Route of the Maya Day 6
Route of the Maya
DAY 6 - 11/29/05 - Free Day/Laundry/Post Office/Water Volcano/ True Mayan Market/Macadamia Plantation
We woke up to another sunny day, a little warmer than the one before. I went to the internet to upload the journal from yesterday as we were to have a late breakfast. It was Jeanne's birthday so we had a very special celebration at 8:00 in the main dining room, with the pacaya, a typical vegetable from the palm family, cooked with tomato, onion, and sweet peppers and eaten with corn tortillas. A band of 5 mariachi singers/players came to serenade her on her special day. We all danced and sang traditional songs, it was a great way to begin our day.
Today was officially a free day for making our own discoveries in Antigua. But Judith offered to take us on another interesting discovery. We left the hotel at 9:30 and made our first stop at the laundry where many of us dropped off clothes to be cleaned. Just around the corner was the post office and several people wanted to buy stamps and I wandered the street in front of the market and met one of the families from yesterday's school visit.
We were then off to the local bus station where we were going to ride a local "Chicken Bus" to Santa Maria de Jesus village. Our bus had just left, so Carlos took us to the 'Water' Volcano in our own mini bus. We climbed about one third of the way up to the top of this inactive volcano where we could still see the remnants of the huge mud slides that buried the city in 1541. There was originally a lake at the top of this peak, hence the name, 'Water' Volcano. When it last erupted, the walls holding the lake collapsed sending the water down the sides and killing over 45,000 people.
We spent a delightful two hours in Santa Maria de Jesus meeting the people, taking pictures, and getting to know many of the local customs. The market is a unique and a very typical one for the Mayan people, not tourists! We were the only non indigenous people there, and no one asked us to buy a thing. We did watch as they shopped; bought and sold from each other, bartered, and tended to their children. They have house wares; pots and pans, fruits and vegetables, meats, and other staples - anything one would want to survive in their simple life!
At 11:45 we boarded our Chicken Bus, Guate Antigua - Santa Maria de Jesus, a brightly pained old recycled American School Bus, and began our decent down the mountain. Our bus was full when it left at 12:00 with 2 of us adults in a seat. On the way out of town we stopped at every corner to pick up more passengers. By the time we got going, there were 3 people to every seat, a woman with 5 children under 4 years old, locals with all of their packages, an evangelist who was playing his guitar and asking for donations for his mission, but thankfully no one with a chicken!
At the bottom of the hill, Carlos met us with our van and took us the rest of the way through the country side, through several small villages before we ended up at the Valhalla Macadamia plantation just outside the city. We were able to wash up a bit, were treated to hibiscus tea, and then given samples of the salted nuts, and ones covered with dark chocolate and white chocolate!
Our guide, Rosalinda took us through the plantation telling us of the benefits of the nuts, the oil, and the trees themselves that are excellent in cleaning the air. The trees produce for over 200 years and yield nuts all year round. She showed us the process of husking the green nuts as they fall from the trees, sizing the nuts, and then drying them in the sun for 20 days before roasting. We were able to sample pancakes made from the nut flour.
The highlight of the demonstration for me was to be treated to a facial using the oil and cream which is supposed to eliminate old age spots, wrinkles, heal cuts and bruises, and even eliminate pain! Some one told me that I looked 20 years younger but most laughed and said I was still old looking. Well, the relaxing message and facial were nice anyway!!!!
When we returned to town at 2:30 we wandered the winding streets at our own pace, lingered in a few small shops where Gennie looked for handmade crafts, and settled on ice cream for a late lunch.
Late in the afternoon we had a chance to meet Judith's area manager and the director of transportation for Guatemala. We had a great conversation on how well the trip was going and we also had the opportunity to show them our web site (garciatrips.com) and go through the previous days and then show some pages from Costa Rica, Thailand and Best of Burgundy. We then went out for a quick dinner at one of the local restaurants and were home by 7:30 to finish the journal and upload our pages as tomorrow will be an early morning.
Accommodations: Posada Don Rodrigo Antigua - - - Meals: B
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