A FESTIVE WEEKEND IN ANTIGUA
*The city was alive all weekend with the annual celebration of the Feast of St James, the patron saint of Guatemala.  Saturday began by sharing Mass at The Cathedral located in Central Park, followed by oversized human puppets dancing in the streets and throughout the city.
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* In the afternoon the festivities continued with a procession out of the cathedral with a very large statue of St James in top of a HUGE, ornately carved platform that takes 60 people, led by the priest, to carry throughout the streets of Antigua. I was fortunate to watch it twice. Once as they last the cathedral and once our family watched as it passed our house!

WEEK THREE BEGINS
*I am excited to be back at school!!!!
The break was good but I want to learn more! My way of learning is hearing, seeing and speaking in conversation over and over and over again.  My teacher, Lucia, is very patient with me!   This week was filled with walking trips around the city, preparation for my final presentation and visits to bakeries, museums, the mercado and hotels. My final presentation was presenting the sweet potatoe. In Guatemala, comote dulce is a  typical sweet treat made with sweet potatoes, sugar and cinnamon. I received my Completion Certificate. Hooray for me!!!!

*****  Now let me tell you about the other events of the week that left me quite emotional!!!!
Thursday morning at 1:00am I woke up with my bed shaking from an earthquake.  Since this was our second earthquake I was a bit more prepared.  I slept with my phone fully charged, shoes by my bed and my identification attached to my phone.  I grabbed it, rushed out to the courtyard with Michael-John joining me.  Michele came out as well at the other end of the house.  The others slept right through it.  I have no idea how!  Fortunately it ended quickly.  It said it was estimated to be a 5.0 off the coast of Guatemala.
*Then at 5:00am I woke up to many, many “bombas” exploding marking the beginning of the celebration of the feast of “drivers”. The busses and uber cars were all decorated. 
*Then at about 5:30 there was a HUGE EXPLOSION in our house!  Michele had tried to light the pilot light on the oven.  She checked back and it wasn’t hot so she tried again.  The gas had accumulated and exploded with fire all the way to the ceiling. Pushed the oven back from the wall and pushed the whole window out of its frame. The force of the explosion pushed Michele right out of her bedroom slippers about two feet back. I  thought it was another earthquake and the building was collapsing. Michael-John and I came running, me with my phone and ID so they could identify our bodies! My mind racing because I thought it was a volcano.  We found Michele standing in total fear and shock.  Michael-John just stood there and held her tight for a very long time!  She was pretty shaken up though! These last experiences have left me quite emotionally drained.  Thank you Lord Michele is physically okay. I could have lost my daughter, my family could have been buried in the rubble of an earthquake. But no we are all safe!

When I woke up this morning I found out that Tia had an accident in the kitchen but thankfully she’s ok. The stove exploded. There was a big gigantic ball of fire that raised up to the dome in the ceiling and it broke through the window. The stove moved one foot forward and Tia moved like five feet forward. I ate microwaved eggs and it wasn’t that good. Then we walked to school and today was a special day at school because I got to watch a movie in Spanish- Coco. While we were in the middle of the movie it was the other special thing happening at school- piñata day! I got to put all the candy in the piñata. 🎶 La piñata, La piñata 🎶 I got to help string up the piñata too. We had trouble finding a string at first and then we realized someone left it in the car. Once we got the rope back, me and Kenia helped string it up until it was ready to go. I was the first one to go because the other young one who was supposed to go first didn’t want to go so I went to show her how to do it. I almost broke the piñata first because I was so strong and then the other young ones saw me and she went second. Everyone went except the two older kids because the piñata broke before they got to do it. Once that was done I got to watch the rest of the movie and Ms. Kenia put it into simple words so I could understand it better. Once we finished the movie, we played Uno and then I was so tired I didn’t want to do anything but I decided to play with the other kids who were playing another kind of Uno. When the day was over me and Mrs. Patti walked home and I had a homemade Chipotle bowl for lunch. Then I played some soccer in the yard and then we rested for a little bit and then we got ready to go to Escobar, my favorite steak house in Antigua. I got the same thing as I did last time, the sirloin steak, it was SO GOOD! I got to toast one of the marshmallows for dessert but then it ran out of gas so it was kind of raw, but it was still good. Then we walked home and then I had a little ice cream for dessert and then I went to bed.

The End.

I have a feeling that the events of this morning will come to be one of the funniest and most told stories from our times in Guatemala, but right now in this moment, it was probably one of the scariest moments of my life, or at least in the top 3.

