Guatemala 2026. Day 7 - Hiking around Antigua

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

Guatemala 2026. Day 6 - From Atitlán to Antigua via San Bernabé

The morning was glorious and we very much enjoyed sipping our morning coffee on the roof of our friendly hosts. When we came down the stairs, around 7:30 am, Martin was busy starting a new batch of beer, slowly pouring the cracked malt in a vat that must hold 50 liters of hot water. As he poured he stirred the mix with a big wooden pallet, looking for all purposes like a witch stirring a cauldron. Tom speculates that in the Middle Ages beer making was done by the women, using big cauldrons, and that the sign that a new batch of beer was ready to drink was a broom at the door of the house. Since men were eager to take over the production of beer they accused these female beer-makers of being witches, burnt them at the stake, and took over their beer-making assets. Sounds like another Tom story, but you never know.

Speaking of beer, I forgot to mention that yesterday the conversation expanded over the all-important issue of hops. Guatemala is not a place where hops grow, even though it has cool spots in the highlands. I believe the key is the seasonal difference of light hours that is so pronounced at high latitudes. Brewers here thus depend on imported hops, which is a cloak and dagger smuggling business if you want to impart peculiar flavors to your beers. The conversation dwelled extensively on the relative merits of hops coming from the Yakima Valley in Washington, the Willamette Valley in Oregon, or the Central Valley in California.

After saying goodbye to our gracious host we backtracked the road from Santiago to San Lucas (incidentally, I am told that there are twelve towns along the shore of the lake, each one named after one of the apostles), once again playing the topes and baches game, and amazed at the number of tuc-tucs and Qutes on the road. Tom then suggested sponsoring a race of tuc-tuc vs Qute, in a course that would extend along the string of towns and weave through their narrow alleys; as an added piece of fun the spectators could run in front of the rapidly moving vehicles, just as happen with the running bulls in Pamplona. It would be a spectacle to behold.

Just before reaching Antigua we made a stop in San Bernabé, in the outskirts of Chimaltenango, to say hello to one of Tom's old friends, Vince. Like many of the expats that came to Guatemala, Vince had the interest of doing something good for the people of his adoptive country, so he got busy fund-raising, and after helping the local elementary school decided to establish a middle and high school, the Colegio San Bernabé, to give the kids in the town and surrounding regions the opportunity to continue their education and prepare for the university. The colegio has been very successful under his direction, both in top preparation of the students in STEM (they consistently win top places in Science Olympiad competitions) and in a physical plant that is second to none, with state-of-the-art classrooms, manicured grounds, a cafeteria, a dorm for students who come from remote areas, a sports field, a laps swimming pool, and a comfortable Principal's House that will eventually pass to his successor. Part of the success of the school is the effort that Vince has put in recruiting good teachers, some of which are former students who have come back to teach after completing their university or postgraduate degrees.

Guatemala has benefited from the impetus of like-minded expats, many of whom work with the Rotary Club. For example, Jolene and Tom belong to the Antigua Rotary Club, which keeps close links with the Rotary Clubs in the US. The local clubs work hard at identifying worthwhile projects, and submit proposals to have them funded by the wealthier clubs in the US. Recent projects have included bringing tap water to isolated communities, introducing a more efficient type of woodstove to cut on smoke inside the house, rural schools, and medical clinics where missions of surgeons come to help with persistent problems such as cleft palate in babies (probably caused by nutrition deficiencies among pregnant women). I believe that getting involved so deeply with their communities has created a particularly strong friendship bond in the expat community.

Guatemala 2026. Day 5 - From Xela to Atitlán

Xela is the second largest city in Guatemala, but besides having a lot of people there is really not much to see in the city itself. This is why after a nice breakfast we started on our way to Lake Atitlán, which sits in between mountains, mostly formed by a series of rhyolitic ignimbrites and air-fall tuffs, which form deep barrancas flanked by cliffs several hundred feet high. This whole series receives the name Los Chocoyos Tuff, and include at least four major pyroclastic flows and any number of air-fall tuffs, erupted sometime between 98,000 and 75,000 years ago. They represent 700 cubic kilometers of magma, and their eruption led to the collapse of the Atitlán caldera, now occupied by Lake Atitlán.

