A lot to catch up on! The rest of Antigua and Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

Hi everyone! So we have safely returned from Guatemala and it has been a crazy week. It’s always a little hectic when you have been gone for a while, so the “catch up” at the clinic and with work has been pretty nuts. In addition, for those of you who don’t know, Eric and I decided to rescue/adopt a dog while we are here in Honduras. The owner of the puppy called us on Monday and essentially said he could no longer “take it” and the puppy needed to go. She is only 6 weeks so it has been interesting- she has ticks and fleas, ringworm in 3 spots, and calluses on her arms and legs from sleeping on cement for the first 6 weeks. But we are in the process of getting her all cleaned up! I’ll have pictures of her in my next post – she is adorable if I do say so myself J And her name is Banana Donut – though we are just calling her ‘Nana

Anywho, back to Guatemala. We had such a wonderful trip. When we last left off, we were nearing the end of our time in Antigua, Guatemala. We spent one more day there, where we did a small hike to see the Cerro de la Cruz (Hill of the cross) which is, well, exactly what the name implies… a hill on a cross. From the top of the hill you have a beautiful view of Antigua, and we could look down and see all the places we had visited over the previous 2 days. To the left and below are some pictures from Cerro de La Cruz.

  

Next we did some souvenir shopping at some local markets. Needless to say, we did not know what we were getting into. The market was CRAZY. I mean, it was just a giant human maze of small little stalls selling every possible thing you have ever imagined. Flowers, fruits and vegetables, fresh meat, bathing products, animal supplies, sunglasses and clothes, shoes, household items, candy, purses and blankets… the list is endless, truly.

After the market, we needed some pizza to liven ourselves up. It was 10 quetzals (the equivalent to about $1.25) for two slices of pizza and a small pepsi. The pizza left a lot to be desired… it was basically soggy bread with melted cheese. But I still managed to enjoy myself!

Before we left Antigua, we saw this (below) guy carrying an unimaginable amount of plastic bottles to recycle them, followed by his daughter who was carrying more. I mean, just look at this picture! I hope he wasn’t walking far, but I had to include it because I am still mystified by how he carried all this.

 

 

Finally, we boarded a shuttle and went to our next destination, Lake Atitlan. The trip there took approximately 2.5 hours, but we were slowed down some by rain and traffic. We went through a lot of neat, small villages, and also got to see people doing traditional farming in the fields. When we got to the Lake, we found a small boat (called a lancha in Spanish) that took us to our hotel… well it took us to our hotel after trying to make us pay 50 times the actual price and making us wait an hour. Thank goodness we can speak a little Spanish now – it came in very useful!

The name of our hotel was Hotel Casa Del Mundo (House of the world). It was built on the side of a dormant volcano and was remarkably beautiful. We did have to climb about 100 stairs to get to our room every night, but we got over it eventually! Rather than one big building with hotel rooms, they had about 15 different little chateau’s. We selected our room because they said it would feel like staying in a tree house. Below are some pictures of our place.

 

Below is a picture of the hotel from a distance – we took this one while going past our hotel on a boat on our way to another town on the lake. Also, here is a picture of the view at sunset – it was beautiful!

 

Ok, enough about our hotel. Needless to say, we liked it… other than the ants that visited us every evening. So after getting settled into our hotel, we went for a short walk the next morning to a neighboring town called Santa Cruz. We had breakfast here, which was a pleasant surprise. We found a cheap little restaurant right on the water that had excellent coffee, smoothies, and waffles.

 

Next, we jumped on a water taxi and went to another town called San Juan. They have beautiful art galleries here of artwork done by local artists. They also do a lot of weaving in this town and sell beautiful sweaters, blankets, purses, etc. We really enjoyed visiting San Juan; the locals were incredibly friendly and the town was clean, organized, and beautiful. Below are two pictures that we took of the locals – one was a group of little boys with a puppy that were VERY excited to have a picture taken of them. The other photo are two gentlemen on a tuk tuk (motorcycle taxi) that also really wanted their picture taken – but then we talked with them for about 15 minutes using only our Spanish! The next picture is of me in one of the weaving stores trying on a traditional sweater/cape garment that the women wear here in the winter months. And finally, we have Eric who was very excited to find the “Erick Café.” However, because the name was misspelled, he held his arm up to block out the “k” on the wall. (sorry for the picture formatting - I don't know why it's doing this!)

