27
May 2016
We
arrived in Guatemala on Tuesday, after our flight from Lima with a plane change
in San Salvador. We 
took a shuttle from
the airport to Antigua, which 
is about 25-30 km (maybe 15-18 miles?)
away. That trip took over an hour,
because the roads wind through the city, then through the hills, then through
the mountains to the highlands where Antigua Guatemala is situated.
Once
we checked into our hotel, we discovered Richard’s rain jacket wasn’t with our
stuff – apparently the driver had moved some things around and we missed the
jacket when unloading the van. Our hotel
staff were wonderful and called around until they located our shuttle service
and the driver; and a few hours later he 
came back on another run from the
airport to deliver the jacket (with the essential reading glasses, sunglasses,
and most importantly the kindle in the pockets!). Whew, that was a relief and a major problem
averted!
Our
hotel is small and charming, almost more of a 
guesthouse or bed and
breakfast. It’s built in what seems to
be the traditional hacienda style, rooms and a long portico surrounding a
courtyard full of flowers and fountains.
Thus far, we’re the only guests who have stayed more than one
night. And some mornings, we’re the only
people in the courtyard for breakfast!
We
have a king bed, and our own little hallway down to a huge bathroom. I think my favorite part might be the stone
tiled shower, complete with a brick arch!
It’s quaint, it’s lovely, it’s comfortable.
The
very aptly named Antigua Guatemala, meaning very old or antique Guatemala, is
absolutely charming. 
Unselfconsciously
charming. Without trying to be, it’s
just charming and enchanting and picturesque. (And of course, that means I have tons of
photos and will cram as many as I can into this blog post.)
Antigua
is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, 
based on the unique heritage that is embedded
in the culture of this area. The town is
almost a time warp, with Mayan women dressed in their beautiful embroidered and
woven clothing, selling various fabrics and other craft items as they’ve been
doing since, well, since the town was founded in 1543 by those oh so unfriendly
Spanish conquistadors. The colonial
buildings are still here. The
conquistadors stone-paved roads are still here (and they make 
for treacherous
walking!). The monasteries, convents,
churches and cathedrals the Spanish established, where they converted the
Mayans, are still 
here, some in ruins from the various earthquakes over the
centuries. Even the universities, first
founded in 1675, are still standing!
The
Spanish are mostly gone, though their 
descendants live in this lovely
town. As do many Mayan people, though
there are also 
villages in the hills and mountains that surround the town, where
the Mayans live in a more traditional, less colonial manner.
As
I said, almost like being in a time warp, a mix of 2016 and the 16th
and 17th centuries. All at
the same time.
Antigua
is the 
former capital, so there are beautiful cathedrals, haciendas, mansions,
all built in whatever was current in Spanish architecture at 
the time. There are even edifices with obvious Moorish
influences, even though the “infidel” Muslims and Jews were banished from Spain
prior to the conquistadors 
arrival in the New World.
Antigua
Guatemala, elevation about 4900 feet (about 1600 m), is also surrounded by a
few volcanoes, 
which loom somewhat menacingly in the 
distance. As we walk into town, we have views of Volcan
de Agua; once in town, in the other direction, we can 
sometimes see Volcan de
Fuego (fire). I’m not sure if these are
still active volcanoes, nor what their other names might be. But we’ve only been here for 
three days, so
we’re still learning about the city and the country.
There
were a variety of earthquakes, as I said, and 
apparently the city gets very
flooded during the middle of rainy season, with all the rain running down into
the city itself. So the capital was
eventually moved to Guatemala City, a huge sprawling modern city that, on our
brief ride through, seemed lacking in charm.
Just big, dirty, and poor. We’ve
been told 
that the poverty 
rate in Guatemala is about 50%, and that of the half
of the population living poverty, most are considered extremely poor. Destitute.
Small villages without the modern conveniences we deem essential. Eking out subsistence by farming, or trying
to sell handicrafts, or whatever.
Education,
especially among the indigenous 
people, is minimal. The government provides schooling up to about
6th grade – or at least, they provide school buildings and
teachers. The government hasn’t budgeted
for school supplies. Or public education
for high school. Plus children are 
often
needed to help with the family farm, or to sell trinkets to tourists, or even
to care for younger siblings.