The road there was challenging, but Tom is a very good driver and, as long as the copilot is ready to indicate the proximity of speed bumps ("tope, tope, tope!") and potholes ("bache!"), he doesn't mind the twisty road.

We got our first look at Lake Atitlán as we approached the lake-side town of San Lucas Tolimán, and the first thing that became obvious was that the lake doesn't have a nice circular outline, except on the northeast. The circular shape has been marred by the formation of three very big post-caldera volcanoes along or close to the ring-fracture zone: San Pedro, Tolimán, and of course Atitlán. Here in San Lucas we got our first sighting of a Qute car, which is indeed a very cute minicar manufactured in India, which has gained great popularity in this part of Guatemala. We figure it costs about US$ 7,000, so it is a good alternative for those who want an inexpensive car. Many are supped up with wind stabilizers, chrome, and lights, and are obviously a fierce competitor of the tuc-tucs for taxi service.

Another 15 km of twisty road brought us to Santiago Atitlán, where we were going to spend the night at the brewery of one of Tom's friends. We got there by early afternoon, in time to catch Martin Chif, Tom's friend, finishing a brewing batch and getting ready to go have lunch with the family. He quickly showed us to the two upstair rooms he has for guests, and promptly disappeared until the late afternoon.

We took the opportunity to walk to the town, and its municipal peer, to admire the southern tail of the lake and across it the San Pedro volcano. This is the smaller of the three volcanoes, but it is the perfect size to be an easily photographed example of an andesitic stratovolcano. The water of the lake appears beautiful and crystalline, but we were told that folks are concerned about the quality of the water, because none of the twelve towns along the shore have sewage treatment systems, and at best use septic pits that eventually seep toward the lake. At the lake we met a gentleman who proposed a tuc-tuc tour of the city, which we gladly accepted.

Our guide, Pedro, was a middle age man, very knowledgeable about the history of the town. In the packed little tuc-tuc we climbed to a view point from which we could admire the lake and look at a group of women washing clothes at the lakeshore. Water is extracted from the lake, pumped to a high point, filtered, and from there distributed to the town by gravity. Our second stop was at the Parque de la Paz, a fenced area covered with concrete and several monuments, built to commemorate the fallen during the civil war of 1960 to 1996, in which Mayan peasants took to a guerrilla struggle against Mayan soldiers that formed part of the army to demand fair treatment and regulate ownership of the land. The peasants won at the end, but at a very high toll of lives, and most of the rights they won have eroded during the last 30 years.

Our third stop was at the central plaza to visit the cathedral, and to see the chapel of the Atitlán indigenous protector, Maximón (pronounced mah-shee-MON). This peculiar character is a bad boy of the first class, so we had to go and see him at the house who is currently giving him shelter. Pedro suddenly transformed himself from an amiable tourist guide to a Formula One racer, recklessly hurling the tuc-tuc along a narrow labyrinth of passage ways, time and again avoiding a collision but for a few millimeters (it was like an Indiana Jones scene). We had to tuck our knees inside the tuc-tuc to avoid getting our legs torn in the process. Finally, the walkways got to be too narrow, so he parked and walked us the short distance to the house where Maximón has a room all for himself. He is a short image carved in wood, with a wide-brim hat, and a cape made of many layers of colorful weaves. He is smoking a cigar and is surrounded by bottles of liquor, all brought by devout followers who bring him these gifts. He will also take money, which is what we contributed, but when we were there someone brought him a cigarette and a small bottle of rum, and the attendants promptly took the cigar out of his mouth, tipped him back, and poured the rum down his gullet. Afterward the cigarette was placed in his mouth. The offer had been gladly accepted! Maximón is said to be a trickster and a womanizer, but if the shamans put him in his place he is a good protector of the indigenous people.

