Guatemala is the northern most country in Central America. It has beautiful volcanoes, mountain lakes and jungles. It is the most populated of all Central American nations, the large majority of whom are Indian. They are descended from the ancient Mayan civilization. Puerto Quetzal is one of the busiest and most modern ports in Central America and located about an hour from Antigua. Antigua was founded by the Spaniards in the early 1500's.
The picture is of me with a woman who was next to us during our lunch, making tortillas. She said she does it during lunch and dinner. She had a wood burning oven and was sweating a lot. It was hot, and even hotter where she stood. The tortillas were delicious.
We arrived in Puerto Quetzal at 7 a.m. Mel and I had decided not to book a HAL tour, but at the last min, figured it might be a good idea to go to Antigua with their bus rather than risk missing the ship. We checked out their price, then went into the port to see what we could find. There were several private companies as well as taxi's w/no tour included. We really needed more people to get the best rate, so looked around to find another couple wanting to go into Antigua. We found a mother and daughter from Canada who were looking for more to fill their bus, so decided to join them. We waited around for more people, but when no one else was interested, the company said they'd take just the 4 of us. We piled into a van. The driver/owner kept asking the others to open the windows. Sometimes speaking the language comes in handy. I asked if that van had A/C and when she said it didn't, I got up to leave and said I wouldn't ride in an unA/C vehicle! She (the owner) immediately decided to give us the bus for 12...w/AIR! It was a family run business, the owner/ mother, had her son and daughter there working with her also. Very nice people. We had our own driver and English speaking guide to ourselves for 7 hours. I did at one point ask how much he would pay ME as a translator. It was easier for him to tell me in Spanish and let me translate. That stopped after the first hr.
Our first stop was a small town where a family had set up a weaving business. We were served fresh tortillas w/cheese and hot sauce, delicious. The prices seemed a bit high, so we didn't buy much, but the embroidered items were beautiful. Next stop was the old cathedral in Antigua. It was nice but nothing like the gold filled cathedrals we saw in Ecuador 2 yrs ago. There was a small market in the church yard, so we shopped a bit there. We then went to the Casa Santa Domingo. It was originally a convent, built in the early 1500's by the Spaniards. It was pretty much in ruins by earthquakes, when a hotel took over the property, building a beautiful hotel on top of the ruins. The gardens were amazing. It was listed in the top 500 hotels in the world by Travel and Leisure Magazine for the last 8 yrs. Nice visit. We then stopped at a jade factory. For some reason, the people of Guatemala think that their jade is the best in the world and every other jade is crap. Hmm, guess they have never been to China! We went to an indoor market w/dozens of booths selling bright colored table clothes, table runners, bags, etc. We headed back to the ship at about 2. Sail away was at 4.
Tonight at dinner our table mates decided we should meet again in 2010. The unanimous location is to be a cruise down the St Lawrence Seaway. Wonder if it'll really happen. We really do enjoy everyone. After dinner I walked around the dining room w/our maitre' d, trying to choose the best location to dine for the rest of the cruise. I asked him to PLEASE put nice and interesting people with us. We have met some odd (to put it nicely) folks, I think I already mentioned that.
The BEST part of our trip, and this is really funny, is the unlimited laundry!! Our travel agent nicely gave it to us as one of our "amenities". We send a bag of clothes out and the next day it returns on hangars or neatly folded in a cute basket, wrapped in tissue w/a gold sticker. Why did we bring so many clothes when we never have any dirty ones?
The Capt announced to expect high winds and rough seas tonight. Oh Boy! It was even mentioned that we could miss our next port due to bad weather. That would be sad...and a first for us. We've never had that happen. Hopefully this will go out tonight...and tomorrow I can report on our wonderful day in Huatulco, Mexico.
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