chat with her owner in San Marcos. Lulu's cousin's name is Tootsie Roll

San Marcos Atitlan

The other day, we took a day trip to another town on this lake, San Marcos. It is a beautiful town with a reputation as being spiritual, holistic and hippy. What we found was a very peaceful place. Like San Pedro, the tourist area is small paths, lines with thick vegetation and flowers. The place is filled with meditation centers and yoga studios. We were suprised at how beautiful it was. I understand why people think that it is a spiritually special spot.

Here is a good kissy face pic.

Palapas

We are intruiged by the palapas that we see everywhere here. They are durable, waterproof and beautiful. Rob is desperate to learn how to build them. Everyone we've seen has a different style of thatch and they make great shade. I wonder if there could be a demand for them in Dallas. Maybe we will start a new business.

San Pedro Classroom

Yesterday was our last day of Spanish classes here in San Pedro. Here is a picture of our classroom with Rob working diligantly. We learned so much and have a lot more confidence for being able to communicate through the rest of our trip.

Here is a picture of the lake a few feet away from our classroom on a rare, clear day.

Checking in from San Pedro

I havent posted in a few days..not because I'm not thinking about everyone but because life here is not that exciting (in a good way).  This week's spanish classes have been great!  Tomorrow is our last day and I will actually be sad that it will be over.  I've learned a lot.  Its actually kind of hard to use spanish in guatemala since there are so many other travelers and the common language is always english.  Here is San Pedro, even the menus are in English and most restaurants hire travelers so the waiters all speak english.

We really like this town.  It seems to be the hub for all the Israeli travelers...or maybe the largest group of travelers are all Israeli.  Either way, I think that there are as many Jewish travelers as there are non-Jewish travelers.  Its pretty wierd but we are eating a ton of Israeli food here and loving it.  The Guatemalan tortillas really suck so its nice to have other options here.

The weather here has been getting warmer and warmer...I think I will actually go put on some shorts.  Sorry, not trying to rub it in.  I cant believe the snow in Dallas and I can just imagine what its like further north.

Well, we are off to find some lunch!  We will be here in San Pedro until next Wednesday when we will move on to Antigua.

More picassa pics

I'm finally uploading more pictures to Picassa.  This catches you up to where we are now.  Enjoy.