The final stop was at an art galley (isn't that always so with tours?) that had many beautiful paintings. One of them was a six-foot long scene of Lake Atitlán and its volcanoes, and another showed the backs of several local people, executed in orange, brown, and yellow tones. Jolene liked them both for decorating the guest rooms at the house, so she bought them. The canvases were taken out of their frames and rolled, but we also took the long frames, tied to the sides of the tuc-tuc, which from there took us to where we were going to spend the night.

The brewery is a good size house where the brewing room is small, the beer garden is very ample, and the kitchen is also of very good size. It is the joint venture of Martin Chif, a Belgian amateur brewer, and Gloria Maker, a Minnesota beer aficionada, who together created the brand Ms. Chif Maker, as a homophone to the words "mischief maker". Both arrived around 5 pm and the party got on its way. Martin is totally bitten by the beer-making bug, and talking with Tom was heaven for him (and for Tom as well). He had six or seven beers on tap, and we had to make a professional tasting of all of them, interrupted by discussions on where to get the best malt (barley or wheat grain that has been wetted and drained to encourage germination, after which it is dried, sometimes roasted, and cracked), whether to add oats or not, whether to add chocolate to a stout, and the relative merits of this or that brand of yeast. The different beers were declared good to excellent by the beer masters and at the end of the night we went to bed dreaming of vast rivers of beer.

Guatemala 2026. Day 4 - Mercadeando en Chichi

Today is Sunday, which means the mercado will be in full force. We thus fortified ourselves with a good breakfast and almost immediately got immersed into the labyrinth of streets and walkways that have been taken over by all sorts of merchants. There were lots of people selling beautiful multi-colored weavings and traditional costumes, as well as all sorts of handcrafts, meant to delight all sorts of tourists. The problem is that except for us and a handful of tall people the rest of the crowds packing the market were short indigenous and local folks, so I am not sure how these merchants will be able to make the day pay for them. On the periphery were clothes and shoes merchants, hardware and electronics sellers, and of course lots and lots of tasty looking food. Turns out that people here love tamales, atole, and tortillas filled with tasty cooked meat, chicken, or chorizos, so there were many places devoted to feeding the milling crowd.

On the stairs of the church of Santo Tomás there was an extensive flower market, and as we peeked inside the church we found it was packed.

Following one of the long corridors lined with vendors we reached the perimeter of the market place, at the point where all the fowl were being sold. There were big baskets filled with live hens, and many ladies were just standing there holding a couple of roosters by the tied legs, while the customers inspected the birds. The ones that were bought were stuffed inside canvas sacks, and will probably be thrown in the pot by tomorrow. There were scrawny turkeys and small quails, plus any number of individual hens with which brisk trades were being made.

At some point a book called my attention: It was a facsimile copy of the Madrid Codex, one of the four books of the Maya culture that survived the purge made by the Spanish missionaries. The codex has beautiful painted scenes that represent daily activities, preparation of the fields for planting, hunting, the care of bees, the trips of merchants engaged in trade, rains and droughts, and the meagerness or abundance of crops. It also includes long rows of Maya script naming dates of feasts and celebrations, and predictions made by the Counter of Days according to the natural energy of each day. The codex was painted on a single strip (formed by joining pieces of amate paper) and counts 56 pages. Once finished the strip was folded to form a type of book, to which the priest could refer to perform the rituals and ceremonies suited to the particular activities of the community. It is a beautiful reproduction and, despite my reluctance to load myself with souvenirs as I travel, I just had to have it. Please ask me to show it to you next time you come visit me.

Jolene and Tom also contributed to the prosperity of the market by buying a bolt, 8 yards long, of a beautiful blue weave that they will use to decorate the headboard and side panels of the bed in the guest room. Happy with our purchases we made a last round of the park and then headed back to the hotel to pick up our luggage and car.

