Guatemala

Guatemala was my favorite port on our cruise.  The countryside was cool and green, with friendly people in eye-stopping textiles.  My goal for a souvenir of Central America was bright table runners--and there they were!  

As we walked off our ship, we were greeted with marimba players in the terminal.

Our tour bus left the port and drove higher and higher, between two of the four volcanos on the horizon, to Colonial Antigua.  Antigua is a "Unesco City," designated as a world landmark, and we could immediately see why.  The countryside was lush green and the city had cobblestone streets and picturesque Spanish colonial churches and government buildings.

First stop was a coffee plantation on the outskirts of the city.  There is competition, throughout Central America, as to which country has the best coffee.  Our guide showed us raw red coffee beans.

 

This plantation was a family-owned business, with white stucco buildings and neatly stacked equipment.

We wandered through a little museum with statues of peasant people going about their work, play, and worship.

One display showed the pagan influences on Catholicism.

Antiqua was a city of narrow streets with brightly colored buildings and lots of mopeds and tiny cars.

Antigua was settled by the Spaniards in the 1500s.  An earthquake shook it in the 1700s, and there are many very old buildings which have never been repaired since the earthquake.  We stopped at a monastery to see some of the oldest construction in Antigua.

 

The Guatemalan people are beautiful, with large, dark eyes, round faces, and dark hair.

We paused at the city square to see Antigua's largest and most imposing Spanish Colonial church, and to examine the wares of the many brightly dressed vendors.

The town hall had arches and wide balconies.  So many of the buildings would have looked at home in southern Spain.

There were many and sundry lumps under the Guatemalan shawls.  Some were babies, some bags of fabrics and jewelry, and some--who knows?  maybe parts of the women themselves.

Antigua is filled with churches, some twenty Spanish colonial ones.  They were like Thai temples in Bangkok.  I never tire of either Spanish colonial churches or Thai temples....

There were rows of stone basins on the town square, where women used to do their laundry.

With all those churches, there were priests and sinners, as well.

 

 We paused to browse for textiles in a shop which leant against a church wall.

 I bought an intricate, handmade table runner from the woman who made it.

 Tropical flowers decorated the city and rolling green foothills surrounded it.

 We stopped for lunch at a cathedral which had been made into an elegant hotel and restaurant.

 Guatamalen food is much like Mexican food, but not as spicy.

 The restaurant was accented with votive candles.  Our guide had been married at this venue.

 The Catholic influence was never far away.

 The hotel/restaurant grounds were filled with artisans, such as these weavers.

There were three museums onsite, including the underground crypt, which had statues of saints, as well as human bones.

 Our last stop in the city was a jade factory.  It was run by a female American geologist, who had searched for jade deposits in Guatemala and then had created jewelry from them.  She gave an introductory talk on jade.

 The masks her artisans created had been written up in National Geographic.

 There were many workers in the factory, and a showroom full of jewelry.  Dave treated me to a necklace with three large jade beads, as well as sterling silver ones.