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Published: September 13th 2007
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At the Macadamia Farm I
The machine for peeling the nuts. The people at the farm also sell a more basic version to the local farmers, which is running with a bycicle. It costs a lot of time and effort, but on the other hand Macadamias are a very good source of income; even more so, if they are biologically grown and prepared. Another quick update, since we took a flight to Flores and arrived here one day ahead of schedule. Thus, more time for blogging!
Yesterday (Sept. 11th), I still didn't really feel a hundred percent yet, due to my food-poisining; nevertheless I decided to join the others for breakfast at the Macadamia-Nut-farm - something that Tiago had been going on about for the whole trip already. This meant two things: more chicken bus rides (though only 15 minutes either way) and me having to eat more than I had tried before. I declared myself for fit enough, though, and let's just say I definitely made the right decision there.
We met up at ten, so we could blissfully sleep a full 9 hours (that's a first on this trip!) and had a nice walk through Antigua's lovely inner city to the bus stop, all the while laughing and talking together in mixed constellations. We really have a great group!
The chicken bus ride was nice as well - especially since it was quite short, the cobblestones weren't too bad on my stomach, we kept on talking - and the weather was nice, too, though not very hot. We're quite glad
At the Macadamia Farm II
The German guy (I'm sorry I forgot your name!) selling the "nutty" products. They have all kinds of great stuff there; nut-butter, nut-flour, nut-hand- and facial-creams, nuts with chocolate or salt, ... - and all of them are great and way less expensive than elsewhere! that at least the mornings mostly are quite nice around here, even during the rain season!
The
Valhalla Macadamia Nut Farm itself is situated on the mountainside of yet another volcano, a short ride outside of Antigua. It's owners keep it a strict non-profit-project, while providing the farmers in the surrounding areas with saplings and the knowledge how to (ecologically!) plant and harvest the Macadamia Nuts, which can be sold for quite a high price. Visitors get a free tour, free samples of the finished macadamia-products (ranging from hand-balm to salted nuts) and, if they want to, a free facial - Hanna did, as you can see in the pictures! 😉
All this of course makes the farm well worth a visit - yet indisputably the best about it all is the breakfeast visitors can eat there for 35 Quetzales: pancakes from macadamia-nut-flour, macadamia-butter, blueberry-jam, various fresh fruits, great coffee and of course great macadamia-honey. All of them simply delicious!!
No matter how upset my stomach was, I finished it all and would have eaten more, simply for the taste of it, had it been there. And, miracle of miracles, it all stayed down - perhaps the nice austrian volunteer who showed
us around was right after all, when he told us that the nuts are very good against "Guatemalian belly-ache".
All in all we had a great time there, fooling around with the nuts (which make great marbles for bored travelers), laughing, talking, getting facials (well, Hanna for one), talking to the workers, enjoying Guatemala's most-photographed toilet (there's a picture in here of that, too!) and of course buying loads of "nutty" products, which were quite affordable and oooh so good. So, if you find yourself in Antigua, definitely visit that farm!
The ride back on the chicken bus (since the nice kid on the bike couldn't take eight hitch-hikers and the rest of the traffic didn't really stop for us) was fun as well - more talk and laughs! I'm so glad to be better!
Anyway, we spent the rest of the afternoon relatively quiet, at an internet-cafe, at Fernando's Kaffee (which is quite famous around Antigua and really nice!) and reading books at the hotel. At 7.30 it was time for yet another fun group dinner, this one at the hotel we were staying at (Posada Los Bucaros, quite nice hotel, by the way). Pity my stomach
Breakfast!
Tiago and Mori enjoying the best breakfast ever. Seriously!
(The jam and the honey are missing in the picture, as is the nut-butter, which all make the pancakes and the fresh fruit even better!!) was still acting up, since Wayne had bought an abundance of beer and wine for everyone and the evening was as fun as the rest of the day. We had to be ready at 4.00 am for our flight from Guatemala City to Flores, though, so Hanna and I, as well as most of the others, headed to bed around 10.30. Tiago and Mori stayed, though, and thus only got about an hour of sleep each - but their night was quite fun, it seems, since there was another GAP-group at the hotel as well.
We left Antigua behind at a ridiculously early time in the morning, arriving in Flores around 7.30. A whole day gained in the process, yay!
Flores is a lovely island in the lake of Peten, close to the ruins of Tikal - the pictures will speak for themselves, I'm sure, and yay - they're finally online now!
We went for breakfast together at a place called "Capitan Tortuga" - Captain Turtle, with a beautiful view of the lake and the small islands surrounding Flores itself. Another great time en group!
After a quick shower we all met at the hotel pool, close to the
"Greenest toilet in Guatemala"
And one of the most photographed ones as well! ;) lake, for a little much-needed tanning, reading, relaxing and talking. Great times!!!
Hanna, Bernie and I had a swim in the lake - nice, but quite warm. There even are crocs living in there, Tiago told us - but they're only on the far-away shores close to the jungle, so no worries for our safety, please.
Can't wait to see Tikal tomorrow morning!
(Although it means another early rise: 4.30, probably... we'll have a couple of drinks together early tonight, to make it easier to go to sleep, though, haha. I'm glad, I'm completely fine once more!)
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