We're tired!

We're tired of looking for a home! It's been a long week and a half of searching for a place to live here in Antigua. Like I mentioned before, it's expensive here and since neither of us are making anywhere near our normal salaries, we have to consider our budget. We set out with reasonable expectations, at least we think - a comfortable furnished place, 2 bedrooms (so you can visit), lots of light (remember our dungeon apt?) and hopefully a small garden.

Turns out it wasn't that easy. We didn't like most of the homes we toured for various reasons: a) they didn't make good use of their space, b). they were dark &/or musty, c) they considered plastic chairs and wood benches furniture, or d) some were just plain nasty! Finding something that fit our standards means the possibility of paying what we paid for our place on Colfax! So, with only a handful of affordable good ones to choose from, we pretty sure we have found The One......with the exception being that it isn't available until July. With this in mind we have also looked for more temporary situations to hold us through and found one that we will be moving into this Saturday. It is nice, new, clean, spacious, bright, and has secure parking for Dewey. Good enough for us in the meantime!

If you're familiar with Antigua, we'll be just a block and a half from Tanque La Union, a beautiful pool-like structure in a park where indigenous women are often seen washing their laundry. It's a good location for both of us in terms of leaving town for our jobs.

I happened to catch this photo of the Tanque the other day while wandering the streets.

Guatemalan Girlfriends

The girls are back! My girls are back in town! Yipee!

Remember our new 'old friends' Mario & Kim and their daughters Lilian & Megan? The ones who threw me the killer birthday surprise party? Well, it seems that they just couldn't live without Tíos Ben & Krista in their lives, so they've followed us to Antigua! Just kidding! The truth is that Mario was scheduled to come down for work and since Mexico is still in "swine flu precaution mode" & the girls have been out of school for 3 weeks, they decided to tag along....and boy and I'm glad! (I was getting a little bored walking around town by myself.) Since I don't start my job until Monday, it was perfect timing! We've been just chilling out the way girls do it, doing hair, taking walks, resting in parks, shopping a bit (only a teeny bit - that's the truth), & stopping for afternoon pick-me-up dessert snacks!

Megs was in awe of the music we heard in a very romantic Thai restaurant

Lily investigating the flowers in the park

Private Eye Megan

Lilian & her lupa

we had a lunch date with Ronnie

La Antigua

This being our first weekend in Antigua, Guatemala, we decided to hit a few (no where near all) of the tourist destinations. If you haven't been, Antigua (literally antique) is an old colonial capital of Guatemala, and probably the most beautiful place in the entire country. The streets are a pretty charcoal cobblestone and everywhere you turn there are beautiful fuchsia flowers, Baroque-style yellow churches, and grand antique fountains. (Jean, we know you're going to love it here so we hope you can come visit!) There are also quite a few sites of ruins (mostly churches) that are remnants from several destructive earthquakes of the past.

At the moment we are living in a studio apartment in a guest house right in town. It's quite here with a nice garden and friendly neighbors. The search for homes has been a bit difficult. Because Antigua is a popular tourist area, the nice ones are rather prices (think US prices) and most everything else we've seen isn't anywhere we can envision ourselves getting very comfortable. For now though, at least we have a roof over our heads where we take our time finding a home. After 2 months on the road, we're both eager to unpack and settle in.

our current front door

Santa Cruz

inside Santa Cruz

not sure why, but all the statues were headless

a Mother's day procession

quite a somber parade - we're not quite sure what it was all about

Antigua from the Mirador de la Cruz

Cerro de La Cruz with Volcan Agua in the background

Tanque la Unión

Hot Lava, really?

Bright and early Monday morning we left Lago Atitlan for Antigua with hopes of spending our afternoon on Volcan Pacaya. Sure enough we were able to quickly track down a tour (and only got ripped off a few bucks) and even had enough time for lunch and a brief stroll through the market before our 2pm departure.


Pacaya is an active volcano about 25 km from Antigua. The peak is about 8,372 feet about sea level, but the view below is not the real reason people visit. A chance to see red hot lava is why gringos flock to Pacaya daily. Of course we had to get in on the action. As much as we didn’t want to be a part of another big tour group, it’s not so easy, nor recommended to go solo. When we exited the mini-bus we were practically attacked by local kids trying to rent hiking sticks. Having heard it’s a good idea, we found a good deal (2 for 8Q). The hike up was fairly easy with great views of Guatemala City below. At the top we hiked around on a bed of hardened lava, scouting out “hot spots.” We were able to see a few lava runs (in cracks below the surface) that our guide told us were a year old. It wasn’t quite as impressive as we had hoped, but we did see lava. Guess we’ll have to go back to Hawaii and visit Volcano National Park to get a real fix!

Green Gardens and Tummies!

Ridicuously huge and amazingly georgous, Casa Santo Domingo is a converted colonial convent where the rooms and corridors are decorated in art from that era. We spent some time strolling around the beautiful gardens and discussing our return trip to Antigua.....when we WILL be saying here!

Speaking of hotels, we also changed hotels for our last night in Antigua. Posada Lazos Fuertes, where we stayed the first 2 nights was decent, but was right on a busy, loud street. It supports a good cause - Safe Passage - an organization that aides in the education of children whose parents scavenge in a Guatemala City dump. I also wasn't too thrilled about the bathroom - I'm very particular about cleanliness in my showers! So we did a little research and found Hotel Aurora - and we highly recommend it. It's no Casa Santo Domingo, but still quite nice.

So once again, thanks to Horacio & Nicole we had another good experience. Our second night in Antigua we dined at Panza Verde (traslation - Green Tummy). Nicole told us this restaurant was really good and she was right! Antigua is know for growing avacados and it is said that the people have a green tummy from eating so many. Although we had a little difficultly finding the restaurant, it was worth the search. The atmosphere inside was amazing. There was a beautiful courtyard and live music.

A Treasure Hunt in Antigua

For a few hours, we went on a treasure hunt via directions from our friends Horacio & Nicole, who lived in Guatemala City a few years ago. We were looking for a "tienda" owned by an "hombre de Alamania" (a man from Germany) who sells "adornos para el árbol de Navidad" (Christmas tree ornaments). Our directions from Nicole were something like "with the cathedral behind you, standing in the main park, cross the park, the shop is through a cafe....and maybe there is a bookstore with a wooden bench outside" It tooks us 2 days to find (mainly because the store was closed the first day), but alas.....we struck gold...or should I say a haven of beaded adornments! The best part is....this is for you Horacio & Nicole....as soon as we told him we had friends who lived in Guatemala City a while back, he knew you! He remember that you guys worked for some water project and would visit every few weeks, looking for new ornaments! So thanks for giving us a adventure to look forward too!

Our 1st stop in Guatemala

To help us adjust to our new home, we planned our first stop in Guatemala to be Antigua. The old capital of Guatemala, Antigua is a colonial town that is home to many language schools, cathedrals, markets and muchas touristicas! It was definitely a good way for us to become accustomed to the lifestyle. We spent most of our time walking around town on the cobblestone streets, browsing markets, and dodging rain storms.

This arch was used to allow nuns to cross the street without being seen.


Learning about the art of Mayan textiles.


Browsing the fresh produce in the busy market.


Iglesia De Nuestra Señora De La Merced