Feb 9 - Guatemala

After a late arrival at the Port of Quetzal in Guatemala and mass confusion while getting off the ship, we rode a bus to the city of Antigua. Along the way we saw three volcanoes. One was dormant, the other two were active. There were banana and sugar cane fields along the way. We stopped in a little village of San Antonio Aguas Calientes to see a textile cooperative. Here is a picture of a taxi that was used locally.

Duane and Karen in front of the church in San Antonio. Hope that you can see some of the hillside in the background. The people cultivated, by hand, plots of land all the way up the side of the hill.

 

Antigua, Guatemala used to be the capital of the country. After several earthquakes throughout the years, the people were tired of rebuilding the town. So they abandoned it and established their capital in Guatemala City. Some of the older people wanted to go back to Antigua as they had been born and raised there.  The city is a national historical treasure and there are restrictions on new buildings in the town center. At one time there were 30-40 churches in the town. The earthquake ruins of many of those churches are still visible. We are lunch at an old building that had been a convent. It was restored, in part, and is now used as a hotel and restaurant as well as a historical site. The next two pictures are from an area I think was originally the chapel in the convent. You can see that the partially crumbled wall, has been filled in with glass. All the original wooden doors are still in place below the windows.

The chimes in this picture are to alert inhabitants of an earthquake. They were massive. My guess is 30-40 foot top to bottom.

I had more pictures that I wanted to share from this excursion, but the internet connection, although it says it is excellent, has been very slow.