 During the next few days we did a lot of things, but mostly we walked around the different towns on the lake and explored the local culture and cuisine. We also just spent some time at our hotel relaxing. Another town we visited was called San Pedro. This is where one of the largest volcano’s on the lake is located, and many people come here to hike it. It’s also one of the biggest towns on the lake, and very popular among young people backpacking around Central America. However, it was slightly more run down then some of the other towns we visited, although still very unique and cool in it’s own way. Below are some pictures of our time walking around this town.

And, just to wrap up the post, a few of Eric’s beautiful “scenery” pictures. These were our views almost anywhere we went!

We have been taking a lot of pictures of all the beautiful flowers we have been seeing both in Honduras and Guatemala. So we will be doing a post (hopefully soon) dedicated to our lovely mothers who so enjoy pictures of flowers J In the mean time, this weekend there is the annual Lionfish Derby, which is a worldwide fishing tournament that is held on the island. They have shut down parts of West End, where we live, and set up stages for music and stands for food. The winner of the fishing tournament gets $30,000! It’s also Independence Day on Sunday, so the clinic is closed on Monday. Apparently there are big parades and parties all weekend. We will be sure to scope them out and post some pictures!

Antigua, Guatemala

Eric and I arrived on Saturday for our week vacation in Antigua. We made it to Guatemala City from Honduras with no problems - our airline, TACA, was fantastic. Everything was perfectly on time, the planes were new and clean, and the staff was super friendly. For two people who do not love to fly, the experience could not have been better! We even got snacks :)

When we arrived in Guatemala City we immediately booked a shuttle to take us to Antigua, about 40 minutes away. The road was very hilly and curvy, but our shuttle driver seemed completely unphased by this and still felt the need to drive as though we were racing in the Indy 500. We got dropped off right at the door of our hotel, Casa Antigua. The hotel we are staying in is fantastic - it has about 15 to 20 rooms and is all 1 floor. It has 2 open courtyards surrounded by flowers, and the rooms are decorated in a very formal, old-fashioned, and traditional Guatemalan style. A picture of a bedroom is below and courtyard is below- we have a beautiful bed, a huge chandelier, and amazing 20 foot ceilings!

After we got checked in, we set out to do a little bit of exploring before the sun went down. Unfortunately, Guatemala is wrapping up the end of their rainy season, so it was a bit wet and chilly. Well chilly is a figurative term here... it was in the 70s, but when you are used to the hottest weather in the WORLD (no exaggerating here!) then it felt downright cold. All of the streets in Antigua are cobblestone, and the buildings reflect the architecture and building style of the Spaniards that originally settled the town. Antigua was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1990, so now even the McDonalds and Subway that are in town are located in buildings that are hundreds and thousands of years old. Below is a market that takes place about two blocks from out hotel. The women are selling blankets, clothes, jewelry, and other various trinkets aimed at tourists. In the background, you can see the remains of an old convent in town that was ruined in a giant earthquake that occurred here in the 1770s.

After seeing the market, we walked toward the city center. Here we stumbled on a group of boys playing various instruments and trying to raise money for their music school. We enjoyed this little 3-year-old boy who was allowed to stand with the "big boys" and randomly pound on the keys. Eventually they couldn't get him to stop pounding the the keys - even when the boys were trying to sing and talk - so his fancy blue stool was taken away and he was made to sit on the floor :)

This is a picture of Eric and I in front of the main fountain in the city park. The park is only 1 city block, and is surrounded by municipal buildings, shops, restaurants, and the cathedral that you can see to the left in the background. At night, the cathedral is completely dark except for candles that are lit in all of the windows - it is absolutely beautiful.

