Mercado
Taji, I didn't keep my promise to write in Spanish. I will soon. I didn't write anything since Thursday, rats!
On Friday I did, with a map in my hand, a "tour of the churches" and visited a few of them. The most interesting is the church of San Francisco which is really dedicated to Hermano Pedro, a priest who was born in Tenerife and came to Guatemala in the 16th century. He was a missionary and an ascetic. In the church museum I found his underwear which looked like a fishnet made of course material. I knew priests at that time were wearing all kinds of clothing to mortify their flesh but such underwear seems just impossible to bear... It's one of the strangest pieces of clothing I have ever seen. The church was a very big one, a cathedral, but it was badly destroyed by all the earthquakes over the centuries. Only ruins remain but they are very beautiful. Hermano Pedro is famous for miracles, then and now, and the walls of one of the remaining chapels are stuffed with crutches and eyeglasses which the miracuously healed left behind. I concentrated very hard... closed my eyes... and took my glasses off ready to hang them on the wall... but maybe Hermano Pedro doesn't think I am ready to be clearvisioned yet :). I will wait patiently... There is a wonderful atmosphere in the ruins. It's nice to sit in the grass, surrounded by remains of the cathedral... Rob comes here with Rubber who enjoys it very much. Maybe he is not a Ganesh, maybe he is Hermano Perro and is reuniting with his spirit...
On Saturday I was running around the town the whole day. Rob was telling me about his favorite stands with used clothing on the local market so first I went with him there. It's on the outskirts of Antigua and it's big. There's a section which is covered by roof and then there's the whole outside area where people from towns and villages around Antigua come with fruit, vegetables, clothing, spices, flowers, etc., etc. Anything can be found on the market. It's noisy and very colorful. Very few tourists seem to go there. It is more of a market where goods are exchanged and where the Antiguan restaurants and businesses get their goods. First we just walked around enjoying all the colors and smells and then we went to explore the stands and bins with second-hand clothing for men, women and children. "Ropas, ropas, rooooopas! Por caballeros, damas y ninos!" It's possible to hear the vendors from afar. There are stands with clothes for 5 quetzales per piece (1 US dollar = 7.7 quetzales), 3 quetzales and 1 quetzal. The best bins are the 1 quetzal bins (about 12 cents). Oh what fun it was digging through the piles! Patrycja you would love it! It's much better than the store in Williamsburg we went to. Most of the clothing is Diesel-like, rugged, washed many times for many years, except it is really used not made to look like used and it costs 12c instad of $100. Good quality fabrics which age nicely. There's a lot of Gap and Banana Republic stuff, Dockers and Levi's, all sports labels like Nike, Adidas, etc., Jones New York, LR... Rob found a very nice Victoria Secret bath robe, tried it on for the amusement of the crowd also searching in the bins... lots of fun. When he found the robe I dug deeper thinking maybe we can find some Chanel or Carolina Herrera or other houte couture articles hidden underneath? Not that I like labels, but it would be interesting... to find something so outrageously out of place here. The find of the day were two things we though were just perfect for circumstances (local customs and climate): a totally transtransparent white peniuar and ski pants. I showed the peniuar to a very petite and very old granny digging next to me and she started to giggle at first and then the two of us were laughing hysterically. Rob then showed me another great find, a t-shirt with WHAAASUP!!! on it. I couldn't help it and I took a picture of him holding the t-shirt in front of him so when I finally put the pictures on the blog you will see it. I got a silk blouse and two t-shirts (total value $1) and Rob got three t-shirts and a sweater. It was a good paca morning.
Later that day I went to see King Arthur at Caffe 2000 - a place which is a bar in the evening and a cinema during the day. It has nice armchairs and cushions to sit, but almost lie down if one wishes, and a large screen. I really enjoyed the movie. I always liked the legend. King Arthur was nice but Guinevere! Guinevere was the best! A strong Celtic woman! A true warrior. Katka, I will have to read this book about Celts when I come back. My favorite line in this movie was: "What are you afraid of, Arthur?" It is she who is asking him this question, the greatest warrior, the one who seems the bravest, the one who is feared and admired for his strength everywhere, not the other way around. Because it is she who possesses the secret of what it means to be fearless: "Today is all there is, who knows what tomorrow will bring." - the secret has nicely been revealed. I enjoyed the movie very much (and the Spanish subtitled witch I was eagerly reading) but the people sitting around me were chain smokers and I got roasted - the allergy knocked me down. I will still have to avoid places where smoking is permitted. After the movie I went to Cafe Condesa, a very beautiful cafe with a fountain in the atrium and really tasty pastries.
