Antigua

This was written a month ago. I never uploaded the pictures... so its pretty dismal.


The colonial capital and current tourist city of Antigua was our Saturday trip destination.

The day began in the convent turned luxury hotel of Santo Domingo where the high school history teacher lead us around various museums such as the precolombian Art museum, the monastic art museum and a few craft work shops where they make candles, art and other goods. 

Following that we went to the San Franciscan convent, a similar colonial building that had not seen the beautiful restorations of the hotel. Here we took some pictures, saw the nuns cells, kitchens and resting places. 

Later in the day we saw a few Churches contrasting the ruined buildings of old to the rebuilt post earthquake churches that are still in use. 

Antigua is a beautiful city and many of the churches were built with parks and monuments.

The day ended with a nice lunch overlooking the city. While we were dining one of the local active volcanos went off and covered the whole region with black ash. It was kind of exciting and kind of awful.  

Part of you wanted to enjoy the experience, but another part needed to wipe the burning ash from your eyes and cough it out of your lungs. 

When I returned to school two days later everything was blanketed with black and gray dust. Yuckers. 

Anyway Antigua is beautiful. I shall return. 

Antigua/Hobbitengango

After several hard weeks at work, a group of us decided to head back to the beautiful city of Antigua again. Though this time, many of the group were especially excited about an adventure to the newly opened Hobbitenango hostel (a lord of the rings, hobbit themed hostel).

We started the day on a chicken bus (technically I got amazing pancakes before we left), a chicken bus is a large converted bus that operates as a collectivo (people get on and off as you make your way). Our chicken bus was especially empty in that there were only a few seats that had three people in the two person spot, and only once did someone have to stand.

When we got to Antigua we did a little souvenir shopping and had lunch at Frida's a mexican restaurant with lots of pictures of Frida Kahlo. The made our way through the streets to the shuttle that would take us up the mountain. We waited for friends for a bit, and then decided to meet up with them later.

The hostel is located about 15-20 minutes drive up a near by mountain. The van took us to the drop off spot and we walked another 15 mins virtually straight up to the spot. Upon arrival we were quickly shown around and then the crew had a few drinks before setting off for a quick hike. We weren't quite sure where we were going which added to the sense of adventure but also a bit of anxiety when it felt like we had walked to the other side of the mountain.

When we got back, we spent most of the time huddling near the heater and waiting for dinner while chatting. The place doesn't have electricity so it was candles and acoustic guitar and good conversation all night before an early bed time.

The wind picked up this weekend, it was probably the coldest it has been since I got here, so sleeping was a tad tricky with the tin roof of the building clanging loudly with each gust of wind. The three buildings are made out of recycled materials. Soon they will start making earthen buildings like a hobbit village.

This morning we froze. I had had my phone set to Minneapolis time which was accurate until this morning's day light savings. So I woke everyone up an hour early, and later we found out there was no shuttle down the mountain till 10:30, so we huddled with blankets, talking future travel plans etc.

When we finally made it down to Antigua we had some time for shopping and more coffee. I went with coffee. The chicken bus home was much more crowded, and the driver did not believe in slowing down on turns, or easing on the breaks.

Showers and errands... and here I am.

Guatemala City

Its been just a few days over a month here in Guatemala. Work has been more difficult than I imagined and I don't have a lot of time to get out of the immediate neighborhood (much to my dismay).

After a few days of feeling sick, I went out today and explored a little of the historic district by myself, then to another area with some of my coworkers.  It was really nice getting to explore a bit, it made me feel capable again which is not something I have been feeling a whole lot of lately.

To get to zone one, I took the public transit and on the way chatted with an older gentleman who has spent most of his life in the US and was waiting on Social Security payments. He had a foul mouth but seemed like an optimist. We got out at the same station, I walked around the corner through some market stalls and realized I had gotten out a few blocks from the stop I wanted, but that it hadn't mattered. 

I had two missions. First, I needed some clothes for a 1920s themed party and was headed to the thrift stores (the big chain is called mega paca). The other goal was to check out some of the historic buildings and squares and generally be a tourist(without a camera).

As I wandered throughout the area I realized that due to the decay, even the nice old buildings seem in desperate need of a makeover, and when they are surrounded by buildings in disrepair, it gives off a vibe that the history isn't all that important. That tourism isn't the business of the area, instead there are hundreds, perhaps thousands of small stalls, street vendors, street performers, and shops. Its a downtown market, that happens to include some old churches and a few museums/government offices.

I stumbled into a gallery in the ministry of art and culture, but other than that didn't find much. Many of the buildings were closed. The municipal cathedral was pretty bare and under construction. The main plaza didn't have much to look at.  There were about 4 buildings in total with beautiful facades but the surroundings didn't promote their grandeur, rather they subdued it... and it reminded me of other rundown spaces that could use a facelift.

Later in the day I went on a shopping expedition to a mall and shopping area(in zone 11) that we pass every day on the way home from work. I had wanted to check it out because it seemed like a fairly safe area but not too close to the area I end up walking most days.

But as we went inside I realized it was kind of just like all the other malls. We walked around the neighborhood, a mix of suburban commercialism and the sort of rundown garage looking buildings you see every where here. Crumbly walls and razor wire.

This evening we went to zone 4 to celebrate a birthday. It felt weird to be making a spectacle of ourselves in this city where I usually try to subdue my foreignness as much as possible. It felt like we were making ourselves a target but there were 20 of us, so who cares right.
We ended up down this side street with a bunch of low key open street bars. They were classy establishments, but I am sure they keep the neighbors up late.

The whole day made me realize both that I tend to assume the worst about this city (that it is overly dangerous), but also that the city is smaller than it seems. Like I was basically in 5 different zones today and got to see a good portion of them.  They seemed walkable and I am sort of happy that I got to go see them, now I want to see more.

Its possible next weekend we will head back to Antigua. I think its important that I try to strike a balance between my side goals (travel, writing, art, spanish, social life, etc) and work.
So far work has been really demanding and not very rewarding. But today was really fun and good for me. So maybe I just need to carve out more of this.