David and Elyse Guatemala 2022: A Week of Activity

Sunday, July 17

We haven’t posted in a week, so are going to try to cover a week’s-worth of activity in three short posts.

Sunday started a little late with a long walk to an organic farm on the southern edge of Antigua. As we passed through Parque Central, we caught what appears to be the very end of a parade of classic cars, one of this month’s events for Las Fiestas Reales de Santiago. It turns out that it was the ENTIRE PARADE! The crowned women waving from the cars are Miss Antigua, past and present.

We glanced around the vendor table in Parque Central and continued on our way to Finca Caoba (Caoba Farm). Elyse had come to the farm when she came to Guatemala with AJSW pre-pandemic. After walking around the grounds to admire the fresh greens, vegetable and bee hives (the bees here are very small compared to those in the US), we partook in a fantastic vegetarian farm-fresh lunch outdoors in a garden setting. As we left, we again admired the flora and vistas of the Volcan de Agua and Volcan de Fuego. As we passed back through Parque Central, David couldn’t resist photographing a hat vendor carrying all his inventory on his head and in his hands.

some lovely nasturtium growing at the farm

Elyse, cactus and Vulcan de Agua in the backgrund

Some sort of citrus fruit....

So much good food growing, arugula, kale, radishes.....

Enjoying a lemonada con mente (lemonade and mint) in the shade

Banana flowers!

Wow!

Dinner was at one of the numerous nearby options, with live music.

Monday-Friday, July 18-22

Our week was filled with studying Spanish, working virtually, and partaking of local sites, tastes and sounds in Antigua.

There are only two seasons in Guatemala – the rainy season (May-October) and the dry season (November-April). Although it is rainy season right now, the entire week was clear. We were able to get full glimpses of the surround volcanoes, including smoke belching during the day and lava spewing at night from Volcan Fuego. Thankfully, we are 12 miles away, so no danger to us. You’ll also notice in one photo the Israeli flag flying above a consulate, seemingly the only consulate in Antigua. Although a lot of Israelis would pass through Antigua pre-pandemic, it seems more like a political patronage plum for some lucky Israeli political donor to work here. There are also two photos of what remains of the Convento Santa Teresa De Jesús next door to where we are staying.

Antigua's Parque Central - lots of pigeons

A family selling wares and eating lunch

A public laundry station! We actually saw one of these in use when we passed through the Mayan village of Santa Maria de Jesus. Our guide called it the local version of "Facebook."

A clear morning right outside our building with a perfect view of Vulcan de Agua in the background. Notice the cobblestone street!

Some local handicrafts

Notice the smoke on the left peak. That's Vulcan de Fuego - and its pretty active these days!

Fuego seems to erupt three-four times an hour recently. No one seems particularly concerned..

On Thursday afternoon, we took a field trip with our Spanish school to San Juan Del Obispo, a neighboring pueblo that is home to a well-regarded but small chocolate maker, where we learned about how chocolate is made and also visited a local resident who makes wine and vinegar using locally grown fruit. Perhaps the most fun part of the trip was taking a chicken bus to and from the pueblo.

What is a chicken bus, you ask? Guatemala’s local bus system is all privately owned and operated and uses repurposed discarded schools buses from the US. Guatemalans call them camionetas, but foreign travelers refer to them as chicken buses because their cargo sometimes includes chickens or other live animals hitching a ride from town to town. They are often highly decorated in unique ways with chrome and colorful paint colors. Ours was pretty plain, but you can see some wonderful examples here.

We are on a chicken bus!

Cacao beans!

Explaining the process

Additional ingredients: cinnamon (canela), coffee beans (cafe), ginger (jengibre).

Before we left San Juan Del Obispo. We took a couple of panoramic photos from the plaza in front of La Iglesia Católica San Juan Del Obispo, one of the first catholic churches in the Americas in 1547, from where we were able to overlook Antigua.

We ended our week with a two-hour workshop at the Choco Museo, a retail chain that also provides demonstration workshops about how Cacao grows and is harvested and processed into the chocolate we know and (most of us) love. It was a fascinating learning experience for all of the senses.