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DAY 16: TREKKING UP PACAYA VOLCANO, COFFE, & ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA: RAMBLING ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE MAYA

I have to say, today was a pretty easy day for me. I made the decision yesterday to not do the optional climb up Pacaya Volcano this morning. I just didn’t think my shoulder and neck were up to it. I am saving myself for Tikal. I’d rather do that than a volcano any old day. I was doubly glad of my decision when I heard they were leaving at the crack of dawn as it was a hour and a half drive to get to the volcano. I told Doug not to wake me up when he left 🙂

And he didn’t. I woke up a tad but went right back to sleep until my alarm went off at 8 AM. I wasn’t sure how long breakfast lasted so I figured that was late enough to feel rested but still in time for brekkies. I even splurged at breakfast and got a latte. The server gave it to me for free. I figured it was because last night we had no water at all. I didn’t question it. I just enjoyed 🙂

I went most of the morning relatively pain-free which was a nice change. Of course, I didn’t do much either. I wrote on my iPad and that was about it. Sitting on the bed hasn’t caused me any pain which is good. I thoroughly enjoyed my morning. I hated missing out but I’m trying to be smart about this trip. I can’t do everything this time. The last time I had a pinched nerve, I couldn’t do much of anything for two months because of the pain. I sat on the couch. I don’t have that luxury this time. I have to get up and move. I’m hoping that that will keep it from getting worse. Plus I am doing my neck and should exercises as well. So that filled up my morning.

The volcano climbers rolled in around 12:30. For lunch we finished off the chips and cheese that we had left over from last night. Not the healthiest of choices but we needed to get rid of the food. Plus it was nice eating out in the courtyard with all of the greenery. That was way more pleasant than eating in our room.

After lunch we walked around Antigua. I was running out of ibuprofen and my muscle relaxer. Doug wanted to get some anti-fungal cream our pharmacist friend has suggested for the rash on the back of his knee. He had been putting hydrocortisone cream on it but it was getting worse instead of better. Kathi said it looked fungal to her so suggested the cream.

Liz went with us when we ventured forth. We started our hunt on Parque Central. We found the muscle relaxer and the fungal cream but not the ibuprofen 800. We hit three pharmacies before we found it, but at least we found it. Thank goodness. I was starting to get worried. The pills don’t take the pain away completely but they help make it tolerable. I don’t think anything can make it go away completely except time.

Our drug shopping complete, we headed to the store we had spotted yesterday with the large kite display on the ceiling. I believe it was called Nim Pot. It was just up a couple of blocks close to the arch we traveled through yesterday. It was chock full of “native” mementoes from carved wooden masks to T-shirts, to coffee mugs. First we enjoyed the kites, then Doug and I set off to find a mask magnet for the fridge. We found masks and mask keychains but no mask magnets.

Doug and Liz had spotted some at a shop when they had walked around the day before yesterday so we headed to the one closest to the hotel. Bingo! We picked out a small jaguar head mask and our shopping was complete. Liz had bought a turtle one when they first checked out the store.

We had passed a museum in our wandering that Liz wanted to walk through so we meandered our way to it. It was free so we all went in. The first rooms were modern art which didn’t trip my trigger or Doug’s either. However, after the modern art there were some historical displays. We saw the Guatemalan Constitution which was a huge book probably 12 inches thick. We also saw their equivalent to the Declaration of Independence as well as the musical score to their national anthem. That was neat.

Liz and I had lost Doug a while back. He was much faster than we were. It was also starting to get close to 3 PM. At 3 o’clock Carlos was taking everybody who wanted to go, to a coffee plantation. Doug had decided that he had rather do that than sit around the room. Liz had decided not to go so I left her and went to find Doug. Once I did, we made tracks for the hotel and got there in plenty of time.

The coffee plantation—La Azote— was just outside of the city. Three generations of the family have owned and run it. Carlos served as our guide here so we got a cheaper rate on the tour which was nice. Instead of paying 50Q, we paid 20Q. Even at that a few of our ladies declined, choosing to go to the cafe and drink coffee instead.

Walking through the plantation , Carlos pointed out some cotton that had been planted. The bolls of cotton looked like they were on a tree rather than the short plants we are use to. The cotton was very soft though. We also saw a pile of coffee husks that were being composted. You could definitely smell it. We also saw the flat concrete area where they dry the coffee beans. Today nothing was drying at this location.

From Carlos we learned that the coffee farmers here originally imported a tree to serve as shade for their coffee plants. Coffee must be in the shade to survive and thrive. However, the tree they imported grew a shallow root system instead of a deep one. The trees ended up killing the coffee plants instead of protecting them. These days they are in the process of digging up those imported trees and replacing them with native trees such as mango and avocado with deep root systems. This plantation has already begun that process and most of the trees we saw were native. Today because we are at the end of the dry season, the coffee plants were very dusty and drooping. They will perk up and look great after the first rain.

Coffee plants tend to bloom after the first storm of the season. The beans slowly develop and ripen. By November and December they are cherry red and ready to be harvested. The best quality of coffee comes from the red beans. So the first harvest is generally the best.

Although we are towards the end of April, we saw plenty of coffee beans still on the plants. By this point they weren’t the best quality but Carlos thought they should let the locals come in and pick them to take home. I agreed with him. It was better than wasting the beans. I’m sure the family had their reasons.

After the beans are hand-picked which would be back-breaking labor, the husk is removed from each bean. They have a machine that does that. After the husk is removed the beans are left to dry for a week or so. Then they remove the skin of the bean. They let it dry for another week. An expert sorter goes through the dried beans and selects what grade each one is thus sorting them. After that the roasting begins. We saw the mechanical roasters in action as we walked by. Carlos also informed us that the husks are used in Mexico in the making of Kailua. You learn something new every day. Here the husks they keep are composted. The skins are kept and used as fertilizer. They can also be colored and used in the floral carpets the locals make during specific religious holidays such as Easter.

The plantation had a small information center that we walked through as well. We learned that you have to pick 6.5 pounds of coffee beans to get one pound of ground coffee. That’s alot of coffee beans. The exit of the information center took us through a coffee shop—shocker :-). Doug picked up a bag of coffee for himself and one for Liz. Then we walked over to the chocolate shop and saw that they had chili chocolate so we bought a bar. It was just like the one Liz bought for us yesterday which was SO good. Doug and I just wandered a bit through the gift shop after that waiting for the rest of the folks to make their purchases. It took a while. Finally Carlos rounded us all up and we headed back to the hotel.

Our learning and discovery wasn’t finished for the day. Our dinner location just happened to be at a lady’s house who also makes chocolate for hot chocolate. Saira’s place is called the House of Chocolate. She also opens for meals Friday through Monday.

Saira was charming and entertaining as she told us her family’s story. Even though she didn’t speak English, her speaking skills were wonderful. You knew what she was feeling as she talked. Her grandmother was the chocolate maker in the family but her mother was a cook. She was the chef for the president who built the National Palace in Guatemala City. When she left the National Palace, she spent the next 15 years cooking at the National Hospital in Antigua. The doctors loved her cooking so much that they arranged for her to stay and cook just for the doctors and staff. They gave her a special space in the hospital to sell her food and drinks. She cooked there for another 15 years. Today she is completely retired but she does help Saira out.

Originally Saira was a Spanish teacher and also worked for a jeweler. Then COVID hit. Her boss at the jewelry store got angry with her because she wasn’t selling anything. Duh. I’m not sure how he could expect her to sell jewelry during COVID, but he did. She got so upset and angry because he was being unfair that she quit on the spot. Once she got home and realized what she had done, panic set in and she called her mother. Her mom calmed her down and told her that she had a talent. She could cook her good food and sell it to people on the street. So that is exactly what she did. With the support of her mother and her husband, she started out small—just four tables and one hired girl to help serve. People really liked her food and she began adding tables and staff. She even had to build another kitchen.

She also started making the chocolate. She is the third generation of chocolate makers and her daughter might just be the fourth. And speaking of her daughter, she and her husband were married for 11 years, trying desperately to have a child but with no success. During COVID when she began cooking, she got pregnant :-). Her daughter was adorable.

After telling us about herself and her family, she began demonstrating how to make the chocolate blocks for Mayan hot chocolate. In the original recipe the Mayans used water, chili powder, cacao, and blood. Blood was the most special ingredient. The Spanish, however, had to change it. They took out the blood and added sugar to make it sweet. Chocoatle was what the Mayans called it but the Spanish had a difficult time pronouncing that so they changed it to chocolate.

Saira had Benis chop open a cacoa pod and we got to see what was inside. Each bean was coated in a white gelatinous substance. Each of us took one and tasted the white coating which was sweet. We spit the bean itself out. The beans are stored in a box for six days. Then they are toasted. We toasted some outside in what was a large flat metal dish. She and one of our ladies used long wooden spatulas to move the beans around to keep them from burning. Once the beans start popping, you knew they had toasted long enough. It didn’t take long at all. After toasting, we removed the skin which was easy. You can make a tea with the roasted skin and it is good for digestion and is an antioxidant. Bean grinding comes next. Her grindstone came from her grandmother and was much like others we have seen on this trip. Saira warmed it by putting hot charcoal under the flat piece of the grindstone. Warming helps extract oil from the beans. She ground the beans the same way we had ground up tomatoes in the Mayan town of San Antonio Palopó. Once the beans were ground, she let us sample the chocolate. It was really bitter. Then she ground in sugar and let us taste it that way. It was much better.

Once it was all mixed and ground up, she and her assistant Antonia made patties out of the chocolate. It was rather like making the tortillas. They placed the chocolate patties on a reed mat and scored each patty into four sections with a knife. Then they let them dry. During the drying process, the patty becomes quite hard and takes on the texture of the mat.

When telling us about her grindstone, she also related that it had three different uses. The first was to grind things for cooking. The second was for exercise as it is work grinding everything up. The third was for whacking your husband when he made you mad. Saira had quite a sense of humor 🙂

With the demonstration completed, it was time to sample the chocolate drink. She had tiny disposable cups filled with ground up chocolate and we dumped it into a cup of hot water and used a special wooden tool like a blender to mix it all up. Once it started forming bubbles, it was ready for consumption. And it was good!

Then it was time for dinner. Saira served it buffet style and we had several things to choose from. We had tostado shells we could put guacamole and frijoles on as well as cheese and salsa, we had tamales, empanadas, rice, and I forget what else. It was all delicious. Strangely, here they call tostados enchiladas.

We were all quiet at dinner, enjoying the meal then we cleaned up after ourselves (voluntarily) and hauled our dishes into her kitchen. She was embarrassed when we spotted a box of Cheerios on her counter. She quickly put it out of sight :-). Somehow, I bet they were for her daughter.

After dinner it was shopping time. Saira had some jewelry she had made plus her disks of chocolate for making hot chocolate. We didn’t buy anything but a majority of our group did. It was a good night for Saira. I was glad. She was quite a young woman. I admired and liked her.

Mañana we are bound for Pepén, Guatemala. It’s our last stop in this beautiful country. And it is close to the most famous Mayan ruins in Guatemala—Tikal. In many ways our visit to these ruins will be the highlight of the trip. I just hope my pinched nerve doesn’t take all of the pleasure out of it for me. I just hope I can do it! At this point, all I can do is try.

DAY 15: ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA: RAMBLING ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE MAYA

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We are in the Antique City and went for the gold today. Despite my pain handicap, I made it through the entire day better than I did yesterday. Weird, I know, but I was grateful. I won’t say pain wasn’t involved but I managed to do everything the group did plus more 🙂

After a small but nice buffet breakfast, we met our local guide for the day, Judith (the “j” is pronounced like an “h”). She use to be an OAT trip leader as well so I knew we were in great hands.

Antigua is the third colonial city. From 1543 through 1773 it was the site of the capital. At that point in time its name was City of Saint James of the Knights of Guatemala. That’s a mouthful. After several Kaqchikel uprisings in the capital and a devastating earthquake, the capital was moved yet again. The City of Saint James of the Knights of Guatemala became la Antigua Guatemala (the Old Guatemala).

The city has an approximate population of 42,300 people so it is much smaller than Guatemala City, a fact I sincerely appreciated. It is surrounded by three enormous volcanoes and mountains. Two of the volcanoes are Agua (Water) and Fuego (Fire). Water Volcano gave us a point of reference getting back to the hotel. If we walked towards it, we were heading in the correct direction.

Ethnically diverse, two of the largest Mayan groups live in the city as well as Garifuna, Xinca, Afro-Guatemalan, Ladino, and ex-pats. Tourism is the major source of income in the city Next is coffee, agriculture, and then weaving. In 1979 the city was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its outstanding Spanish Baroque-influenced architecture, its grid layout, its churches, ruins, and its history. The cobblestones that form the streets and avenues these days are relatively new. The city started adding them in the 19th century.

Like El Salvador and Honduras, Guatemala also has earthquakes. Antigua has seen some devastating ones over the centuries. In fact, Judith told us that they had two tremors just yesterday, one after we arrived. I certainly didn’t feel it. The people here just take the tremors in stride. I’m not sure that I could.

We started our exploration by passing through the pale yellow Arch of Santa Catalina convent on Fifth Avenue which is the most famous avenue in the city. Originally the arch was constructed in the 17th century to connect the convent to the school across the street. The arch contains a walkway that allowed the cloistered nuns to walk back and forth without being seen. In the 1830s the clock was added on top.

Benis dropped us off a few blocks before the arch and we browsed the many shops along the way as we walked towards the arch. One particular mercado had a display of the kites I talked about the other day, suspended from the ceiling. They were impressive. We also made a note to come back here to look for souvenirs.

The streets were busy with tourists and locals bustling about. Cars bumped their way over the cobblestones. The traffic, however, wan’t so bad that you had to wait long to cross a street. Compared to Guatemala City, this place was a sleepy town. As such, it was no problem standing out in the middle of the road to snap the most famous photo of Antigua—the street running through the arch. Actually the better photo was after you passed under the arch and shot back down the street. Framed within the arch was the dome of a beautiful yellow church.

We made our first stop at the Church and Convent of La Merced. This church is a lovely yellow with white stucco work making it look like a wonderfully decorated cake. It’s probably one of the prettiest exteriors I’ve seen. The yellow was cheerful and inviting. The white the stucco work was delicate and intricate. The exterior was an amazing work of art.

The church was dedicated in 1767, just six years before the Santa Marta Earthquakes. It sustained little damage thanks to the new construction techniques used. However, if memory serves, the dome did collapse. Earthquakes caused most of the domes on the churches to collapse.

We were able to go inside but they didn’t allow photos. I have learned that in Central America, even if the exterior is fancy, the interior isn’t, unlike the churches we explored in Sicily. The alters are beautifully crafted along with the side chapels but the main portion of the churches are relatively simple. I can appreciate that.

This church is famous for its brown-skinned Virgin Mary. The church had the sculptor give her dark skin to get buy-in from the indigenous population. However, it was a time of prejudice. The Spanish did not see the local people as equal to them so the Mayans had to stay outside to worship. The slaves were baptized outside by the simple cross in the courtyard. Inside was a Coptic cross that was acceptable to the Mayan culture.

It was interesting to note that most of the statues had real clothes and wigs. Judith explained that in the cities the statues of Mary have blonde, curly hair because that was considered beautiful there. However, in the rural areas, Mary has dark, straight hair because the rural people were mostly Mayan. One of the statues of Mary has her crying. The tears were created with diamonds. The statue of Jesus is carried around town during the procession. This particular statue has glass eyes. The pipe organ in the church is quite old. If a pipe breaks, they have to send it to Germany for repairs.

Instead of hopping back on the bus, we followed Judith back down the street and back through the Arch. As we walked Judith pointed out how high up the door knockers were in the city. Rather like in El Salvador with the extra high sidewalks, the knockers were placed high here so that people riding horses wouldn’t have to dismount to knock on the door. They could do it seated on their horse.

While we ambled down the road, Judith told us more about her city. There are six colors that people can paint their houses. They can’t have a two level house and they must put on a tile roof. I believe these regulations all stem from the fact that the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. UNESCO is very strict about keeping its sites as authentic as possible. That’s good for them but difficult for the people who have to live with the rules.

Anyway, we learned a slew of miscellaneous facts. For instance, the city is 48% Catholic. There are 37 volcanoes in the area with four that are active now. We actually saw Fuego Volcano burping smoke into the air. It was definitely active! In the past the first daughter born generally entered the convent to become a nun at an early age. Disease was a problem in the city. They didn’t know about germs like we do. Leprosy was one of the major illnesses. When the city was first built, the people had to go to the rivers for water. Eventually they built aqueducts to bring water to the town.

