First Weekend in Guatemala

We Found an Apartment!
Aug. 10
Friday I met with three realtors and saw five different places. The first place I saw was what we ended up getting, and one we had seen online and liked months ago. It's very nicely done with contemporary materials; has a great, open layout with big windows and views; is just the right size with 2.5 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms; is close to Beth's school; and is next door to another couple that works at CAG! I pretty much knew right away it was the one, but still looked at others to be sure.

Beth and I saw one other place that had us really considering it strongly. It was a penthouse suite on the 15th floor of a building in the heart of Zona Viva, which is the nightlife section of Guate. It's in the process of being remodeled and looks very promising. It had AMAZING views of the city, a killer balcony, recessed lighting, upscale materials used, etc. -- and all for only $700 a month. It was really a deal and an amazing find. But, ultimately we decided that the first place made more sense financially and socially (cheaper per month and closer to school and friends). So, it was hard to turn it down, but I'm sure we'll be happier in the long run. We passed along the opportunity to some other teachers, so maybe they'll snatch it up.

Friday Evening
We walked over to the night-lifey section with Randy and Iniyl and ate at the trendy little restaurant, Taco Tento, which had tasty food for about $3.50 a plate. We picked up some Moza beer on the way back and hung out in Randy and Iniyl's hotel patio for a couple hours chatting before all retiring early.

My First Time to Antigua!
Aug. 11



After knowing of Antigua since Beth's first trip there in the summer of '03, I've been dying to visit this little, Spanish colonial town. We liken it very much to Lawrence in that it offers a lot for its size. It has tons of great artisan shops and restaurants, and is a big tourist destination. It was formerly the country's capital, but after numerous earthquakes and one especially bad one in 1773, they moved it to Guatemala City. Many of the prominent buildings have visible signs of damage, and the overall town has a charming look of old and worn Spanish colonial architecture. The town also offers great views of three volcanoes, and I could actually see the smoke billowing out of Pacaya! Awesome!



All the new faculty went to Antigua together Saturday morning for a scavenger hunt. We were broken up into five teams and we each had a section of the town to navigate on foot. I believe it's only seven blocks by seven blocks, so it's easy to get around. Plus, there's little traffic on the cobblestone roads. We had a few hours to find specific shops and sights to photograph as a group. It was a lot of fun and a good way to begin orienting ourselves, as we'll be returning often.


Casa de Santo Domingo
A high point was exploring Casa de Santo Domingo, an expansive old monastery that is now a hotel. It was lush in plants and flowers and had beautiful grounds. We got there early enough to see a worker bring out the parrots that hang out in perches during the day. Check out more pictures on Flickr.

The group met back up around 3 at a cafe for gellato and drinks (many enjoyed mojitos) and then went back to Guate. around 4. Randy, Iniyal, Beth, Jennifer (early childhood principal), and I decided earlier that we would stay the night, so we hung back and continued to explore. We continued to check out the shops and stopped off in the late afternoon at the Irish pub, Reilly's, for a happy hour beer. We broke off from Jennifer afterwards (she was staying with some friends), and the four of us checked into our hotel/hostel.




Our Cell
Our hotel room cost $12 a night and consisted of a room with a bed and nightstand. The bathrooms were communal, though with individual stalls and at the end of a hall and not part of a large bathroom. It was pretty meager and our bed was not the most comfortable ("worst pillows ever"). Our room was really stuffy as there was no airflow, and the whole place honestly looked like an old jail, with one long hall and "cells" on each side, featuring bars over the one window we got, stacked multi-storied. But I'm not complaining, as we really just needed a place to store our stuff and crash for the night.