Peace
Corps is here, not in Antigua but in the small villages across the
country. We met a volunteer, who is
training teachers 
in the “Healthy Schools” program – basically, teaching
teachers how to teach students about nutrition, cleanliness, prevention of
disease, and such. Simple things like
washing one’s 
hands, boiling water, peeling fruits and vegetables. Things that seem simple to us, but when one
is following the lifestyle traditions that date back several 
centuries, well,
our ancestors didn’t always boil unclean water or wash their hands or even
themselves very frequently some hundred or so 
years ago.
I’m
finding it quite unsettling to be a traveler in a country with Peace Corps,
where the poverty is so high, where the disparity between life in country and
MY life is so huge. There are tons of
tourists here, from all over the world, because 
Guatemala is charming and
delightful. And yes, we bring our
tourist dollars and buy items from the indigenous people and support those
working in the 
tourism industry. But I
feel like I should be doing 
so much more, especially as a former PC volunteer.
So
while I’m charmed by this town, I’m saddened to see small children selling gum
and cigarettes in the town square, or wheeling around wheelbarrows of nuts to sell, instead of going to school. I’m upset by every young teen with a baby on
her back, knowing it’s most likely her child, not a sibling. I’m in love with the textiles, and I want to
buy everything to help every woman who is selling these items to support her
family or village. Okay, 
I’ll be
realistic here, 
I’m ready to give away all my clothes and buy an entirely new
wardrobe of embroidered blouses and woven slacks or skirts, even purses and
backpacks, the textiles are that gorgeous.
Enough
being sad and maudlin. I’m cheery by
nature and this place is beautiful and fascinating and mostly I’m loving it. But I’m staying conscious of that disparity
as we travel around. I’m also buying
small items whenever I can, but I can only carry a small addition to my
luggage.
This
place really is 
paradise for an artist, and I’m in a picture-taking
frenzy. The buildings are colorful, as
are the flowers that seem to be everywhere.
There are fascinating architectural details that delight me – door knockers,
embellishments on doors to prevent battering rams from finding a smooth
surface, ceramic signs for motorcycle parking or wheelchair accessibility! Even the trash cans on the street look like upscale conquistador mailboxes or something! (It took us a while to figure out that they were even trash cans!)
There are ceramic bathroom signs, ceramic
street signs, decorative tile floors, even tiled window sills! 
Most buildings seem to have windows with huge
sills that extend out beyond the window and building, with ornamental wrought
iron bars for safety; these sills have the most gorgeous tiles, and I’m
constantly sticking my hand and camera between the bars in order to take
photos. (People either think 
I’m insane,
or they’re used to crazy picture-taking travellers.)
Plus
there’s so much color 
everywhere! The
fruit vendor stands are mosaics of sliced fruit; market stands are like
pointillist paintings, dots of colors merging into a picture; and my perpetual
favorite, the women in traditional dress selling more textiles, each prettier than the previous one. And little pop-up "tiendas," small markets in courtyards between 
buildings, with more women selling 
their gorgeous fabrics and textiles. Truly heaven for fiber artists!
The
Guatemalan flag has blue for the two oceans (Pacific and Caribbean), and a
quetzal in the center – the quetzal being the gorgeous bird with long swooping
tail feathers, all brilliant emerald green with a ruby red breast. Guatemalan money is named for this bird, so
pay for everything in queztals or queztales (the proper Spanish plural form). The money even has the questal flying across
every single bill! And I found 
hand-made
wire and bead queztals, who are incredible!
Yes, the green one is pretty close to realistic in color, 
I’ve been
told. I’ve never seen a quetzal, despite
our time in Central America prior to our arrival in Guatemala. I’m hoping I manage to see one on this 
trip! (Who knows, I may have heard one – there are
decidedly unique bird songs around here.)
Even the license plate shows the 
Maya culture, featuring one of the Mayan pyramids! This is Tikal, the largest of the pyramids, and one of the places we hope to visit while 
we're here.
On
Wednesday, as we walked around the central plaza, we saw people decorating the
cathedral with yellow and white 
flags.
And suddenly the church bells started ringing, and guns or noise-only
fireworks started going off! Ring ring
ring BAM 
BAM BAM! We had no idea what
was happening as the pigeons in the park all took flight and started circling
around crazily overhead. We had been
talking 
with two US citizens who now live in Antigua Guatemala, and the man said
it was most likely some festival or holiday, this happens all the time.
