Guatemala - 2010

Day 9 - July 28 - San Antonio

Again, a view of Volcan de Agua from the roof of the house. In the saddle, where the two mountains meet (on the left) is...

Santa Maria (from yesterday). A bit hard to see.

In the morning Maria and I just talked and wandered a round. We tried to see Yoli at the travel agency, but Yoli was out doing chores.

Bad luck seems have followed us from Guatemala City: we tried to go to one of the most beautiful ruins in town and, of course, it was closed.

As we were walking back to the center of town we bumped into tourists obviously heading toward the same ruins. We informed them of the closure and struck up the normal "where are you from" conversation. Carl and Elois (?) are from Los Angeles. Elois is from Ecuador and obviously speaks perfect Spanish. I invited them to share my new favorite drink: jaimaica. Carl's first sip was the same as my own: he loved it! Since the time was very close to noon, Maria needed a sandwhich before work and (just as in Guate) our drink was quickly cutting into her time to eat.

Elsa just told me the name of the restaurant:
the Cafe Condesa.

After lunch Hugo said we were going to San Antonio.

On the way out of town I captured one of the bus conductors doing his dangerous job. Here he has just finished pulling pipes out of the back of the bus for a rider. The bus is already moving and he has to hold on.

On the way to San Antonio. Here is some corn on the hill. You can just see the terraces on the hill. Everywhere you look there are either houses or cultivation. No room is spared.

Here is the city of San Antonio nestled in a valley between the mountains.

San Antonio is very Mayan and is best known for its skillfully created textiles.

Here is the first booth in the textile coop. She started with very good English but Hugo very quickly told her to stay in Spanish. She obliged. She explained methods and symbols, obviously trying to sell me everything in the store. Some of the large textiles take 6 months to create and are almost Q2,000 (over $200US). I really don't want souvenirs, just Spanish and memories. I decided I could use another shirt. It was hard to explain that I wanted to actually wear it and didn't want to look like a tourist advertisement. What I finally got was handmade, simpler, and only about $10US.

The weaving and embroidery is all hand made in this building.

There was only one more tourist here while I was so it is very quiet (right now). Apparently tourists come in wave.

The ladies were very happy to show how the textiles are made. It takes three days just to set up the strings. One of these takes 3 months to complete. Apparently the patterns are different in different cities. Guatemalans can tell where you are from by your clothes - if it is hand made.

Most of the "traditional" dress women wear in Guatemala are machine made, so give no information. Why? Because real traditional outfits are very expensive.

Men used to where tradional clothes, but they were not a useful in work. The women keep the tradional clothes because, of course, the men think it is beautiful.

Right next to the textile shop is the municipal offices.

The municipal offices are at the very left of the picture. This is the central park.

The central park. It was very quiet and relaxed here. I think this is my favorite place so far.

I asked if I could take a camionetta here and Hugo said it is not recommended. It is too far and there can be ladrones (robbers). Bummer.

Continuing to the right is the cathedral. It was so quiet (almost no cars) that we could her singing coming from the open doors.

Inside people were coming and going. Both the church and the singing was very beautiful. Click on the picture for a video of the singing.

Back outside we sat on a bench and talked about churches in Guatemala. He says that in some regions (farther from the more modern cities like Antigua) people still include some of the Mayan gods in their worship. They hold Christ as the supreme, but the others as helper gods, almost like angels.

On the other side of the park is the washing area. Click for a closer look.

On the way out of town Hugo found one of his ex-students walking to the bus stop, so he stopped and gave her a ride. She is finishing "Seminary", which is the last year of school. She wants to go into social work, especially developing clean water for towns.

On the way back to Antigua we stopped at Ciudad (city) Vieja (old). We were permitted to walk right into the school.

Here young kids are at recess and are playing and singing.

 

And here's the leader. Wisely, they keep the kids out of trouble by keeping them organized. She even has a whistle.

Here is why we were allowed in: these are ruins from the 1500s. It was the palace for the wife of the conquistador of Guatemala. It was destroyed by a flood. Even though the school seems to store stuff here, they cannot remove it.

Back of the school. Here are the old desks. Behind the tree notice a very white building. This is the new school they are building.

The central park of Ciudad Vieja.

Looking south toward the Volcano de Agua. Ciudad Vieja is in a precarious position here. Also, notice how thin these streets are. This is one of the main streets, too.

Looking north from the square toward the oldest cathedral in Guatemala. Unfortunately you can't go in except for certain occasions. The reason makes sense: the altar is partly made of pure gold.

A front view of the cathedral. It's hard to see, but at the bottom right of the door is one of God's very special creatures: one of the street dogs, sleeping peacefully.

One of the buildings by the square of Ciudad Vieja. At the very top is a bell (campana). They ring it to let the town know someone has died.

A ruin in back in Antigua.

Nice to have a car. We drove near the Bodegon, talked with Yoli, and bought a couple gallons of water (for brushing teeth).

By the time we returned to the house it was almost 6 and we were tired, so we called it a day.