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Published: November 9th 2012
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There are no words to adequately describe the first full day in Antigua. Luckily, we have some photos which can help. This town is a beautiful mixture of exhaust and colorful foliage. It is also a mix of the very traditional and the more modern (though still mostly conservative). It is vibrant and alive and although it is crowded, the people smile, laugh and make you feel welcome.
First stop, coffee which was to be provided in the lobby of our hotel. It was 8:15 and we were told it was too late! Later, we learned that we would have gotten “coffee essence” to which we would add hot water. Who knew that our lazy time in bed, something we never do, would leave one of us missing her coffee. But forgetting the coffee, we were told by the owner of the hotel that we should check out the terrace this morning, and right now, because it was a beautiful and clear day. We followed her advice and trotted up the hazardous route to the roof and the view that awaited us. To say what we saw when we reached the top was beautiful would just be in injustice. (see
photos) The view is where we got the title for this entry. Once we able to speak again, we met some people on the terrace who had just completed a stint with Habitat for Humanity in a nearby small town.
Second stop, was the café next door, Fernando’s Café. There, we had a wonderful breakfast in a heavenly setting of a tropical garden. In the courtyard where we ate, a local woman sat on the ground making blankets and such by hand. The foliage in this area is tropical and lush and reminded us much of our former backyard in Jax Beach. There are raspberries growing wild everywhere. See photos of breakfast. The juice menu was fabulous, and we got the pineapple, strawberry mix (straight, no water, no sugar!). Cost of a full breakfast was less than $10. We have not even hit the non-tourist places yet!
Next on the agenda, we took time to walk around the city and take in the sights, smells and sounds. At least for the day, all we wanted to do was explore. Cobblestone streets make us glad that we have these goofy sandals made by Keen. (great, hiking sandals!) I guess
we are not cool enough to wear flip-flops like the younger, foreigner Hostel crowd, but we aren’t wearing Spandex (the girls’ choice, and not a good one) or see through tank tops, either. If it was not for the color of our skin and hair, we would not stand out. LOL!!! NOT! If you believe that, look again at the photos. We are very tall here. But, we will probably get a little darker here; the sunshine is intense. Clay is already getting burnt.
We walked to a bank so that we could change our dollars for quetzels. The exchange rate this day is about 7.75 Q to $1. At the entrance, the bank had a guard that let people in only if he approved. He smiled at us. It did take about 30 minutes to get our changed money. Things do run much more slowly here.
We walked around the square in town and it reminded us of Cusco’s main square. There are many benches, police officers, little boys with shoe shine equipment hidden in black, plastic bags, kids with backpacks, and tourist vendors searching for the next victim. Mommas were everywhere with children wrapped in big,
colorful scarves, tied to their hips. Wow, they are toting more pounds on their hips than my backpack weighs. We decided to sit and people-watch for a while and it was a very relaxing and breezy sensation on the park bench.
Next, we decided to go to the market area. One side of the area is for tourists and the other side is for the locals. Can you guess where we went? Again, oh my! Hundreds upon hundreds of people travelled up and down skinny rows of goods of every kind, from home-made soap to live baby chicks to every kind of fruit and vegetable imaginable. Many ladies carry items on their heads in scarves and you have to watch your back or you will crash into them. At times, we could not move because the rows were so crowded. Clay was having particular difficulty because he is tall and bigger than most men here.
We finally decided to buy something and that something was grilled corn on the cob. See photos. Nice, big, corn, with a lime wedge and salt, served to us on a husk. Two bottles of aqua from the next vendor and we were
set for our snack! It took us about ten minutes to find a place to sit down and we had to exit the market to do so. As we sat and ate our corn, Christmas music (English) was playing. Our spot provided great people watching and a good view of the popular sushi cart, Cristiano Ceviche. This three wheeled, non-refrigerated bicycle served raw fish with an assortment of condiments. Did we mention the blazing sun and lack of refrigeration? Needless to say, we passed on the ceviche.
The corn actually whetted our appetites and left us hungry for lunch. We decided to walk a little bit closer to our hotel to find a spot to eat. On the way, we spotted various individuals who were very unfortunate. We have a photo of one (see photos). She was very grateful for some quetzels from us and someone behind us gave her some pizza. This is NOT an entitlement society and many depend upon charity, which is given freely.
Menus are outside restaurants, and that is helpful. We settled on a place with a menu which sounded good and walked inside the massive door. The gardens in which we ate
were amazing. The food was unprecedented (the menu Indian and French). See photos.
Afternoon required that we have some foot downtime. Imagine a rooftop terrace overlooking the roofs of town. The terrace is cluttered by three things. First, there are menacing cacti strategically placed at the edges of the terrace to discourage people from becoming too friendly with the edge. Railings simply don’t exist and the thought of suing the owner, should some mishap occur is comical. Secondly, there are flowering vines stretching across wrought iron trellises in hues of orange and yellow, slowly blowing in the soft breeze. Just as is move the flowers on our rooftop retreat, the wind was also blowing the laundry on various rooftops nearby and you could hear the crackling as it dried. Thirdly, there are two standalone swings, much like porch swings, that allowed for relaxing and a marvelous place to just read a book and enjoy the view. Did we mention that the view is SPECTACULAR?!?!?! It is absolutely unreal. On this particular day, there was a cloud mass that just covered the top of the volcano. It looked like an inverted ice cream cone with whipped cream on top. The
clouds were just enough to allow the sun to peek in and light of the tops of the other volcanos surrounding us. And, there were so many sounds of various sorts, but none that seemed completely familiar. Some were distinguishable, others were not. But, somehow, sitting there just listening to the world move around us, just felt comfortable and we enjoyed the twilight. However, as much as we enjoyed and relished using our sense of sound that day, our sense of taste was not to be denied and we had to regretfully leave our little sanctuary in search of sustenance. Dinner called to us.
For those of you who know us, it will be now surprise that we found a restaurant that no self-respecting tourist would dare to enter. But, of course we did. The restaurant was called Dos Tacos, only they didn’t serve tacos. Ironic, isn’t it? However, they had typical local fare and no one spoke English. See photos of our mixed meat platter, with rice and guacamole.
Today, we sat on a storybook rooftop reading the exact same book on different readers, not thinking of what tomorrow will bring, but truly enjoying the present and
each other. The book is about Morocco and a family’s experience after moving there. Although we are reading about a place we will soon live, as we have said, we are just living one day at a time and savoring each moment. Buenos noches to our family and friends. We miss you all.
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Sandra Hedrick
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Great Day!
Finally able to read through this beautiful description of a great day. Have fun and keep the pictures coming!