Guatemala - 2012

Day 03 - Friday, June 30
Escuela de Cristo and Dancing

The chaffeur that brought here me from the airport told me that there is a path up the hill behind Maria Elsa's house. Here I am exploring on the other side of the river (about a block away). This is the outskirts of Antigua-proper and most tourists or students never go this far. Indeed it is my first time.

Notice the sub-station. Most of the power here is hydro-electric, except in the dry season, when they switch to petroleum.

The path he is walking (and me, too) is two feet off the ground on the left and about ten feet down on the right, but it is the safest place to be to avoid being hit by a car..

I didn't find a path, but I did find another ruined church. Notice the small steps on the very right side. Those are concrete seats for Holy Week plays.

Hugo showing me one of his latest pictures.

I really want to explore other parts of Antigua this time. From Maria Elsa's Hugo and I walked to the right, away from the center of town and the way we almost always go. On the far side of San Francisco is this park across from the church "Escuela de Cristo": Christ's School. It does have a school, too, but is an important church here in Antigua.

I was surprised how clean and in good repair the church is. Not that others are delapidated, but this one is in the best shape I've seen.

Here is why the church is important, the altar on the left side of the main altar.

Hugo said (and Manuel agreed) that this is the most "perfect" Virgin Mary statue in Antigua.

A closer look. Mary's vestments are of velvet with real gold and silver thread.

During Holy Week each church processes their statue of the Virgin Mary and Jesus around the city. This one gets a lot of attention.

All that beauty in this church, which a very humble exterior.

Do remember this for later, though.

On the way back around San Francisco we came to a gate which led to the chapel. The chapel has a prayer garden leading up to it. There are many signs asking for silence or explaining that this is a place of prayer, not tourism.

Here you can see the main part of San Fransisco: the sanctuary in the background. I didn't get a picture of the beautiful chapel because I didn't want to disturb the various parishioners. It is a very busy chapel.

This evening was the last for Mo and Ashley. After talking with Manuel for quite a while about his art and inspiration (which he calls being crazy in the head), Mo and Ashley gave their gift to Maria Elsa.

It is a soccer jersey for team Germany, Maria Elsa's favorite European team. We all just watched Germany get beat by Italy yesterday.

The photo is out of focus because I am trying to get pictures fast with two cameras at the same time.

Notice the picture behind them, which is over the dining room table. It was painted by Manuel and is of the street between San Fransisco and "Escuela de Cristo".

After dinner we went out to one of the dance clubs. On the way we heard the tremendous bark of a German Shepherd that I know so well. Where is it coming from?

Up on the roof of this house. It is answering the other dogs in the neighborhood. I don't think it is completely on the roof. There is probably a terrace just out of sight that its hind legs are standing on.

At "La Sin Ventura" (without luck) dance club. I don't have a picture of all of us because the room is too small. I also don't have more picture because I would need a flash and I don't think the dancers would appreciate that.

We all enjoyed the time together. Maria loves to dance and Manuel dances very well, but not as much as Maria would like. I danced with her, too. But mostly we enjoyed the crowd, amazed and amused by the bumping and grinding, making remarks about the outfits (both good and bad) and the dancing (again, both good and bad). We were particularly intrigued and concerned by two girls in particular that were in our part of the club. One was: a very short native girl in a stripped dress who had a huge bottle of alcohol and was downing glass after glass. She was with a group of three Americans and was very friendly with one. The other came in wearing an outfit that looked like it was winter: white argyle with pompoms and a fluffy hat. That outfit didn't last the night. She started dancing by herself and had to dress down, eventually. She came off a bit crazy, but danced well enough. We were sure she was a foreigner, but later learned she is Guatemalan, from the capital. Go figure.