As we walked out our front door, Agua could be seen to the south.
Fuego and Acatenango were especially clear today.
Going down to the highway and not seeing any buses, we decided to walk into Ciudad Vieja, where we knew we would find a chicken bus into town. Sure enough, just as we reach C.V., a chicken bus, still looking like an American school bus, pulled up in front of us. The ayudante looked towards us to see if we were looking for a ride and we nodded our heads and hurried to board. When we boarded the bus, we were surprised to find it completely empty, except for the driver and the ayudante, who boarded after us.
It wasn't long, however, before the bus started filling up, since the driver was anxious for passengers. He actually waited for people coming from some distance away who indicated that they wanted to board.
Once we arrived in La Antigua, we stopped by Dispensa Familiar to get some cash. Because of a woman having trouble with the ATM, but persistently continuing to try, we soon headed over to the Bodegona, where I made my withdrawal in no time.
Walking over to Parque Central, we headed towards the Cathedral, as that was where we thought the shuttle picked up for the tour. We soon saw it loading to the west of the Ayuntamiento (city hall),
and hurried over thinking that the van was already at capacity.
I had temporarily forgotten that this was Guatemala, when the driver began rearranging the passengers to make room for us. The other passengers, Germans, did not seem amused. We soon left and took a strange route, which soon became obvious, when we stopped by a hotel to pick up a final passenger.
We soon arrived at La Azotea Cultural Center, which is a group of three museums on the grounds of a coffee finca. The first museum was devoted to Mayan music and we learned about all of the different musical instruments used in Mayan music from the conch shell to the Marimba.
Our tour guide, a young Mayan woman, spoke clear, distinct Spanish, which neither Linda nor I had any problem understanding. It was worth the price of admission to know that we were making progress in learning Spanish. Our German companions evidently did not know Spanish, as they had brought their own interpreter.
The second museum was devoted to the ropa tipica (traditional Mayan native dress) of the department (state) of Sacatepéquez, of which La Antigua is the department capital.
The third museum describes and celebrates the history of the La Azotea coffee finca and the process of growing and processing the coffee bean. It reminded us of the weekend we had spent on a coffee and macademia finca in 2007. After reviewing the processing of the coffee bean, we took a stroll through the coffee growing area.
We also saw a coffee plant in bloom. The fragrance of its blossoms are somewhat like jasmine, but much more subtle.
It turned out that the last passenger loaded on the bus was a younger woman from England named Jane. She was just finishing up a three-month tour of South and Central America and had decided, at the last minute, to take in Guatemala. Like us, she was in awe of the beauty of the country.
Not speaking German, we began talking with Jane and ended up inviting her to join us for lunch in our favorite comedor in the mercado. She accepted and we soon reloaded our van for the return trip to La Antigua. To our surprise, we were not taken back to the site from which we had departed, but instead were dropped off in front of a restaurant a few blocks away. We weren't irritated, because the driver handed each of us a coupon good for a free glass of wine at the restaurant. Of the group, only Linda, Jane and I decided to take them up on the offer. Not wanting to look cheap, I ordered us a Nacho Supreme appetizer that claimed to feed three or four. The wine was soon brought to our table and, to our surprise, was quite good. When the appetizer arrived, we were once again surprised, because it was both large and tasty. After finishing the appetizer and the wine, we decided that we were no longer hungry, so we invited Jane to join us as we did some needed shopping in the mercado.
At the mercado, we quickly located the fruits and vegetables we needed and Jane was able to find some moisturizing lotion that she wanted. Even with the small time spent in the mercado, she was amazed at its size, as we continue to be.
Leaving the mercado, we walked over to Pollo Campero for one of their Q4 (50 cent) soft-serve ice cream cones. After enjoying that, we took her to the Bodegona, since I needed to pick up another CD to burn copies of antivirus and spyware programs I needed Monday for the infected library computer at Socorro School. Leaving the Bodegona, we showed her where the 7:00 a.m. Pullman bus to Panajachel departed and noted that the Q36 ($3.60) fare was much less than the $20 fare charged for the tourist shuttles.
At this point, Jane left to make her reservation for a Volcan Pacaya trip, which we took in 2007, and we headed over to where our buses load for the trip back to our apartment. As is so often the case, even when we try to leave earlier, it was 4:00 p.m.
The trip back was fairly quick and we were soon back at our apartment, where we enjoyed a delightful soup Linda had made, worked on our blogs, video chatted with Donna and the twins in California and watched an English movie with Spanish subtitles. Life is good here. It didn't snow all day.