In front of the mermaid fountain in Parque Central where water was shooting out of the mermaids’ breasts, she told us that the mayor had this fountain especially constructed to encourage women to breast feed their babies. At that point in time women of the upper class didn’t want to. They hired wet nurses to nurse their babies for them. The mayor thought these mermaids would encourage the reluctant women to do it. The mermaids were replaced in the mid-1900s. The originals are in the museum at the Palacio de Los Capitanes-Generales, Mermaids have another meaning here as well. They represent sin. I’m not sure why but they do. So I’m not sure the major got his message across to the women with a fountain of creatures representing sin squirting water out of their nipples.

Parque Central is the main town square. We had walked around it some yesterday. Judith explained that the squares or plazas here were constructed on the cardinal points and each side had a specific designation. For example the church was always built on the eastern side. Commerce was on a specific side, and government was on a specific side. Each square was built in this pattern. It was another example of how nicely the city was organized.

As we slowly made our way through the plaza to the Cathedral, Judith ran into a Mayan woman she knew who was selling her weaving. She took a few minutes to introduce her to us and allowed us to us to check out her wares which were piled on her head and in her arms. She had some gorgeous woven pieces and a couple of our ladies did make purchases. I also saw a man walking the streets with probably 50 hats balanced on his head. He was a hat salesman but he reminded me of the kid’s book “Caps For Sale.”

St. Joseph Cathedral is found on the east side of Parque Central. The current white cathedral was built after the earthquake in 1773 which destroyed the old cathedral whose ruins lie behind it. I came to learn quickly that Antigua is the city of church ruins. You couldn’t spit without hitting a ruined church.

The exterior of the cathedral was a brilliant white with 16+ statues in niches in the front facade. The inside showcased a copy of the original black Jesus which was made from dark wood. It also had the 14 stations of the cross inside. Here, too, statues were clothed and bewigged. Some of the Virgin Mary statues had straight dark hair and others long blonde curls.

From the courtyard of the Cathedral, Judith pointed out Fuego belching smoke. We all stood transfixed watching the column of smoke rise higher and higher. It was quite the sight for those of us who don’t routinely see volcanoes smoking. And that would everybody in our group :-). Every few minutes Fuego belched another gout of smoke. He was really puffing today.

Our next church stop was San Francisco el Grande, a Franciscan church. There were two main Catholic groups who established themselves here—the Franciscans and the Dominicans. The Franciscans were more liberal and easy going. The Dominicans were conservative and strict. St. Francis’ church is the second most popular in Antigua with the Cathedral being first. I loved the spiral columns on either side of the main door. This church had seen better days. It still showed damage from earthquakes but I really liked it. It looked its age. Interestingly it had a mix of Jewish and Mayan symbols in its third chapel which had the only original dome in town. The chapel also had a shrine to Peter of Saint Joseph Betancur. One of the popes actually came here and canonized the man as a saint. Much of the church is still in ruins which you can tour for a fee. The church marks the beginning of the Calle los Pasos (Steps Street) which holds the Stations of the Cross and used to be walked solemnly

Inside the church we were privileged to see a woman walking back and forth to the alter on her knees. People do this when asking for something. They walk on their knees up and back several times and light candles. My knees ached just watching her.

The interior was swathed with yards of blue, white, and yellow cloth. It lent a festive air to the church. Behind the alter I saw an ornate display of statues in gold leaf niches. We checked out the third chapel and Judith pointed out the Jewish symbols as well as the Mayan symbols. It was interesting to see them in a Catholic Church. It reminded me of Rosslyn Church in Scotland. The interior of the dome was decorated with intricate stucco work. I was glad it had survived all of the earthquakes. It was beautiful. In a side chapel Judith pointed out a wooden sculpture of the crucifixion that she thinks has the most beautiful face of Jesus. The artistry was amazing.

After exploring the chapel, we went back outside into the heat. When asked Judith did tell us that the Inquisition had made it here to Guatemala but it was mostly in Mexico. Most Catholic Churches were built on top of Mayan temples which wasn’t surprising as we have seen that literally all over the world. The Catholics were crafty though. They used Mayan beliefs to get them to do what they wanted. For example, they used the sun symbol to get the Mayan people to bow and drop to their knees. As we have learned, the sun was sacred to the Mayan people.

Our next stop was a 5-star hotel—Hotel Casa Santo Domingo. The hotel/spa is built around the ruins of the Santo Domingo Church and Monastery. The church and monastery are ruins whose history goes back to 1538 when the Dominicans came to Guatemala. The monastery and church were destroyed in the 1773 Santa Marta earthquake.

The hotel has built several museums around the artifacts found at the location. We wandered through the ruins of the chapel, trying to imagine what it looked like in its heyday. There wasn’t much left, just some partial walls.

On a non-religious note, they did have two macaws out in one of the gardens. I don’t think the birds were thrilled to be there though. Their wings were clipped so they couldn’t fly away. Originally they were pets. When the owners could no longer care for them, the hotel took them in. Judith said that all they did was sleep and eat. They were not happy but they also couldn’t survive in the wild.

We walked through several museums with artifacts as we strolled through the hotel grounds. The most interesting one was a display of artifacts paired with contemporary works done in glass. It was fascinating to see the match-ups and the different interpretations. The modern pieces came from all over the world.

In the colonial period museum, we saw a room that had been a kitchen. The most interesting part here were the pottery cups that girls and their beaus would exchange. Back then there was no such thing as dating so this exchange was as close as they could come to flirting and communicating with each other. The cups would have things written on them much like our candy hearts we give on Valentine’s Day.

In another museum we saw the bones of a young child that was discovered during the excavation of the area. They found several bodies. The archeologists believe they were the bones of children given to the church by parents because they had buck teeth, spina bifita, or a cleft palet. This children were considered the bear the sin of their parents so they were often given to the church. They left the one skeleton in place as a remembrance.

We also saw the underground crypt of the clerics. When one of them died, the others held a wake for them in the chapel. Then they were buried in the floor of the crypt with their habit and Rosary. On display was one of the skeletons. I’m not sure if it was the real skeleton or a replica.

For a sweet change of pace, we invaded the chocolate store that was mixed in with the various museums. They had chili chocolate so we bought another bar to savor. You can never have too much chili chocolate!

Our next stop was lunch were I savored a sampler of three different stews. It ended up being way more than I could eat. Plus one of them was much too spicy for my taste. I had to eat rice to cool the flames in my mouth. It was all tasty; I just wasn’t very hungry.

After lunch we were on free time but Carlos arranged an outing for everybody who wanted to go. We took a ride to the House of Jade. I had no clue that jade was discovered by the Mayans. They came from all over Central American to the mines in Guatemala. Archeologists believe that it was used as currency. The Mayans also believed that to get to the Other World, you had to have a piece of jade in your mouth.

Jade is only found in four places—Myanmar, Japan, Russia, and Guatemala. Myanmar and Guatemala are the only places you can find black jade. Imperial jade is the best and is a brilliant green. Jade is also a hard stone which makes it perfect for me. I am hard on stones, especially in rings. It is heavier, cooler, and shinier than the material used to make “fake” jade. Our guide at the factory shared these bits of information with us as well as showing us the array of colors jade has. Who knew there was lavender jade? That definitely peeked my interest.

After our short lecture, we took a walk through the factory area where we saw men cutting, shaping and polishing the stones. It was delicate, precise work. It was quite interesting to watch. Then it was time to shop:-)

Normally I don’t buy too much on trips but I have to admit that today I wanted to get a jade necklace. I was looking at some lavender jade circles that were symbolic to the Mayans when Doug pulled me away. He had found a lavender dog bone. It immediately made me think of Kona who I still miss terribly. I actually started crying. I walked out of the store with the dog bone necklace. It’s not very Mayan but it is personal to me, just like Doug knew it would be. He knows me well:-). Then it was back to the hotel on the bus for those who wanted to go back. Liz, Doug, and I chose to walk back. I was hurting but doing okay and tired of missing out on things at this point.

Liz was on a mission and we wanted to help her. Over 20 years ago she came her with her daughter’s Spanish class (her daughter was the teacher). Liz came as a chaperone. Both love Frida and found a Frida cafe here. They both bought T-shirts. Liz wanted to go back and get a picture for her daughter and another shirt.

Luckily for me the cafe was nearby at the arch, not far from the jade factory. We found it easily. It was still open and doing a good business. Liz got her shirt and we snapped her photo outside. She was a happy camper. I was happy for her. Then we began the walk back to the hotel.

It wasn’t truly a long walk but by now it felt like a long one to me. We stopped and admire a sun dial attached to one of the old buildings. I also snapped a photo of one of the many ruined churches here—El Carmen Church. The facade was still intact and it was gorgeous. We couldn’t go inside because they were doing work on it. But it was worth taking several minutes to admire the exterior. The columns were a glorious collection of plain and carved. It took my breath away. Maybe else days we’ll go back and see the ruins themselves.

Eventually we made it back to the hotel where I collapsed on the bed. I was all done in. But I was proud that I had made it through the entire day. It had been a challenge but I did it. However, we still had one more outing—shopping for dinner since tonight was on our own.

Carlos took everybody who wanted to go to a large supermarket. We went as we had decided to have one of our Junk Nights. Liz was in with us. We found beer, cheese,, ham, and chips. Doug also got a nut mix to round things out. Junk nights aren’t healthy but kind of nice to just relax and not have a big meal. With the beautiful courtyard at the hotel, we had the perfect place to enjoy. We weren’t the only ones going this route. Most of the group was shopping for dinner with us.

We met Liz in the courtyard for Happy Hour and found out that Carlos had bought pizza, beer, and wine for everybody who was interested. I thought that was sweet. We drank one of our beers and saved the others. The pizza nicely rounded out of junk food selections.

To make up for our lack of hot water, the hotel actually supplied us with beer and wine so we didn’t have to broach what Carlos had purchased. OAT was also letting us do the last optional excursion of the main trip for free. That saved us $180 so it was nothing to sneeze at. The problem wasn’t OAT’s fault but it was nice that they were trying to make it up to us. And the water was suppose to be fixed. So it was all good.

Back in the room I found out that the hot water wasn’t working. In fact, we didn’t have water at all! That was disappointing. I had to remind myself of my mantra, “It’s all a part of the adventure.” Thank goodness they had a water station where we could get filtered water as well as hot water for drinking. At least I was able to have my hot tea.

Tomorrow is volcano hiking day. It is an optional excursion and I opted out. I honestly didn’t think I could make it. Plus I was saving myself for Tikal. I was going to do those fabulous ruins come hell or high water. If I had to skip the volcano, then I would. Doug and Liz are going as well as most in our group. I’ll just do it vicariously through them. I can’t say I’m sorry to be missing a 4 AM wake-up. And a day of rest will be good for my pinched nerve.

DAY 14: TRAVEL DAY TO ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA: RAMBLING ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE MAYA

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As beautiful as our lodging has been here in Santa Catarina Palopó, I can’t say I was sorry to leave. I loved the town but our room was just too warm. I was ready to get to a hotel where I could cool off after sweating all day. I had high hopes for Antigua as one of our ladies had checked out our next hotel online. It had A/C 🙂

The morning started out much earlier for Doug than for me since he was zip lining and I was not. I got up leisurely, Got our luggage out before the appointed time, and enjoyed breakfast solo. Then I enjoyed some reading time and just being lazy which is unheard of on a trip. I met up with the others who had chosen not to do the optional and Benis drove us to the zip liners and we took them onboard. They all had a great time.

I was sad to have missed it but I was really sad when I heard that they saw spider monkeys and coati mundi. There was even a baby coati. I was so jealous! I knew I had made the correct choice but it was hard missing out on the wildlife. Little did I know that I had a chance for some chicken excitement before lunch.

But first we stopped in the town of Sololá which is the largest Mayan city and has the best market in all of Central America. The market was an explosion of color, smells, and sights. Most of the women were dressed in traditional clothing. We only saw a couple of men dressed traditionally in the pants and overlaying skirt piece. Most were in jeans and shirts. We wandered around behind Carlos through the piles of beautiful produce, the baskets of dried fish, the piles of shoes (I had to wonder if they had come from the dump in Guatemala City), the selection of electronics, the stuffed animals….We saw women balancing large loads on their heads. It was a show just watching everything going on and seeing the crazy combinations of items displayed next to each other. Who would have thought to place pot scrubbers next to dried pumpkin seeds? We spent probably twenty minutes in the market enjoying the chaos before calling it a day.

After the market as we were driving down the mountain, Carlos gave us the option of taking a chicken bus down the rest of the mountain to our lunch stop. Several of us jumped at the opportunity. I think the others thought we were crazy. Hey, it was all a part of the adventure.

We pulled over and got the first one heading where we needed to go. We slowed them down because it took a while for all of us to board. The front was so packed with people it was difficult to make our way to the back where there were empty seats. Carlos kept telling us to hurry. We did the best we could. We ended up at the very back of the bus which was good because it wasn’t so packed back there. We could actually sit two to a seat and stead of three like they were in front.

I hadn’t even sat down when the driver took off. I think as soon as Carlos got on board, he closed the door and put the bus in gear. Then the wild ride down the mountain began. And it was a wild ride. It felt like we were zooming around curves at 100 mph. I was sliding around all over the seat. I felt sorry for the young man I was sharing it with. I was hanging on for dear life. We all were. The local travelers didn’t seem bothered by the speed or the careening around curves. We flew down that mountain in what felt like record time. We all bet that we were way ahead of Benis and our bus.

We must have ridden for 20 or so minutes when we came to our lunch stop. Carlos gave us the heads-up that we were getting off. We all stood and prepared for the stop. Yet once again we were too slow. There were so many people sitting in the very front row of seats that it was almost impossible to squeeze by them. We managed though. I know the driver was glad to get rid of the pokey Americans who were slowing him down :-). That’s alright. We all had a great time.

Our bus wasn’t as far behind us as we thought. They soon caught up with us while we were using the banõs at Restaurant Chichoy. We could actually order anything we wanted off of the menu which is very unusual. Usually we are given a few choices to pick from. Not today. However, Doug and I went with the chicken soup that Carlos suggested since it was a truly local dish. Actually it was called hen soup. I assumed the chicken was in the soup so imagine my surprise when a huge plate came out with a big soup bowl in the middle surrounded by a chicken breast, vegetables, and rice. I had ordered it wanting something light for lunch. That didn’t work out so well. However, the chicken was good and I loved the actual soup. I cut up pieces of chicken and tossed them into the broth as well as the vegetables. That was tasty but I couldn’t come close to eating it all.

Back on the bus we continued on our way to Antigua. We hit the city around 3 PM which was right on time. Carlos had Benis drop us off at the main square. We walked to the hotel so we would know where to find things when we went out by ourselves. We had a few meals on our own here. Antigua is built like a chessboard. The streets run east-west and the avenues go north-south. Our hotel is on 9th Street B (the B means the street is not a through one whereas 9A is). The main square is only five blocks away from Hotel Genesis.

Because Antigua is an old city (Antigua means old) and because of the historic churches here, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Walking around I could understand why. I could also understand why it is a huge tourist destination. It was quaint and beautiful.

The hotel was on a back street. It was part of a long building and looked nondescript as we approached it. However, inside was an explosion of greenery. I felt like I had walked into the secret garden. It was beautiful. Our room was pretty darn luxurious as well. And it had A/C which I promptly turned down to cool off the room.

We had a few hours before dinner so Doug and Liz did a walkabout. I was hurting too much. Every step was painful. I rested until Doug got back. I have never taken so many naps on a trip before. It’s very frustrating. But you do what you have to do. For me it was seeing Tikal. I will baby myself between now and then if it means I can see those ruins.

We met in the lobby at 6:30 to head out for dinner at a swanky place whose name I didn’t get. Our table was set with beautiful quetzal bird placemats. Lovely silverware and glasses made up the place settings. Gate 1 had a large group in the front of the restaurant so they seated us in the back near a pond with rose petals on the water. Delicate lights hung down reflecting in the water. It was such a lovely setting.

Doug, Liz, and I were excited when the server said they had Moza beer. Liz and Doug had sampled it at the market the day before. It’s a dark beer which we all three like. However, the Moza we were served wasn’t dark. I’m not sure what it was other than nasty. I’m sure somebody out there likes it but none of the three of us cared for it at all. If we hadn’t paid for it, I wouldn’t have drank it. It reminded me of the beer wine that we got once in our Beer of the Month club. It wasn’t our cup of tea. The rest of the meal was excellent though. My steak was cooked perfectly and tasted great with the pepper sauce. The people who ordered fish were surprised that it arrived wrapped like a gift in clear cellophane. None of us had seen that before. They enjoyed their fish as well.