From Chichi we headed toward Quetzaltenango (aka Xela), but before getting there we made a few stops. The first one was in the town of San Andrés Xecúl, whose claim to fame is their yellow church. The facade of the church is indeed very yellow, but is unique in that it was decorated by indigenous artisans who, imitating the style of other colonial temples, built in plaster their own version of twisting Salomonic columns covered with roses and vines, niches where saints look over the community, and any number of angels and archangels welcoming the faithful. It reminded me of the amazing church of Santa María Tonantzintla, in the state of Puebla, in Mexico, which was also the work of indigenous artisans.

We then drove up the Cerro El Baúl, one of older volcanoes that overlooks Xela. According to legend the mountain belonged to a rich family that was slowly dying, so the last of the line hid the family fortune in a "baúl" (a trunk) buried within the mountain. One of their servants was a goblin, who was left in charge of the mountain, and who moves the "baúl" anytime someone is close to finding it. We looked for the "baúl" as we walked through the cool pine forest, but all we found were happy families having barbecue picnics in the grassy areas. From the top the view of Xela was truly spectacular.

Coming down from the mountain we drove to Almolonga, a fertile valley that has been dubbed the salad bowl of Central America because of its large production of vegetables. Numerous springs and fertile soils developed in volcanic tephra are a blessing to this region. At the end of the valley we reached the town of Zunil, which also claims a beautiful yellow facade on its church, this time the product of highly skilled craftsmen. The inside of the church is attractive, with clever use of lighting to highlight its statuary art.

Finally we came into Xela, found our hotel, and went for a walk to visit the Central Park, where the cathedral is located. It is a peculiar park because it is elongated rather than square, but of course that doesn't stop it from being a place where the Quetzaltecas can find solace and repose. We found a good restaurant a few blocks from there (a Mexican fusion restaurant) where the game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Philadelphia Eagles was being shown in the TV, and I soon discovered that Jolene is a font of knowledge when it comes to football, and is really enthusiastic about the game. We finished dinner coinciding with half time and hurried back to the bar of the hotel to finish watching the game. It was a nail-biting single elimination game in which the winner will go to the playoffs and the loser will go home. The 49ers won!   

Guatemala 2026. Day 3 – Road-trip to Chichicastenango

Today Jolene, Tom, and myself are starting a four-day road-trip to the highlands to visit the archaeologic site of Iximche and the highland town of Chichicastenango (called Chichi for short). Tomorrow we will push farther into Quetzaltenango (Xile for short) and nearby towns, and finally we will spend a couple of days in Lake Atitlán before going back to Antigua.

We got on the way early, to beat the morning traffic, and by 8:30 am we were at Iximche (pronounced ee-shim-CHEH). This is a comparatively small site, that has some interesting historical significance. For one, it was not a kingdom, but a federated state of the five major "families" of the Kaqchikel, which had separated from the Quiché to create their own nation covering 1,200 square miles of central Guatemala. They were post-classic Mayas, and only established the capital of the confederation in 1460, a bare 65 years before the arrival of the Spaniards in 1524. They were, therefore, a very young nation that got nipped in the bud by the arrival of Pedro de Alvarado, so who knows where their experiment in federal government might have led them.

The location of Iximche was carefully chosen to be convenient for the lands managed by each family for the growth of maize, beans, and chile, while at the same time be relatively impregnable as it is surrounded by cliffs. The city had to be protected by ramparts, moats, and cliffs, from the hostile attacks of the Quiché. The Spaniards, alas, were welcomed as friends and did not have to take the city by force. Pretty soon they proved to be difficult guests demanding food and gold, and eventually enslaving the Kaqchikel. Reportedly, Pedro de Alvarado wrote to Cortés from this place, letting him know that he was establishing the capital of the province in that place. (There was never a formal adoption of Iximche as capital by the Spanish authorities, so Antigua still claims that honor).

