Guatemala - 2012

Day 2 - Thurs., June 28 -
Short Search/Sharing Favorites

Wow! My first clean face in 10 years! It started with a mistake. Getting ready for the trip I was trimming my beard. To clean out the trimmer I bumped the guide to hard and it changed to the lowest setting, cutting the beard to almost nothing. Since it was barely there anyway, I cut it off. Maria Elsa likes it. My face doesn't. Itches like crazy and feels weird!

Once again the morning view from the roof of the house, one of the most special parts of staying with Maria Elsa. Other students are very impressed with this. Some of them just come up to look around and take pictures. Some have availed themselves of the sunshine and break out the bathing suits.

There is Volcan de Agua, otra vez (once again).

And the Iglesia (church) San Francisco: the largest and most important in Antigua. It is where the most important saint of Guatemala worked and is buried: Hermano Pedro (brother Peter).

One of the normal Maria Elsa breakfasts. It is very small, but sufficient. I find myself always hungry here, but being my 3rd year, I expect it. Along with all of the walking, I know I will lose weight (indeed I already have). I am not starving. It is just that we eat too much in the US.

Hola Hugo! It is 8 am and my Maestro (teacher) is aqui (here).

The other two students here: Mo and Ashley. They are preMed students at Washington University in St. Louis. Mo is from NY and Ashley is from Cincinnati.

We took several pictures so that they could make a copy for Maria Elsa. I put the stool there for fun!

One of the ruins in Antigua. The name is: Compania de Jesus.

The photos are examples of many different people to encourage diversity. There are many examples of different Guatemalans in native garb and modern wares and even foreigns and young people with tattoos and piercings: diversity.

 

The first big earth quake in the 1600's did enough damage that the church was converted to the mercado. Notice the column is not straight. The bricked part is reconstructed AND it is not perfect because there was a second large earthquake in 1976. The building (like many of the others) was destroyed and left as a cultural ruin.

The writing on the wall is information about where things were sold in the mercado.

A search for a teacher friend who found out I was returning to Antigua. She sends money to support a young girl and her family. She asked me to find out about the organization and to check on the family: if they need something extra while I am here.

All we have is the name of the girl, the name of the organization, and the post office box: not much. Hugo, who knows a lot of people and is very friendly asked around. He also hoped that the name related to location. The organization is "Proyecto Hermano Pedro" same name as the street I live on.

The secretary at the San Francisco church thought that this place might know something, but alas! But Hugo says it is the same organization that works in his village, so we aren't conquered yet.....yet....

On our search we passed by Iglesia de Belen, just one block down the road from Maria Elsa and San Francisco. This church also has a school for indigenous girls. They have to take exams to get in. They have to want to be there and work hard.

The Plazuela de Paz (small plaza of peace) next to the church. It is indeed peaceful, especially compared to the central square, which is really a circus.

As is my wont I am taking Mo and Ashley on a small "Steve's Tour" of my favorite things. One of them is the temperature. Notice the umbrellas. It is probably in the 70s.

Gee - this place looks familiar. It was their first Jaimaica and they loved it. Hugo and I watched carefully at the preparation. They use a concentrate (which may be prepurchased) and mix with ice (don't skip this as Maria did the first day - bad results), water and some other mixture. We asked what the additional mixture was and discovered their secret spice: honey instead of sugar!!!

While we were at Casa de Escobar a funeral passed by, carrying the casket on the shoulders of the mourners. The workers in the restaurant quickly turned off the music in respect.

Later Mo and Ashley took advantage of modern technology and watched episodes of their favorite TV shows in the living room via the Internet. They only were missing popcorn!