We had a rude awakening when we went to take our shower back at the hotel. There was no hot water. Sheesh! Both of us sucked it up and took cold showers. The word was that the hot water was out in the entire hotel which is not large, by the way. It was suppose to be fixed tomorrow. I sincerely hope so.

The antique city of Antigua is our oyster tomorrow. We shall explore her to the best of our ability. Hopefully I hold up better tomorrow than I did today. I can but hope 🙂

DAY 13: A DAY IN THE LIFE IN SAN ANTONIO PALOPO, GUATEMALA: RAMBLING ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE MAYA

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I survived our Day in the Life of a Mayan town :-). It had nothing to do with the town itself but rather my shoulder and neck. The pinched nerve has definitely not improved but has gotten steadily worse. Last year when I had it, I couldn’t do anything but sit on the couch for weeks. I don’t have that luxury this time. And fortunately it hasn’t reached the point it did last time when my fingers would go numb. I’m armed now with exercises that I can do. I just wish they would kick in faster! I’m a tough old bird though so I will get through this and try not to miss out on too much on the trip.

To get to the Mayan town of San Antonio Palopó we took a boat. This morning was a tad more clear although the volcano was still shrouded in mist. You could at least see the outline of it a bit better. Some of the other peaks were clearer as well. The water of the lake was like glass so it was a very smooth ride across the water which was good for one of our ladies as she gets seasick easily. It was a pleasant way to start the morning.

Lake Atitlan with Atitlan Volcano in the background

San Antonio Palopó is also inside the crater but it is closer to the Atitlan Volcano. Here they do terrace farming. They have to as it is straight up a mountain. However, they are subject to mud slides and one killed 20+ people. As we neared the town, we saw colorfully dressed women down at the shore washing their clothes on the rocks in the water. It must have been wash day. They have been washing their clothes like this for generations. Although they have running water in their homes and could do it there, traditions die hard in this town. They have switched over to using detergent to wash with which has caused issues since that is putting chemicals into the lake water that is detrimental to the fish.

We also saw a fleet of small boats not much larger than big canoes along the shore. The men here are night fishers. They say it is the best time to catch the fish. I’m sure it’s much cooler as well.

Off the boat we met up with a young lady named Sophia who was our local guide today. She was beautiful in her tradition clothing. Her long black hair was wound around her head with the aid of a long band of brightly colored material. On top of that she wore a folded woven rectangle of material matching the pattern of her skirt to shade her from the sun. She demonstrated how she could also use that material to form a shopping bag. Pretty ingenious.

Sophia had lived here her entire life so she knew all of the short cuts and long cuts in the town which was up the side of the hill. We spent all morning going up and down. The streets and alleyways were a maze that I would have gotten lost in with our her expert guidance. Our first stop of the day was at the women’s weaving co-op. It has been going strong for years.

Sophia ushered us inside the small three-sided building and handed us over to Maria who was going to tell us about weaving in general. She spoke very little English or Spanish so Sophia translated into Spanish and Carlos translated it into English. It was a bit convoluted but it worked. The three of them have done this before. Several young girls went to each of us and gave us tiny woven bracelets as a gift. They even tied them on for us. That was really sweet.

We learned that the Mayans lost a little bit of their culture when the Spanish came because they brought artificial coloring with them. Up until then the Mayans used natural items to dye their thread with. She showed us several examples of natural coloring. Who knew that using a red onion would produce green dye? We also learned that it depended on when you harvest the onion or other plant as to what color you got. For example you got a dark almost army green if you harvested the onion during the full moon. Your green was brighter and lighter if you harvested during the new moon.

To get a red you used the cochineal insect. That bug was just behind indigo as the biggest export from the country in the 18th century. Red was quite popular. If you added a couple of drops of lemon juice, you could change the shade. For the Mayan people the red color represented the blood of their ancestors so it was quite important to them.

The first step in the process of weaving was to plant and harvest the cotton. The men grew it. Then the women had to remove the seeds so they could then use a spindle to create the thread. It looked so easy when Maria did it. A couple of our women gave it ago. I knew I wasn’t coordinated enough to even try. I do know my limits :-). One had a hard time the other was pretty good. After the thread was made, Maria put it into banana water to make the thread hold the color when she dyed it. Then she dunked it into the pot of dye. The length of time the thread sat in the dye depended on what shade she wanted. She rinsed the newly dyed thread in banana water again and then let it dry. Once dry she rolled it into a ball and was ready to combine the different colors she wanted to use into a big ball. To do this the ladies use a flat board with several pegs sticking up from it. We watched as an older woman carefully wove the different colors around the pegs. She used a different method with each color. It was painstaking work but easily done by her since she’s been doing it her entire life. After the colors were combined, then it was time to weave.

In the Mayan culture the women use the back strap loom which makes narrow pieces. Traditionally the men use the foot loom which makes larger pieces of material. To use the back strap loom you hook the top end to a pole or whatever is convenient. Then you hook the other end around each side to your back. Most of the women I saw using one sat on the other end. The loom was then suspended in front of them. I can’t even begin to explain how they went about the actual weaving. It was too complicated for me. The older Mayan lady made it look simple. Rather her than me.

Of course modern times have changed weaving a bit in the town. They still use natural dyes but also use artificial ones. Sophia passed around two scarves so we could tell the difference. The natural scarf was soft and more textured. The synthetic didn’t feel as nice. I think it might have been done on a foot loom as well as it seemed very tightly woven. There was a definite difference between the two. I preferred the natural.

After the demonstration it was time to check out the wares. We all went to town knowing that it was for a good cause. These women work hard to create scarves and table runners. Because they can only weave in their spare time, it can take three months to finish a piece. All of the woven items were works of art. I had spotted one table runner that kept catching my eye as Maria had talked to us. It was simpler than some of the others and only two colors. But something about it appealed to me. Then I found out that Maria had made it herself and that sealed the deal, especially when we found out they took credit cards. It would have vastly depleted our cache of Quetzal. I even got a picture of Maria holding it. It will always be one of my most treasured souvenirs. It was pricey but given how long she had to work on it, well worth the price.

Maria proudly displaying her work that I purchsed

After the shopping frenzy had abated and we found the lost wallet of one of our travelers—it had gotten buried under some scarves when she laid it down—we were off for more learning and discovery. We were doing more shopping, this time at the local market. There is nothing like being given a piece of paper with a word on it you can’t read and being told to buy it for as little as possible.

My word was “wisquiles” and I was suppose to get two for less than 10Q. Liz used her phone which has GoggleFi (it gives her Internet access) and found out that it was some type of green vegetable. I started at the back of the market and worked my way forward without any luck. Finally I showed my slip of paper to one of the ladies and she pointed me in the correct direction. The young man manning the produce at his area pointed out which vegetable it was and told me 6Q. I selected two of them. I didn’t have any idea of how to tell a good one from a bad one so I just picked two. He bagged them and then asked for 12Q. Oops, he knew I needed two so I assumed the 6Q was for both. Nope. I only had the 10Q so he very nicely gave them to me for that amount. Whew! Then we had to find the wood that Doug was supposed to purchase. It turned out to not be firewood but a small bundle of aromatic wood. I’m not sure what it was used for but it did smell good.

I don’t think Carlos thought I had shopped well but it was the best I could do. I don’t think many people brought him back change :-). As we left the market and followed Sophia uphill, we noticed that the market continued upstairs as well. We might have gotten better prices up there. Too late now though. And when you translated it into dollars, my two wisquiles were under $2.0

Our next stop was at a private home. One of the rooms was devoted to the Patron Saint of the town who is Saint Anthony. Paola who doesn’t know how old she is, had taken on the honor of caring for the shrine for two years. Usually a family hosts the shrine for a single year but nobody had been able or willing when her time was up so she happily agreed to a second year. Even though families in the brotherhood of people caring for Saint Anthony are eager to host, it isn’t always possible for them to do it. Your home has to be open to people to visit the shrine every day 24/7. On top of that you have to refurbish it with fresh flowers every day. Burn incense, etc. It is time consuming and expensive. People do gift the hosting family flowers to help out. Others give gifts of money to help as well.

The shrine itself was heaped with flowers around a wooden box with a glass front. Inside you could see a small statue of Saint Anthony. There were larger statues grouped around the box and pictures on the walls behind the display but the star of the show was the small Saint Anthony. It was the community’s treasure as the statue dated back to the colonial period. It was old.

On June 13th the community takes the statue out and parades it through town in celebration of St. Anthony’s Day. It is quite the occasion here. They put him on a special cart for the event and attach fireworks to the back of the cart that they shoot off. I believe Carlos said that this is the only day he comes out of the box and people can touch the statue.

Saint Anthony is the saint you pray to if you have lost something. You give him a gift, light a candle and the way the flame bends tells you the direction you need to look for that item. St. Anthony is also the mediator on all things between the town and God.

We left Paola and headed up and down stairs and through tiny passageway until we reached the home of Marcella. She was the one we had bought the food for. She is one of the town’s three midwives. Single-handed she has raise her children. As a midwife she doesn’t get paid much for her services as people here can’t afford much. She managed to scrape by though and OAT groups help supplement her with food.

Once again it was a three-way conversation between Marcella, Sophia, and finally Carlos to us. Marcella told us that her skills as a midwife are a gift from God which is why she doesn’t ask for much money for her services. She delivered her first baby at the age of 25 when she was still an apprentice. She was supposed to assist the actual midwife but the woman didn’t show up for the birth. The family asked Marcella to do it and she did. That first baby was a boy and now he is 42 and living in the U.S. Over the course of her career she believes she has delivered over 100 babies but can’t be sure of the exact amount as she has never learned numbers.

In a typical month she may deliver 4-6 babies. She had delivered 4 so far this year. Typically midwife care starts at 6th month mark of the pregnancy. The midwife checks to make sure the baby is in the correct position. When it gets near the time of birth, if the baby is breach, the midwife uses massage to get the baby in the correct position. That certainly didn’t work for me. Samantha was determined to be a breach baby and I ended up having a C-section. Anyway, there is a medical clinic in town that has an ambulance. In case of an issue during the birth, they can get the mother to the clinic for help. After the birth the midwife will visit the new mother for 4-5 days, changing the covering over the umbilical piece still attached to the baby. They also warm that stub which help it to dry up and fall off faster. Most mothers save the umbilical and keep it in a special room. They take it out on the baby’s first birthday. Some keep it forever while others chose to bury it under the three rocks they have in keeping with Mayan beliefs. They burn the placenta as Mayans believe that assists the mother in healing quicker.

The midwives to have to abide by strict regulations. For instance, they cannot prescribe natural medicines for their patient. The pregnant woman must get her prenatal vitamins from the clinic. As a sign of respect, the midwife is called “grandmother.” Although most prospective mothers prefer home births, the families that can afford to give birth at the clinic generally chose that option.

As we left, we filled up a plastic tub with the food we had purchased. She was very grateful. Small and petite, she was strong and timeless. I have a feeling that she will be delivering babies for a very long time.

Sophia led us from Marcella’s up long winding stairs and through more narrow passages. At intervals explosions would startle us. There was a birthday celebration in the neighborhood and they were shooting off fireworks like our cherry bombs. It startled me every time one went off. Not a good thing when traversing narrow stairs with no handrails!

Finally we all made it unscathed to the house of Raquel. Actually it was her parent’s house but they were both at the birthday celebration nearby. Her father was a musician and he was playing music for it. Her mother was the birthday person’s godmother. So it fell to Raquel and her cousin to feed us lunch. Both girls were young, in their mid twenties. Raquel is still single. She was cute, personable, and had a great sense of humor. She was fun. Her cousin was shy and didn’t speak much. Nine people live here as well as five cats and assorted birds. It was a full house when everybody was home.

We kicked off our home-hosted meal by presenting our gifts to Raquel. We gave her a hot pad that Samantha had crocheted. Another couple gave them chocolate and a tea towel with the state of Florida embroidered on it. Another gifted her with home-made preserves. She got a nice collection of thoughtful gifts.

Then the two girls demonstrated some typical Mayan cooking techniques for us. First they showed us us how to make the small corn tamales. These were pure corn, no meat filling like I grew up with. The corn was already ground up so the cousin shaped it into a sausage and showed us how to wrap it up in the green corn leaf. She demonstrated how you did it with the dried corn husk as well. That was what I grew up with. Then the wrapped tamalitas as they called these miniature tamales went into a prepared pot for steaming. Raquel had placed corn husks in the bottom of the pot and then added a small amount of water. Then the wrapped tamales were placed inside around the edges of the pot leaving a hole in the middle. The pot was placed on the burner and the tamales were steamed until cooked which took 35-40 minutes. Raquel and her family had helped process 200-300 pounds of tamales for the birthday party. That’s a heck of a lot of tamales!

Raquel, her cousin, and our pharmacist making tamalitas

Next the young ladies showed us how they use their stone grinding tools to grind up tomato, corn, whatever needed to be ground up. The grindstone was comprises of a concave rectangle of stone and a large stone rolling pin. This particular grinding set came from her father’s mother so it was precious. Most grindstones are handed down to the next generation. The cousin grabbed some tomatoes and demonstrated the technique. Then three of us gave it a try. It was not as difficult as I thought. You had to be careful not to grind your fingers in the process. I think I did a decent job. Raquel had everybody chanting our name as we each ground up the tomato.

To go along with the tamales, Raquel was also serving rice, vegetables, and chicken stew. Usually they cook the veggies with the chicken in the stew but for our vegetarian, she had cooked them separately. The food was all delicious. The juice for the stew flavored everything perfectly. Several in our group went back for seconds as it was so tasty. It all went down nicely with the hibiscus tea that we all love.

After eating it was time to bid the two young ladies “adios.” She gave me a big hug which was so sweet. I had thoroughly enjoyed our time with her. It was nice being hosted by a younger generation. She was fun and such a happy person. It was a truly memorial meal.

Lunch wrapped up our Day in the Life activities. It was time to head back “home” as Carlos terms all of our hotels. We had a choice to return via boat or via pickup truck. Several of us went with the truck option. I wasn’t sure how that would work with my aching shoulder but I went for it. I grew up riding in the back of a pickup so I was ready to do it again. We first had to hike to the place where we could catch a truck taxi. That was a longer walk than I had anticipated. Each step hurt my arm and shoulder but I hung in there. Finally we reached the correct spot and Carlos bargained for us. I wasn’t sure we would all fit but we did as long as some people stood. Carlos had to hang off the back of the pickup. It was a fun ride and didn’t jostle my shoulder, neck, and arm, too much. It’s always an adventure to try out local modes of transportation.

Back at the hotel, I crashed and burned. I was done for the day. At four Liz and Doug met up with Carlos and the others who wanted to visit the next town over and explore the market there. I just didn’t have the energy. I was also hurting a good deal. I chose to stay back and nap. At least I have been able to sleep without any pain. That has been much appreciated.

A few hours later, Doug returned laden with drugs. With the help of our pharmacist on the trip, he found a muscle relaxer and big dose pain killers for me as well as a pain patch. He also found a coffee mug for me which was especially sweet.

They had gotten back to the hotel after six so we had to put the pedal to the metal to get to the restaurant for dinner. They were expecting us at 6:30. We were late. The pharmacist and her husband both of whom we have really grown fond of, joined us for dinner. We hot-footed it up the hill and then up lots of stairs. I was covered with sweat and aching but I made it.

We needn’t have worried about being late. We were the only people there for a long time. Another couple did show up. Otherwise we had the place to ourselves. Although it was too dark to see the lake, we could see the lights of the city. There was a nice breeze blowing and it was cool with the sun down so eating outside was lovely.

The meal probably wasn’t the best I’ve had on the trip but it was decent. Three of us got the fried chicken which ended up being small, flat pieces of chicken breast. I had expected a whole piece of a chicken like you get at KFC. It didn’t matter. The beer was cold and refreshing and the conversation fun so it was all good. I just felt bad that this lovely place had so few customers on a Saturday night. I didn’t have great hopes of it lasting long at this rate.

The return trip to the hotel was all downhill so it was much easier. Thank goodness. I was ready to take a shower and get into bed despite my afternoon nap. Being in constant pain is just exhausting. I don’t know how other people manage. Before I could take a load off though, I had to repack as much as I could.

