Friday, February 16, 2018

Antigua, Guatemala, February 16, 2018

I think I'm back into this time zone!  After breakfast, I walked to a nearby park to meet Tatijana to go on our day trip.  The buildings of Antigua are so beautiful, especially in the bright sunshine-


Not sure this meets code-


I walk under él Arco everyday at least once.  Early morning is best to see Volcan Agua.  By afternoon, it's usually clouded over-


We took a chicken bus to Pastores where Tatijana is from.  Our first stop was to her Mother's home.  Numerous family members live in the big house.  A few were having breakfast - bread, platanos and frijoles-


Tatijana is wearing white and her Mom is right beside her.  The sister in pink is also a teacher at the school.  Her son is 3 and she nursed him at the table-


The home is made of tin sheets and plywood.  There is little storage so things are just piled up.  They use wood for cooking-


The second stove-


The kitchen counter-


They have a dog, a cat and 3 pet pigeons-


Pastores is known for making boots.  There are many shops-


Tatijana's friend is sitting at his sewing machine-


Next we stopped at a public school and I had a little visit with the Grade 4 class.  They were very noisy and the floor is a mess-


The reason we went to Pastores was because the municipality has spent the last few years developing a place they hope many tourists will visit.  They've built a gorgeous swimming pool, covered cooking spots, planted fruit trees and have camping areas.  The land is fully fenced with rolled wire on top so it's super safe.  I hope the local children will be able to take advantage of this beautiful pool-



The views are great from the top looking north down the valley-


Antigua is south in the distance-


They had many chairs set up for what Tatijana told me was to be a 10 o'clock ceremony.  Few were there by then but at 10 to 11, the dignitaries spoke and the ribbon was cut.  We didn't stay for the food but it looked great - tortillas, tostadas and tamales -


There was also a marimba band playing-


and a brass band-


We left about 11:30 and caught a chicken bus- 


back to Antigua.  Tatijana went back to school to talk to the boss about potential work next week. I'm glad it won't be with me.  I was explaining to her family the rest of my travels and I said on March 20 I would voler, which means to fly in French (I always use French words when I don't know the Spanish words and often I'm right!) and Tatijana's sister and she got into a big argument about whether it was volar or volver.  Tatijana is a piece of work, let me tell you.  Even at the swimming pool, when we had a personal guide tour us around the place, she kept telling him what to say and interrupting him.  She also told me when I should take a picture and where I should sit.  I ignored her for the most part-

There are probably 30 buses like this at any one time at the terminal-



I walked home through the market then stopped at the gigantic supermarket.  I had forgotten how cool the mercado is too - anything imaginable is there and for cheap.  I'm going to go back tomorrow.

After lunch, I went to Common Hope where I did more cutting and pasting.  My first project was to glue two large pieces of paper together, cut out the letters of the alphabet and glue them on, then cover it with clear plastic and tape that onto the back-


I did three of them and it took forever; maybe because I spent a lot of time talking with Lynn, the employed Canadian in the library.  She told me that her daughter, who is a writer, had her house remodelled on HGTV!  It was about a $50,000 reno in 2011.  Her daughter knew what to write to get picked - single Mom with a Colombian son in a newly purchased home in a trendy area in Toronto.  Since she bought the house, its value has increased 2.5 times.  Lynn also invited me to supper with a group of women who meet every Sunday night.  I'm looking forward to that.

My next project was cutting out a rectangle on the front of a Cheerios box-


The biblioteca-


is nicely setup.  The main area-


houses many books.  There are reading rooms for older kids-


and younger kids-


Loreli works here and Ana is the teacher-


for whom I've been doing all this cutting and pasting.  I don't mind really; it's simple but I'm not interacting with anyone except Lynn and that's in English.  Maybe next week will be better and maybe what I'm doing is what volunteers do here.  

Looking forward to 2 free days to explore Antigua!


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