We also visited another cathedral named after Saint Hermano Pedro, who was a friar in Antigua famous for his dedication to the poor and sick. He lived during the 1600s, and he is buried in the north transept of the church named after him. This church was also ruined by the earthquake that hit Antigua in the late 1700s (much of the city was demolished at this time - there are still ruins everywhere). Part of it has been restored, but the former monastery was never repaired. You can now pay to walk around the ruins and see where St. Pedro and the other monks once lived and worked. Below you can see Eric overlooking some of the ruins. The other picture was of a woman selling goods outside the church. She is making a table runner for kitchen tables. You can see some of her completed work in the background hanging on the wall.

Eric and I have really enjoyed people watching here in Antigua. The women wear beautiful, ornate, and brightly colored clothes. They also frequently tie scarves in their hair, as you can see by the mother and her daughter pictured below. There are many women who walking around selling goods, especially on the weekends. This culture is also very into music, and there are a number of people singing and playing instruments on the street. Below is a picture of a father and presumably his daughter playing the harp. The father would pluck the strings, and his daughter would accompany him with a drumbeat that she created by pounding on the base of the harp.

There are some stunning views all around when you walk around Antigua. Three volcanoes surround the city, creating the valley where the city is built. Although it is cloudy here right now, when the clouds occasionally clear you can see some truly breathtaking views. Below is a picture of Volcan de Fuego (Fire Volcano). It is named such because it is always active, although at a very low level. You can see a bit of smoke coming off the top of the volcano in the picture below.

Below is another volcano located on the southern side of the city. This is the largest and the most dominating as far as scenery is concerned. Is it called Volcan de Agua (Water Volcano). I have no idea why this is named as such, but I looked it up on Wikipedia (my trusty resource), and it says the locals named it this after an explosion from the volcano ruined the former capital, forcing the government to move the capital city to its present-day location in Antigua. I cannot figure out what this has to do with water but... oh well! The third volcano, which we don't have a picture of, is Acatenango.

Below is a picture of an arc that goes over the main street in Antigua. This is the most commonly photographed structure in the city. The arc was originally built because there was a convent located on one side of the street that was too small to house the number of nuns who had joined. As a result, they bought land on the other side of the street and expanded the convent. However, they wanted the nuns to be able to cross the street without being seen by the general public. So, the arc was built to the nuns could walk above the street. Now, it offers really beautiful views from all angles, especially when the sky is clear and you can get a volcano in the background. The other picture is just one of me standing in front of a cart of flowers :)

Eric and I went to an awesome little local restaurant for dinner on our second night. They advertised ceviche, which Eric loves, but when we got there we realized that was not really their specialty at all. When you walk in, there is a huge kitchen area with tons of different kinds of foods (especially meats and sauces) that are all in clay pots and sitting over a stove to keep warm. The food was absolutely awesome, and the cook helped us pick out dishes that were local Guatemalan foods. He very kindly let Eric get behind the counter/stove area for me to take this shot.

We weren't sure what we were going to do last night, but it turns out we didn't have to think too hard. There was a country-wide marching band competition happening right in town! It didn't take us long to realize this was a really, really big deal. There were probably 20 different marching bands there representing states from all over the country. They had all kinds of different outfits, instruments, dances, and songs. There were huge trophies handed out and even fireworks! Below are some pictures of some of the musicians as well as some of the dancers.

Our favorite little girl! Her mom was walking near her and saw Eric trying to take a picture. She got the little girl's attention and pointed to Eric, and she immediately struck this pose for the camera!

This picture just shows a little of the crowds that were around for the marching band competition. There were thousands of people around. The bands marched up and down a few streets, and then all ended by walking around the central park square. It was kind of like a parade, minus the floats and candy.