Tomorrow we head for Antigua. Actually, several of our group are zip lining first. I opted out because of my “issues.” I didn’t think I could hike uphill for an hour. I’ve zip lined before so I decided that the smart thing to do was to not participate. I’m trying to save myself for Tikal which is going to be a long day. Doug and Liz both opted in. I was going to have a nice quite few hours in the morning :-). At ten we are leaving to fetch the zip liners and then head to Antigua. Let’s hope that the pills Doug got for me work!

DAY 12: TRAVEL DAY TO SANTA CATARINA PALOPÓ, GUATEMALA: RAMBLING ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE MAYA

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I learned a valuable lesson today as we drove to our destination of Santa Catarina Palopó up in the mountains. If you see a chicken bus, let it go ahead of you. The drivers are crazy. After watching them drive like a bat out of hell up and down these narrow mountain roads, I believe they are crazy. Their goal is speed, not safety. The people who ride them must be desperate or crazy. They know the really fast drivers and will wait for that specific bus.

Now, what is a chicken bus? I had heard the term bandied about but never really knew what they were. Chicken buses are found in Central America, maybe Mexico and South America as well but I’m not sure. Anyway, they are U.S. school buses that have been retired and sent to Central America. A person buys them and then upgrades the engine to a Mac truck engine to give it some power. Then they bling it all out. The owner of the bus doesn’t drive it. He hires a driver and a door assistant. The driver drives like a crazy man and the door assistant takes people’s money, loads their luggage if they have any, and fetches it back down off the luggage rack on top of the bus while it is still moving, generally does everything except drive the bus. The door assistants have to be crazy as well. We saw one door person climbing down the ladder from the roof of the bus while it was careening up the mountain side. Holy moly! For the locals it is a typical way to get around. For me, it’s taking your life in your hands! We saw plenty of them careening up the mountain as we headed up to Santa Catarina Palopó.

We also learned that there are 350 different textile patterns in Guatemala. Each Maya tribe has its own pattern. The differences between patterns may be small but they are there. All in all, there are 22 tribes of Mayan people and each has their own special dialect.

Since we were making a short stop in the town of San Andres Itzapa to visit the Temple of San Simón, Carlos gave us a fast lesson on shamans in the Mayan culture. Like I have mentioned before, the Mayan religion and the Catholic religion have melded in the Mayan villages. San Andres Itzapa is a great example of this. The temple there honors the folk saint of San Simón. However, it is shamans who perform the rituals and the cleansings. They come from all over Guatemala to visit the site. They come here on behalf of people to perform rites to gain wishes for their clients as most people believes San Simón grants wishes to the devout.

People here believe that a person is born to be a shaman. It is not learned and you do the rituals for free since it is a gift from God. You either have the talent or you don’t. When shamans need to talk to spirits of their ancestors, they go to caves to do it as it is an opening to the other world. They use smoke a great deal because it is a conduit to the other world. In cases where a person is thought to have died from a curse, the shaman takes the casket to a cave and performs specific rituals. They try to reverse the damage done by black magic.

As for San Simón himself, he is the patron saint of chicken bus drivers and ladies of the evening. People who try to cross illegally into the U.S. send money back to relatives so that they will give him a tribute in gratitude if they make it.

Since he is the patron saint of wishes as well, people visit the temple and burn various colored candles. Each color represents a different type of wish or entreaty. A purple wish is for addiction. A man seeking a wife will burn a pink candle. Yellow is for health. If a person wants to cover all their bases, they burn a rainbow candle. Although the Catholic priests have outlawed the use of black candles deeming them black magic, the Mayan people still use them for night protection.

We arrived at the temple in the morning which is when most of the rituals take place. We were just in time. Shaman gentlemen dressed in jeans and sweatshirts were creating their ritual designs for San Simón utilizing cigarettes, cigars, flowers, candles, and alcohol. One man in jeans and two ladies in native dress were sitting smoking cigars and chanting. Remember, smoke is a conduit to the ancestors. We watched the shaman outside and then walked inside the temple.

Close to the door a stocky Mayan shaman took a clump of greenery and dowsed it with water. Then he swatted the penitent with the wet leaves. He was performing a cleansing. One of our ladies had purchases the greenery and the candle and went through the cleansing process. This time the shaman took a gulp of water and then sprayed it out of his mouth all over her back. He did the same to her front. All I could think of was the germs :-). But he pronounced her cleansed and she was able to light her candle and place it with the others. It was an interesting performance and I was glad I videoed it. Two more from our group were cleansed but they didn’t get sprayed. Up at the alter another shaman was also performing cleansing. He was beating a lady with the wet leaves when I glanced up there. I didn’t see him spray the water out of his mouth though.

Doug and I had to laugh when we saw the figure of San Simón. He reminded us strongly of Gauchito Gil from Argentina and Chile, down to the cigarette in his mouth. I got a great photo of a small figure of him holding a cigar and with a cigarette in his mouth, a bottle of alcohol sitting in front of him.

Carlos told us that the temple had burned down years ago. The miracle was that the statue of Simón survived it when nothing else did. He also told us (I hope I am remembering this correctly) that bars here are really cathouses (houses of ill-repute). The men who pimp out the girls stand outside smoking cigars to entreat San Simón to bring them customers. San Simón is definitely an interesting saint 🙂

We observed all of the rituals and cleansings for a good while. Outside the shaman had set their creations on fire as part of the ritual and offering. Smoke boiled up from the tiny bonfires. The heat was intense. The shaman raked something through the blazes. It was fascinating to watch. They would let it all burn until there was nothing left but ash and the glass from the candles.

When our curiosity was sated, we joined Benis back at the bus and continued on our way to Santa Catriana Palopó. While Benis skillfully manuvered us ever upward, dodging crazy chicken bus drivers, Carlos regaled us with more tidbits about his country and the Mayan culture.

The Mayan religion still uses blood sacrifices but these days they are animals and not people. Usually animal blood is used for health issues that are dire. The blood gives umph to the request. It is also used when giving thanks, for example when crops have been good. The use of blood in rituals goes back to pre-Classic times. The Mayans use to use the blood of their enemies to show strength. However, the most powerful blood sacrifice came from the king or queen. They would make cuts on their ears, tongue, etc. because those places would bleed more and faster but heal up quickly. For the good of his people the king would make cuts on himself during rituals to make them more powerful.

On a completely different topic, I learned that Guatemala exports to the U.S. $7.2 million worth of orchids. I would never have guessed that. They also ship a good deal of veggies to Europe. Guatemalan strawberries go to Canada.

Kites are also a big deal here. They are hand-made for the All Saints Day celebration on Nov. 1. The colorful kites are hand-made and flutter over open fields and cemeteries. Who would have guessed that flying a kite could be traced to an ancient indigenous rite. The Mayan people considered it to be disrespectful to mourn the dead. They also believed that the souls of their loved ones could visit them once a year for 24 hours. The kites are a way to help the spirits find their loved ones. Then the people began adding notes for their deceased on the kites. Now political issues are addressed with kites as well.

The Festival of the Giant Kites is held on All Saints Day and it dominates the Guatemalan towns of Santiago, Sacatepéquez and Sumpango. The hand-made kites are constructed out of bamboo, tissue paper, glue, and string. They can be as large as 65 feet across and take five or six people to handle them. The octagonal shape is believed to represent the Maya belief in the four cardinal directions. The four additional points form a corona or the crown of the sun. They fix fringed paper to four of the eight sides. The sound of the wind rustling the paper is believed to keep away evil spirits. What a phenomenal sight to see those behemoth kites floating on the winds.

Also as part of the All Saints Day, on October 31st at midnight people go into the cemeteries and do rituals for their ancestors. The men polish the headstones and bring fresh flowers. Meanwhile the women cook and cook and cook. During the course of Nov. 1 lots of food and beer are consumed. Small plates of food and glasses of alcohol are left in the cemeteries for the ancestors as well. People who get drunk and hungry but can’t afford to buy food, go through the cemeteries and eat the food and drink the alcohol. When the families return on November 2nd, the food they left is gone and they believe the hungry spirits ate and drank it all.

We stopped around noon for lunch at Kafe Katok. Carlos had already prepped us on what was good here so it wasn’t difficult to make a decision. Doug and I both got the sausage tortillas. We should have gotten the small order because I couldn’t eat all of mine. Our meal consisted of two tortillas with large sausage patties on them. Then tortillas sat on a mound of guacamole. They were good but two was one too many for me. Doug ate all of his. I ate what I could. Actually I expected a sausage more like a bratwurst than a patty. It was tasty though and that’s what counts.

We continued our drive and hit the Mayan town of Sololá. This town boasts a bustling market that we will visit on our way to Antigua in a few days. It is the capital of the state or department which is also called Sololá. Sololá means “bat” so the local church has stain glass windows that feature bats. It was nifty to see but we drove by too fast and I couldn’t get a picture. Drat!

By now we were getting close to Santa Catarina Palopó which is inside a crater. It sits on the shore of the largest caldera lake in Central America and is the second largest lake in Guatemala. Lake Atitlan is very deep at over 350 m. There are some holes where it plunges even deeper. It is one of the deepest lakes in the world. The caldera for this lake was created 80,000 years ago. The last time the Atitlan Vocano erupted was 1853. In 2005 an OAT group got stranded here when the rain caused a massive mudslide. They had to be evacuated by helicopter. That would have been the adventure.

Across the Lake Atitlan from our hotel there lies an underwater ruins of a Mayan city. It is their Atlantis. They have found Mayan temples, pyramids, pottery, obsidian, etc. The pieces are from the early Classical period.

We pulled into the quaint Mayan town around 3 PM which was right on schedule. The streets here were excruciatingly narrow. They made it perfectly clear why we had this small bus instead of a larger one. A large vehicle wouldn’t have fit. As it was, we had to thank our lucky stars we had Benis driving us so skillfully. He made it look easy.

In addition to narrow, crowded streets, the buildings themselves were works of art. Some were painted with geometric shapes. Others had primitive paintings of deer and birds. Santa Catarina was an explosion of color and shape. Indigenous women walked down the street balancing large loads on the top of their heads while wearing their gorgeous cultural attire.

The hotel was a beautiful place with lush grounds and a view to the lake. Our room looked great upon first inspection but then we discovered some drawbacks. First, it didn’t have A/C. There were no windows either, just French doors without screens. I could only hope that the evenings were cool here. We were about a mile high in altitude. Second, Doug found that his bed was covered with a million specks of brown. The bath mat in the bathroom had it as well. And there were teeny wings on our sink. The only thing we could figure out is that it was termites and they were eating the wooden beams in the bathroom and over the bed. Our two nights here were going to be interesting :-). We also discovered that water pressure from the cold water caused our faucet to moan and groan loudly and the water to come out, even when turn off. It got increasingly more difficult to get the sound to stop. Oy vey!

After we settled in we met Liz and did some exploring. We walked down to the viewing area for the lake. It was so hazy we couldn’t see any of the volcanoes except for an extremely vague shape off in the distance. I crossed my fingers that it would clear up tomorrow. But for today, it was cloudy and hazy. That helped keep the heat down but stank for seeing across the huge lake.

From the lake we wandered down the road that our hotel was located on. It was cram packed with vendors selling beautiful table runners, blouses, shorts, purses, and scarves. Those not talking to prospective customers were weaving on their back strap looms. Although we didn’t buy anything, I did see lots of beautiful things that were very, very tempting.

I probably would have bought something but by now my neck and shoulder were on fire. Every step was painful. At least I didn’t have my fingers feeling numb like I did last time or that electric feeling running down my arm. That was less than fun. Anyway, I was in no mood to shop.

Before returning to the room, we made one last jaunt. Doug had found online a restaurant when he researched that he wanted to try and find. Wouldn’t you know, it was up the steep mountain and then up a million steps. Argh! I wasn’t sure I was going to make it but I did. It looked like a good place to eat with a nice view of the lake so we told them we would be back tomorrow around 6:30 for dinner. Tonight we had dinner at the hotel.

Thank goodness it was all downhill going back. We left via the road on the way back so no stairs either. Back at the hotel I just wanted to sit in the cool air of our room and recuperate. The air in our room wasn’t cool at all. We tried opening the French doors but then bugs flew in so we shut them. It was going to be a warm couple of nights.

The hotel did lay on a nice dinner for us. Really I have no true complaint about Villa Santa Catarina. The beer was cold, even if they had run out of Moza which is the local dark beer. I like the Cabro we drank as well. The food was tasty.

I was looking forward to tomorrow because it was our “Day in the Life” which OAT does on all of its trips so we can experience life like local people. For our Day we were visiting a Mayan town across the lake and seeing what life was like for them. I just hoped that my neck and shoulder didn’t make problems for me. Here’s hoping!

DAY 11: GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA: RAMBLING ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE MAYA

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What an emotional roller coaster today was!! It was a day I will never forget and I am so grateful that I experienced it. It started out like all of our days on a trip with breakfast. Then we had time to grab the things we wanted to take with us today before clambering onto the bus.

Today our local guide was a lovely lady named Evania. We learned later that her father had just passed away three weeks ago. She use to be an OAT trip leader but decided she needed to be home more as her niece is now living with her. She is working as a local guide now.

She obviously loves Guatemala City. She has lived here all of her life. She calls it an artistic city as there are beautiful murals on walls by a famous artist named Carlos Mérida who was a contemporary of Pablo Picasso.

Archeologists have found evidence that the city has been occupied since 1200 BC. This makes it is the oldest city in Central America. They have found ball courts, obsidian, etc. all beneath the existing city. That is one of the reasons that it doesn’t have a subway system—all of the ruins below ground.

This area was settled early because it was a great location for transportation. People moved on the rivers to the highland areas of the country. The Motagua River runs by the city and it is the longest in Guatemala. The Maya people came here for the resources: the five rivers, fertile soil, and obsidian. They wanted to control the land so they could control the resources.

Evania pointed out an old wall at the city zoo and told us that the wall is from 800 BC. There was also aqueduct remains from when the Mayans built an aqueduct to take water to the areas it was needed in. Which brought her to the fact that water in the city is very controlled. There are people here that do not have it 24/7 but only for certain hours during the day.

We had seen the terrible traffic first hand but Evania told us that the work commute can be three hours one way. She lives in the city and close to our hotel so it only took her ten minutes to get there. Her son lives in the suburbs and it takes him three hours to get to work. Rather him than me.

In 1976 the city was destroyed by an earthquake at 3 AM. Approximately 23,000 people died in it. Over 76,000 thousand were injured. About 1.2 million people became homeless as 258,000 homes were destroyed. 40% of the national hospital infrastructure was destroyed. It’s amazing that they managed to bounce back from that devastation.

Evania was very clear that Guatemalan is NOT a poor country; they just have poverty. The poverty they have is abysmal. NGOs mostly help in the rural areas and very few were helping the poor in the cities. Grand Circle Foundation which is a part of Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) has been helping in this country since 2014. Originally they wanted to help the rural people who have migrated into the city to try to find employment.

One of the places these immigrants find to live and work is the city dump. It is the largest garbage dump in Central American. Guatemala City actually exports garbage to other countries. People have to pay 50Q (around $7/month) for garbage pickup. There are 900 garbage trucks in the city.

Why all of this garbage talk? Well, today we were going there to visit an organization that Grand Circle Foundation supports. It’s called Safe Passage and what an amazing organization it is. It was the creation of a young American woman who came to Guatemala to learn Spanish and do outreach. A co-worker took Hanley to the dump and showed her the abject poverty and she knew she had found her calling. She needed to help the children she saw in the dump. She also knew she was staying here forever. She had her car, computer, and the rest of her belongings in the U.S. sold and she took the $5000 she made and invested it into an old, decrepit church. It was here she started her outreach. She wanted to educate the children and give them a skill as well as give them a safe place to just be kids.

That was 25 years ago. Since then the program has gone from tutoring, feeding, and nurturing 46 children whose parents couldn’t afford the supplies, the textbooks, and enrollment fees required by the public school system to over 500. The program also reaches out to the mothers to lend them assistance in breaking the cycle of poverty.

We walked into the administrative building of Safe Passage which was near the dump but not at it. Due to gang violence in the area, they had full-time security. First we watched a documentary about Hanley Denning and how she came to start Safe Passage. At the end we learned that she had been killed in an automobile accident in 2007. She and three people from Safe Passage were hit by a vehicle that had no brakes. Two survived the accident but Hanley and one other died.

However, the belief in what Hanley was doing was so strong, that her work was carried on. You can literally feel her influence and her spirit in every part of the organization. She may be gone, but she still breaths life into the project.