The city was divided in sections, with each family keeping control of their own section, so each section had a place for the chief administrator, a temple of the sun, a temple of the moon, and a temple of mother earth, as well as a courtyard around which were the houses of the top brass of each family, and a ball game court. The farmers lived in the fields, scattered through the 1,200 square miles of the nation.

Most of the story of this place has been cobbled from the remembrances of elders, collected in 1560, letters from the Spaniards, and a relatively stoic archaeologic record (by that time the construction of stelle to commemorate big events had disappeared, and time had not been kind to the few murals still intact). A good number of pots and statues were recovered, and a few burials have been excavated, but they have not added much to the understanding of the site. Interestingly, the indigenous people are authorized to use the site for their religious ceremonies, which are a mix of indigenous traditions and the catholic ritual.

Happy with our visit Tom drove a twisty road up to Chichi, where we got a little after noon. Fortunately, we were able to check into our hotel, park the car, and go in the search for lunch on foot. After lunch we went to visit the main church (Santo Tomás), which is very ample but quite gloomy. The side altars are carved in dark wood that has lost its gold foil, and the paintings are almost completely obscured by a dark patina. In the center of the nave a mother and her child were being prayed over by a younger woman, who was burning incense and lighting candles around them. We later saw the same group praying in the indigenous church (Our Lord of the Holy Sepulcher), so we imagine that the younger woman was an indigenous shaman.

We then crossed the market place (more on that tomorrow) and went to the small archaeology museum, whose claim to fame is that one of the monks of the convent of Santo Tomás translated the Popol-Vuh, the sacred book of the Mayas, from Quiché to Spanish, and the little museum has a copy of the first edition with the text in Quiché opposite to the text in Spanish.

Our exploration then took us to the town cemetery, in which the crypts and tombs are a riot of colors that gives it the look of a colorful Guatemalan pueblito. Here too the shamans have permission to conduct indigenous rituals that involve lots of small fires and a large number of candles and incense. To get to the cemetery we had to go down a steep slope and were fearing the steep climb back to the central plaza when Tom had a brilliant idea: "Let's take a tuk-tuk back". Capital idea! For something equivalent to US$ 1 each we piled inside a tuk-tuk, which strained and strained but finally brought us to the top of the hill.

Finally, we went to visit the Indigenous church, Our Lord of the Holy Sepulcher, which appears to be an unconsecrated temple that is now open to indigenous peoples for celebrating their rituals. I was expecting a heavily decorated church, like the ones in the indigenous towns around San Cristobal de las Casas, in Mexico, which are colorfully decorated with neon lights and colorful altars loaded with food and other offerings. Alas, that was not the case. The church was again fairly dark, with most of the nave occupied by the platform where the image of the recumbent Christ is carried in procession. Back near the altar was the glass sarcophagus and the group we had met in the church of Santo Tomás repeating their prayers and incense burning.

We finished the afternoon by walking through the market, where many people were getting ready for the big market day tomorrow Sunday. Seeing the full extent of the market will be a highlight of our day.

Guatemala 2026. Day 2 - A stroll through Antigua

I woke up and climbed to the roof terrazza of the house and was welcomed with a fantastic view of the colonial city and the three volcanoes. Volcán de Agua rises from the south edge of the city and will eventually bury it in tephra, but for the last thousands of years has been dormant. Acatenango is also dormant, but Volcán de Fuego is very much active and it welcomed me by sending a column of steam and tephra unto the air. Tom tells me that at night is not uncommon to see the glow of pyroclastic flows rolling down the slopes.

After breakfast Tom and I went to visit his brewery, to talk with the brewmaster, Luis. He is a very talented Guatemalan engineer, who is constantly innovating to make the brewing process more efficient. I got a practical explanation of the brew making process and of the many tricks used to create the 50 different types of beer known through the world. It was fun.

Once we got back home we sat chatting until Margarita came to visit. Thomas and Margarita, the two children of Tom and Alma, are very close in age to Fabiola, and for several years were best friends, so I look upon them as my other daughter and son. Margarita suggested walking to her house, about four blocks away, to see the new hot yoga studio she is opening next month. (Monica, you and Margarita need to get in contact because Antigua could be a destination for your yoga retreats).

