David had a few work tasks to complete before arriving a few minutes late to Spanish tutoring (how in character!). During our 30 minute break, we purchased a couple of baked treats at a local panaderia (bakery) across the street from the school and snacked in front of Iglesia de la Merced. Elyse purchased a hair band from one of the street vendors. (The street vendors are polite but aggressive and it is hard to say “no, gracias” all the time!)
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| The view from our street |
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| La Merced, the Church of Mercy, a block from our school |
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| A surprisingly clear morning, with the top of Vulcan de Agua visible |
After four hours of one-on-one Spanish, we walked a few blocks to the official tourist office to gather some information about tours and day trips. From there we walked back North toward our destination for the day, Cerro de la Cruz, which sits on the side of a hill at the north end of the city. As we looked for a place to lunch, we turned left to discover that we had completed a circle and were back near our apartment. (The city is actually quite small). We had lunch at Restaurante Frida’s, named after the Mexican painter Frida Kahlo. There were lots of Andy Warhol-style paintings of her on the walls. David had huitlacoche enchiladas (sometimes called “Corn smut”) and a locally brewed beer and Elyse had vegetarian tacos. It was delicious and delightful.
After resting back at our apartment, David went out again to
buy bread and wine only to discover that a large marketplace in the Parque
Central was already underway as part of the two week La Fiestas Reales de
Santiago. (Santiago is the patron saint
of Antigua, whose original name was Muy Noble y Muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago
de los Caballeros de Guatemala. Elyse
joined up and we walked around buying a few small items, including a round of
solid chocolate which we will need to figure out how to use. We finally picked up bread and wine and
finished the day with a Shabbat dinner of grilled vegetables, the ingredients
for which we had purchased at the Thursday market. Era muy delicioso!
Some more extraordinary flora of the area:
Buenas Noches y Shabbat Shalom!
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