Tercera dia, Antigua Guatemala, el 3 de noviembre, 2016

School is moving along really well.  I am talking more and understanding even more every day.  I'm only speaking in the present tense which is plenty for me.  Again today, school flew by and before I knew it, it was lunch-

Not only did we have a delicious crepe/spinach/sauce dish, but we had el aguacate y la calabaza-

It was soooo good.  

I also found a picture I took earlier in the week with the Merced and the huge rosary-

The school organizes afternoon activities and today was no exception.  We visited a chocolate factory in San Juan del Obispo where we learned about the whole process from the pod-

To cocoa beans - raw and roasted-

To adding spices like anise, cardamon, mint-

And macadamias-

Numerous flavours are available including cinnamon, rice, natural, chili, anise and coffee-

I bought some chili chocolate but it is sooo sweet I can barely eat it.  It looks like a big brown cookie-

Outside the chocolate factory was a nispero tree-

They are a little smaller than an apricot and must be peeled.  The fruit has the texture of a peach, sort of.  It tasted like peach, citrus and mango.  I liked it.

There is also a winery at San Juan del Obispo.  They use a multitude of local fruit that all tasted really bad-

It reminded me of sneaking down to the cold room on the farm and tipping back Mom's crabapple wine - yuck!  Sweet and nasty!

The bottles for the sampling -

were also rubby but the product for sale-

appeared a little better but no one in our group bought any.  

San Juan del Obispo is "famous" for having one of the first Catholic churches in Guatemala, thanks to the first bishop of Guatemala, Francisco Marroquin. The church dates from 1530-

Later, a few of us went for a drink on a terrace, overlooking the 3 volcanoes.  Unfortunately it was raining but now here's a glass of wine-

almost filled to overflowing.  Unfortunately it didn't taste that great but the waiter did try to discourage me from ordering it.

Supper was more Guatemalan specialties- platanos fritos, chuchito- steamed mashed corn and a mild chile tomato sauce and of course frijoles-

I've read that one doesn't get skinny in Guate and I'm afraid that might be true!  Time will tell!

Probably the best thing about today though was getting this photo-

Isn't he cute!

I've made my next reservation for school in La Laguna San Pedro for the 19th of November.  Who knows -maybe by then I'll be speaking in the past tense!