Of course by the end of the video, we were all in tears. Hanley was only 37 when she died. The video had interviews with her so you felt like you knew her by the time you found out she had been killed. But what a wonderful legacy she has left behind.

Since 2012 Safe Passage became an official private school. They graduated their first group of 9th graders in 2021. Their method of teaching is different than that of the public schools. It is more like a Montessori school with exploratory learning. They call it Expeditionary learning. It seems to work for these children.

They have a second department that monitors the students both health-wise and psychologically. They have psychologists on staff who meet with each child and works with them to give them a sense that they belong somewhere. The school also provides four meals a day—breakfast, snack, lunch, and an afternoon snack.

The beautiful new school building goes from Pre-K through 9th grade. The school is an entire compound complete with playgrounds and a basketball court. They also help the mothers of the children by teaching them and helping them learn skills so that they can stop working at the dump.

You can see the squatters’ shacks right behind the school wall.

Let’s talk turkey about this garbage dump. It is the largest in Central America. They receive over 3,000 tons of garbage every day! Over 10,000 people make a living by picking through the garbage. They make money by selling the items they find. In order to work at the dump, each person has to pay the equivalent of $7 a year. For that they get a vest and the responsibility of making the dump safe and “clean.” They have a list of specific activities that they are required to do in order to be able to stay in the dump. So the dump doesn’t pay them; they have to pay the dump. Nobody at Safe Harbor has ever gotten a satisfactory answer as to what the money from the work fee goes for. Now the authorities won’t even see Safe Harbor staff people to discuss it.

Most of the people working in the dump are single mothers who have been deserted by the baby daddy. They generally bring their children into the dump with them although they really aren’t suppose to. They sneak them in through unofficial entrances. Everybody turns a blind eye to the children inside.

The workers are also generational. That is all they know. Most squat in or around the dump because there is nowhere else for them to live. They don’t make enough money to live anywhere else. They are caught in a vicious cycle. Hearing all of this really makes you appreciate what you have.

By the time the garbage hits the dump, it has already been pre-selected. Unpaid people on the trucks get the first dibs on the primo trash items. The paid truck people cannot take any of the items. The ladies in the dump sort through the trash mostly for clothing. They take it home, wash it, and resell it. Actually, the teenagers generally do the washing to earn money.

Surprisingly death isn’t that common at the dump. There are, however, health issues which isn’t surprising. They struggle with respiratory, skin, and gastro illnesses. They don’t wear masks or gloves while working, just hoodies and long sleeves as well as tennis shoes. If an accident does happen in the dump, the authorities don’t want ambulances going in with sirens on. They don’t want people to know that anything has happened.

There isn’t much difference between the dump and the places these kids live. Every room of their rickety tin shack is stuffed with bags of trash that they hope to sell. Take a hoarder’s house and multiply it by 5 and you get an idea of how these children are living. Besides the horrific conditions, they also get little affection or attention. Mom is working all of the time trying to put food on the table. Dad is absent or working like mom. It’s a horrible situation which is why Hanley knew she had to step in and do something.

In 2005 there was a big fire in the dump and many, many people died. Since then they have tried to keep the children out. Safe Harbor’s children do not work in the dump. They are also required to pay a small monthly fee of $2. I’m sure that Safe Harbor makes accommodations if the families just can’t afford it. But they want the parents to have a stake in the program and some accountability.

After getting our background information, we talked with Rosara who is 41. She has been with Safe Harbor almost from the beginning. She was eleven when Hanley began her outreach but Rosara felt like she was too old for what Hanley was offering so she didn’t take advantage. However, years later when Rosara was a mother herself, Hanley had started a project for mothers and Rosara was one of the first in the program. Originally her father had been an obstacle to her getting an education because he believed learning was only for boys. Now Rosara’s husband was the obstacle. He didn’t want her to study. However, despite having a child and an unhappy husband, she finished elementary and middle school. Safe Harbor’s project with the mothers also taught her skills she could use to make money outside of the dump. Their goal is to get the families out of the dump.

Rosara didn’t always live at the dump. They had lived outside of the city until Rosara was seven. Then a friend of her father told him about a place closer to the dump where there was work and a place to live. They moved with only the clothes on their backs. When they arrived, there was work at the dump but no place to live. However, squatters had taken over an area so her father began bringing things like tin out of the dump to make them a shack to live in. She began working in the dump with her dad. As a child she looked for toys to play with while her dad hunted for copper, glass, etc. As a child it was an adventure. As she got older she became interested in clothing and began hunting for cloth which she could sew. She also collected chewing gum that the Latin grocery stores threw away. She would sell it on the street.

Rosara’s story has a happy ending. Although her husband fought her on getting an education, he has come to accept the fact that it was a good thing. She makes jewelry and sews. It helps her bring in around $300 a month. Her husband no longer works in the dump either. He injured his back in there so now he does gardening in the city. He also makes $300 a month which is below the minimum wage. Between the two they survive with their four daughters. He learned the hard way that he should have gotten an education. Better paying jobs require a middle school education. He doesn’t have one.

We asked if she gives her money to her husband and she said “no!” He doesn’t even know how much she makes. He drinks so she keeps her money for when the girls need something. He does give Rosara money for food—a whopping $125 a month. She has to feed six people off of that but she does it. I’m not sure what he does with his other $175. I’m sure some goes for rent and utilities but we didn’t ask.

At the end of her talk and all of our questions and Evania’s questions, she brought out the jewelry she had made and our ladies went to town. None of it was expensive. She made the beads by rolling strips of magazine paper. I had a necklace my grandmother had made like that. I have one from Africa as well. It makes beautiful beads. I think just about everybody bought something so Rosara had a good day.

After we all enjoyed the facilities at Safe Harbor, we jumped on the bus with two of the staffers, Evania, and two security guards and headed to the school where we were going to visit a pre-kindergarten class. I was sorry our daughter Samantha wasn’t with us. She taught pre-kindergarten so she would have loved being with the kids.

The school was a large compound, much larger than the church Hanley originally started out in years ago. It was right on the edge of the dump and as we drove we saw bags of garbage everywhere. It was mind blowing. One section had old mattresses. Another section had clothing. Something like this you really have to see to believe because it is out of the scope of our experience. However, people do what people have to do to survive. It’s really sad.

The school, however, was a cheerful note to such dreary surroundings. It was painted in bright colors. There was evidence of children’s work everywhere. It was a happy place. However, just on the other side of the wall you could see squatter shacks. The school has a real problem when the children are playing on the playground. The squatters don’t like them. Don’t like the nose they make. So they cuss at them. They throw things at them. One of Safe Passage’s next projects is to make the wall higher in order to protect the children at least from objects being thrown at them.

We took a quick tour of the school building before meeting with the children. Most were outside at recess but we did peek our heads into one classroom and create a commotion. Kids all over the world love a distraction :-). The whole place was neat as a pin. I was very impressed.

Then it was Playdo time outside on the tables. The teachers marched their five years olds out to us and cans of fun Playdo. The boys loved smashing it. The girls tried to actually create things. Our youngest man (fifty-ish?) had a great time with the boys. He was a big kid himself. The boys loved it. I’m not sure who had a better time—the kids or the adults. This was such a better environment for them than that damn dump!

One of the projects the pre-k classes had been working on was their favorite animal. They had to research it and make a presentation about it. They chose one absolute cutie to tell us about his favorite—the penguin. Of course, I didn’t understand anything he said but he was a pro. He held the microphone in one hand and a stuffed penguin in the other. He wasn’t bashful at all. He did a fabulous job.

Playdo time eventually ended and the kiddos were marched back inside. They now had gardening to do. One of their units was on growing things and their project was to create a garden. What child doesn’t like digging around in the dirt….well, other than my daughter. She never liked getting her hands dirty 🙂

We toured the grounds of the school and admired the playground and saw the problem with the squatters. I’m all for building a higher wall. Those kids need it. Out front the basketball court had issues as well. The nearby trees had roots that were damaging it. Plus it gets really hot, too hot for the children to play. So their next project is to get rid of the trees and put some type of cover over the court.

That wrapped up our morning with Safe Passage. We all walked away from the experience changed. It was so inspirational to see what one person with the drive and the determination could do. And that gift Hanley gave to the dump community is still giving and hopefully will for many more years. She and the people who have followed in her footsteps have given these children and these mothers hope.

It was difficult to go from all of that emotion to having lunch but that is exactly what we did. We took the staffers and the security guards back to the other building and then Benis turned the bus towards the historic center of Guatemala City.

While we drove we discussed the gang issue here. Evania said that the gangs were moving here from El Salvador because the president there had jailed all of them that he could. He made it too hot in El Salvador for them. That was great for El Salvador, however, it made it much more dangerous here in Guatemala City. Even Evania’s neighborhood has a security guard. The neighborhood had voted to put in a gate because their homes were getting broken into. The authorities then said they had to have a guard man it. So they do. Downtown you see security all over the place. Most are packing weapons, too. Most are military. After the civil war the military went from 60,000 to 15,000 soldiers. All of those men needed employment so the private security industry was born. The security at Safe Passage gets paid around $600/month. In Mayan communities they don’t need security because they take care of each other whereas in Guatemala City, people are on their own. Also in Mayan communities they have public punishment. That makes for a strong deterrent. A typical punishment for a woman is to cut her hair. Mayan women have long hair so it’s obvious.

We ate at a restaurant called El Adobe which served authentic Guatemalan food. It was too authentic for the people of the city. They don’t eat there as they get authentic food all of the time at home. When they do eat out, they want something different. So basically El Adobe was a tourist place. The servers wore authentic clothing. There was a band playing Guatemalan music in the background. It was nice. I had the pollo (chicken) with some type of sauce. It was tasty.

After lunch we toured the historic center. Actually, we rode in the bus to Constitution Square where we got out for a few minutes to take pictures. The historic center is now the commercial center. They are trying to bring families back to live. Rich people are buying the old buildings and turning them into condos. The historic area has one pedestrian only street and that is 6th Avenue.

There were two major buildings facing the square. The first was the Metropolitan Cathedral. It was the first building built. It was big!. The outside was neoclassical while the interior was Baroque style. We had to take Evania’s word for what the interior looked like because we didn’t have a chance to go inside. If the exterior was anything to go by, it was massive inside. The church was damaged in the 1917 earthquake and again in 1976. The damage from both quakes has been repaired.

The other major building was the National Palace of Culture. In 1925 a fire destroyed the old palace. The dictator at the time, General Jorge Ubico, decided to hire the best artist in the country to rebuild it. Two point eight million dollars later, they had the National Palace that we saw. The locals call it the El Guacamolon because it looks like guacamole. It does have a definite green cast to it. The blocks are not made out of stone but of a composite made up of concrete, sand, and oxidized copper.

Doug was happy to learn that in front of the building was the 0 km marker denoting that all roads in the country start here. The building today serves as a museum as well as the office of the president. Green was Mrs. Ubico’s favorite color.

One curiosity about the interior of the palace is that it had traffic lights. Yep, traffic lights inside a buildings. That was because Ubico didn’t like walking through crowds of people. So he had the lights installed. When the lights were red, it meant Ubico was out and about, so the hallways must be empty, unless you wanted to be punished. When they were yellow, only government officials were allowed to walk around, and when they were green, everyone could move freely.

The fountain in the center of the square dates back to the 1950s. It use to feature a statue of Christopher Columbus but several years ago they decided that was politically incorrect and moved it somewhere around our hotel. There was also a tall flagpole flying the Guatemala flag.

Next to the flag pole was an informal memorial to 41 girls who died under the government’s care. The girls had been “misbehaving” so the government stepped in and took them. The girls were placed in a home. One night they were not behaving well and the people running the home locked them into their rooms. One of the girls decided to set the place on fire. Instead of unlocking the girls so they could escape the burning building, the staff left them locked in their rooms. All but ten of them died. One that survived was the girl who started the fire. Anyway, since they were under government care, the people felt like the government had failed to take care of them. Hence the memorial near the National Palace.

That wasn’t the only memorial. There was a rainbow shape of pieces of paper with people’s faces much like Wanted posters. This was an informal memorial to the 200,000 people who died or disappeared during the civil war. The worst years of the war were between 1980-84. The people don’t want the government to think they have forgotten these citizens.

However, the Mayan people are hopeful that with the new government things will be better for them. The government hasn’t been their friend in the past. In fact the school actually teach that the Mayans are all dead. Not only do the schools teach that the Mayans are dead but they total ignore the civil war. It’s like it never happened. That reminded me of the president of El Salvador who said their civil war never happened.

After admiring the square and getting our fill of photos, we made our way back to the bus and Benis drove us back to the hotel. My shoulder was really hurting so I wasn’t up for any wandering around. Instead, we met Liz at the bar for Happy Hour at 6 o’clock Once again we had trouble with our drinks. The sign said from 6 to 8 cervezas were buy one, get one free. So we each ordered a Cabro. Then we had a second one. When the bill came, we were charged for six beers. Then we found out that it was only specific brands that were two for one. Their sign was misleading. Doug demanded to talk to the manager. He never did but they did finally agree that we only had to pay for three.

While we were in the bar our mother/daughter duo joined us. The mother had found a brewery just down the street so we all decided to check it out. It was the same brewery chain that we had enjoyed in El Salvador! All three of us were thrilled to get our Irish stout again. We also got dinner while we were there. No pork sandwich with time. Doug got jalapeño poppers and I got quesadillas. Both were tasty.

After dinner we parted ways with the ladies and we headed to Starbucks. I figured tonight was going to be my last night to enjoy a latte before bed. I was going to take advantage of it. And it did taste REALLY good 🙂

We are kicking off the dust of Guatemala City tomorrow morning and are heading up into the mountains. I am eager for the cooler weather. Plus I was just ready to leave Guatemala City. Doug, too. He and I both prefer being out in the country as opposed to the city. This one just didn’t have much (other than Starbucks and the brewery) to recommend it. Tomorrow we would be in the country of the Maya people. It will make a nice change.

If you would like to learn more about Safe Passage or make a donation, here is the link to their website. There is a button on the right side you can click on which to donate.

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DAY 10: TRAVEL DAY TO GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA: RAMBLING ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE MAYA

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We were on the road again (sing it to me, Willie) this morning. It was another long day on the bus with yet another border crossing. This time it was only one border—from Honduras back into Guatemala. We left extra early because you never know how backed up a border crossing will be. Carlos wanted to get a jump on it so we wouldn’t be getting to Guatemala City at 4. Apparently the traffic in the capital of Guatemala is horrendous.

Anyway, we were just about to depart on the bus from our hotel when one of our ladies said, “Oh, do we need our passports today? Mine is in my suitcase.” Oy vey! I really liked this woman as she is very sweet but Carlos had told us we were crossing a border today. He told us to make sure to have our passports handy. It wasn’t handy in a suitcase on top of the bus. Carlos did a great job of controlling himself but I saw his face when she said that. He was internally groaning, I’m sure. I figured we would stay parked at the hotel while Benis climbed up to the roof and fetched her suitcase but I figured incorrectly. We still hit the road. I guess he and Carlos decided to tackle that at the border.

Since we were traveling to Carlos’ home country, he was full of Guatemala information. We learned that Guatemala City has four million people and around a million cars on the road which makes for terrible traffic snarls. The country has gold, silver, and jade which was more valuable to the Maya people than the gold or silver. Near Antigua you can find lavender jade which I had never heard of.

The city had 1.2 million people in the 1960s but the population swelled during the civil war when the rural people fled the fighting and sought refuge in the city. The city people really weren’t aware of the civil war going on, much like in El Salvador.

We didn’t learn too much before we hit the border. It was maybe a 15 minute bus ride. Of course this is where it got “fun” for Benis. He had to go up on the roof and dig out a suitcase. While he did that the rest of us entered the Immigration building and stood in the short line. First we had to get stamped out of Honduras. Then we stood in line to get stamped into Guatemala. Carlos once again warned us to make sure we got both stamps. He said sometimes they aren’t paying attention and fail to stamp a passport. Then it costs you time and $200 to leave the country. I certainly didn’t want to have to go through all of that so I kept a close eye. No problem. I got all of my stamps.

The border was quiet while we were there so even our lady with the packed passport got through quickly. To her credit, she did feel badly about causing extra work for Carlos and Benis. Benis did a wonderful job of locating her bag and passport. We whipped through the entire process quickly and relatively painlessly.

On the road once more, Carlos filled us in more on his personal life. The TLs really lay it all out there for us. I always appreciate how open they are. And he had a heck of a story to tell.

