Route of the Maya Day 5
Route of the Maya
DAY 5 - 11/28/05 - School Visit/Home-hosted Lunch/Jade Factory Visit
The staff was preparing for breakfast very early this morning so we were awake before the alarm went off! The sun was bright today, and even though it is a little chilly, the weather promised to be warm. After our breakfast we sang Happy Birthday to Ralph, who, in the local tradition, received hot chocolate and a big cookie for his birthday. He also received a piñata!
At 9:00 we joined Carlos on the bus for a very short ride to the city center where some of our group went to the bank, some went to a stationery shop to buy gifts for the school. Gennie had brought many pencils and pens for the children from home, so we went to the plaza and greeted the people and took a few photographs of the early morning gatherings.
On the road to San Antonio we passed many coffee plantations under the shade of taller trees. We will go on the coffee plantation visit another day. There are sixteen villages that surround Antigua. The economy is based on tourists, coffee, oil, and sugar cane. We stopped at a vegetable field where we saw the local people weeding a field of lettuce with bamboo hand spades.
As we wound our way through the villages, Judith told us about the local customs and we saw the tanque pilas where the people come to wash their clothes in a co-op laundry and also use the water to bathe and socialize early in the morning.
In the famous weaving village of San Antonia Aguas Calientes, outside of Antigua, we took a short walk around the city plaza while we waited for the children to come to school. It is vacation time now so parents have brought these kindergartners to talk to us this morning.
At 11 AM we were welcomed by the little children who took us by the hand and invited us into their school. We stood as they sang the national anthem of Guatemala. One of the mothers gave us a little talk about the weaving traditions of this community. Six of the children performed a little dance for us and then invited our group to dance with them.
We were divided into groups of four and taken by the children to their homes for a home hosted meal. This was an exceptional opportunity for a cultural exchange as we continued to learn more about the people and customs of the gentle people of Guatemala. We enjoyed a regional specialty of meat and vegetable stew, corn tortillas, and a fruit plate, all typical of the local fare.
After lunch we walked back to the bus with our host child and his oldest sister and bid them goodbye. We had a little more time at the local artisan market where we watched local women weaving in the tradition of their "foremothers".
At 1:30 we drove back to the northern part of Antigua and visited a jade factory. Jade was prized above gold in the Mayan society. This precious stone, excavated at many of the ruins we visit, has long been coveted by Maya rulers and nobility as a symbol of fertility, luck, and power. We had an opportunity to see the craftsmen work with this stone and then walked through their showrooms. Instead of riding the bus, we chose to walk back to our hotel, get some more exercise, and to see other sights of the city.
At 7:30 we met the group for a dinner together. We walked six blocks to Las Antorchas Restaurant where Gennie had a fish and I had a steak dinner. We returned to the Posada at 10 PM stopping at the central plaza to take some night shots of the cathedral and the fountain.
Accommodations: Posada Don Rodrigo Antigua - - - Meals: B, L, D
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