I am quite at home here in our Encanto house as Luca fondly named it a few years ago.  I know how to change over the gas when one of the tanks is out, I’ve learned how to tell when the pilot light is out in the dryer, I know where the cistern is and how to turn on our pila, we’ve had the bomberos come to the house to fill the cistern when it’s run out,  so needless to say we have a handle on how to manage the house.  That is until I blew up the kitchen today 😣

We got an alert that we were going to be without power and water today from 6am-7pm. So yesterday we prepped to ensure our fridge would make it through the power outage and filled the pila with water so that we had water to flush our toilets. 

At 5am I got up to ensure that the most important of things was done which was making the coffee. I turned on the oven for a French toast bake that I prepped to throw in the oven.  But then… the coffee machine didn’t work, and I got busy fixing that and checked the oven to ensure it was getting hot.  The pilot light has known to go out often so when the oven wasn’t getting hot I went to light it again.  Well apparently it had indeed gone out and the gas was building in the oven for a while and my relighting of the pilot light set off quite the explosion.  If anyone remembers the movie back draft… you now have a pretty good visual of what took place right in front of my eyes.  A huge rolling ball of fire came up and out of the oven with enough force that it moved the entire oven almost a foot forward in my direction.  The ball of fire 🔥 then continued up towards our domed ceiling.  The force of the explosion forced out the kitchen window along with all the bracing for the window that was screwed into the cement walls.  Needless to say between the sounds of the explosion and my screams I woke the whole house… well most of it. My brother later said if you want to know what Volcan Fuego sounds like erupting… that was it.  I am pretty sure I was in complete shock as I stood there not knowing what to do next with peices if the wall all over the kitchen (thank God for plaster walls). My entire body was shaking in shock and I can only imagine how crazy I looked. My mom later told me that my slippers (the only thing burned thank God) were in front of the stove and not on my feet.  It wasn’t until then that we realized I had been blown back right out of them. 

Also I would be remise not to mention that we all were also woken up at 1am by a magnitude 5 earthquake that was only 56 miles from us.  It was definitely not the start to the day that I was looking for and day continued on with a few more snafus including a couple more broken things and me running close line like right into a metal support wire.

On the bright side when I went to shower and looked in the mirror I still had my eyebrows (I was certain they were burned right off), we have yet to lose power or water, the stove was able to be fixed and didn’t need replaced, and the broken kitchen window may lead to a window that is able to be opened (I’ve been wanting this for years) so things might just end on the upside after all.

And you can’t beat the view from our rooftop in the morning.

I woke up and ate breakfast and then I got ready for school. Me, Mommy, Tia, and Mrs. Patti walked to school together. I had a good day at school and then me and Mrs. Patti walked home. Then, the main part of the day was I made my own key chain out of jade rock! Before we made jewelry, everyone who went figured out what their guardian animal was. We had to give our birth day, month, and year we were born. I figured out that my guardian animal was a turtle 🐢. Mommy’s was the national bird of Guatemala, the quetzal, Tia’s was a bee, even though she’s allergic to bees! Mrs. Patti’s was a jaguar! We learned a little history of the jade rock and it’s only found in certain places in the world and it pops up when national disasters occur. Then we walked in the room where we were going to make our own jewelry and there were so many machines and it was so loud so I had to wear headphones. I got to choose my color jade. There was the original green, black, lilac, and sky blue. I chose sky blue. I had to choose one specific rock I wanted to make and I chose the one with almost all the colors in it. The professional cut the rock into almost the shape I wanted it to be with the water table saw and then I did the rest. I held my rock and then I pushed it against the sand paper wheel that was spinning very fast while water was spraying. I pushed the rock on all sides until it looked like the shape I wanted it to be. Then the guy did the finishing touches to the first step. Then the second step was the and paper step where you had to make the rock smooth. It was like the same thing except you had to hold onto it more because it moved more. Once that was done the guy complemented me and said “Good job!” Then the final step was to polish it or make it shiny. That one was the hardest because the wheel was spinning faster and I couldn’t hold onto the rock and it kept falling to the ground. Once it was done the guy put a hole in it for my keychain and then he put a L into it for my name. Once it was done it looked so cool! After everyone finished we walked to dinner where I had a hamburger, I know you’re all shocked! They messed up my order because they put cheese on the burger and fries but then they fixed it about ten minutes later. Then everyone walked home, took a shower, and went to bed.

The End.