Saturday Night
After the four of us retired to our separate rooms and rested for an hour, we met back up and headed out to find dinner. We ate at a small restaurant that could hold maybe 20 people. We chose the place based on the sign outside advertising chicken curry. Inside, it was very dark and only lit by candles, but had cool music playing and a friendly Dane running the show. There were a lot of young travelers inside smoking/drinking/eating. We sat in the back corner next to this amazing iron candle stand. It's been in use for years, as there had to have been 100 lbs. of candle wax melted on it, giving it the appearance of a spooky flower. We were all excited for our food, and what we got was generous portions of rice and veggies, and a small amount of chicken, but definitely no curry. It had more of a gravy sauce. It wasn't bad, it just wasn't curry.

After dinner we walked a couple blocks over to the Rainbow Cafe. We ate there earlier for lunch, and we really liked the food and atmosphere. The middle of the restaurant is open-air (nearly all the shops and restaurants have an open-air section since the weather is so nice), and that's where we sat for lunch, in deck chairs around a table and under the sun. We came back because they had advertised a free vodka tasting and live music at night. When we got there, the tasting was over (but apparently we didn't miss anything, as the vodka was bad, according to the waitress) and the live music was a band of high school Guatemala City boys trying their best to rock out. We had fun hanging out in the back being flies on the wall and watching the band and their friends sing along and be rowdy. The bar started closing down around 11:30, so we headed back and called it a night.

We Befriended a Dutch & Went to the Market
Aug. 12
Saturday we were up early as the hotel was uncomfortable and loud (again, not complaining) and set out to find good coffee and breakfast. That morning the views of the volcanoes were especially good as the cloud cover was minimal. We took lots more pictures. Going by our guidebook, we searched for a few places and trekked around quite a bit before finally settling at a bakery and restaurant Beth knew from her previous trip. Before we got there, we witnessed a parade, which was really neat. We think now that it was actually a funeral, but at first we thought it was just some sort of religious holiday. There was a large marching band, many people holding religious icons (lots of mini alters with Mother Mary), and even a group carrying a casket. (Side note: at the head of the casket procession appeared to be a religious leader. He was helping guide the casket, but was also on his cell phone at the same time, which I found to be hilarious in an irreverent sort of way.) Along the way, people had made "alfombras" (which means "rugs"), which were decorative arrangements of flowers in the middle of the street. They were really pretty and the procession marched right over them.



At breakfast, Beth noticed a girl sitting by herself who was working on the computer the night before at the Rainbow Cafe. Being the outgoing and thoughtful person she is, Beth invited her to join us, which she happily did. Eileen was her name and she was on a three-month trip by herself. She is in between jobs and taking a break to travel parts of California, Mexico, and Central America. Eileen is from Amsterdam and was very interesting to talk to (she spoke great English). We really admired her courage to travel all by herself. We recommended a few things to do while in Antigua and then wished her well after breakfast.

After breakfast, we gathered our belongings and checked out of the hotel. We headed over to the market and met up with Jennifer again. She led us around the maze of stalls, explaining the unique foods and wares along the way. There were lots of delicious looking fruits and veggies, loads of fresh flowers, beautiful jewelery and crafts, and a meat market. The meat market was a sight to see. I've never seen whole back-ends of cattle skinned and up on hooks before or meat sitting out in such an unsanitary way. To me, it was more interesting than disgusting, as clearly people get by with their food handled in this manner. Beth, however, was nauseated by the sights and smells, and didn't really recover the rest of the day. I think it triggered a brooding upset stomach. We actually headed back to Guate. a little early as Beth wasn't feeling great. Unfortunately, the ride back was hilly and curvy, so that didn't make it any easier on poor Beth.

Once back at the hotel, Beth was able to relax and feel better. We met up in the afternoon with our friend, Kelly (who has the amazing penthouse apartment I mentioned previously), to have dinner and watch a movie at her place. Her roommate, a native Guatemalan, and her cousin joined us, as well as another five or six of their friends. So it was fun for Beth and me to chat with them in our broken Spanish (most of them spoke fluent English) and just hang out with some locals. We also got some laundry done there, which was helpful. We headed back around 9 and were asleep before 10:30. It was a full and fun first weekend in Guatemala!