With all the traveling I've done, I don't think I've ever traveled to a Christian country in early December. The Christmas season is in full swing here. From dinner last night...
The shops all have Christmas sales. I guess it's Black Friday week here too.
Butch would have hated the hotel in Antigua. Charming. Yes. But boring too. No activity. No people watching. No bar!!
This morning started with a walking tour of Antigua. My first question was "is that an active volcano I heard rumbling all night?" I had no idea that Guatemala is on top of 3 tectonic plates making it very seismically active with both earthquakes and volcanoes. Since Antigua is now a world heritage site, the only construction allowed is restoration and repair. With the number of devastating earthquakes they've had, they will be busy repairing things for many, many years to come. Some of the cathedrals have never been finished. They'd start, an earthquake would happen, they'd restart, another earthquake and then they'd give up. The highlight is the San Francisco church which has been rebuilt many times the last after having been abandoned for 200 years. It contains the tomb of Saint Hermano Pedro.
I had no idea that Guatemala was also a source of jade. Usually we associate jade with China. However, all the seismic activity has pushed a lot of jade to the surface.
After the Antigua tour, we drove north towards Lake Atitlan.
Stopped at the Ixichme ruins along the way. These are Mayan ruins from the early 1500s. They started to restore this site in 1960. There was not much interesting to excavate here since the Mayans built this city in the late 1400s and then the Spanish appeared in the early 1500s so there is not a lot of history here. Visiting these sites does make we want to read more about Mayan history though.
My favorite thing about these tours is talking to the guides about their country with the inevitable comparisons to home. On the drive, I learned that Guatemalans prefer the older Toyotas that are easier to fix and they really like bling. They cover the trucks with chrome additions and fancy chrome wheels. They also like a clean car. I am not exaggerating when I say that we passed at least 20 car wash stalls along the highway.
There are the chicken buses. Old school buses from the USA that have been blinged up.
The hotel, Casa Palopo, at Lake Atitlan is tremendous. Butch would have loved this one. I'm sitting on the balcony overlooking the lake and sipping a drink. However, it was a horrible goat path of a road to get here. It look 3 attempts for our van to make it up into the hotel property.
Having WiFi troubles. I'll post pictures of the lake and hotel tomorrow.
I have a lakeside hike tomorrow morning and then a long drive back to the airport to fly to another part of Guatemala. This hotel is great and the lake is beautiful but I'm not sure the jaunt this far north was worth it. Stay tuned for the verdict...
The shops all have Christmas sales. I guess it's Black Friday week here too.
Butch would have hated the hotel in Antigua. Charming. Yes. But boring too. No activity. No people watching. No bar!!
This morning started with a walking tour of Antigua. My first question was "is that an active volcano I heard rumbling all night?" I had no idea that Guatemala is on top of 3 tectonic plates making it very seismically active with both earthquakes and volcanoes. Since Antigua is now a world heritage site, the only construction allowed is restoration and repair. With the number of devastating earthquakes they've had, they will be busy repairing things for many, many years to come. Some of the cathedrals have never been finished. They'd start, an earthquake would happen, they'd restart, another earthquake and then they'd give up. The highlight is the San Francisco church which has been rebuilt many times the last after having been abandoned for 200 years. It contains the tomb of Saint Hermano Pedro.
I had no idea that Guatemala was also a source of jade. Usually we associate jade with China. However, all the seismic activity has pushed a lot of jade to the surface.
After the Antigua tour, we drove north towards Lake Atitlan.
Stopped at the Ixichme ruins along the way. These are Mayan ruins from the early 1500s. They started to restore this site in 1960. There was not much interesting to excavate here since the Mayans built this city in the late 1400s and then the Spanish appeared in the early 1500s so there is not a lot of history here. Visiting these sites does make we want to read more about Mayan history though.
My favorite thing about these tours is talking to the guides about their country with the inevitable comparisons to home. On the drive, I learned that Guatemalans prefer the older Toyotas that are easier to fix and they really like bling. They cover the trucks with chrome additions and fancy chrome wheels. They also like a clean car. I am not exaggerating when I say that we passed at least 20 car wash stalls along the highway.
There are the chicken buses. Old school buses from the USA that have been blinged up.
The hotel, Casa Palopo, at Lake Atitlan is tremendous. Butch would have loved this one. I'm sitting on the balcony overlooking the lake and sipping a drink. However, it was a horrible goat path of a road to get here. It look 3 attempts for our van to make it up into the hotel property.
Having WiFi troubles. I'll post pictures of the lake and hotel tomorrow.
I have a lakeside hike tomorrow morning and then a long drive back to the airport to fly to another part of Guatemala. This hotel is great and the lake is beautiful but I'm not sure the jaunt this far north was worth it. Stay tuned for the verdict...
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