Santiago Atitlan Final Week

We stayed in beautiful Casa Tucan at Posada de Santiago.

Many views of Lago Atitlan and Volcan San Pedro:

                      View from our bed

                I love the rag rug by our bed

         Women washing laundry in the lake

Check this out: Richard found this coat in a paca heap. Paca translates as bale, because the vendors buy bales of clothing from Canada and USA. This coat is Calvin Klein, tags still on, angora and wool, my size, my colour. 10Q = $1.79CAD!!!

            Gorgeous embroidery on our wall.

                           In the church

                 Traditional fishing boats

I went on a rather challenging quetzal hike, and saw quetzales!!

There is a wonderful elementary school just up the road from our accommodations. I arranged a visit on assembly day. This month the grade sixes were in charge of the assembly with a theme of friendship. They did a grade job. 

                 Drying coffee beans

        We saw a few of these flat-bottomed.                 beehives

Back in Antigua, a girl all dressed up for her 15th birthday. This is a big deal. 

And then we flew home. 

 

Antigua Guatemala Week 5

I'm a bit late on this post, but here are a few more photos around Antigua.

Me with Maria Elena, my first friend in Guatemala. We met 25 years ago when she was a social worker and I was on a leave from teaching. 

Another fast food bus.

This is for my friend, Karin. 

There was a series of free concerts at the art gallery in Santa Ana. Richard and U chose to go to the afternoon dress rehearsal. I found it fascinating to see and hear what goes on. They would often stop mid-piece to tweak something a little. Each of the musicians (from the Julliard School of Music), provided input, suggesting small changes. I hadn't realized there was so much room for interpretation in a classical piece. 

 

After the rehearsal we discovered that Santa Ana was preparing alfombras (carpets) for a procession. Some are very natural with flowers, seed pods and fruit. Others are created by forming designs with coloured saw dust, using stencils. 

We left Santa Ana before the procession came through. 

The next day, February 22, was the first lenten procession in Antigua, and it was the day we had booked a shuttle to take us to Panajachel. Many roads were closed to traffic, so we had to meet the shuttle at the north end of town. No probs after that.