During the civil war, his family had lost their beautiful farm and had suffered many hardships. However, Carlos overcame them all and became the first person in his family to graduate high school. He became a tour guide and began working with OAT. Then COVID hit. We all know what a rough period of time that was for people in the travel industry.

Now Carlos had told us that he had tried to cross into the U.S. twice but I hadn’t realized that it was only a few years ago. The first time was during COVID. Being a tour guide, he had no work. He could work as a carpenter and he did, making a whopping $13/hour. That wouldn’t pay his electric bill for a month much less pay for food and his mortgage. He sold a piece of land that he had had plans for to financially take care of his family for a while but the money was running out. He had gotten an offer of a carpentry job in the U.S. for $25/hour and he decided to go for it. He tried getting a visa but even with a letter from OAT who he had worked for for almost 20 years, he was denied. And he had had to pay $200 just to get an interview at the U.S. Embassy. No wonder they call our embassy the Donor Center.

Once his decision was made, against his wife’s better judgement, he found a human trafficking cartel to help him get into the U.S. I hadn’t realized it but they have different levels of “assistance.” Carlos sold his car so he could pay the $12,000 to the coyote for the “middle class” transport. He left his home at 1 AM crammed into a van with 22 other people. In the van he had another man sitting on his lap for two hours. Before they left everybody was given a code that they had to listen for in order to continue with the correct coyote on the road to the U.S.

Eventually they were left in a huge field with 1200-1500 other people. He heard a man say his code and went with him. He was put into a private vehicle and taken to a rental house in Mexico that was filled with 60 people. They were fed two meals a day and always the same food. Carlos can’t stand pasta any more.

I won’t go into any more details about his journey other than to say the coyotes deserted them any time the authorities were hot on their heels. They would be left in fields and told to hide under bushes and the coyotes would be back for them when it was safe. They waited entire nights some times. A few hours others. The coyote always returned but it was obvious they worried about their own skin first.

After many trials and tribulations and close escapes from the authorities, Carlos finally made it across the Rio Grande and into Texas. However, ICE found them in a grapefruit farm. He escaped once along with the coyote while everybody else was captured. However, ICE sent drones and dogs after them. Carlos didn’t stand a chance. He was captured and jailed for five days before being deported. They confiscated his phone so he had no way to let his family know he was okay. When ICE had enough Guatemalans for a plane, they were loaded up and sent back in shackles. Even children were handcuffed and shackled. Because he spoke English, Carlos tried to get better treatment for the women and children but it was futile. The ICE guards treated them like criminals. Back in Guatemala City he was given back his personal items and he was able to call his family and let them know that he was okay and where he was. A few months later he tried again but only made it as far as Mexico. He said the Mexicans treated him much better than ICE had. After this he gave up trying to get to the U.S. and that better paying job.

Having worked in school with children who had crossed into the States illegally and having heard their stories, I had so much empathy for Carlos. He tried to come to the U.S. legally. He had a job lined up. He was willing to work hard. It’s a tough situation. I can’t blame him for trying. He wanted to take care of his family. I see the flip side as well. I don’t know what the answer is. But I was happy that Carlos shared with us because it made me understand him much better. He really hasn’t had an easy life.

He did talk to us about Guatemala in general as well. The civil war here went on for 36 years. I can’t even begin to imagine how awful that must have been. People don’t like talking about it. Many fled the country. Carlos was born during the war. The guerrillas never tried to force him to join them but the paramilitary did. He had to run away from them several times. Once he had to escape through a cemetery and he fell into a hole dug for a grave. He personally saw many atrocities as the war was fought in the rural areas, not the cities. Over 250,000 people were killed. And the result of that prolonged war? The poor got poorer and the rich got richer.

As in El Salvador, the rebels wanted to get back their land. The military had been kidnapping people with farms and holding them hostage. Families had to sell the land to pay the ransom. The wealthy people were behind the kidnappings. It boggles the imagination. I just don’t understand how people can be that way.

Things are better though. These days the people can demonstrate so they can at least try to get their voices heard. Now there are elections and there are laws keeping people who have been accused of committing atrocities during the war from running for president. The military also lost a great deal of their power. So things are moving in the right direction.

Ironically, the people who fled the country during the war were given nice parcels of land when they came back. The government assisted them by creating co-ops for them. The people who stayed in the country did not get their land back. They were given the equivalent of $800 in quetzal. That was it. The wealthy kept the land. That just isn’t right. There are 17 million people in the country and half of them lost their land.

The country came close to another war during the last election. Carlos, in fact, voted for the first time in the last election. The rich people didn’t like who got elected. There were many demonstrations. As a result the Maya people now realize that they have the right to demonstrate. Whether for better or worse, I don’t know but presidential elections are held every four years and a person can only run one time. They cannot be re-elected. On the plus side, there is a great deal of international oversight here during elections.

Military service in Guatemala is voluntary. However, many rural people see the military as an opportunity so they join up. The military is voluntary but elementary school is mandatory. However, the government does not give students supplies like El Salvador. The parents have to buy supplies for their children. Fortunately public schools don’t require uniforms, only private school do.

Since most rural parents need their children during harvest, classes start the third week in January and end in October. In November and. December the students are busy harvesting coffee. Students are not fed lunch at school so they go home to eat. Middle school isn’t mandatory. Nor is high school, obviously. However, the graduation rate is around 70% for high school. If a person wants to be a teacher, they are required to teach three adults about numbers and how to read. This is the country’s way of dealing with illiteracy. As a result, the illiteracy rate is only 10-12%.

Old marriage customs persist in the remote rural areas. Before a couple can marry, the woman must make a blouse for her mother-in-law using a back loom. She must also go to her mother-in-law’s kitchen and learn how to make her future husband’s favorite dishes. The man must carry a large tree stump to the bride’s father and chop it in half. I think he gets the easier end of the deal.

By this point we were on the outskirts of Guatemala City. The traffic was bad and it wasn’t even rush hour yet. Since we were at the city, Carlos switched gears and honed his facts to Guatemala City.

In 1544 the Spanish founded the first capital. They built it over the city of the most powerful Maya tribe in the area. Then the Spanish men began abusing the Mayan women and raping them. The Mayan men got angry and started setting traps on the trails where they knew the Spanish liked to ride their horses. Horses and men died which made the Spanish angry. They captured the leaders of the tribe and burned them and the city. Then they took the rest of the Mayan people and made them slaves. The Spanish moved on to a site near Antigua and had their Mayan slaves build them a new capital. It was only the capital for 14 years because a water volcano erupted and a huge mud slide destroyed it. Even the Spanish governor’s wife died. The capital moved a few more times but finally in 1776 they settled at the site of present day Guatemala City. They named it Guatemala because that means cattle and the Maya were raising cattle for the Spanish.

Guatemala City is one of the most prosperous cities in the country. However, they do have issues with squatters. There are four ravines in the city and the squatters have moved into them. They have done the same around the garbage dump.

Once again Carlos gave us the opportunity to visit a couple of museums before going on to the hotel. He would drop us off and then fetch us after an hour or so. If we didn’t take advantage of this offer, we would be on our own to get to the Textile Museum and the Popol Vuh Museum. Everybody decided to check out the museums. Luckily they were right next door to each other.

Several of us went to each. We didn’t have enough time to see both. Doug, Liz, and I decided to go to the Popol Vuh Museum. Popol Vuh is the name of the book which annotates the Mayan creation myth. The museum wasn’t what I expected. There really wasn’t anything about the book except one small display that said the oldest transcription of the Popol Vuh was located in the Newberry Library. The original had been written in 1550.

The museum was interesting though. It had many displays of Mayan artifacts with English description on each one which was nice. Usually English in the museums have been hit or miss. I saw all kinds of pottery from bowls used every day to funerary containers. I had to laugh at some of the artifacts. I thought one was a mouse but it was suppose to be a jaguar. Looked like mouse ears to me. And I wasn’t the only one. One of the funeral urns looked like it had a teddy bear on it. Nope, it was another jaguar. I did like their sculpture of the Killer Bat. It looked like a bat and was similar to the one we had seen in the Copán museum.

Another interesting display was the replica of the Dresden Codex. The Dresden Codex is a set of astronomical charts with extraordinary accuracy. It also contains religious references, almanacs as well as predictions for favorable timings for agriculture. It even has information about rainy seasons, floods, illness and medicine. It is quite the book.

It is also thought to be the earliest book written in the Americas that has survived. It was written in Chichén Itza around 1150. There are three other surviving codices but this one is the most complete. Although nobody is sure how it arrived in Dresden, it is believed that Cortés sent it to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V who was also King Charles I of Spain in 1519. In 1739 the director of the Royal Library at Dresden bought it from a private owner in Vienna. In 1744 the director gave it to the Royal Library in Dresden. The codex didn’t fare well during WWII. During the bombings it suffered heavy water damage. Parts were destroyed and twelve pages damaged. They did manage to restore it though. The codex is now preserved in the Buchmuseum of the Sächsische Landesbibliothek in Dresden.

The final display of the museum was a complete departure from the rest of them. It dealt with the Spanish arrival and their religion. It was a nice display but I breezed through it. I was more interested in the Mayan artifacts.

We finished the museum in about an hour. Carlos was sitting at one of the outdoor tables waiting for us. He kept occupied by watching a soccer match on his phone. Once the ladies from the Textile Museum finished up, we were back on the road.

Even though the traffic was getting very bad, we made it to the hotel quickly. The Clarion was quite nice. We had a huge suite that was wasted on us. It also had a bath tub that worked. And outlets galore. We were walking in tall cotton. We had just a few minutes to unpack before meeting Carlos at 5 for our orientation walk.

The walk ended up being much longer than I thought it would be. We were in an upscale area so Carlos said we were safe to walk around here, just not to carry our valuables with us. He pointed out various places to eat as well as pharmacies and convenience stores. Then we made the stop at the House of Rum.

We spent way more time in there than I wanted to. My pinched nerve from last year was starting to resurface again and I was hurting. I just wanted to get back to the room and do my shoulder exercises to try to get some relief. Instead I had to wait while a group of our ladies paid for and did a rum tasting. Then Doug had to buy a bottle of rum to share with our friend Chris while they smoke cigars on our lanai. It felt like we were in there forever. I did enjoy my little taste of rum and the piece of dark chocolate filled with rum. Eventually everybody was ready and we made our way back to the hotel.

Doug and I finished unpacking and then met Liz down in the bar. We all had coupons for a free drink. When we tried to order beer, we were told that we could only get a lemonade and vodka spritzer with the coupon. Since it was free, we got it. We ended up eating dinner at a mall that had several eating establishments. Somehow we ended up eating Italian food in Guatemala! It was okay but not fabulous. It did make a nice change. And we did get the local Cabro beer with dinner.

Tomorrow we are visiting Safe Harbor which I know nothing about other than it has a school that the Grand Circle Foundation supports. We will be there all morning. Then after lunch we are touring historic Guatemala City. Hopefully a good night’s sleep will put my shoulder to rights and I’ll be able to enjoy the day. Fingers crossed!

DAY 9: COPÁN, HONDURAS: RAMBLING ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE MAYA

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Can you say “gob smacked”? That’s how I felt from the second we walked into the archeological park of Copán. It was a wonderland of archeology and birds. As if they somehow knew they symbolized the sun for the Maya people, scarlet macaws zipped and squawked in the trees above us as we walked through the forest with our site guide Mike. Mike sounded like he was from the U.S. but he was born in Honduras. However, his wife is a Texan. No wonder I liked him :-). Both live here now for the majority of the year although they go home twice a year to see family.

Copán is a UNESCO World Heritage site because it has a feature that most Maya ruins that have been discovered don’t have. It has a pyramid staircase that records 300 years of history in Maya hieroglyphics. The dynasty at this city state actually lasted for 500 years before it collapsed. The portion of the site we were visiting was the Acropolis or the ceremonial center where the Maya put on performances recreating mythical happenings.

Originally a Mayan named K’inich Yax K’uk’ Mo was sent from Tikal to secure the jade mines near Copán. It was also chosen because it was equidistant from the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. It was the perfect location but people were already living there. He promised the locals money and safety from the warring factions. He settled down there and even married a local noble woman. Archeologists found his remains and did isotope testing on them. They figured out that he must have seen the first Spanish arriving. They also discovered that he died from blunt force trauma.

Like I said, the entrance to Copán is through a forest. Mike pointed out the Ceiba Tree which for the Maya was the portal to other worlds. For the Maya the roots of the tree represented the Underworld. The trunk was the human world. The leaves were the stars in the sky representing the Otherworl. The trees are fast growing, become quite large, and nothing moves them, not earthquakes or hurricanes. This young one still had the thorns on the trunk. When they get older, the thorns are less noticeable. It is also called the Silk Cotton Wood tree and the Kapok tree.

We walked out of the trees to a huge plaza of Mayan structures. It blows your mind. If this place is that impressive, Tikal will really blow me away since it is considered the largest of the Maya cities. It covered 123 square km while Copán covered 24. One author made this comparison, “If Tikal was like New York City then Copán is like Paris.”

Anyway, the plaza was a large open space with structures on the sides. Mike told us that there were pavers beneath the grass and dirt beneath our feet. Scattered throughout were stela as well as alters. Some objects were covered and others were not. If they were covered, they were original. The others were good replicas. Copán had the most elaborate stone sculptures of any Mayan city. These sculptures have allowed archeologists to gain great insights into the Mayan culture.

Not being an archeologist, I was just impressed with the artistry. It was truly amazing. In this plaza most of the stelas were dedicated to the thirteenth ruler whose name was Eighteen Rabbit. Strange name, I know. Anyway, one commemorated his first year of rule and another one his 20th year of rule. The meticulous detail that went into these stela was breathtaking. There were carvings inside of carvings. Both showed 18 Rabbit in ceremonial dress with a huge backpack on. That was actually a part of their ceremonial dress. These rulers got all blinged up. Michael said you could probably hear them coming from quite a ways off because of all of the stuff they wore.

Back of 18 Rabbit 20th Anniversary Stela

Some of the stela depicted events while some depicted the ruler in the guise of one of the gods. For instance there is a stela that had 18 Rabbit dressed like the corn god. They also recreated mythical happenings. Like the Ceiba tree, the stela are divided into three sections. Everything below the waist is about death or the Underworld. The chest is the human world and the head and massive headgear are the Otherworld or the sky. Most of the stela were made to celebrate anniversaries of the rulers. Some recreate mythical happenings. It all depended on what the ruler wanted.

Uaxaclajuun Ubʼaah Kawiil or 18 Rabbit ruled for 43 years after the death of Smoke Jaguar, his father who ruled for a whopping 60 years. 18 Rabbit was the ruler responsible for the high relief decoration on the structures in the city. He is called the “King of Arts” because of his influence on the art in the city. 18 Rabbit was ambushed and kidnapped by y Kʼakʼ Tiliw Chan Yopaat, ruler of the small city of Quirigua. They held him captive for 4 days and then basically clubbed him to death. From that point on Copán started going downhill. It never regained the power and fame it had garnered under Smoke Jaguar or his son 18 Rabbit. The 16th ruler was the last one.

When the site was discovered, archeologists weren’t sure how to excavate it so miners from West Virginia were brought in. The miners showed them how to dig exploratory tunnels. Today there are 5 km of tunnels for the Acropolis alone. Most are for the archeologists only but the site does have an educational grant. Under its auspices, students are brought into certain tunnels so they can learn about their heritage. I think that’s a good thing.

We explored the plaza for quite a while with Michael pointing out various things about the stela and the alters. One of the alters looked like a big turtle. Actually it was two headed. One head was the turtle alive and the other head was of the turtle in death. The Maya were big on duality.

The ball court was another important structure in every Mayan city. Not only was it a sport, it had deep religious meaning as well. The Mayans believed in the Underworld which was a kind of Purgatory. The Underworld rulers, lords of Xibalba, had a ball court as well. According to mythology a set of Hero twins went down into the Underworld and defeated these lords. In addition to those Lords of darkness, they also had Vucub-Caquix or Seven Macaw who was an imposter sun who was in the Underworld. He was all blinged out so he was shiny like the sun. He wanted people to worship him as the sun. The twins defeated him but not without trials and tribulations. One of the twins was sacrificed. I can’t remember if he was the one that had his arm ripped off in the mouth of the jaguar head in the middle of the scarlet macaw’s chest or not.

