Greetings,
While I’m supposed to get Day’s 4 and 5, I’m well behind, and I’m sitting at Day 6, aiming towards Day 7; our last day.
Today was a day that I woke up, and realized that while battling a growing cold [yikes], today was a day of rest. In the events of this week, this mission team always made an effort to take the last day in country and just enjoy the culture, people, and surprises. Today was that day.
We started early, saying goodbye to the orphans from Casa De Mi Padre, who were kind enough to visit Hostel Santa Maria to wish us goodbye. I spent some time with Benito, the little boy MC and Jim are sponsoring from Casa De Mi Padre, we discussed futbal, television, Real Madrid, and Barca. It was a small moment where I got to just hang with an orphan for a few moments.
Eventually, in the blistering [shivering] air, we started our leave from Santa Cruz, and began our three hour journey to Antigua, Guatemala. Antigua, as the name implies, does related to antique, or old. Old Spanish missions, and three old/active volcanoes that randomly spit out smoke and a bit of lava on a daily basis.
After one hour on the Guatemalan roads, we only had one person car sick, within two hours I had already downed a bag of banana chips with cinnamon sugar [wonderful!]. By hour three we were all crabby and anxious to get out of the bus, and onto enjoying our day.
We pulled into Antigua, and took a look on top of a large hill at the view of the city within the valley of the area volcanoes. I would admit here that some great feeling or sensation came over me at this time, but I was thinking about shopping.
After the scenic view, we heads to La Fork, a very fancy restaurant along one of the mountainsides in the area of Antigua. I enjoyed a shrimp pizza with some wonderful coffee, and picked on Majo [translator] for most of the meal. Afterwards we went down into our hotel, along the main street of Antigua, and unpacked. The hotel used to be the presidential suite while Antigua was the national capital. We were actually given skeleton keys for our rooms. Original locks from hundreds of years ago, very cool for the history nerd in me.
Following the unpacking moments, Majo and myself headed out into the market. Why? Simple. Haggling. I had a small shopping list:
- Pepsi
- Coffee
- Jersey’s
- Bags
- Bracelets
In the beginning, Majo and myself learned that we’ve got to keep myself away from the negotiations, especially the jersey’s. Why? Because once I was viewed, instantly the price went up on the large and extra large shirts. Thankfully, thanks to a skills translator, we were able to get eight jersey’s for Q355 [around $55, or in other words; $5.59 per jersey]. Following of which it poured rain…again. We walked through the rain getting to an indoor market, knocking out great deals on the bracelets. By then it was 6:30 and dinner was to be served. I was blessed with the opportunity to go into “& Cafe”, closest thing to Starbucks, and order a espresso double at dinner. It was fantastic, a wonderful meal, plenty of laughs, and a great opportunity to unwind.
Espresso Double…WONDERFUL!
However, I still had to find the coffee and Pepsi. Like most small towns [which Antigua is not], most shops close down early at night. Because of this Majo, myself, and some of the team found ourselves in a ‘tourist trap’ of a store getting coffee [ouch!]. I decided afterwards that the night was still young, and we needed to go find the Pepsi. Majo and I, in the dark started traveling the streets to find this ever present creature; Pepsi in a glass bottle.
We searched for an hour; nothing. During the time though, the local police made their fingers into a gun and fired in our proximity; creepy, and we saw a man getting mugged. This gringo was scared and ready to head back. Upon our return, I decided to check the hotel restaurant for any hopes of the glass Pepsi. Of courses we found it:
Q66.
Nearly $3.00 a bottle, it was the orange drink of Sunday all over again.
I swallowed my pride, shelled it out, and went on my way; slightly ticked, with Majo laughing in the background.
In the end though, today was pleasant, peaceful
Antigua, Guatemala
Tomorrow we begin the decent, heading to Guatemala City, Guatemala; boarding our flight, and heading home. I should be back home by 8:00 PM CST. Here’s to safe travels, and a wonderful country [I’ll get Day 4 and 5 up tomorrow].
-D-
Signing On The X 