Antigua, Guatemala

It’s been a long and lively three days since we arrived in Guatemala. Kristian claims she has good airport karma, and I witnessed it first hand. Not only did we not have to stand in line anywhere in the airport (including at the security checkpoint), but we also lucked out in our airplane neighbors. We met a friendly surfing photographer on his way to Costa Rica on our flight from Boston and a lovely French-Canadian woman on the flight from Houston to Guatemala City who had once run an organic farm near Guatemala City a few years ago. A shuttle picked us up at the airport (although not the shuttle that was apparently there for us...the driver explained that that shuttle had been vandalized in the parking lot), and we got to our hotel in Antigua around midnight. After a brief misunderstanding with the night doorman at the hotel (he insisted there was no room for us until I was able to convince him that I was the "krause" listed for room #5), we bunked down for the night.

The next day we spent the better part of the morning sleeping. I think I may have driven Kristian a little bonkers because all I wanted to to was sleep and eat that day. We wandered around Antigua, visited the enormous market (which sells everything from handicrafts to used clothes, fresh fruit and veggies, candles, toilet paper, and everything in between) had fabulous nutella crepes at a cafe, did a little shopping, and met some interesting characters. One lady in particular, who you, dear reader, will probably meet again since she is staying at the hotel we will be staying in when we return to Antigua, sticks out in my memory. She is an older American woman, and I had seen her earlier talking with the tourist police near the central plaza. I had assumed she had been robbed, as she was crying. We saw her later at a hotel restaurant....we had met an employee of the hotel earlier while booking shuttle tickets to the different towns we will be visiting and were reserving rooms there for our return to Antigua. She proceeded to tell us an odd story about how she was being chastised by the police for basically disturbing the peace while she was harassing some Europeans who were selling reproductions of Mayan artwork. I didn't quite fully understand her story. But she liked us, mostly I think because we listened to her story, and I tried to make her feel a bit better and told her to just put it behind her, to get rid of that low energy and just move forward. She decided we were her new best friends, and gave me a beaded key chain as thanks for helping her feel better. A strange encounter.

You are probably thinking that this narrative is wandering a bit, and you'd be right. I'm a little distracted, but I want to get this down before I forget. So as not to bore you with too long a post, I'll give you the highlights of the next day now, and fill in the details on my next post. Tuesday began for us at 5 am, as we caught a 6 am shuttle to the Pacaya volcano. The trip included an interesting shuttle ride with a soundtrack that consisted of Avril Levine's greatest hits and an incredible hike whose pinnacle included some molten hot rocks and slightly melted shoe rubber. The afternoon featured a shuttle ride to Panajachel, on Lake Atitlan, that made us all feel like we were on an amusement park ride.

I hope that all is well with you all up there in the states. Post a comment or send me an email if you feel like it. I know I haven't been gone long, but I always enjoy getting news. Until the next post, then.....que les vayan bien.