Sunday - I was basically studying and reading, all day. I also decided that as much as I like Probigua, they don't really provide good study materials. I asked Buba to send me the books I bought in NY (and the dictionary - so it will actually make it to Guatemala after all) . I don't know how long it will take them to reach Antigua but I decided that in the meantime I will travel somewhere...
Monday - Yesterday morning I saw in one of the travel agencies this really great flight to Peru with a stop-over in Panama. So today I am going to Panama at 2:50 pm and I will stay there till Saturday. I ran a few errands, went to see Mike to tell him I will be leaving for some time and went back to Luna Maya to eat lunch. Paulo, who is from Pescadora in Italy and also stays in Luna Maya, came just as I was putting the first bite in my mouth: "Asia, Lucas and I are going to climb the Pacaya volcano in ten minutes, are you going with us?!" Of course!!! I swallowed the rest of my lunch in one gulp and was ready to go. It took as an hour by bus, with a group of other tourists, to get to the volcano. It was a 1,5 hour climb, first not so steep but very steep at the end. At the end it was walking on old lava, pebbles. The last part I did on all fours (and was sliding back on my bottom). It was one of the most amazing things I saw... When we got to the top, dirty, sweaty and exhausted (although I have to say I wasn't as exhausted as the rest of our group - I am staying fit, Curtis!), the peak was belching out pieces or red lava, which became black the minute they hit the rest of the lava already lying on its sides. There were two places through which lava came out. One was on the side of the main peak - we could see the red abyss!!! And the sulfur and gases coming out with puff, puff, puff. Smelled like Hell. We were just waiting for the little devils to come out and do a little dance, sweeping the lava floor with their tails. When we were coming down, everyone was in the elated stated of "we saw the inside of the earth." The sun was setting and in the distance we could see the peaks of the other volcanoes, the towns in the valleys, the sky changing colors. The last part of the walk down I did with Edwin who works for the volcano police (there were robberies of tourists climbing the volcano). On the way back the bus was buzzing with conversation. Lucas (from Malaga in Spain) and I were talking about LIFE and it was a very nice conversation. We then went to Luna Maya to take a shower (our faces and everything was just dark with lava dust) and then to dinner at Vino y Queso restaurant and had pizza (and Paolo had pasta, of course) because on Monday evenings everything is closed and there wasn't much choice. Since Paolo and Lucas are party animals they went to an Irish pub and I went home because I was barely dragging my feet... Today I woke up in the blissful state of having seen one of the wonders of the world...
I will write from Panama... kisses to everyone.
On Friday I did, with a map in my hand, a "tour of the churches" and visited a few of them. The most interesting is the church of San Francisco which is really dedicated to Hermano Pedro, a priest who was born in Tenerife and came to Guatemala in the 16th century. He was a missionary and an ascetic. In the church museum I found his underwear which looked like a fishnet made of course material. I knew priests at that time were wearing all kinds of clothing to mortify their flesh but such underwear seems just impossible to bear... It's one of the strangest pieces of clothing I have ever seen. The church was a very big one, a cathedral, but it was badly destroyed by all the earthquakes over the centuries. Only ruins remain but they are very beautiful. Hermano Pedro is famous for miracles, then and now, and the walls of one of the remaining chapels are stuffed with crutches and eyeglasses which the miracuously healed left behind. I concentrated very hard... closed my eyes... and took my glasses off ready to hang them on the wall... but maybe Hermano Pedro doesn't think I am ready to be clearvisioned yet :). I will wait patiently... There is a wonderful atmosphere in the ruins. It's nice to sit in the grass, surrounded by remains of the cathedral... Rob comes here with Rubber who enjoys it very much. Maybe he is not a Ganesh, maybe he is Hermano Perro and is reuniting with his spirit...
On Saturday I was running around the town the whole day. Rob was telling me about his favorite stands with used clothing on the local market so first I went with him there. It's on the outskirts of Antigua and it's big. There's a section which is covered by roof and then there's the whole outside area where people from towns and villages around Antigua come with fruit, vegetables, clothing, spices, flowers, etc., etc. Anything can be found on the market. It's noisy and very colorful. Very few tourists seem to go there. It is more of a market where goods are exchanged and where the Antiguan restaurants and businesses get their goods. First we just walked around enjoying all the colors and smells and then we went to explore the stands and bins with second-hand clothing for men, women and children. "Ropas, ropas, rooooopas! Por caballeros, damas y ninos!" It's possible to hear the vendors from afar. There are stands with clothes for 5 quetzales per piece (1 US dollar = 7.7 quetzales), 3 quetzales and 1 quetzal. The best bins are the 1 quetzal bins (about 12 cents). Oh what fun it was digging through the piles! Patrycja you would love it! It's much better than the store in Williamsburg we went to. Most of the clothing is Diesel-like, rugged, washed many times for many years, except it is really used not made to look like used and it costs 12c instad of $100. Good quality fabrics which age nicely. There's a lot of Gap and Banana Republic stuff, Dockers and Levi's, all sports labels like Nike, Adidas, etc., Jones New York, LR... Rob found a very nice Victoria Secret bath robe, tried it on for the amusement of the crowd also searching in the bins... lots of fun. When he found the robe I dug deeper thinking maybe we can find some Chanel or Carolina Herrera or other houte couture articles hidden underneath? Not that I like labels, but it would be interesting... to find something so outrageously out of place here. The find of the day were two things we though were just perfect for circumstances (local customs and climate): a totally transtransparent white peniuar and ski pants. I showed the peniuar to a very petite and very old granny digging next to me and she started to giggle at first and then the two of us were laughing hysterically. Rob then showed me another great find, a t-shirt with WHAAASUP!!! on it. I couldn't help it and I took a picture of him holding the t-shirt in front of him so when I finally put the pictures on the blog you will see it. I got a silk blouse and two t-shirts (total value $1) and Rob got three t-shirts and a sweater. It was a good paca morning.
