Day 95: The View

First day flying solo in Antigua.

It was quite cold this morning. The bathroom's windows do not close (no, there are no privacy issues), so all of the nice hot air from the shower disappeared the moment the water was turned off. Anyway, the tea was really nice with the food this morning. I had a breakfast of an cheese and ham omelette with some watermelon juice.

After breakfast I sent out emails to the Guatemalan Waldorf school that is located not too far from here, and another volunteering opportunity that would also be education-related that is only about 15 minutes away by bus. I heard back very quickly from the second place, called Las Manos de Christine, and he (the director) was interested in having me come and help out with English classes and possible teach a little volleyball; I had sent him my resume. I am just waiting to hear back from the Waldorf school because I am giving it a little preference since I have an affinity for the situation. I am thrilled, however to know that I can go to 'Las Manos,' I would just need to iron out the details.

Before lunch, I went out on a little excursion. I am staying on the outskirts of the tiny city, and right up against a hill. This hill sits directly on the north side of the city, and it has a cross built onto the slope as well as a statue of Saint Santiago, the patron saint of the city. I decided to climb up, since it is not too big of a climb, and so I did so. There were police around the base of the staircase (there were stone steps making a comfortable trail up the hillside that was fairly heavily wooded. Carmen had mentioned that it could be a little dangerous walking up to the top of the hill, but we did not talk much about it and I did not think anything of it... and I had no problems. I was alone for the ascent and there were other tourists and a couple of school kids by the cross. The cross is large and stone, and it marks the base of a scar of cleared ground that goes up a little further on the hillside to where the statue of St. Santiago, riding his horse, is located.

The view was gorgeous. You could see right across the city to the volcano, called 'Agua,' looming on the other side with its tip in the clouds. I looked down through the trees on the other side of the hill, and could see houses. Maria Elena told me later at dinner that in that direction is El Hato, the location for 'Las Manos.' It is noticeably more poor in that area. Even just by looking architecturally.

Cobbled streets with bougainvillea blossoms

I walked down, again with out problems, said 'hola' to a couple of climbers, and I discovered a little slide that someone had built that flowed right along the hillside next to the stairs. It had become completely filled in, however, with dirt and leaves, so I was not able to butt-scoot down that part of the hill.

Lunch was Guatemalan enchiladas, which are Mexican tostadas, fried tortillas with open-faced toppings, usually meat or beans plus a garnish. Nice and obvious, right? Mine were chicken, carrot, and cabbage. They were pretty good.

After lunch I was feeling a little tired, María Elena was taking a siesta and had me thinking along the same lines, but I decided to walk down to the market since today is market day (Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays). Geographically, to try and explain the city and where my house is compared to market, I am going to describe the city as a rectangle that is a little longer along the north-south axis. I am staying in the north-east corner (top right) and the market is midway along the western (left handed) side. It is a nice walk, not too far, and I get to see more parts of the city.

I went right to the artisan section because I had seen some scarves before that I liked. I have a little history with these particular scarves: I had noticed them being worn in Argentina (Paula and Andrés use them) and I had like them a lot, the come in different colors, but they are checkered with black squares, are folded diagonally, and wrapped around the neck. I had wanted to buy them before I left Buenos Aires, but I never got the opportunity. Now, it seems like it was a good thing, since they had the same scarves here, for less money. One in Argentina would have cost me about USD5 and I got two here (one red and the other grey) for USD6. I also purchased some postcards, since I felt like sending something a little less impersonal than an email to some friends and family. The next adventure will be mailing them.

I returned home with enough time to sit out on the porch outside my room and read under the fast-setting sun. That time of day when everything is lit up in a yellow glow is very nice.

Dinner was some sort of vegetable soup, I only know that there were onions in it and a lot of salt. Corn, rice, avocado and bread were served on the side. María Elena and I were talking during the meal, I cannot remember if I mentioned this before, but I have always eaten lunch and dinner alone in that no one else is eating at the same time, but we were talking about traveling in general, the pros and the cons. María Elena commented on how long we had talked and about 'so' many things, and I thought of my lengthy conversations with Betty in the kitchen in Buenos Aires. I cannot believe tomorrow is only one week away from Buenos Aires. That is it.

Well, I might go to bed right now, there was just some creature crawling around above the ceiling and making quite a lot of noise, but there has been silence for the last couple of paragraphs, so I think I can go to sleep without fearing that some beast is going to come crashing down at any moment.

Chao.