We are finishing up in Antigua today and are on our way soon to look at some more ruins at a different convent. We considered going to a volcano today to hike, but decided we would get the chance to do a lot of hiking at Lake Atitlan (our next destination) so we are holding off on that. We will try to post more pictures of Antigua and the Lake in a few days! Now off to the ruins :)

Our one year wedding anniversary and my trip to Blue Harbour Arboretum

On August 25th, Eric and I celebrated our ONE YEAR WEDDING ANNIVERSARY!!!!! Woohoo... we made it :) If you all remember, a while back we helped with a fundraiser for the clinic that was a carnival held at Infinity Bay. Whichever team raised the most money won a free night at the resort. Eric and I were lucky enough to win with our game, which was a relay race. So, we saved our free night and used it on our anniversary. The room they gave us was beautiful... but the best part was it had CENTRAL AIR CONDITIONING. Let me pause while that sinks in. Now I will re-type it for emphasis: CENTRAL AIR CONDITIONING. Eric and I ran the air the entire time we were there at full blast. When we came back from snorkeling and swimming we practically froze and it was AMAZING. It was probably the greatest anniversary gift we could have asked for... who would have guessed? A friend of ours here also had called the resort to let them know it was our anniversary, so they also brought up some complimentary cheese and wine :) For dinner, we ended up just staying around the resort because they have a great little restaurant on the beach. Overall we had a wonderful time and felt lucky to get to do something so special on our first anniversary. Below are some pictures from the night we spent there. We didn't take many due to camera battery failure (I will take the blame for that one) but at least we got a few!

I also got to go on a great trip to Blue Harbour Arboretum yesterday while Eric was at work... hehe. The clinic nutritionist and I went to learn more about the various plants, fruits, and foods that are grown and commonly used here by the locals. We ended up getting a little more than we bargained for (i.e. a 3-hour tour in the sun), but we learned a ton not only about native plants and trees, but also about others that are grown in tropical locations.

Below is a picture of an avocado tree, which is very common here in Honduras. There are two varieties that I know off: big and small (I'm very technical with my terminology). These are the big ones that are commonly sliced up and used in sandwiches and baleadas.

Below is the carombola fruit (in the U.S. known as star fruit) that is also grown in surplus here in Honduras. It's a staple food here, and there is so much of it that a lot of it goes to waste because it's not all eaten. I found this ironic because I LOVE carombola, but in the U.S. it's so expensive that I never buy it. I took some of the fruit off their hands to make sure it didn't ALL go to waste :) I'm very thoughtful, you see.

 The next picture just shows you a little of the landscape (the arboretum covers over 180 acres), but more importantly you can also see the cashew trees up on the top of the hill. I think I have mentioned in previous posts how prized the cashews and cashew trees are here in Honduras. The following picture shows some of the workers cracking the shells of the cashews after they have been roasted. In the blue crate are the cashews before roasting, and past the blue crate you can see the final product - home roasted cashew nuts that are put in mason jars and sold for revenue. I decided to buy some of these and they were delicious! It was fun getting to see the whole process and then taste the end product as well.

They also have a hydroponic farm at Blue Harbour, which is similar to a greenhouse. However, they don't use any soil - the plants sit in PVC pipes that have a small amount of cold water running along the bottoms at all times. This was started by a PhD professor who wanted to help the island develop a sustainable way of farming lettuce and herbs, as the soil on the island is not good for this kind of farming. The hydroponic farm has been in production for 13 years, and provides the most fantastic lettuce I have ever eaten!

I would write more about our adventures but my computer battery is dying and I am pretty sure the waitress wants to kill me as I have been sitting at her table for 3 hours... even though in my defense I am the only person in this cafe. We are leaving tomorrow for Guatemala for one week and are looking forward to our trip, although we hear it could rain most of the time we are there. Currently I'm not sure if we'll even be able to get out of the country, as all the ATM machines on the island (we have a grand total of 4) are not working at the moment, and we have to pay the government an airport tax to be able to leave the country (don't worry, we get to pay it again when we return). So, fingers crossed that we can even get out on our flight! Hopefully I will have an update soon with pictures from our vacation :)

And on a final note... everyone give your air conditioner a good hug for me tonight. He/she deserves it.