Later that day I went to see King Arthur at Caffe 2000 - a place which is a bar in the evening and a cinema during the day. It has nice armchairs and cushions to sit, but almost lie down if one wishes, and a large screen. I really enjoyed the movie. I always liked the legend. King Arthur was nice but Guinevere! Guinevere was the best! A strong Celtic woman! A true warrior. Katka, I will have to read this book about Celts when I come back. My favorite line in this movie was: "What are you afraid of, Arthur?" It is she who is asking him this question, the greatest warrior, the one who seems the bravest, the one who is feared and admired for his strength everywhere, not the other way around. Because it is she who possesses the secret of what it means to be fearless: "Today is all there is, who knows what tomorrow will bring." - the secret has nicely been revealed. I enjoyed the movie very much (and the Spanish subtitled witch I was eagerly reading) but the people sitting around me were chain smokers and I got roasted - the allergy knocked me down. I will still have to avoid places where smoking is permitted. After the movie I went to Cafe Condesa, a very beautiful cafe with a fountain in the atrium and really tasty pastries.
Sunday - I was basically studying and reading, all day. I also decided that as much as I like Probigua, they don't really provide good study materials. I asked Buba to send me the books I bought in NY (and the dictionary - so it will actually make it to Guatemala after all) . I don't know how long it will take them to reach Antigua but I decided that in the meantime I will travel somewhere...
Monday - Yesterday morning I saw in one of the travel agencies this really great flight to Peru with a stop-over in Panama. So today I am going to Panama at 2:50 pm and I will stay there till Saturday. I ran a few errands, went to see Mike to tell him I will be leaving for some time and went back to Luna Maya to eat lunch. Paulo, who is from Pescadora in Italy and also stays in Luna Maya, came just as I was putting the first bite in my mouth: "Asia, Lucas and I are going to climb the Pacaya volcano in ten minutes, are you going with us?!" Of course!!! I swallowed the rest of my lunch in one gulp and was ready to go. It took as an hour by bus, with a group of other tourists, to get to the volcano. It was a 1,5 hour climb, first not so steep but very steep at the end. At the end it was walking on old lava, pebbles. The last part I did on all fours (and was sliding back on my bottom). It was one of the most amazing things I saw... When we got to the top, dirty, sweaty and exhausted (although I have to say I wasn't as exhausted as the rest of our group - I am staying fit, Curtis!), the peak was belching out pieces or red lava, which became black the minute they hit the rest of the lava already lying on its sides. There were two places through which lava came out. One was on the side of the main peak - we could see the red abyss!!! And the sulfur and gases coming out with puff, puff, puff. Smelled like Hell. We were just waiting for the little devils to come out and do a little dance, sweeping the lava floor with their tails. When we were coming down, everyone was in the elated stated of "we saw the inside of the earth." The sun was setting and in the distance we could see the peaks of the other volcanoes, the towns in the valleys, the sky changing colors. The last part of the walk down I did with Edwin who works for the volcano police (there were robberies of tourists climbing the volcano). On the way back the bus was buzzing with conversation. Lucas (from Malaga in Spain) and I were talking about LIFE and it was a very nice conversation. We then went to Luna Maya to take a shower (our faces and everything was just dark with lava dust) and then to dinner at Vino y Queso restaurant and had pizza (and Paolo had pasta, of course) because on Monday evenings everything is closed and there wasn't much choice. Since Paolo and Lucas are party animals they went to an Irish pub and I went home because I was barely dragging my feet... Today I woke up in the blissful state of having seen one of the wonders of the world...
I will write from Panama... kisses to everyone.
posted by Asia Kabat at 3:42 PM
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