WANDERING AROUND ANTIGUA

We had an hour's ride from Guatemala City to Antigua with our very nice driver called Ernesto.  He filled us in on a lot of details about modern Guatemala.  The kids still have to do military service here of 30 months.  The new elected president - morales - the ex comedian is regarded as a good guy - very intelligent and critical of previous problems - he is a member of the evangelical church which is big here and generally the Catholic Church though it is still the biggest religion has been discredited here because the locals still remember how the church took so much money from the locals and invested nothing back for them - the wealth of the Catholic Church here was immense and it all went directly back to the Vatican.  Currently the locals are finding it hard to forget that the Catholic Church sided with the oligarchs and conservatives against the people during the hard times.

Currently the Spanish government along with lots of UN type organisations is doing a lot to help Guatemala to develop in a good way.  Ernesto says the locals have never been so happy as they are now - they still remember the corruption and cruelty of the civil war and know that life is really good for them now.  The country is very rich in agriculture because the volcanic soil is very rich in minerals and the climate is perfect for growing.  Also they have oil which they sell mostly to Venezuela as well as lots of other mineral resources such as gold and silver.  Ernesto felt tourism was on a small scale compared to the mass tourism of Cancun in Mexico - but of course this is what we like - to stay in the small hotels and boarding houses and eat out in simple cafes and restaurants - having the chance to mix with the locals.  I'm sure this type of tourism is what they really need to focus on and develop - such as volunteering to work educationally with locals in the villages as part of a holiday.

Antigua is a bit like a frontier town - quaint cobbled streets with some lovely old houses with central courtyards turned into hotels, restaurants, coffee houses and even salsa studios.  The place is full of what must have been incredible conquistador type buildings - churches, convents and monasteries and cathedrals which all crumbled and toppled in the last big earthquake here in the 70s.  They have just left the half ruined churches as they fell and they have this amazing beauty - in parts overgrown with the lush flowers and trees.  And all of this nestles in a deep bowl surrounded by hills or the giant cone of the volcano which is often shrouded in mist but then tantalisingly reveals itself - and it is in quiet activity at the moment.  The town has many colonnaded patios and squares with the typical old colonial style of building and the flame trees and jacarandas are home to many noisy birds.

We are staying in a little hotel called the Posada Juma Ocag here and we have a nice cosy triple room with private bathroom for tonight as it is full and tomorrow Moira also gets her own room - all for about £60 for three for the 2 rooms.  We also have use of nice internal patio areas as well as a kitchen if we want to cook.

We had a traditional Guatemalan breakfast this morning in Guatemala City of 2 fried eggs with sausage, fried plantain and bread.  For lunch John and Moira had a tasty soup with rice followed by omelette or olive oil baked vegetables and bread.  We sampled some local Antiguan coffee in a coffee house here - the trees are just in the valley on our way down to the town of Antigua and we saw the women and children mostly coming home with their bowls after picking the coffee this morning.  The coffe we drank was nice and about £5 or £6 a packet - slightly more expensive than Waitrose and really probably not as nice.  For supper tonight we snacked in our room on mandarins, avocados, cheese ham and pineapple pasties.

We are right on market square yet the hotel is quiet - we enjoyed seeing the chicken buses steaming into town this evening- though they are a little dangerous due to robberies and rapes so we may stick with the private minibus hire.

One of my favourite things around here is seeing the women in their local huipiles or traditional embroidered skirts and blouses.  Each area has its own traditional style and they don't like the foreigners dressing up like them- they wear their traditional dress very proudly - they look amazing in the gear like Frida Khalo wore in her day with amazing head gear too.  We went to an interesting craft market today - but the textiles are expensive - but would be lovely as a thing framed on your wall - such bright colours.

This morning in Guatemala City with our Dutch host Hank and the star - his beat up old camper - there are a lot of them here. He says the more rust it has on it, the less likely it will be to get stolen.  He's doing well! 

This is our current room in Antigua with the funny metal cage we could lock our things in if we chose to - but it seems pretty safe here - so many foreign women of our age travelling alone and in groups here - it must be safe

This is a view in Antigua with the crumbling old buildings after the last earthquake in all their baroque beauty

And the amazing chicken buses that are probably a bit too dangerous for us to travel on but would be such fun on a short hop

The weather is absolutely perfect here for wandering around in short sleeves and hardly any mosquitos so far.

Here is a reminder of the Guatemalan fascination with death with the models of skeletons they parade around for the All Souls' Day when the picnic on the graves of their family and invite them to join them

So it has been a great first day for us and we are going to bed early so we can get up early and go back into Guatemala City again to visit the museums which were closed today as it was Monday - also we hope to meet Silvia who John is in contact with on Facebook from days of working with Maurice and Betty in the UN.  Then back to Antigua tomorrow night for our last evening and hopefully some visits to the ruined convents and other churches and museums.