Antigua

We have finally been able to catch up with our blog posts; and
although many have you have already seen some of the pictures, we have
added a few more today. The map is updated too! We have also added a ¨Permacation Counter¨ to keep track of how long we´ve been away from home.


During the past week,
we have been staying in Antigua. It is a small city of about 30,000
that is an hour outside of Guatemala City. The city is situated at the
feet of a ring of volcanoes, one of which, Pacaya, recently erupted damaging
some nearby villages and halted our plans to roast marshmallows over
the open lava (literally, this is a tour option available until last
week). The city itself is really beautiful featuring Baroque
architecture, quite unusual for the rest of Guatemala. The city is
also home to many foreigners and reminds us a lot of San Cristobal in
Mexico. There is any interesting mix of local and foreign influences,
creating a very unique experience.

Originally we wanted to both experience the town and also hike two of
the volcanoes. The eruption of one of the volcanoes and the mudslides
following heavy rains forced us to forgo our plans for the time being.
The road to one of the volcanoes opened up two days ago, but we were
unable to find others to join us on the hike in order to meet the
minimum group number. So, for the time being, we put hiking on the
back burner and enjoyed the local cafes and the enormous market. We
were also able to spend two days helping out in one of the nearby
towns which had been damaged heavily from mudslides during the
season´s first tropical storm. After the second day, however, we were
unable to return as poor water conditions in the town were leading to
breakouts of infectious deceases, some of which the US hasn´t seen in
some time.


This week has been a very relaxing, enjoyable time. While Rich has
been putting the Atoll (corn drink) woman´s child through school with
his frequent visits to her stand outside the church (does anyone
really need to have 3 Atolls in one day?), Kendra has decided that her
favorite Guatemalan dish is Chinese Chow Mein. She feels that as long as it is
sold in the market by a woman in traditional clothes, no one can make
fun of her for it. Rich has also spent most of the week reeling from
his constant caffeine high from the significant Guatemalan coffee
supply, and Kendra has caught up on some of her shopping.


Tomorrow we will be leaving Antigua and heading up to Xela. Xela is
supposed to be built in a similar style to Antigua, but it is a little
less visited by foreign tourists and a little cheaper. The areas
around Xela have not been as damaged as here and we have already
planned a hike next weekend to the top of Tajumulco, the tallest peak
in Guatemala, with some friends who are already in the area. We hope
to stay in Xela for a while taking Spanish classes, and maybe a
weaving class (Kendra of course). Prayers have already been sent up to
the NHL playoff gods that some bartender in Xela will be a hockey
fan... where are the Canadian expats when we need them?