As
I walked around taking photos of flowers, and telling walking vendors no thank
you, I finally asked one young woman who seemed to speak English quite
well. She said that tomorrow, Thursday,
was the festival of Corpo Christi. This
is when growing up Jewish is kind of a disadvantage – I knew that Corpus
Christi meant the body of Christ, but that was sort of confusing since we’re so
far from Easter. And I had no idea if
this was a happy or sad festival. So I
asked, in Spanish, if one says “felicidades” for this fiesta, and she said
yes. So I wished them a happy “Felicidades
de Corpo Christi.” (Which does seem
somewhat paradoxical.)
Thursday
in town was just exciting! As we
navigated our way along the uneven stone streets and sidewalks (which make
walking on level ground feel something like hiking mountain trails), we heard
more and more of the fireworks, or cherry bombs, or guns or cannons for all I
knew. Homes, shops, and buildings all
seemed to have yellow and white decorations on their doors and windows – huge fabric
bows, yellow and white flowers, balloon bouquets, garlands of greenery. Some stores had a metal frame and fabric
angel sort of figure, somewhat abstract, with incense burning.
And
then I saw a little boy getting dressed as an angel by his mom. He was so adorable, and the mom and he agreed
that I could take a photo of him in his white robe and golden wings. He gave me a huge smile when I showed him his
photo! We saw other little boys dressed
as angels, always with the gold satin wings.
(They looked like the incense burning angels in the stores!) There were also adorable little girls in white lacy dresses with white
feathered wings – one mother said I could take her daughter’s photo, but the
toddler started crying when I pointed the camera so of course I thanked the
mother and apologized for scaring her little girl (who was just so cute, and I’m
sorry I didn’t get a photo of one of the girl angels).
There
were various designs in the middle of the road, huge rectangles of some grassy
stuff surrounded by yellow and white flowers.
Then there was one place where the grass carpet was decorated with
circles and diamonds of colored sand – it really was beautiful in the middle of
the stone street! Cars avoided driving
over it, so it was easy to get a few photos.
No idea if this was a Catholic or Mayan or what kind of tradition, it
was just really interesting!
We
did our usual wandering around, looking at things, talking to people, getting
information about shuttles to other towns.
And then there were HUGE loud blasts as two young men set off charges in
portable metal containers, walking down the street BAM BAM, and then BAM BAM,
announcing the procession!
Again,
I really don’t know what this was about.
There was a crowd of people, with a few altar boys and a few priests
maybe, all in white robes. People were
carrying ornate metal things on poles.
There was a highly embroidered golden canopy in the center (yeah, it
looked like a chuppah to me!), and someone under the canopy carrying a golden
mirrored object that was somewhere between a cross and a sun thing. They were in the middle of a crowd, and it
wasn’t easy to see exactly what was happening.
There was a small band at the end of the procession, a few trumpets, a
French horn, and a drum. And, after the
procession, a couple of vendors selling colorful bags of cotton candy, or
inflatable toys – items that had nothing to do with the religious aspect of
this crowd. The entire group, religious part
and sales part, walked down the street and around the corner to the
cathedral. (The photos of this are at the end, super enlarged. Really fascinating to look at the people and the details. Many of the women have flower petals in their hair, so at some point people are throwing the flower petals around. As I said, we really don't know what this was all about!)
There
were a few more blasts, the church bells rang, and then about five minutes of
firecrackers going off right in front of the doors to the cathedral!!! I mean, how many of us in North America have
firecrackers in church???
That
seemed to be about it for the celebrations.
People cleaned up the designs on the streets, parents took their little
angel-dressed angels home, and the bells and blasts continued intermittently throughout
the day and into today (Friday).
Just
to top off the Fiesta de Corpo Christi, we found a bagel place for lunch. This is where I met the Peace Corps
volunteer, with her parents who were visiting.
Anyway, on our way back to our hotel I stopped in at the Choco Museo,
thinking I’d have just a small treat for my afternoon snack. We’d stopped by on Wednesday, but they had no
upcoming workshops; they try to have workshops for three or more people. Well, the staff recognized me and asked if I
was there for the workshop that just started, with only one person as the
student. What could I do but join in,
right?
