Chichicastenango and Lake Atitlan

From Antigua we drove through the mountains to Chichicastenango, a town known for its huge Sunday market where anything and everything is on sale. It is a good place to buy hand-woven textiles, pottery and artwork. Bargains abound and it is expected that the price will be negotiated. The Maya hereabouts are famous for their adherence to pre-christian beliefs and their religion is an odd mix of Catholicism and shamanistic ceremonies derived from the ancient Mayans.
After our shopping fix, we moved on to Lake Atitlan. This is a beautiful volcanic lake nestled among three volcanoes. It was formed 85,000 year ago by the Los Chocoyos eruption which blew ash as far as present-day Florida.The amount of magma expelled was such that the surface terrain collapsed leaving a roughly circular 8x18 km circular hole which filled with water.
We stayed at La Casa del Mundo Hotel which is built into a hillside. There are breath-taking views of the volcanoes from each of its 18 rooms.The lake shore is dotted with small villages most of which are only accessible by boat. Most of the villagers are of Mayan descent and there are two distinct dialects spoken here ....I was told that there are even noticeable accents from one village to the next within a dialect which is remarkable since these places are only a few kilometers apart.
We enjoyed our stay here although Mary experienced a day of GI upset.
We will return to the boat to prepare to leave the river this week and then on to Roatan.

Antigua Guatemala

We left the boat last Sunday and traveled to Antigua which is about 25 miles southwest of Guatemala City. It was the original capital of Guatemala from 1543 until it was partially destroyed by an earthquake in 1773. In 1776 the capital was moved to its present site in Guatemala City. Antigua is a beautiful colonial city situated amongst 3 volcanoes; Agua which is visible in this photo and Fuego and Acatenango. Fuego is still active as evidenced by frequent puffs of steam from its crater throughout the day.

Although the city was abandoned as the capital, many peopled stayed and today it is a tourist center with many fine hotels, museums and some of the best restaurants in the country.

We stayed at La Escuela del San Jose El Viejo which offers instruction in spanish and which is located next to an old convent. We took classes in the mornings and had the afternoons free. Instruction is one on one and the classrooms are in a beautiful garden setting.

We had a field trip to a village nearby with a large Mayan population and while there we learned about the Mayan culture including traditionnal weddings. Mary and I served as models for some traditional Mayan wedding attire.

Throughout Antigua are many examples of colonial architecture, some of which are in ruins but many others are in varying states of restoration. One of the highlights of our visit was the walking tour of the city conducted by Elizabeth Bell who has lived in Antigua for 35 years and who has been intimately involved in the preservation of some of the city's most important architectural sites.

The climate here is ideal mainly due to the town's elevation with nightime temps dipping into the low 50's and daytime temperatures in the mid-70's.

There are many fine restaurants and we sampled several of them. Our favorite was Meson Panza Verde. It is situated in the hotel of the same name and was quite close to the school. The food was wonderful and there was live entertainment by a Cuban jazz band.

We will definitely come back here, perhaps not to study, but to hang out and enjoy the great sights, culture and atmosphere.

Tomorrow we leave here to travel to Lake Atitlan.....more to come.