The game itself was a mythical battle to protect the sun. It was also one of the ways the Maya were tested against the powers of death, disease, darkness, and famine. Another purpose of the game was tied to the death and rebirth (that duality again) of the sun, moon, and heavenly bodies. It related to the agricultural cycle as well. The game was meant to perpetuate the natural cycle by symbolically defeating the forces of evil.

Like I mentioned before, the court is a large capital “I “shape. The two cross bars at the top and the bottom are the infield of each team. The long alleyway between two sloping walls is where the action mostly takes place. The game is played with a hard rubber ball that weighs around 8 lbs. On the sloping walls are bench markers in the shape of a macaw’s head. It’s not known if players were awarded points for hitting these or not.

The two teams of 2-4 players would wear sacred uniforms to walk into the stadium. One was dressed like the Hero Twins and the other like the forces of the Underworld. They had protective gear that they actually wore during the game. Was the winning’s team’s captain sacrificed? Nobody knows for sure. Or if it was the losing team that had to make the sacrifice. There is no definitive evidence one way or the other. It sure wouldn’t make for good team building.

The ball court itself was very impressive especially since many of the decorative pieces we had seen in the museum yesterday were still clear in my mind. One representation of the court showed it all painted red. Wow! What a site that had to have been. The players had to be in great shape as well to run up and down that long alleyway between the walls. It’s believed they were professionals and had been warriors shown to have skill at the game. All in all, I believe Michael said there had been four ball courts here in Copán.

Interestingly, they are reviving the game. They have built stadiums and have teams. However, unlike in the past when they played for respect, these days they play for money.

The pyramid with its hieroglyphic staircase is the showpieces of Copán. It is the longest staircase in any Mayan city. It contains over two thousand hieroglyphics carved on 63 steps. The hierophyphics detail 300 years of dynastic history, starting with references to the dynasty’s “founder” K’inich Yax K’uk’ Mo. Archeologists from Harvard did the first work on the staircase. And it was a mess. The first 15 rows were intact. They were built under Smoke Jaguar. His stela is at the foot of the staircase. The rest of the blocks were a jumble of tumbled stone. When Harvard reconstructed it, they put stones in place without trying to put them in the correct sequence. Over time approximately 80% of the Maya hieroglyphics have been deciphered. However, I guess it’s too late now to go back and redo the staircase accurately.

Pyramid Staircase with 300 years of history in Mayan hieroglyphics

In the center of the staircase you see figures of the rulers. Smoke Jaguar is at the bottom then as you go up you see the other rulers. 18 Rabbit’s figure is missing. At the base of the stairs is the upside down top jaw of a mythical creature. At the top is the upside down bottom jaw. It’s like the stairs are coming out of the creature’s mouth. This motif shows up a great deal.

To the right of the staircase the Harvard archeologists dug a tunnel to see what was inside the pyramid. They found the funerary remains of Smoke Jaguar. That is where they learned so much about him. He was a tough one to have ruled for so long.

To the right of the pyramid we saw the site the Japanese team was working on. I didn’t see any Japanese though, only Honduran workers moving heavy stone blocks. Michael let us know that with all of the various groups working at the site, there have been “Table Wars” going on. Somehow the Japanese got ahold of somebody else’s research and was using it. That’s a big “No no” in the archeology world. Each teams wants to one up the others. Geez!

We wandered around the Acropolis some more. We saw the remains of the royal residential area. Basically you saw low rock walls that gave a bare outline of what was once there. We clambered up and down stairs and over ancient cut stone blocks. It was an experience I will never forget.

Several of us climbed up on one performance platform and walked it along the river. Originally there had been more to the building but the river had eroded the bank and a portion had fallen off. Since then the river has been rerouted away in order to preserve the structure.

All too soon our time with Michael and Copán was up. We had spent all morning here. We had been lucky to have cloud cover so it wasn’t nearly as hot as it could have been. We walked back through the forest watching the scarlet macaws. As we approached the gate, I saw a macaw inching its way long the top of the fence. Another one came and joined it and they seemed to be having a contest as to who was getting to the end of the fence first. I stood watching, just transfixed. What can I say:-). The antics of animals always gets my attention.

We had a nice lunch right there at the park. Before eating we all quickly visited the gift shop. We bought our magnet and a beaded scarlet macaw keychain for a Christmas ornament. I didn’t have any luck on the coffee mug front.

After lunch Carlos and Benis took us back to the hotel. It was too hot to be out and about by now so Doug and I chilled in the room. Then we met up at 3 PM to go to Macaw Mountain which is a rescue for the scarlet macaws. People get them as pets and honestly, they don’t make good ones. They are intelligent but need constant stimulation or they get bored and start plucking their feathers out. I would guess they start getting into mischief as well. So people get rid of them. Others are found injured. The rescue rehabilitates the ones they can and releases them into the wild. If they have been pets for too long, they will never learn how to feed themselves so they stay at the facility.

Unlike the archeological park, most of the birds here were in large cages. However, there were free macaws flying around and artificial nests for them to use. The cages for the others were large and filled with things to interest the birds. And boy, did they have birds of all kinds! Not only did we see a multitude of scarlet macaws but also green and yellow ones as well as blue and yellow. One seemed to enjoy hanging from the wire on the ceiling of his cage by his beak. He would then open and close his wings like he was flashing his yellow belly. Others were grooming each other, drinking water, chewing on items, or climbing on their cages. They put on quite the show.

The rescue also had parrots of all kinds, a couple of owls, a gray hawk, various types of toucans, and a king vulture. I was shocked at how beautiful the king vulture was. You think of vultures as really ugly birds but this guy was spectacular. Carlos got some wonderful shots of him somehow through the wire. The markings on his head were truly spectacular.

I also enjoyed the nursery. They had some eggs that hadn’t hatched yet. Then they had four baby scarlet macaws and 3 great green macaw newborns. They didn’t have feathers yet or even have their eyes open. I can’t say they were cute but it was neat to see them. Then there was a lone baby who had gotten his feathers. Outside of the nursery they had several steps in the process of sending the birds back into the wild. One cage was where they got use to being around other birds. In another they practiced flying. In yet another they were fixing to graduate and be set free.

The whole place was wonderfully done. A stream flowed through and the cages were scattered through the forest. Trays of fruit were placed up high so the free birds could grab a bite to eat. We wandered down by the stream and were rewarded with a mot-mot sighting. It’s the national bird of El Salvador. What a beauty this little guy was from the white blaze on top of his head to the iridescent blue on his long, long tail.

We followed another trail up to a bench by a road and sat watching Oropendola flit in and out of the plethora of nests hanging from the branches of a tree. You could hear the peeping of the little ones as they anxiously waited to be fed. We sat there for several minutes watching them.

Wandering around the rescue had been a perfect way to spend the afternoon. Plus I got to pet a dog :-). While we were waiting for the rest of the group to show up, I sat next to a dog wearing the cone of shame. I think the cone was to keep her from licking her front paw because it was all wrapped up. She was also tied to one of the chairs so she couldn’t go very far. She was happy to get some attention. While I was petting her, I noticed that she was also blind in one eye. Another dog came hopping through on three legs. Something was wrong with one of his paws as well and he couldn’t put any weight on it. I got the impression that the dogs must be rescues as well. They were well taken care of. They wore collars and had more meat on their bones than most of the dogs I’ve seen here.

Back at the hotel we decided to check out a store called Spices that others in our group had gone to. They loved the chocolate they got there. Well, who can resist the call of chocolate? It was only a few blocks away so we went. We missed them actually making the chocolate but we did get to sample several varieties. We walked away with two bars to be eaten on the trip and a bag of spicy peanuts. Others had come in and about bought the shop out. Our group is definitely good for business.

Dinner tonight was at the hotel. They put on a special barbecue for us out by the pool. It was a lovely setting and the food was good as well. It was a great way to wrap up our time in Honduras. Tomorrow we have another border crossing and long bus ride as we make our way to Guatemala City in Guatemala. I’ll miss Copán but I’m excited to see Guatemala as well.

DAY 8: TRAVELING TO HONDURAS VIA GUATEMALA: RAMBLING ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE MAYA

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I enjoyed one more good buffet breakfast with a delicious omelet and then it was time to climb on board for a long day on the bus. We are suppose to rotate seats so nobody hogs the front seat. However, that is proving to be problematic. We are all suppose to rotate one seat or at least that was my understanding. However, the ladies traveling together behind us obviously didn’t want to do that. They kicked Doug out of his correct seat so they could be together. If we were on a a regular bus that wouldn’t be an issue but this small bus has two seats on the left side and singles on the right. I foresee some issues in the next day or two. Frankly, I don’t think it matters as long as people switch their seats up every day. I doubt if Carlos is keeping track. He has more important things on his mind.

On the bus Carlos finished up our El Salvador education. We learned that half of the pupusas are made out of rice rather than corn. They import much of that rice from the U.S. We also learned that 75% of the road construction here is done by inmates from the prisons. We had seen that our first day in El Tunco. The inmates are in a special program and can’t have been a violent criminal, a gang member, a politician, or kidnapper. They get paid for their work as well as work off their time. They can work off half of their sentence. As well as road construction they also make school uniforms and shoes for students. I think that sounds like a good idea. It makes them productive.

Speaking of prisoners, they use to separate the gangs into different prisons to avoid gang violence. However, the new president stopped that and declared that they could all go into the same prison. They would just have to learn to live together. After a violent beginning and a revolution in one prison that ended up with several gang members dead, the gangs did, indeed, learn to live together. They had no other choice.

If I understood Carlos correctly, the gangs here actually were imported from the U.S. During the civil war many Salvadorans fled to the U.S. Many had a difficult time finding work. They were hungry, homeless, and desperate. The gangs “hosted” them and sucked them into the gangs. Then the U.S. began cracking down on immigration and sending these Salvadoran gang members back to El Salvador. When they arrived back home, they started up the gangs here. It’s an import I’m sure the country did not want or appreciate.

A last fun fact is that Santa Ana is considered to be the wealthiest department (equivalent of our state) in El Salvador. It also has the most beautiful women because the Germans lived there so the women are blond haired and blue eyed.

After that pronouncement, Carlos let us sit and enjoy the scenery. I have to say, the landscape wasn’t as lush as I expected. After cruising the Caribbean and West Indies, I expected an explosion of green. However, it is the dry season so I shouldn’t have been so surprised. There is greenery but I see more bare trees than leafy ones. Dead leaves cover the ground. I would like to see it after some rain and see it all perked up.

We drove for a couple of hours before we arrived at the border to Guatemala. This was a first for me. I’ve not had to go through one country to get to another one before. Two border crossings in one day is a record. We all kept our fingers crossed that the crossing would be smooth and easy.

Leaving El Salvador was a piece of cake. Carlos took all of our passports and took care of our exit. We drove several feet and Benis parked the bus. Guatemala required us to personally go through and get stamped. Carlos told us we would have to do our fingerprints as well. Joy, that never works well for me. However, today the system wasn’t working so they just took our photos, checked the information and stamped us into the country. Easy peasy. It took us no time at all. It was one of my faster border crossings.

Back in the bus we had a drive to get to the border of Honduras and Guatemala. We were close when we stopped for our lunch break which was included. Today we had a lovely lunch at a really nice place in the middle of nowhere. We ate on the veranda which was decorated with native masks and costumes as well as interesting art work. The place was definitely eclectic and quirky. I liked it.

Lunch was a buffet. You could choose chicken, beef, or pork, all of which was grilled. There were also grilled vegetables like huge sliced carrots, zucchini, tomatoes, and onion. No meal would be complete without tortillas and beans. It was a good meal. I think everybody enjoyed it.

Back on the bus, we had just a short jaunt to the border. Before we got off to enter the Immigration building, Carlos collected the $4 we needed as an entry fee into Honduras. It was easier for him to pay for us all since they required Honduran money. He already had the correct amount ready. He took care of that and came back and gave us the receipt. Then it was our turn to exit one country and enter the next. One building held both Honduras and Guatemala Immigration stations which was convenient. Carlos warned us to make sure that we got stamped out of Guatemala and into Honduras. I watched them like an eagle to make sure I got stamped.

Everybody made it through Immigration fine and we were back on the bus. From the border it was a short ride to the town of Copán. Since we got into town around three Carlos told us that he would have Benis stop at the Statue Garden Museum for those of us who wanted to go there. It would save us cab or tuck-tuk fare. While we were in the museum, he would get us checked into the hotel and get our luggage into our rooms.

Doug, Liz, and I wanted to see the museum although I was less than thrilled about hauling my heavy backpack through it. My left shoulder has been tightening up and is pinching my nerve again. I didn’t want to aggravate it by carrying my backpack but I sucked it up. At least it didn’t weigh 20 lbs. like it normally does 🙂

The museum was truly well worth carrying my backpack. It was filled with pieces from the Copán archeological site that we were visiting tomorrow. It had a full size replica of a building they found inside one of the other buildings at the site. It still had the red colored stucco on it.

Because so much of Mayan mythology is about entering worlds through portals and because archeologists excavated here using tunnels, you entered the museum through a tunnel. It was even popular with a few bats. Along the way was signage talking about the tunnels and about “Rosalila” which is what they named the ancient temple located inside one of the pyramids.

Rosalila is the first thing you see when you leave the tunnel and enter the museum proper. I have to admit that my jaw dropped. The temple was mind blasting wow even if it was a replica. The temple was a deep red color but the stucco reliefs on it were elaborate and detailed and colorful. It was absolutely spectacular. The actual temple was discovered in nearly perfect condition by archeologists in 1991. Carlos said the last time he saw it, it had faded quite a bit.

Archeologists think that Rosalila was probably dedicated by Copán’s 8th ruler in 550 A.D. The temple represents a sacred mountain where the souls of the ancestors live. It honors the first dynastic ruler who is depicted as the avian Solar Deity.

Usually temples were destroyed and built over by the next ruler. However, Rosalila was left intact because it was so sacred. Instead they chose to bury her within the core of another building. Excavation tunnels have revealed even earlier platforms and tombs beneath Rosalila which date back another 150 years. Pretty incredible.

Rosalila was in the center of the bottom floor. Pieces of artwork that came from the pyramids, stelas, and alters in Copán were against the walls of the building. So as you walked around seeing all four sides of the red temple in the center, you got to admire other artifacts from the site as well. They were equally amazing. You would have to be pretty jaded to walk through this garden of artifacts and not be blown away. From the intrinsic, detailed artistry of the stelas to the alters that depicted scenes from mythology or from real life, the artwork was just mind blowing, especially when you stop and think about the crude tools they had to work with. I freely admit though that even after reading the description of what I was looking at, I couldn’t always “see” it. Jaguars didn’t always look like jaguars to me. The artwork was quite stylized.

One of my favorite pieces was the Killer Bat. He is emerging from the Underworld. This I could see being a bat although the head was more human than bat. You saw the wings and the claws on the wings.

Another great piece was the stela dedicated to ruler #13–Waxaklajun Ubaah K’ awiil (Say that three times quickly!). It shows him carrying a two-headed serpent bat that is symbolically giving birth to sun deities. I know, the mythology is interesting. However, the talent of the people who created the stelas and carvings for the cities is just astonishing. Unless you see it for yourself, you cannot begin to understand the level of detail in these works.

The section of bench markers and pieces from the ball courts displayed the Maya admiration for the scarlet macaw which they used to symbolize the sun. At first I thought they were turtle heads. Oops. After I read the description, I could see the macaw. Some of these pieces still have dabs of red coloring. This told archeologists that original the facade was once coated with stucco and painted red.

Once section from the ball court shows the macaw with a jaguar head in the middle of its chest. And in the mouth of the jaguar is a severed arm. This is a depiction from a scene in the mythology about the hero twins, one of which has his arm torn off. When the piece was discovered, the red paint was still preserved on it. However, what we saw in the museum was a replica because the stucco was too delicate to be removed from the wall underground. Even the replica was impressive.

Replica of stucco piece from one of the ball courts

We spent an hour perusing the displays. It went by in a flash. We walked back through the tunnel and found Carlos, Benis, and the bus waiting for us. When we were all accounted for, we made the short drive to our hotel—Hotel Plaza Magdalena.

The hotel was conveniently located in town. Everything we needed was nearby from convenience stores to chocolate stores. The room itself was more of a suite. We had a large living area with a fridge and a microwave as well as an old tube TV set. The bedroom was equally large with a beautiful rock wall behind the beds. Unfortunately there was only one outlet on that wall and it was on the far side of the bed. I ended up having to plug my devices in to charge in the living area. Not my favorite but I could deal with it for two nights.

