Friday, Day ?* in Antigua
* My count seems to have gone off early on.
Friday was a non-existent serpentarium, a hotel that comes with its own tourist attractions, another jade factory, some shopping, some more ruins, and the groom's dinner.
Friday morning we went back to the French bakery for breakfast. Cheap breakfast is good, as are croissants--though when it comes to a good, cheap breakfast Kafka's couldn't be beat.
Then we set off in search of the Ik'Bolay Serpentarium, mentioned in our Pocket Adventures guidebook as having a fascinating display of reptiles, bats, hummingbirds, and butterflies. We arrived, but the door was closed though the plaque said its open hours had begun an hour ago. We dithered, and finally rang the doorbell. The woman who opened the door just went back to her cleaning when we stepped inside, so we took a brief tour of the grounds, noting the absolute lack of serpents, bats, etc. When I followed her to her dishwashing to ask her, she indicated that the serpentarium had long since closed. Bad guidebook, no biscuit! The building still had a gorgeous stone sign outside indicating that the serpentarium was there, but it lied.
The Iglesia Y Convento de Santo Domingo/Hotel Casa Santo Domingo, on the other hand, was still there, and it was very impressive. If you were a rich person flying into Guatemala for a business conference, and you knew you wouldn't have time to see the sites but still wanted to see ruins, crypts, local handicrafts, and perhaps a few art and history museums, this would be the place to stay...because you'd never have to leave the hotel grounds. They even imported large, colorful parrots to live in the main courtyard. The on-site ruins don't compare with some of the other ruins that can be seen in Antigua, but they were thoroughly documented, labeled, and explained in Spanish and English. The crypts, complete with human bones, were unlike anything we saw elsewhere. The museums and art exhibits were international-class. One of the most striking exhibitions was a juxtaposition of modern art and ancient Mayan/Guatemalan artifacts, grouped together by theme or style--a very interesting idea with illuminating execution. There was even a candle and pottery shop run by and for the profit of the hotel employees.
We went on another jade factory tour at Jades SA, one of the major jade manufacturers in town. We were given a very good tour and discussion of jade, along with free coffee and a couple of little woven doll-in-pouch toys for having taken the tour. The work area was much larger than in the first jade factory we toured and was obviously where most of the actual jade carving took place. The downside of this was that it was blocked off to visitors, so we couldn't look "over the shoulder" of the workers, as we were literally able to do at the first factory. The jade jewelry and statuary ranged in price from $16 - $2,000, from simple flat pieces that were engraved to elaborately carved large pieces. It's a good place to get your Christmas shopping done early, though stylistically they seemed to prefer the "big balls of jade" style more than a couple of other places we looked at where there were more delicate pieces.
We explored the government office buildings next to the main square, where we could walk up to a second-story balcony and get a good view of the constantly bustling main square, the volcanoes, and the cathedral.
Then it was time for shopping. One of our goals while in Guatemala was to get wedding and Christmas shopping done. Nim Pot - Centro de Textiles Traditionales is a large warehouse filled to the rafters with handicrafts and textiles of all sorts--from traditional woven clothing to hammocks and wall-hangings and masks and carvings and...well...everything, really. It's all fixed-price, though you get a discount for paying with Quetzals. Because it's fixed-price and there's no sales pressure, it came as a welcome relief after some of the other sales bazaars we'd visited. They'd even labeled the examples of woven clothing hung on the wall by region, so that you could know some of the history of what you were buying.
We ate at Frida's, which is right next door, for lunch. It was convenient and one of the places recommended by Brent. We shared chips and salsa and split three carne tacos. While in Guatemala, I became very fond of the lemonade with soda. The little bit of fizz really makes it better. The food at Frida's was tasty, the service was remarkably quick, the ambiance was pleasant and relaxed, and the prices were similar to other restaurants in that location. Also, they took Mastercard!
After lunch, we crashed. We returned to the hotel and put our feet up, reading, writing up what we'd done, or playing with/reading ebooks on the N-Gage, as was our wont for the whole vacation. I definitely miss having a nice siesta.
Once our feet had recovered (cobblestones are not easy on the feet), we went to the Colegio de San Jeronimo. This was a disappointment. The ruins were not particularly interesting or extensive, and the entry fee was priced at the same level as many much "better" ruins. However, because of this, there was hardly anybody there--one couple that vanished once we appeared (again with the couples necking in all the ruins). This visit was salvaged because we took photos of us together there. It was empty enough that I felt perfectly safe in setting up my camera on stairs or benches and taking timer pictures of us from some distance away.
I think the rest of the day was spent in acquiring presents. We stopped keeping notes at this point, as we became quite busy.
That evening was Brent's "Groom's Dinner," a Guatemalan wedding tradition in which the groom basically buys dinner for everybody, or at least out-of-town guests, family, etc. We were invited. We arrived a little early, and got to relax in the cozy lounge while waiting for everybody else to show up. It was held in a private hotel restaurant that had been entirely reserved for the dinner. We were served wine, cuba libres, and appetizers (goat cheese toasts and some very tasty mussel appetizers--conclusion, I love mussels), and then there was a buffet-style dinner. Here we got to talk to Brent's archaeologist friends and one of his professors, a very intelligent, intense man filled with conviction about helping the indigenous villagers who got to proselytize Phil over the course of much of the meal. Note to self: check with Phil to make sure he followed up in trying to arrange a useful contribution from GE. We got back to the hotel very late, very full, and rather drunk. The walk home was interesting, as Phil kept insisting that he was the only one who knew how to get home and I kept on reminding him that he was going in the opposite direction of where we came from. Once we made it back, we sat on the rooftop and stared out over the sprawling lights of Antigua and up at the stars with tipsy awe.