While I’ve been to Antigua 6 times now it’s only been in the last five summers that we’ve had a house that I’ve been cooking in.  One of my joys of life here is a slower pace with more time doing things for daily living with intention than sitting on my phone scrolling. For the first couple summers we were typical gringos shopping in the supermarcado (the regular typical grocery store) rather than in the marcado (think swap shop for all my Florida friends). The last couple years Nicole and I have made it our mission to take advantage of shopping in the marcado for our fruits and veggies.  Now to give you a better understanding of the marcado there are rows upon rows of stalls with literally anything you could desire. From house hold goods, to clothing, to shelf food,  fruits and veggies,  and Nicole’s favorite the meat 🍖 and fish 🐟 section.  Literally you can get anything you desire. With that being said it can be very overwhelming to shop inside the marcado.  Close quarters and so many options can sometimes create a sense of fight or flight for me,  despite shopping for food being my favorite past time.  The past few years after feildtrips with our teachers we’ve learned which “venders” to go to for what. This year with the help of my teacher I found a new way into the marcado for market day when all the trucks bring in the freshest and cheapest of fruits and veggies.  It’s in the open air and much easier to navigate. All the joy of shopping and getting a good deal returned. When Nicole and I got home (in less than an hour including the time it took to walk there and back) while I washed and cleaned the veggies Nicole calculated what we spend for the week.

Our market haul today for a total of $20.27

2lb tomato
2lb onion
5 plantain
3 heads garlic
2 big carrots
1lb potatoes
1 head celery
Cilantro
Parsley
Papaya
16 radishes
I bag spinach
1 bag green beans
4 squash
3 big cucumbers
4 peppers
2 heads broccoli
1 eggplant

I’ll add a picture too give you a visual. 

The next day in class I was thanking my teacher for the advice and we were comparing notes on the prices in the market.  She told me that we were given the exact same prices as locals. So I write this with the full awareness that from my very white, two income perspective, I feel like this is a steal.  Like we did great getting the prices that locals get and that we have enough fruits and veggies for the week but I know  that $20 dollars, while it felt like nothing to us, it’s a lot for locals. The average salary is $140 a week for a vendor in the marcado. I struggle with knowing how drastic the disparity is here, even between the locals including ladinos and mayans and the history of Guatemala and now how the US is continuing to impact Guatemala. It’s a hard reminder that racism and discrimination have happened around the world and throughout history.  That no matter where you go the desire for money and power leaves so many with nothing while an elite few have plenty.  So I am humbled by the people of Guatemala once again and thankful for a life of opportunity to realized how privileged I am and try to live my life with respect for others who have been given a life much different than mine. 

*WEEK TWO begins

* This week is a week of rest and discovery for me. Remember, I am 72 not in my 40’s like Michele, Nicole, Michael-John andRachel! 
*Thank you Michele for taking my place at school so my teacher didn’t lose a week of income.
* I  feel much more comfortable carefully walking the streets of Antigua.   Rachel took me on my first trip without Michele, Nicole or Michael-John carefully guiding my every step.  I desperately needed that for my first week!!!! Our house is on a square block and a really good bakery is on that path. My mission was to buy a loaf of their delicious banana bread.  Our problem was, everything was coming out fresh baked. The aromas made us want to try everything! A half loaf of this, a half loaf of that, a slice of this and another half loaf of that.  We had to drag ourselves out of there!
*
* Michael John downloaded the Google Maps maps so I could use it offline. Now I was ready to venture out on my own.  With my phone GPS in hand, I made it  to meet Michele, Nicole and Luca for their break at ten at a nearby rooftop café. I finally got to see the volcano erupting.  We couldn’t see the lava but we saw the large puffy  plume as it rose up. Finally!!! It was a must on my to do list.
* Michele graciously hosted dinner for former Finca del Nino volunteers Andrea and Matthew along with Matthew ‘s mom Jeanni.   It was a lovely evening. Jeanni and I got along great so we made plans to have lunch together a few days later.  With Google navigation in hand, we made our way to an old monastery that was converted into a beautiful hotel, restaurant, spa and museum. Our lunch was delicious and the service was superb!  We ran out of time so I hope to return for a tour of the museum another day.
* The names of all the places the kids have taken me to are beyond my memory!!!!  One that stands out is Cerro de la Cruz. Another physically challenging day walking up “a million ” stairs with no handrails to the top of what felt like a mountain to reach The Cross. I did it!!!! Michael-John was merciful and ordered a Tuk Tuk down the small mountain. I was afraid I would just roll right down the mountain!!!
* The weekend is still an adventure to be seen.  Next week it’s back to school.

