Today after school today we went to Hocotenango, a neighboring town of Antigua. We walked around town, stopping at the local cemetery. Instead of being underground, the caskets are placed in family boxes (I'm not sure what they're called), most of which can fit six or seven caskets. We only saw a few ground plots.
When I first read about hostels, I pictured a big jail cell with a lot of bunk beds, where you had to sleep with your stuff so people wouldn't steal it. However, our hostel in Antigua is much different than that. While it is definitely no Marriott, it's worth the $12 a night. We have our own room (no bunk beds...) with a door padlock so nobody steals our stuff. Many of the guests here are other backpackers who have their own laptops and are not likely to steal ours even if they could. There are two shared bathrooms/showers, and a shared kitchen. Our room is pretty old and dingy compared to mid-range hotels that I've stayed at before. The bed linens look 15-20 years old, and our tiny room has one electrical outlet and a cement floor. But it has served us well for the past week. A strange thing about Antigua (and Guatemala in general) is that you can't flush the toilet paper. All dirty toilet paper must go in the wastebasket. The old pipes here have cracked from various earthquakes, so the paper catches on the rough edges and builds up inside the pipes (which obviously creates issues). Do you know how hard it is to break a habit? Try NOT dropping your toilet paper in the bowl. Today after school today we went to Hocotenango, a neighboring town of Antigua. We walked around town, stopping at the local cemetery. Instead of being underground, the caskets are placed in family boxes (I'm not sure what they're called), most of which can fit six or seven caskets. We only saw a few ground plots. I'm always surprised at how resourceful Guatemalans can be. I might try this next one at home.
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Now that we've been here in Antigua for a few days, we've developed a kind of routine. It starts with eggs for breakfast (nothing new there), and then we go to Spanish school. The school is called La Ensenanza (The Teaching). There are five or six teachers here, with one teacher per student. This school caters mostly to Mennonites and/or other related religious groups. Hubs and I are taking five hours of class per day, from 8:00 am to 1:00 pm, with a half-hour break at 10:00 am. After school we pick up some fresh tortillas at a tortilleria. Each 6" tortilla costs about $0.04. Most days, lunch consists of several mini egg/tortilla wraps with fruit on the side. Hubs likes to put black refried beans on his tortillas, and I like avocado on mine. After lunch I do my Spanish homework and we walk around the city. Today it's raining outside, so we're staying in our room; Hubs checking his email and me blogging.
In the evenings it gets dark quickly; normally by 6:00 pm. We eat dinner around that time- sometimes at a local restaurant, sometimes at McDonalds, or we might have "street food", made by local Guatemalans. The street food costs $1-2 per sandwich (or serving). McDonalds or Burger King costs as much or a bit more than in the United States, $2-3 per person (we usually get the Dollar Menu). Restaurants cost between $5-20 per plate. After eating, we head back to the hostel. Sometimes we watch a movie on the internet, or if we have spent the afternoon in town we do our blogging and email-checking or reading at night. I prefer vacations to be relaxed, but yet not boring. This vacation has been all of that, in addition to being educational yet still affordable because of our cheap accommodations, food and transportation. A great balance. Do you like vacations to be more relaxed, or packed with activities? Why? We spent Saturday touring the ancient Mayan ruins of Tikal and celebrating eight months of wonderful wedded bliss. Tikal is every hardcore homeschooler's dream. It was an ancient, prosperous Mayan city built in the middle of a jungle, a center of culture, economics, history and politics. And on top of all that, Tikal was filmed in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. It really did feel like we were in a movie, with strange plants and trees, spider monkeys hanging around and ruins all over. At Tikal it is estimated that there are around 4,000 ruins, but many of those remain unexcavated. As a 10-year-old archaeologist, I fascinated myself with "excavating" old trash dumps and "ruins" around our farm, so you can imagine how excited I was to visit a real historical site with undiscovered remains in my midst. It was pretty awesome. Our tour was led by Carlos. I didn't take many photos at Tikal. There are plenty of pictures available online and a photograph is nowhere NEAR the same as seeing it in person. The Mayans were very sophisticated in their architecture and structure of society; this is easy to say but hard to believe until you actually see what they built in person. After visiting the ruins, we spent the afternoon at the island of Flores, strolling the streets eating ice cream and enjoying the backpacker world. We met one guy who was in the process of biking from Argentina (the southern tip of the Americas!) to Alaska- a four-year journey. During the day we also talked with two Israelis, three Spaniards and also three girls from Norway, in addition to our tour guide who was a native Guatemalan and probably some other people I forgot about. If you know my husband, this should be no surprise. Before we left, we celebrated our 8-month anniversary with dinner at a restaurant over the water. We ordered barbecue chicken pizza, which was very good but nothing similar to what we eat in the states. On our way to find a taxi, we stumbled into the local beer/ Christmas tree-putting-up festival. It was pretty packed, with food, live music and lots of people. After an overnight bus ride, we were very happy to get back to our hostel and sleep for a few hours. As I write, Hubs is making friends with a Frenchman. Go figure. :)
-Bethany Yay for Friday! Today is supposed to be Fermentation Friday, but unfortunately all of my fermentation projects are at home. As far as I know, the main fermented products here in Guate are coffee (the beans are fermented) and chocolate (again, the beans are fermented). The people here are all about beans. Beans for breakfast, beans for lunch, beans for dinner, beans for drinks and beans for dessert. Cool beans. In lieu of fermentation, I'll post a few interesting things we saw while grocery shopping. Here in the markets of Guatemala they are ahead of Kroger & Walmart. Tonight we'll be boarding a bus to spend all day tomorrow touring the ruins of Tikal. It's going to be a super Saturday!