Walking through the streets of el Casco Viejo (the old part of the town) was a good reminder of the charm of this old Spanish city built as the Spaniards extended their conquest throughout Central America (Pedro de Alvarado in 1524).  The old town is about 12 by 12 blocks, neatly labeled as "avenida" if they run from south to north, whereas from west to east you have the "calles". Both are numerically labeled, so, for example 3a Avenida sur tells you that you are on a north-south avenue on the south side of the town, whereas 2a Calle oeste tells you that you are on a west-east calle on the west part of the city. The confusion for the visitant starts with most streets being one way, but not always. If you are on an avenida, you have the right of way over the calles and you are not supposed to stop, unless you are in Calle 4a or Calle 2a, in which case the calle has the right of way over the avenidas. Of course there are no signs telling you all this, so you have to memorize the preference rules in a hurry.

The streets are all cobblestoned, which makes for a jarring ride (or you can put pedal to the metal and fly over the cobblestones). The buildings are all single story, and most have severe facades that abut against the side walk. Once you enter, however, there is usually an inner garden full of sunlight and color. In some neighborhoods the houses are brightly painted, which makes for a very happy mood.

After we finished looking through Margarita's home and studio we got on her car and went to lunch to the Caoba Farms property, which is a working organic farm that on the side offers a restaurant, an organic store, and a performance space. Lunch was very tasty and we all had a chance to learn what we have been doing over the last few years. On the way back we drove past The Mall, where Antigüeños love to go for the fine things of life (it is a new experience for them because before they would have to go to Guatemala City for those wares and foodstuffs).

Back at the house of Jolene and Tom, we continued the conversation until it was time for Margarita to go home, and we had an early dinner of squash soup and vegetable frittata, because we were invited to game night at the beautiful house of Patricia, Jolene’s best friend. It was a potluck as far as snacks and drinks. We were a total of nine players and the game was Left, Center, Right and you needed three 5-quetzal bills to start with. Three dice are cast, with the possible outcomes of "Left", or "Center", or "Right", or keep. During your turn, depending on the throw you may need to put a bill in the center basket, give another to the player to your left, and maybe another to the player to your right. In one throw you can be broke, but you are not out of the game because either of the players at your side might give you a bill on the next round. Fortunes were made and lost in an instant, but all the time the center pot got bigger and there were less bills on play. The winner is the last person standing with one bill on hand, at which point he or she collects the whole pot. We played five rounds, with much noise and banter, with the winners rubbing it in by taking showers of quetzales while the rest of the crowd cheered and applauded. The foreign expats in Antigua sure know how to have fun.  

Guatemala 2026. Day 1 – Travel

Happy New Year everyone :)

To celebrate I am going to visit Jolene, Tom, Thomas, and Margarita in Antigua, Guatemala for a week. The day started as early as 1 am because I had to catch a 5 am flight in Sacramento, but I got lots of sleep on the leg to Houston, where I cooled my heels for a couple of hours before continuing to Guatemala City. I got there at 3:30 pm, and efficiently got a SIM card for the country and rented a small car. Unfortunately, I forgot my jacket at the Avis rental office, so maybe I will get chilly when we visit the mountains (the folks of Avis have kindly secured my jacket in the office and I will be able to collect it on my way back).

Antigua is probably 40 km from Guatemala City, but the trip there took me a good two hours on account of heavy traffic. It didn't help that Google Maps sent me in a couple of routes that ended in a cul-de-sac, so it was not until 7 pm that I got to the house of Jolene and Tom. I was a little frazzled and was very glad to see them. Thomas lives in the same house, in a separate apartment, so he was also there to welcome me. There was a nice bowl of soup waiting for me, so we did the catching up while I ate the yummy squash soup. Tomorrow is a day to explore the quaint small town, and then we will spend four days in a fieldtrip to the highlands. I am looking forward to it!