Guatemala

Yesterday, we were in Guatemala. We hired a driver and a guide and drove 1.5 hours to Antigua in Guatemala. The Mayans are not very tall and so friendly and colorful. Our guide had lived in Seattle and so his English was pretty good. The markets had wonderful fabrics (embroidery, lace, and woven things). The city reminded us of Patzquero in Mexico. It probably was built at the same time (late 1500s). The cathedral had suffered a severe earthquake. There are live volcanoes on top of three mountains and they are active all the time. Two hundred and thirty years ago one of the volcanoes erupted and so you see rivers of lava on either side of the highway.

One of the entertainers on board had told us about a wonderful 5 star hotel that we should visit. Wow!! Amongst all the poverty, the hotel is a converted convent and exquisite. We asked our driver and guide to leave us for a couple of hours so we could wander around and have lunch. There are hanging orchids everywhere, beautiful Macaw parrots, gorgeous paintings, statues just fabulous. We had a great lunch and wondered around taking pictures like crazy. There was a large wedding going on in an open amphitheatre.

I wanted to buy flowers for our stateroom and so once the "guys" picked us up we went to the large market and finally found the flower place. We bought 12 Bird of Paradise, a dozen Queen of the Nile, and a huge bunch of Eucalyptus. The cost was $6 US!!!

Now we are enroute to Acapulco and arrive in the morning. Today is a busy teaching day. Happy 30th Birthday Chris. Today Chris is in Brazil kiteboarding for his birthday and we are thinking about him. He is staying in Buzios and we have been there and it is really beautiful.