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Published: March 25th 2006
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Breakfast
This is one of our favorite restaurants, Rocios...I love the colors here. This has been a busy week! Over the last weekend, we went to a great perfomance of Talking With..., a contemporary play performed in English by local expat women. We had little time to get to the play from dinner, so decided to take a TukTuk, small vehicles imported from India that function as taxis in small cities here. Our driver promptly got a flat tire... and the next one we flagged down got caught in traffic, but we still made it on time..
On Sunday, we walked several minutes down a road out of town, to see the carpets being made for the procession. These were made of colored sawdust, and most were being created by teens listening to rap or loud pop music! Later we visted a few more ruins, and ate out since our host does not cook for us on Sundays. We had dinner at a wine and cheese restuarant, and ended up with street front table, from which we could see the latest procession go by...The statues are proceeded by boys with incense and followed by marching bands playing solemn tunes.
Monday we took our teachers with us to a small pueblo about 20
Carpets for the Procession
The teens are making them from colored sawdust and stencils. minutes outside of Antigua, to buy local textiles to bring back. We took the chicken bus and this time Bill actually sat next to a man with a live chicken!
On Tuesday, we both woke up sick...I had the tourista and Bill a virus that has been going around. We both ended up in bed all day with fevers, but were much better by the next day. Wednesday we went back to school, and I got my hair colored in the pm...some of you know that this was a potential problem for me in travelling for this long, but everything turned out well and my hair looks great!
On Thursday, we went on a school field trip to the town of Chichicastenango, where there is a large outdoor market on Thursday and Sunday. It is quite touristy now, but very colorful. The best part was going into one of the two churches in the main square, where Mayan rituals and Catholic ceremonies share the same church. We were not allowed to take photos inside, where the wood is dark with centuries of candle smoke and large square stones in the middle aisle hold candles and rose petals. Men
dressed in traditional clothing greeted us and asked for a donation. Our teachers told us that this the only church where these two religions coexist. In the town, there are two governments, one indigenous and one hispanic.
Friday was our last day of class and we sadly said goodby to our teachers who have become our friends over the three weeks. We will stay at our homestay for a few more days...and maybe more, since YES! we have an offer on the house! Bill is hoping to handle the paperwork from here if the offer goes through.
It rained here for the first time since we have been in Guatemala last night. Nights are interesting here....Dusk comes around 630pm as large groups of kids head home from school. There are two sessions and the last one gets out around 6pm. After dark, things quiet down since most people stay at home in the evenings during the week. That is, things quiet down until the dogs begin barking around 9pm...they seem to bark for fun, to warn off cats, to talk to each other, to show off, and to keep us awake. And everyone has a dog! It finally
At the Merced convent ruins next to our school
There is a very large fountain in the ruins, the largest in Central America. gets quiet around 4am...and at 5am the roosters, church bells and buses start up...and dawn comes around 6 am....
On Saturday, we hoped to mail a package home with purchases and things we don't need...but found it will cost over $100..so now we're stuck....
The next message will probably be from Rio Dulce or Honduras some where....
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Jen and Julia
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Que Colores!!!!!
My spanish is a little rusty. Everything is so vivid. Julia saw the pictures and says "coooool". I second that. I think the rain visited you instead of Seattle. We have had a few sunny and warm days here. "I hope you are having a good time" Julia says. We'll check in at your next stop.