(It is REALLY hard to write in English, right now. My mind is stuck in Spanish, which is good.) |
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No surprise that Hugo knew another traveler (two actually) that was asking about El Mirador. Here was are walking to the school where this person is learning. This road (calle) is at the east most side of Antigua proper. |
Out of focus, but here we are talking to the gentleman (Kevin) about El Mirador. He is here with his 18 yr old son. The gentleman on the left is the Spanish teacher, who iis a friend of Hugo (who isn't?) and lives in the same town as Hugo. |
 Another view from outside the school. By the way there are something like 30 Spanish school here (probably more). I wanted this picture because it is strange to me. It really isn't far from Elsa's house, but I rarely have visited this part of Antigua. The wide road is unusual. Also notice the mountain in the background.
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The central park (parque central). Every city has one. This is where farmers will set up a mercado if there isn't a special place already created. Antigua, of course, has a permanent mercado. (Click for larger view [if I can send larger pictures].) |
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One of the streets of the mercado. These are permanent stalls. |
Lichis (lee-cheez). A strange fruit that (I believe) came from Australia. I haven't tried one, yet, but they are supposed to be sweet. They are the size of plums or kiwi. Click for a closer view. OK - Guy Duryee emailed me this: "The Lichis are actually rambutans from Asia. They are very good. Natty and I eat them whenever we can find them. Peel off the outer skin, and eat the sweet juicy opalescent fruit inside, watch out for the pit a little larger than a cherry pit." Thanks, Guy! |
We went to the mercado to learn and look. Thursday and Sunday are the busy days for the mercado.
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Spices. |
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OK - this surprised me. Many years ago I was reading how to make fried chicken. The books said to buy chickens that are yellow. I have NEVER seen a yellow chicken, until now. There are different colors. White is the most tasteless. These are the best and are grown in yards, naturally. Click for a closer view of what chicken is supposed to look like. |
This is my favorite thing in Guatemala so far. After seeing the wonderful bounty of the seller above, we turned the corner and saw this. Beautiful fruits and vegetables as far as the eye can see. And this is only Thursday. There is more on Sundays. Here the produce is local and inexpensive. This is the "treasure" of the title at the top of this page.
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Here we are buying strawberries. Outside the mercado proper the strawberries are cheaper. Inside we bought corn on the cob (elote [different than maiz, which is for corn flour]), cilantro (yuck), and chiles (few are hot here) for Elsa (like picking up milk for mom). And we bought strawberries (fresas) and blackberries (moras) to share with the family. Note the balance (the weighing device). There are rocks in a plastic bag as a standard. |
OK, it is now Monday and I am very behind, so I am going to throw pictures onto the website as fast as I can with limited captions.
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The other students at the house. From the left: Olivia (Sacreamento); Anaisa (France); Jayleen (San Francisco).
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Hugo calling Peten for me to help arrange my trip to El Mirado. |
The VERY expensive hotel: Santa Domingo. Built on the site of ruins of an old convent. A basic room is $245 US for 1 person. $40 for an additional person.
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Volcan de Agua. It is active. I'd like to get a shot of it sending out smoke.
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Along the way home we ran into this strapping young man, Hugo's son. |