Today I also slept in until 8:45. Then I had breakfast and then we got ready to leave the house because we decided to go to a restaurant that was up a mountain. Me, Tia, Mommy , and Mrs. Patti decided not to hike up the mountain, but everyone else did. Half of the people that were supposed to go didn’t come though. Once we got there I went straight on the swing that was there. Finally the people who decided to hike up came like an hour later. Then we ordered and I got dessert first for lunch because I wasn’t that hungry. I got dark chocolate avocado mousse. I had an avocado mousse because it was an avocado farm and hotel. Later I decided to have some French fries. We also played cards there and Tia won every single game ! While we were eating our food, it started to drizzle and it wasn’t too bad at first until it started to literally pour and we couldn’t see ahead of us because of the fog. None of us decided to bring our rain coats because we didn’t think it was going to rain. We tried to call an uber but nobody responded because the road up was closed because an accident happened with a motorcycle. After like 30-45 minutes the guy who took us up to the restaurant responded to our call but first we had to hike up a steep hill before getting to the road and we also had to walk pretty far down the road for him to be able to get us because of the accident. Eventually we all made it home. What an adventure! Once we were home I had chicken and French fries for dinner and then we watched Sister Act 2. It was a good movie. Mrs. Rachel came back and she brought me a book that she recommended! That was so nice! Once the movie was over I took a shower and went to bed.

The End.

I slept in today and I woke up at 8:15. I ate breakfast and then me mommy and Tia got ready because I was going to go rock climbing. We walked there and while we were walking there we walked through a parade that was happening. It was so loud and also pretty cool and it looked like it was hot because some of the girls were in fancy dresses and high heels. Once we finally got there I got my rock climbing shoes and I rock climbed. It was pretty hard at first but once I got the hang of it and I went to the easy part of it I could do the harder stuff. I climbed until I physically could not grab my hands on the rocks anymore because it was so painful. I had a brownie and it gave me a little bit of energy but then once a few minutes passed, my hands started hurting again. Then there was a lunch place there so mommy and Tia ordered and pizza while I ordered a hamburger. The hamburger was very good. That gave me enough energy to climb for another couple of minutes but then the same thing happened and my hands started hurting and I couldn’t climb anymore because I couldn’t physically grip the rocks. Once rock climbing was over we walked home and saw the parade again, it was happening all day long! Once we got home I was so tired that I didn’t want to do anything. I rested for a while and then I got ready because we were going to Mrs. Andrea’s house for dinner. It was a pretty far walk but not that far. The house was pretty much like a Florida house except everything was open to the outside. They had a pool, a grill, a rooftop, a kitchen that looks like our kitchen at home, it was so nice ! I was a little shy at first but then once I played a game with the kids, I got used to them and I had fun. We stayed until like 9:30 and I didn’t even know it was late. We walked home in the dark but there were some street lights so we could see unlike the lake where you can’t see a thing at all. Then I took a shower and went to bed.

The End.

Yesterday concluded my time this year at language school.  My first week I spend listening to my teacher talk at me,  my second week was a much better experience for me. My mom chose to take a break so I went in place of her with her teacher for my second week.  I was finally able to fumble through story telling and answering questions. 

My certificate in the end stated that I obtained Intermedio level. When I told my teacher no way and that she she needed to change it,  she responded with the fact that for 2 hours straight I spoke to her with little correction and she was fully able to understand what I was telling her.  She finished by reminding me that my goal is to be able to be polite when traveling and communicate my needs, she assured be that I was finally able to do that. Soooo for the kid that rides the short bus in school,  I finished better than I started 😆

To say my mom was in culture shock both with the physical terrain and the community as a whole when we first arrived would be an understatement. As kids Michael-John and I always said if looks could kill my mom would be an assassin. Well here, if looks could tell an emotion my mom “looked” either scared or disgusted most of the time when she first arrived lol. 

Her initial reaction to being here got me thinking back to my very first trip to Guatemala 8 years ago and remembering what it felt like coming to a country I had never been to, with two teenagers that didn’t belong to me,  living with a host family,  and not speaking the language.  While I think our reactions have been quite different they both came from a place of stepping outside our comforts zones.  This is never an easy thing to do and as we age and get more seeded/rigid in our thinking it becomes even more challenging.  That’s one of the reasons I continue to travel and explore the world.  To be doing it at 72 for the first time ever has got to be a lot for my mom. She’s had so many first in the last 6 months.  When she walked into school this past week and cheered for herself for making it there all by herself  I knew she had turned the corner here.  When she declared last night she was going to mass in the morning and the parade by herself I wasn’t the least bit surprised. Nor was I shocked when I woke up and checked life 360 to find her exactly where she said wanted to be…. at the church. Michael-John woke up and said you know mom isn’t here…I said nope mom is in the streets.