A Zip Line and a Volcano

Yesterday, while my aunt toured a local coffee plantation, I zip lined through it.  And, although I was a bit nervous, it was awesome!  It's not nearly as scary as a roller coaster nor near as fast.  With this set of zip lines, we had 7 segments of varying lengths with the longest being around 90 meters.  One was slightly faster than the others but still not alarmingly so.  Besides the 7 segment zip line, they also had another course that was two very long segments over a wide canyon.  Next time, I'll be ready for that one.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures as it is hard to take pictures of oneself when suspended in mid air and moving.

Today, was a very busy day.  At 9 AM, we were picked up and carted 90 minutes to Pacaya Volcano.  It was a fairly steep two hour hike to the top with my guide Carlitos.  They also have horses you can take instead of walking.  The horse guides follow you for the first kilometro saying, "You need a taxi?  My horse no es tired."  But, I knew I needed the exercise and I have a bad history with horses so I hoofed it to the top myself.  It was a great workout and well worth the views.  Pacaya Volcano is still active and, in places, we could feel the heat coming from the ground.  An Israeli company has also put a geothermal electric generating plant there as well.  Unfortunately, the geothermal profits are not staying local.  So the hike was two hours up, 35 minutes down, and a good time was had by all.

Carlitos was really typical of the people I've met in Guatemala - extremely hard working, holding multiple jobs, friendly, and with a positive outlook.  He told me that they did not teach English in his school and he'd studied independently and learned from books.  He has an 8 year old son and a 5 year old daughter and in addition to taking huffing and puffing Americans to the top of the volcano at a snail's pace, he farms with this dad.  He also let me practice my terrible Spanish on him and for that, he deserved a reward.  As such and because I've spent very little money here, I gave him a hefty tip. 

After we got back form the volcano, we caught a taxi and headed out to the Valhalla Macadamia Nut Farm.  It's run by an American named Lorenzo who came to the area  for 3 days in 1972 and never left.  He and his wife have built up the farm and now have several hundred varieties of macadamia trees.    Lorenzo invented a machine that removes the outermost green shell of the nut by using a deflated tire as well as another device that sorts the nuts by size (a chute with 5 wires that get progressively farther apart and the nuts fall through into bags).  They also give away hundreds of trees to locals.  Lorenzo also made a lot of jokes about spending his days playing with his nuts.  In the gift shop, we all got macadamia oil facials and got to try the nuts and some chocolate.  The nuts were definitely good and less oily than the ones I've had before.  Valhalla - it's a good place doing good things.

Tomorrow is our last full day in Guatemala.  We plan on relaxing and taking it easy.  We're done a lot this week and it will be good to wind down.

The truck that took us to the coffee plantation

Volcano taxi

Pacaya Volcano

You can see where the lava flowed down about 8 years ago.

The old crater from a previous eruption

Facial with macadamia oil

A hard day's work is best followed by a nap on the way home. 

Montezuma's Revenge

After a long night and morning of gastrointestinal distress, today we took a three hour tour of the city.  The tour was by Elizabeth Bell, owner of Antigua Tours by Elizabeth Bell.  She's an American who moved to Antigua in 1969 and has become very active in promoting and improving the city.  It was a good tour and we got to see many of the sites.  We also scheduled a tour for tomorrow with her company-my aunt will tour a coffee plantation and I will zip line through it.  We also scheduled a volcano hike for Thursday. 

The last stop on today's tour was Santo Domingo, another huge old ruined cathedral that has been slowly excavated over the last 25 years (it was under 6 feet of volcanic ash).  They've done a great job with it.  They've combined the ruins with modern amenities to make a hotel, cathedral for weddings, restaurant, etc.  Antigua is really trying to use tourism to dig it's way out of poverty and places like Santo Domingo employ lots of locals.  In addition to this location, you can take their free ride up the mountain to a second location.  This one has a sculpture park and very nice restaurant among other things.  I tested the digestive water there with some mushroom bruschetta and margarita pizza.  The mushroom bruschetta had mushrooms marinated in lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper and it was the best thing I've tasted in a while and everything seemed ok to my digestive system.

Picture time! 

