ANTIGUA and GREEN GOLD - Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala
Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala
. Antigua is a very unique place. I can't get over how beautiful the climate has been. It seems to rain in the evening and is nice during the day. The temps are moderate also. The streets are cobblestone which means the cars rumble as they pass and I find them difficult to walk on. Antigua is a quaint colonial village surrounded by volcanoes. I can see why people have stubbornly remained here despite the earthquakes and volcanic activity. My faithful driver, Werner brought me here today. It's about an hr. from Guatemala City. The highway was steeper than the North Cascades Highway in places. There were lots of mini speed bumps to help slow you down in steep places. My hotel here is the Las Camelias Inn. It is very nice and much nicer than I thought it would be. My room looks out over the garden and court yard. Antigua seems lush and green, clean and fertile. It feels rather untouched by the outside worldI and I like it here a lot. Thanks to the discovery of the source of Mayan Jade by the Ridingers, in the Motagua River Valley, tourists and collectors like me are drawn here by the "Green Gold". Jade was considered more valuable than gold by the Maya and also the Olmec culture before them. I haven't seen many other tourists though in the area near my hotel. The streets near the Arco de Santa Catarina and La Merced Convent seems to be more popular with more hotels and tourist services. I'm sure many people from Guatemala City must come to getaway from the city as well. I saw a Peace Corp truck go by yesterday. I seemed to be the only game in town for the street vendors yesterday, when I walked to the Parque Central. They followed me everywhere. If I tried to evade them by going into a shop to get away they were there when I come out. I would love to sit and draw in the Parque Central but when I sat there they surrounded me with their colorful textiles and wouldn't take "no thank you" for an answer. I feel bad because I know they are desperate to sell things. I'm trying to save my pennies for Jade of course. I had the Jade Maya company pick me up at my hotel so I could visit their factory. It was very informative and interesting there. I got a personal tour and had fun seeing their museum and showroom. The Jade is very expensive here even at the source. I was able to find a few bargains and found some raw materials I can use for my own jewelry. It was not the norm for them and they had to dig around in their back room but we came to agreement on a few things. When I came back to the hotel Mario (a vendor) saw me and stood in the door wanting me to come out, he wanted to sell me something of course. Thankfully my hotel provided a pleasant refuge . My hotel is indeed a very pleasant refuge. It's clean, efficient, comfortable, beautiful and best of all a cheap place to stay. It is only about $30.00 a night. They have a killer breakfast for about $5.00. See the pictures I took of it. At 1:30 PM, Werner, my driver from the city, will come to get me I hope. I will go back to the airport to fly to the island of Flores, Lake Peten Itza and the Peten region of Guatemala in preparation for my trip into the rainforest of the Maya Biosphere reserve at Tikal.