Their
procedures and techniques were just a little bit different than in Lima, though
our instructor knew my original teacher, Katarina. (She’s internationally known, I guess!) We rolled ganache using cacao powder to coat
our hands, though I managed to get covered in chocolate anyway. Then we made molded truffles, though they
called these bombones, or bonbons – dark chocolate couverture in the mold,
later filled with the Kahlua-laced ganache we made at the beginning of the
class. Then we dipped our rolled
truffles in chocolate that we tempered, decorated with a few nuts – I made
triple-level truffles by sprinkling my ganache balls with a little hot pepper;
dipped in dark chocolate; sprinkled with a few almond or macadamia bits; a
second dipping in the couverture; and finished with a sprinkle of the dark pure
cacao powder. WOW they are amazing! And you know that Richard is enjoying my new
avocation as a chocolatier.
No
matter how messy I get!
(Yes,
the proper procedure is to lick all that chocolate off one’s hands. I excel at that part of the process.)
As always, I have more photos than narrative. These are the photos that look great enlarged. So enjoy!
We're currently in Panajachel (pronounced pan-na-ha-CHEL) which is on Lake Atitlan - and I'm 
not sure how to pronounce that.
We're here because it's not far from Antigua, just a 2 or 3 hour drive. So it was easy to make arrangements with a taxi driver from Antigua, and not have to ride cramped up in a bus or van. (Once one gets to a certain age, comfort takes precedence.)
someone from St. Thomas who is now living here! (And who we just happened to run into on the main street as we were heading out for lunch!)
How charming is that???
left. However, the wifi at our hotel there doesn't like Apple computers, or something like that. Our hotel lady told me, in Spanish, that people with Apple 
computers seem to have problems with the connection. And then she explained more stuff than I could understand, which often happens with my limited vocabulary.
over the several centuries they lived there, built something like 28 to 50-something churches, monasteries, and convents in Antigua 
Guatemala. (The number depends on who you talk to.) This was part of their big push to convert the indigenous people of the New World. Remember, this city was founded in 1543, just fifty 
years or so after the beginning of the Spanish Inquisition.
Most of them had the roofs cave in. The front façades seem to be standing, and many have all the exterior walls. But the roofs were gone. And never were 
repaired. So the ruins stand to this day, and are considered part of 
the heritage of this historic city.
the technology for removing the debris and building a new scaffolding on a completed church might have been part of the problem. The other thought is that maybe the remaining structures weren't considered strong enough for any scaffolding to hold workers as they repaired the buildings. However, I'm looking at it from 225+ years in the 
future, when I can see that the exterior walls are still standing. That tells me that the structures were still pretty strong. I imagine that living through a strong enough 
quake to topple all the buildings more than one 
storey tall would make the people very hesitant about working inside one of those toppled buildings. 
at the cathedral by the central park of Antigua (photos in the previous blog). But the old historic churches had the statues as well. Although it looks as if Oliver Cromwell or some of his friends came through, as many of the statues are decapitated. 
large church down the street. But this arch and clocktower are featured in paintings all around town, it seems to be one of the landmarks in Antigua. So I visited it as well. (I saw a black cat 
using it as a bridge to 
cross the road and avoid people!)
sort of instrument down the street! So there are a lot 
of people in here, you just need to try to spot them among the buildings. (I'm always hesitant to just walk up and ask if I may take someone's photo. I just catch them in with the landmark, and then highlight them.)
de la Merced, which I think translates to the Church of Mercy. Interesting church, all in yellow with intricate white embellishments all over. And I do mean ALL over! This was one of the most ornate churches I've ever seen, with an exterior that looks like butter yellow Wedgewood china gone wild, or on steroids, or in hyperdrive. It was beautiful in its own way, but also pretty overwhelming. Absolutely overdone. Like wearing every piece of jewelry that you own, all at the same time. But 
somehow, it works. This church is insane 
or beautiful at the same time!
fountain. They were dragging buckets in the fountain, and I asked if there were fish. Turns out they were trying to get the money that tourists throw into 
the fountain for good luck!
religious statues I've ever seen! Try to picture religious statues for a parade, that's kind of what they were like! A young man and his little son peeked in, and the man told me the statues were for the Easter procession every year. So a parade wasn't too far off. It was odd, because I had just read an article in a local magazine about how Guatemalan Catholic statues are considered to be some of the most emotional religious statues in the world. The Spanish sculptors taught the local people how to carve statues, but in Guatemala the local sculptors took the carving to a whole new level. So seeing these statues was interesting, and pretty amazing. And yes, you can see the various emotions and anguish on the faces.
