Adventures with David & Gail

Guate! - The ride into Guatemala City, or Guate for short as the locals call it, takes you along the Rio Montagua river valley as it winds is way up to the mountains. The Rio Dulce is at sea level and Guate is at about 6000 ft. so the climb is steep at times. Plus it's mostly a rural two land road with lots of different kinds of traffic from guys driving big BMW SUV's all the way to the lowly Tuk-Tuks putting along. You can just see how the trip might be exciting! Later we came back by bus and it took 5 ½ hours. We did it in 3 ½ by car. But we had the right car and driver for the trip.

We arrived at Carmen's in time to have dinner. She had planned for our visit and had a variety of Guatemalan food for us to try. The first night we had Rellenitos for desert. Sweet fried bananas stuffed with black beans. We, of course, added some vanilla ice cream. Yum!

There is just so much to see and so little time but with Carmen as a guide we planned to see the highlights. The next morning we took our first excursion to Antigua which is about an hour southwest of Guatemala City. Antigua used to be the capital of all of Central America under Spanish rule until it was destroyed by multiple earthquakes in the 1700's and the government was moved to what is now Guatemala City. Antigua has many intact ruins of churches and convents. We started at Casa Santa Domingo which is a luxury hotel on the grounds of an old convent. The church area is covered by a fabric tarp and is still used for weddings and other events. The grounds are very pretty and there is a path through the ruins with signs (in both Spanish and English).

Next we stopped at the market and did some shopping. We actually bought a number of items. Probably did as much shopping here as we have most of the trip! The fabrics are amazing and it was impossible to pass it all up!

Next was a walk around the Parque Central to take in the buildings and the fountain. It doesn't say anything about the fountain in the guide books, but take a close look at the picture! We also walked to the Iglesia de Nuestra Senora de la Merced. The façade is amazing. Yellow with white trim. There was much more to see, but our day was over and we headed back to Guate before rush hour. We had a traditional dinner of chili rellenos in corn tortillas!

Tuesday we were scheduled to explore Guate. We started with a visit to University de Francisco Marroquin that Carmen's father founded in 1972. This is a small private college with 2400 students whose mission is "to teach and disseminate the ethical, legal, and economic principles of a society of free and responsible persons". The grounds are lovely. It looks like a wonderful environment to learn. There are also two museums on the campus. One dedicated to Guatemalan textiles and the other to Mayan history.

Our next stop was the El Correo, the Post Office, downtown to get post card stamps so we could post our last postcards to family. Carmen knew where it was, but she had never actually been in it! The main post office still functions as a post office, but most of the building is now an arts magnet school. There is a small but interesting postal and telegraphic museum in the basement.

We took a driving tour to Zone 1, the old city. We saw the Palacio National and the Cathedra Santiago de Guatemala. Guate has an unusual Mapa en Relieve. It is a mostly to scale relief map of the country that was completed in 1905! It is quite interesting and gives you a feel for the diversity of this beautiful country.

On our way home Carmen drove through the Torre del Reformador, a smaller version of the Eiffel Tower which tops out at 75 meters or about 250 ft. There is some controversy over the origins of the tower. Guatemalans believe it was a gift from France, but our guide book says it was built in the US in 1935 to commemorate the centennial birth of President Rufino Barrios. Google tends to back up the guide book.

Wednesday we drove to Lake Amiatitlan to Carmen's mother's home for lunch. We took the long way to the lake, because it was a holiday and there was a festival in town. The drive was very pretty along the lake and we could see the Orthodox Monastery that one of Carmen's sisters founded. New buildings to house the orphanage are almost complete.

Carmen's mother's home is a sprawling family retreat where the family gathers every Sunday for lunch. Wednesday was a holiday and we were celebrating one of her nieces' birthday. It was a small gathering with only 12 of us! A very relaxing day. Back at Carmen's we topped off the day with more traditional food. Guatemalan tamales, torte de Izote and chuchitos!

Our trip was short but so enjoyable due to the hospitality of Carmen and her family! We could not have had better hosts! There is much more to see. We hope to be able to come back again.

The next day we caught the bus back to Rio Dulce. After our bus trips in Panama, the 5 ½ hour ride was easy. The marina picked us up and we were back aboard Wildest Dream by midafternoon. A few days of routine maintenance and we will check out of Guatemala on Monday morning and head toward Belize! (Just as a note our current lat/lon in the marina at 15 39.4'N: 88 59.64'W will be our furthest point west on our trip.)