-Bethany This morning after a nice breakfast of eggs and grenadas, Hubs and I got our notebooks and left the hostel for our first day of Spanish school. I was a little nervous, but the morning went by quickly and by the time we finished I could understand more of what my teacher was saying. She did not speak to me in English at all, except to clarify some vocabulary words when I was really, really stuck. There were a lot of awkward pauses where I did not understand, or where I had to stop and think about what I wanted to say. However, my teacher Aura was very patient with me and understanding. She sure understood a lot more than I did!! After school, we took a field trip with some of the other students to a chocolate factory. Unlike Choco Museo (which makes truffles and other candy-like chocolates), Chocolate Antigua is a small business that makes traditional Guatemalan chocolate used for making drinks like hot chocolate. This chocolate was grainy- not smooth like Hershey's or other "eating" chocolate. We got to sample many different flavors, from cinnamon to coffee to chili to macadamia nut. We also were able to see some of the workers forming the chocolate into round tortilla-like patties. The warm "dough" reminded me of cookie dough. After being patted down, each wafer was marked with an "X", thereby making four servings per wafer. Each package for sale contained four wafers. They were then wrapped neatly in a square of brown paper, placed in a cellophane bag and tied with a ribbon. After visiting the chocolate place, Hubs and I went to the market for some more fruit. We found a beautiful old arch on the way back. After taking the picture, Hubs pointed out some puddles where I had been standing. Apparently this arch was a popular place to take a leak.
A not-so-nice part of Antigua... Today was a free day for us, as Spanish school starts tomorrow. After checking in with the school this morning, we headed over to the market to pick up some fruits & veggies. Most items at the market are cheaper than they are at the grocery store. Grenadas, pictured below, are delightful little fruits even though the inside looks like snot. It is similar to a pomegranate, in that you eat the seeds. We had some for lunch... yum! I look forward to trying many new fruits in the next few weeks. After lunch we took a siesta (afternoon nap!). Later in the afternoon we went down to Choco Museo where I attended a chocolate workshop called "Bean to Bar". We learned about the different steps involved in making chocolate and got to do some hands-on activities. I've dabbled in making truffles and other chocolates before, so this workshop piqued my interest. The chocolate made here in Antigua has a different, stronger flavor than any chocolate I've had. Their dark chocolate is especially flavorful. Hubs and I also sampled some cacao tea, made from the outer shell of cacao beans. It reminded me of Coco Wheats. :) We finished out the day at Pollo Campero, similar to Kentucky Fried Chicken. I relished my last night of "no hablo Espanol", for tomorrow I officially start Spanish school.
Well folks, the house is in order. All the laundry done, dishes washed, the entire fridge cleaned out so there is nothing left but condiments. My garden work finished, houseplants watered, and my beloved goats are with other capable caregivers. At 3:30 A.M. this morning, we turned off the lights and headed for Detroit Metropolitan Airport. For the next couple weeks we'll be traipsing the fine countryside of Guatemala. This week both Hubs and I will be going to a Spanish school to pick up some language skills (mostly me... Hubs is already good at it). I really like Antigua, where were are now. It is full of beautiful old Spanish Baroque architecture, flowering plants and manicured topiary trees. The cobblestone streets are lined with little shops and Guatemalans selling their wares. The sidewalks are just wide enough for the two of us to walk side by side. We find ourselves often stepping into the street to pass other pedestrians. Sometimes a crippled man or woman sits on the sidewalk asking for money. Cars drive bumper to bumper with motorcycles and tuc-tucs squeezing in wherever they can fit. Occasionally a big, loud "chicken" bus comes down the street, honking for everyone to get out of the way. All in all, it is a quaint yet exciting place to be. One of our first stops, at my request, was a grocery store. There I found my favorite food: EGGS! Once I found the most important thing, we found the second most important thing: Chiky cookies! Cheap little graham cracker-like cookies that are SO yummy. Then we also got some banannas and a few other items. Here's an interesting factoid: a half-pound of cheese costs as much as one night's room and board. Cheese, or a place to sleep? Tough choice, I know. International travel, if you have that opportunity, can give you a different perspective on life. I look forward to sharing some Guatemala-induced thoughts on lifestyle in the next few weeks.
Have you done any international travel? How has it affected you? |
BethanyHousewife, happy wife, and mama to one. :) The Housewife's Guide to
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