Today is my last full day here in Antigua, and we decided to spend it by going for a hike in the Finca El Pilar, a nature preserve in the outskirts of Antigua where people like to go swimming at one of the three swimming pools or hiking in the beautiful Los Colibrís canyon. We did see a couple of the hummingbirds who give the canyon its name, but the main attraction was the luxuriant vegetation that reminded us that we were in the subtropic highlands. Fortunately for us, the deep canyon is shady so we walked in a comfortable temperature throughout.
The hiking party consisted of Jolene, Margarita, Tom, myself, and the dog Xina. Xina is a bit smaller than Cooper, blond in color, and friendly with most people (but not me, for she has tried to nip me on a couple of occasions); she most definitely has selected Tom as his person, so throughout the walk was torn between being in front of the pack, or backtracking to be close to her adored Tom.
The way up is through short segments of trail connected by an interminable series of stair steps that gave us the cardio workout of the week. My doctor would have been very satisfied, as I huffed and puffed up the stairs; I am definitely out of shape. Fortunately, there were stations where you could sit looking down at the beautiful canyon, while dreaming of getting to the top and starting the downhill leg of the walk. The one good thing of going up is that the sole of my right foot was not hurting, because most of the weight was carried by the ball of the foot.
Eventually all that goes up must come down and we gratefully reached a dirt road that descends from the mountain down to the Finca (we could have kept going up to the top of the hill, but mercifully nobody thought that was necessary). Little did I know that this is where the pain was going to start, because when going down the weight is on the heel of the foot and the continuous pounding flared the fasciaitis that has been torturing my right foot for the last couple of months. The road was clearly built for vehicular traffic, but in the last major earthquake several of the slopes failed, covering the road with debris and fallen trees, which the fearless explorers had to circumvent by climbing around them. Other portions of the road had ominous cracks that showed they were ready to fail at the least provocation.
Back at the car Xina immediately plopped down and we fell with a sigh of relief on our seats. It had been a great way to spend the first half of the day but we were all a bit tired.
As a special treat to their visitor, Jolene and Tom set a delicious lunch with fresh made tortillas (we had just fetched them from the small vegetable market around the corner, where 5 quetzales will buy you a muñeca or about a dozen of the small tortillas that are favored here), refried beans, guacamole, pico de gallo and, as a very special treat, chicharrones de puerco! Jolene and Tom try to keep a mostly vegetarian diet, but chicharrones are a Guatemalan delicacy for which they were happy to make an exception.
In the afternoon I sat with Thomas in front of his computer, to indulge in a session of his favorite entertainment: la lucha libre (wrestling). Thomas has been an aficionado since he was a kid, and is now a veritable encyclopedia of this strange combination of sport and entertainment. It is not that the matches are rigged, but the opponents know they have to put a good show, so they help each other look at its best by giving the opportunity for theatrical throws or locks. Thomas explained that they know the moves of their opponents, and that the moves have been carefully vetted not to cause any major injury, while at the same time being loud and dramatic as one of the combatants is lifted high in the air and slammed on the floor.
There is also the fact that in almost every match there is a good guy and a bad guy, where the latter plays dirty tricks like leveraging his lock on the opponent by hooking a leg on the ropes, or by biting. The idea is to fire passion among the spectators, and they do that very well. We saw a match between this enormous Polynesian (the bad guy), passing as a sumo wrestler, who after trying to sit on his opponent to pin him down, allowed his manager to step on the rink and through salt on the face of the good guy, who blinded fell down and lost. But, as the bad guy was celebrating its win, Hulk Hogan jumped unto the rink and faced the smug giant. The manager tried the same salt trick on Hulk Hogan, but he ducked just in time for the salt to end on the face of the bad guy, who then went down with a resounding crash. It turns out that this video was from a match in which Thomas and Tom were at the stadium, so they have the scene of wild cheers around them burnt in their memories.
And women are also part of the sport. We saw a couple of matches in Japan, where tiny slender women dressed in Pokemon-like outfits went at each other with the same set of dirty tricks we saw on the men. The referees didn't seem to have much to say, for at one point there were four bad girls ganging upon the one good girl, who took quite a beating.
I was happy to have spent the time with Thomas (Tom'a son), who is a real aficionado that has many online friends in the online world who share his hobby. Next April he is going for 5 days to Las Vegas, to immerse himself in the ambiance of Wrestlemania 2026. I may need to follow up on some of the matches, just so we can talk about them online.
To say goodbye, Margarita cooked a big pot of a delicious white beans and vegetables soup, that we happily ate as we made plans for a future visit to the Motagua Valley and the Rio de las Pasiones, in northern Guatemala, so we can explore some out of the way Mayan ruins. Maybe in a year or two?
Tomorrow I will head to the airport at 9 am, with plenty of time to board my 1 pm flight to Houston and from there to Sacramento. Hopefully immigration control in Houston will not be time consuming or difficult. Since travel is not that interesting (or at least I hope it will go without a hitch), I think I will close this episode. Hasta la vista!
Finis
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