Friday was a non-existent serpentarium, a hotel that comes with its own tourist attractions, another jade factory, some shopping, some more ruins, and the groom's dinner.
Friday morning we went back to the French bakery for breakfast. Cheap breakfast is good, as are croissants--though when it comes to a good, cheap breakfast Kafka's couldn't be beat.
Then we set off in search of the Ik'Bolay Serpentarium, mentioned in our Pocket Adventures guidebook as having a fascinating display of reptiles, bats, hummingbirds, and butterflies. We arrived, but the door was closed though the plaque said its open hours had begun an hour ago. We dithered, and finally rang the doorbell. The woman who opened the door just went back to her cleaning when we stepped inside, so we took a brief tour of the grounds, noting the absolute lack of serpents, bats, etc. When I followed her to her dishwashing to ask her, she indicated that the serpentarium had long since closed. Bad guidebook, no biscuit! The building still had a gorgeous stone sign outside indicating that the serpentarium was there, but it lied.
The Iglesia Y Convento de Santo Domingo/Hotel Casa Santo Domingo, on the other hand, was still there, and it was very impressive. If you were a rich person flying into Guatemala for a business conference, and you knew you wouldn't have time to see the sites but still wanted to see ruins, crypts, local handicrafts, and perhaps a few art and history museums, this would be the place to stay...because you'd never have to leave the hotel grounds. They even imported large, colorful parrots to live in the main courtyard. The on-site ruins don't compare with some of the other ruins that can be seen in Antigua, but they were thoroughly documented, labeled, and explained in Spanish and English. The crypts, complete with human bones, were unlike anything we saw elsewhere. The museums and art exhibits were international-class. One of the most striking exhibitions was a juxtaposition of modern art and ancient Mayan/Guatemalan artifacts, grouped together by theme or style--a very interesting idea with illuminating execution. There was even a candle and pottery shop run by and for the profit of the hotel employees.
We went on another jade factory tour at Jades SA, one of the major jade manufacturers in town. We were given a very good tour and discussion of jade, along with free coffee and a couple of little woven doll-in-pouch toys for having taken the tour. The work area was much larger than in the first jade factory we toured and was obviously where most of the actual jade carving took place. The downside of this was that it was blocked off to visitors, so we couldn't look "over the shoulder" of the workers, as we were literally able to do at the first factory. The jade jewelry and statuary ranged in price from $16 - $2,000, from simple flat pieces that were engraved to elaborately carved large pieces. It's a good place to get your Christmas shopping done early, though stylistically they seemed to prefer the "big balls of jade" style more than a couple of other places we looked at where there were more delicate pieces.
We explored the government office buildings next to the main square, where we could walk up to a second-story balcony and get a good view of the constantly bustling main square, the volcanoes, and the cathedral.
Then it was time for shopping. One of our goals while in Guatemala was to get wedding and Christmas shopping done. Nim Pot - Centro de Textiles Traditionales is a large warehouse filled to the rafters with handicrafts and textiles of all sorts--from traditional woven clothing to hammocks and wall-hangings and masks and carvings and...well...everything, really. It's all fixed-price, though you get a discount for paying with Quetzals. Because it's fixed-price and there's no sales pressure, it came as a welcome relief after some of the other sales bazaars we'd visited. They'd even labeled the examples of woven clothing hung on the wall by region, so that you could know some of the history of what you were buying.
We ate at Frida's, which is right next door, for lunch. It was convenient and one of the places recommended by Brent. We shared chips and salsa and split three carne tacos. While in Guatemala, I became very fond of the lemonade with soda. The little bit of fizz really makes it better. The food at Frida's was tasty, the service was remarkably quick, the ambiance was pleasant and relaxed, and the prices were similar to other restaurants in that location. Also, they took Mastercard!
After lunch, we crashed. We returned to the hotel and put our feet up, reading, writing up what we'd done, or playing with/reading ebooks on the N-Gage, as was our wont for the whole vacation. I definitely miss having a nice siesta.
Once our feet had recovered (cobblestones are not easy on the feet), we went to the Colegio de San Jeronimo. This was a disappointment. The ruins were not particularly interesting or extensive, and the entry fee was priced at the same level as many much "better" ruins. However, because of this, there was hardly anybody there--one couple that vanished once we appeared (again with the couples necking in all the ruins). This visit was salvaged because we took photos of us together there. It was empty enough that I felt perfectly safe in setting up my camera on stairs or benches and taking timer pictures of us from some distance away.
I think the rest of the day was spent in acquiring presents. We stopped keeping notes at this point, as we became quite busy.
That evening was Brent's "Groom's Dinner," a Guatemalan wedding tradition in which the groom basically buys dinner for everybody, or at least out-of-town guests, family, etc. We were invited. We arrived a little early, and got to relax in the cozy lounge while waiting for everybody else to show up. It was held in a private hotel restaurant that had been entirely reserved for the dinner. We were served wine, cuba libres, and appetizers (goat cheese toasts and some very tasty mussel appetizers--conclusion, I love mussels), and then there was a buffet-style dinner. Here we got to talk to Brent's archaeologist friends and one of his professors, a very intelligent, intense man filled with conviction about helping the indigenous villagers who got to proselytize Phil over the course of much of the meal. Note to self: check with Phil to make sure he followed up in trying to arrange a useful contribution from GE. We got back to the hotel very late, very full, and rather drunk. The walk home was interesting, as Phil kept insisting that he was the only one who knew how to get home and I kept on reminding him that he was going in the opposite direction of where we came from. Once we made it back, we sat on the rooftop and stared out over the sprawling lights of Antigua and up at the stars with tipsy awe.