The cathedral at Parque Central.  Nice in the front, in ruins after the initial entrance (which is now the only interior).

Parque Central (Central Park)

The General's Palace.  Abandoned when the capital was moved.  Now being renovated.

A dead Jesus for the Holy Week procession

Fallen column in cathedral

The ceiling of the cathedral

You can see that much of the ceiling collapsed during earthquakes.

An excavated crypt under the cathedral.

Looks like St. James made an impression (this shell is his symbol).

Dominos delivery via motorcycle

A guy trimming the vines with what has to be an 8 foot machete

Part of the excavated and restored cathedral at Santo Domingo

In one of the museums at Santo Domingo

In an art gallery at Santo Domingo.  Water faucets and corn.

A view of Volcano Agua from Santo Domingo

The grounds of Santo Domingo, ruins and restored.

In a crypt under Santo Domingo

Tuk Tuk & Chocolate

I just got home via my first tuk tuk ride.  We're talking a three wheeled taxi sort of vehicle.  The tuk tuk and the cobblestone roads made for a bumpy ride but was enjoyable nonetheless.   Our tuk tuk driver, Hector, was a real nice guy who had driven a semi for 13 years out of Michigan.  He was very proud of Michigan's performance in the NCAA tournament. We had come from a dinner at Panza Verde, an upscale restaurant that was delicious.  We shared an appetizer (baked Camembert), salad (arugula with Gorgonzola), and an entree (tortellini with prosciutto & peas).  After that dinner and a lunch of fish tacos and buffalo fries (spices and melted blue cheese), I now have one giant stomach ache.  A necessary hazard of trying it all. 

We've spent the last two days bumming around town.  Yesterday we went to the Choco Museo (chocolate museum) and I bought salted chocolate, chocolate with chilis, and white chocolate with chilis.  I 've seen a lot of the city as well.  One thing that you notice in La Antigua is that although the buildings look less than fancy (and sometimes run down) on the outside, they are really fabulous on the inside.  Courtyards, fountains, handmade furniture, etc.  As always, don't judge a book (or building) by its cover.

I did get to spend a little time at the pool to day.  Nothing like a little water, a little sun, and a good book.

Tomorrow we're headed on a city wide walking tour.  After that, we're going to make the rest of our plans for the trip. 

I must say, I am greatly enjoying not being available by phone for a while.

The arch of the hill of the cross (that's obviously the translated name).  It was hazy but there's a mountain in the back ground that has a cross on it. 

One of the floats from the Semana Santa (Holy Week) processions.

The doors of the cathedral.  The city has more than 30 churches (both functional and ruins).  For perspective, the town has about 35,000 residents.

There are lots of beautiful wood doors.

Flowers, flowers, everywhere.  Many of which, I've never seen before.  

Looming over the city is a large volcano (Volcano Agua, in the background).

Blackberry mojito

I must say, I am greatly enjoying not being available by phone for a while.

Guatemala en Abril

I'm in Guatemala.  Why?  Why not?  There's a whole wide world to see.  My aunt and I were interested in going somewhere and her time share company had space available in Antigua, Guatemala.  It was that or British Columbia and frankly, I wanted to go some place warm.

So, we're in a small city about an hour outside Guatemala City, the capital.  The capital has a double shot of things working against clean air - exhaust belching American school buses (more about that in a future post) used as the main source of transportation and sitting in a valley.  Not good.  I'm sure the locals face major health challenges as a result.

So today we just walked around our city, got some groceries, and ate some lunch.  The locals really made an strong impression on me today.   There is a large market with stall after stall after stall of locals plying their wares.  Here are hard working people selling everything from saws, limes, flowers, ropes, huge mangos, recycled American clothes, and everything in between.  And you know these folks go home to domiciles with dirt floors and corrugated metal walls.   Thus, as I've said many times before . . .

poverty is not a character flaw.

Another stamp in the passaporte

La Merced - one of many churches

A Franciscan fryer Bartolome who lived to be 92.

Some church ruins.  Antigua is full of church ruins as it is surrounded by volcanos and has lots of earthquakes.  I have seen no buildings taller than 2 stories and most are one.