At six we met Carlos for an orientation walk. He pointed out all of the stores we might need. I have to admit we all got distracted, including Carlos, by the scarlet macaws flitting around and fussing. We were treated to a show by a couple in an artificial nest. I loved watching them. They amaze me with what all they do with their bills. I only had my phone so I filmed with it. I was amazed that the footage was decent, considering I had to zoom in a good deal.

At the end of the walk, our group split up and went different directions. Several ladies went in search of ice cream while several of us went with Carlos to Nia Lola Restaurante in search of baleadas. None of us wanted a great deal to eat after our big lunch.

A baleada is a tortilla filled with various things. I ordered the simple baleada which had black beans, cheese, and cream (sour cream). The tortilla was thin which made it a nice, light meal. Doug got one with meat and other stuff in it. We also got guacamole with chips. That with a beer did the trick.

Back in the room I stepped into the shower just as a big cockroach appeared from somewhere. Yuck. Doug came in and took care of it. You really don’t want to have to deal with cockroaches when you are naked 🙂

After seeing the museum today, I can’t wait until tomorrow and we get to see the actual location all of those marvelous artifacts came from. I am prepared to be blown away.

DAY 7: JOYA DE CERÉN & SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR: RAMBLING ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE MAYA

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I have to confess, I really enjoyed the buffet breakfast this morning :-). It’s the first time on this trip we’ve had a buffet. We’ve been ordering off of a set menu which is fine. However, I do enjoy the freedom of the buffet. And the omelet chef today did an excellent job. She was quite efficient and made a darn good omelet. The day was starting off well 🙂

Since it was the official start of the main trip, after breakfast we had a quick meeting with Carlos as he went over expectations, the trip, itinerary etc. It was all of the typical first day of a trip stuff. Bravo to Carlos for keeping it short. We were done in less than an hour.

We did learn about Carlos’ personal life. He didn’t have it easy growing up. Basically he raised himself from a very young age. He had to find food for himself and cook it. From the age of 9 he has done all manner of work from mining to selling rocks to climbing trees and collecting allspice. He’s been to the U.S. twice but illegally and sent back. His family lost everything in the civil war and that’s why he had it so tough. His parents couldn’t afford his school supplies so he had to drop out in second grade. His parents eventually became pastors and at fifteen he finished elementary school. He worked as a carpenter to pay for the rest of his education. He never took English classes but he speaks it quite well. He started working for OAT in 2005 so he has been with the company for a long time. Listening to the hardships he survived made me feel like a spoilt brat. You never realize how good you have it until you hear somebody else’s story.

After a quick toilet break, it was time to load up the bus. It was a tight squeeze but we all managed to cram in. Today was the test to get us ready for tomorrow when we have an all-day transit day. Anyway, once on the bus we got some disappointing news. Julio was suppose to be with us today for the last time. However, his wife became ill and he needed to stay home with her. So we didn’t get a chance to tell him goodbye. I was sorry about that because he was really great and I enjoyed him so much.

Carlos showed his chops though and stepped into the breech. After doing this for 20 years, he probably knows the information as well as Julio. Anyway, Carlos filled us in today. As we drove through San Salvador, we passed a square with a statue of Jesus standing on top of the earth. El Salvador means the “savior” who is Jesus. So of course, it is only natural they should have a statue of the patron of their city. I couldn’t even begin to try to get a photo from the bus which was disappointing. It was a pretty statue.

San Salvador is the capital as well as the largest city in the country. It has approximately two million people. Most people are of mixed blood. It is located in the Ring of Fire so earthquakes are nothing unusual here. There is even a volcano just outside of the city. The last time San Salvador Volcano erupted was in 1917. Since the new president has taken over, the country is one of the safest in the world. That was good news.

Benis had to fight heavy traffic to get us out of the city. It was typical work day traffic. It was slow going for quite a while. Once we got outside of the city, the traffic cleared and we made good time. Our objective for the morning was to explore the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Joya de Cerén. What is so special about this place? Well, much like Pompeii, a volcanic eruption took the city out and encased it in 14 layers of ash. It’s not as large as Pompeii but it is still impressive. Fortunately here the people were able to escape with their lives, just not their possessions.

The discovery of the city was totally by accident. The Cerén family which is one of the 14 Spanish families, owned the land and were building silos on it. One day one of their men was driving a bulldozer and hit something. He got out and saw what looked like a wall so he kept digging. Eventually he found a building under several feet of ash. He called the owners and told them what he had found. The owners, in turn, called the authorities. Once the authorities saw what it was, the owners were asked to stop building silos.

Professionals were called in to handle the job of excavating whatever was under all of the ash. They unearthed the very first building. This first building had been used by common people and looked exactly like structures used by the Mayans across the country. The building was constructed of sticks used like rebar. Once the sticks were in place, they were covered in mud and stucco.

The city was abandoned between 650 and 660 A.D. when the Loma Caldera erupted. Although there aren’t human molds like in Pompeii, archeologists did find plates with food on them, animals, etc. encased in volcanic ash. We saw the garlic plant yesterday at the museum. Because there was such an abundance of every day items discovered here, it was significant in helping archeologists learn about the daily life of the ancient Maya agricultural communities.

Carlos gave us a good explanation of the three periods of Mayan history but I have to admit that I missed some of it. I got distracted looking out the window. Anyway, the pre-Classic period lasted from 1000 BCE to 250 CE. The Classic Period went from 250-900 CE. The final period is Post-Classic and it lasted from 900-1512 CE. (I had to look up those dates😜). In the early part of the Classic period the Maya had built a few cities in Mesoamerica. However, by the late Classic, they had spread throughout the region.

The Maya civilization was a loose coalition of small independent city states. Each city state was ruled by a ajaw/ahu or divine ruler. That person controlled the land around the capital city. Such independence led to frequent fighting with neighbors. The rulers all wanted to control trade routes and acquire more territory. This decentralization and squabbling probably helped lead to the collapse of the Maya cities in the 10th century. Nobody knows the exact reason for the collapse though. We do know that Cortés’ arrival at the beginning of the 16th century spelled the end of the Maya civilization.

I also learned that during the Pre-Classic period the Mayan tribes stopped being nomadic and began domesticating things like corn, pumpkins, and manioc. In order to become successful farmers, the people had to learn the cycle of the moon. They learned that you never plant crops that grow above the soil during the new moon, always a full moon. A new moon is good for planting root veggies like sweet potatoes. Because of the need for the knowledge, the Mayans created a solar calendar.

They began religion to please the rain gods, fertility gods, etc. They needed all the help they could get because at the beginning of the Classical Period they faced drought. Their shamans lost credibility. Internal revolutions began happening. In 900 CE the civilization collapsed and people began migrating to new places with natural sources of water. During the Post-Classical period Tulum and Chichen Itza grew into spectacular cities. Of course, then the Spanish came and that was that. However, the people have managed to hang onto their culture in some places. The Mayan religion is making a comeback. They don’t do human sacrifices anymore but they do sacrifice animals. There is even a religion that is a mix of Maya and Catholic.

We had a short ‘stop the bus” moment as we were traveling. An older lady was selling beans by the side of the road so Carlos had Benis pull over. He brought her onboard with a bunch of her beans. Through him she explained that she sold them when they were in season and other things when beans were out of season. She would buy from neighbors and sell that as well. Carlos very kindly bought the beans that she brought onto the bus so at least she made one sale this morning.

When we arrived at Joya de Cerén we had a local guide waiting for us. Her name was Julie. She explained that they determined the purpose of each building by the objects found inside or around it. For example, the building that contained baskets with corn, beans, and manioc was labeled a storage room.

The entire area that has been excavated is under cover which was good for us as it kept the sun at bay. We walked beneath the roof and Julie showed us our first building. It was a community building where the village authorities resolved important issues. The archeologists figured this out because of the four niches and the two large benches in the front room. This is how the Maya people distributed seats for authority.

This building as well as all of the buildings were just walls. The roofs were long gone. They had originally been thatch and had been oversized to overhang the building. The way the site was set up, you could see just how deep they had to dig to unearth anything. It was amazing.

A Portion of Joya de Cerén with Sauna in Foreground

The sauna or temazcal for the village was also uncovered . It is the best preserved sauna. It was used for purification before dealing with the gods. It was also used to heal people. Women had saunas before giving birth. In fact they still do. Part of the ceiling still exists on this building. It was a wattle and daub dome. On the ceiling, Julie pointed out a disk. This disk is found on most saunas. It’s made of a light wood and helps regulate the temperature inside. It also represents the naval point.

The kitchen was circular and you could see the three round stones that represented the underworld, the mortal world, and the other world. I’m not sure why they had to be in the kitchen but they were. The kitchen was round because that provided protection from strong winds.

We saw more storage buildings as well as sleeping and storage buildings. The most important building was the shaman’s. It still has some of its original color. It also had some decoration that you didn’t see on the other buildings. That lattice work was quite attractive and differentiated the shaman’s house from all of the others. Inside archeologists found spindle whorls and grinding instruments which helped cement what the building had been used for. Shamans still deliver babies here. Shamanism is strong in Mexico and Guatemala.

We wrapped up our visit to Joya de Cerén with a stop in the small museum. It was quite informative and well done. It had many fascinating artifacts such as beautifully decorated bowls, the mold of a footprint, and even the ash-encased bones of a duck. There were also imprints of an agave plant, corn cobs and corn stalk fragments. We wandered through all of the exhibits and then it was time to hit the road.

We stopped on the way to the hotel at, of all things, an Argentinian steak house for our Welcome Lunch. That was different as well. After 20+ trips this is our first welcome lunch. Usually it is a dinner. Sometimes it’s nice to change it up. La Pampa was VERY nice. We ate outside on the veranda. There was a nice breeze blowing so it wasn’t as stifling hot as it could have been. Earlier Carlos had give us our choices and placed our order so we didn’t have to wait long until the mouth watering aroma of cooked steak wafted through the air. Many of us had chosen the steak with jalapeño sauce. I was glad it came in a small bowl because it was chock full of onion. Yuck. Doug was happy because he got mine. The steak just plain was delicious. They had cooked it perfectly. The baked potato was scrummy (I’ve missed baked potatoes), and the piece of corn was tasty as well. Of course there were tortillas as well. I have to say the food has not been as monotonous I was led to believe. I’ve been quite pleased with our selections. It’s all been tasty and filling.

After lunch we continued on to the hotel where we had some time to rest. We generally don’t do any thing as a group during the heat of the day. It’s just too hot. Around 4 we all met up in the lobby for our tour of historic San Salvador. For this we had a pinch hitter local guide since we didn’t have Julio. Eric was great, too. He was very personable and knew his stuff.

He gave us some quick shotgun facts as we made our way to the historic center of the city. San Salvador is the second most visited place in the country. It has two million people in 325 square km. It use to be the #1 most dangerous place. Thank goodness they have that under control. Trump is the only president since Nixon who hasn’t visited the country. El Salvador is known for seafood. They have seven different species of shrimp. The valley the city sits in is called “Valle de las Hamacas” which means “Valley of the Hammocks.”

We arrived at the historic area fast so our lessons was cut short but Julio had already told us so much that I was okay with that. Eric took us to the 0 km marker which marks the center of the country. Doug always likes seeing those. It was in the middle of a large square and very easy to find as it was huge. While we stood there Eric shared with us that there had been a big fire in 1948 that destroyed the national theater and the cathedral. It took years and years to finish repairs on the church.

The square we were standing in was Plaza Civica. On one side of the square was a huge building that was another “gift” from the Chinese. It’s a public library built to look like an open book. I thought that was a bit of a stretch but at least it was a library. The Chinese gave it in gratitude for El Salvador not acknowledging Taiwan as an independent country.

A bronze statue of President Gerardo Barrios also graces the plaza. The president was sitting astride a horse. He was literally covered with pigeons which was amusing.

Our main goal at the plaza was the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Holy Savior which is the main church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of San Salvador. It is also the location for the shrine of Father Romero who was ordered in the civil war.

Outside the church was huge but with very little decoration which I found surprising for a church of its importance. It was important enough that Pope John Paul II came here twice, once in 1983 and once in 1996. Both times he prayed at the shrine of Father Romero.

Inside the cavernous cathedral behind the alter, were six huge paintings depicting the life of Jesus. One the right side of the alter were two paintings of Father Romero. Mary was on the left side. Beautiful stain glass windows were in a side chapel. The ceiling had an ornate wooden pattern and around the edge was written a prayer. The statues inside were the only things that were saved in the big fire of 1948. The entire church was beautifully simple.

We had to go down into the basement for the shrine. The room itself was huge as they also hold services here as well. Eric said that the place was always packed when they did. Toward the back was the tomb of Father Romero. The brass tomb was made in Milan. The tomb consisted of the father lying with a nun at each corner for the four nuns who had also been killed. The tomb was truly beautiful. On each pillar in the room was the mosaic of a murdered priest.

Shrine of Father Romero Who Was Murdered During the Civil War

While standing there Eric said he had been shown papers that delineated what a person could get paid for killing people during the civil war. For example if you killed a farmer, you would get $5,000. If you killed a teacher it was $10,000. If you killed a priest, you hit the jackpot. It boggles my imagination that people could do such things.

When Father Romero was assassinated, he was not at this church. He was at a small one in a nearby town. The news set him up by making a big announcement of where he was going to be. Just two days before during a service, he had called for the two sides to lay down their arms and come to a peaceful solution. That literally signed his death warrant. He was shot in the heart while blessing the host which earned him the honor of sainthood. When they held his funeral service, 40 people were killed when gunmen started firing at the mourners. Many were killed in the panicked stampede. Today they still don’t know who assassinated the priest or shot into the crowd.

Down here as well as Father Romero’s shrine was an interesting crucifix. It features a dark-skinned Jesus. The purpose of this was to make the Salvadoran people feel included by having a Jesus who looked like them. I snapped a quick picture as we filed out of the room.

The National theater was next door to the cathedral. It is the oldest theater in Central America. The original was built in 1911 and inaugurated in 1917. However, it was involved in the 1948 fire as well.

While waiting for Benis to return with the bus, we wandered around one more plaza. This was the plaza where the people celebrated the signing of the peace accord that ended the civil war. Today it was filled with people enjoying their Sunday afternoon. They clustered beneath the trees making good use of the shade they offered. It was interesting to see the weathered older men all sporting cowboy hats. You don’t think about people in Central America wearing them.

Back at the hotel I washed the day’s dirt off of me and we met Liz in the lobby. We had already decided to go back to the brewery for beer. Then after one of the ladies told us how fabulous their pulled pork sandwich was, we decided to eat dinner there as well. She made the pulled pork sound too good to pass up.

Tonight we all three tried the red ale instead of the stout. Doug liked it better than Liz and I. We went back to the stout for our second beer. The pork sandwich was tasty but not as amazing as our fellow travelers had described. To each their own. It was a good meal despite that.

For dessert we walked up to a coffee shop/cookie factory named Biscuit to check out the cookies that another lady had raved about. We all ended up getting more than just the powdered sugar cookies:-). Doug picked out two kinds and got two of each and I did the same. We saved our cookies to savor as a treat for after packing up. I figured they would go well with my hot tea. And they did. I just ate my chocolate brownie. Doug had actually eaten one of each of the four kinds. Obviously we had had a miscommunication because I didn’t want to eat any of his choices😜

Tomorrow is our first border crossing. We actually leave El Salvador and go into Guatemala. After lunch we will make the border crossing into Honduras. So we have two border crossings. Nobody better leave their passport in their suitcase because it will be up on the roof of the bus!

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DAY 16: TREKKING UP PACAYA VOLCANO, COFFE, & ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA: RAMBLING ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE MAYA

DAY 15: ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA: RAMBLING ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE MAYA

DAY 14: TRAVEL DAY TO ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA: RAMBLING ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE MAYA

DAY 13: A DAY IN THE LIFE IN SAN ANTONIO PALOPO, GUATEMALA: RAMBLING ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE MAYA

DAY 12: TRAVEL DAY TO SANTA CATARINA PALOPÓ, GUATEMALA: RAMBLING ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE MAYA

DAY 11: GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA: RAMBLING ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE MAYA

DAY 10: TRAVEL DAY TO GUATEMALA CITY, GUATEMALA: RAMBLING ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE MAYA

DAY 9: COPÁN, HONDURAS: RAMBLING ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE MAYA

DAY 8: TRAVELING TO HONDURAS VIA GUATEMALA: RAMBLING ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE MAYA

DAY 7: JOYA DE CERÉN & SAN SALVADOR, EL SALVADOR: RAMBLING ALONG THE ROUTE OF THE MAYA