An AIDS Lifecycle lesson I should have remembered: Drink before you’re thirsty, and eat before you’re hungry.
I collapsed as soon as I got to the airport hotel, and spent a couple hours in a hazy state before it dawned on me that this wasn’t normal. I knew I’d been dehydrated in Antigua (which is so [...]
I have it! I have it! A COMPLETE backstrap loom!!
And all I had to do to get it was ask every single vendor in the market if she had one…! The first fifteen or so all said no, but the last one had the prize…I figured SOMEONE had to have brought their weaving [...]
Roaches. And mice. Yergh.
Well, I did at least get a decent night’s sleep…
Off to San Antonio Agua Caliente, which is also renowned for its weaving…they do pieces like the elaborately brocaded piece I mentioned yesterday. Except it’s not brocade; they’re wrapping bits of weft around several strands of warp, one at a time, in what [...]
After a happily uneventful bus trip, I´ve arrived in Antigua.
Antigua, about an hour out of Guatemala City, is the Guatemalan equivalent of Bangkok´s Khao San Road–which is to say, it’s paved in tourists, loud dance music, and people selling completely random stuff at overinflated prices. I think the gringos must outnumber the local people.
And what, [...]
Just a quick note to say that my fever has FINALLY broken, and I’m no longer waking up in the middle of the night with chills, groping for the extra blanket and acetominephen. It is SO nice not to have to pop pills every few hours to stay coherent. And I have more energy, which [...]
Today I got up early and went off to the San Francisco El Alto market with Carlos the English speaking guide. The San Francisco El Alto market is the biggest Sunday market in Guatemala, and is particularly known for its stock sales–it’s the biggest animal market in Central America.
(Hallelujah!! I have finally found the apostrophe [...]
Totonicapan: the capital of Totonicapan province. Not a particularly impressive town, but then very few towns in Guatemala are–the biggest city is Guatemala City at 300,000, and the next down is Xela (Quetzaltenango), where I´m staying. Xela has 150,000 people, and doesn´t really “feel” like a city to me. The winding alleys are nubbly with [...]
Found my English-speaking guide today! and got half of the textiles tour I wanted. Going to San Francisco el Alto market tomorrow, it´s the biggest market in Guatemala. Sunday I go back out into the village to talk to more artisans (with a trilingual guide!).
Thrilled with everything, but I´m fighting off flu, and the Internet [...]
Just a quick note to say that Spanish school is enormous fun and I would LOVE to come back for a full eight-week immersion course…I just finished my first five hours of class and I´m already at the point of being able to carry on a conversation, albeit a highly selective one, in Spanish. I [...]
One of the nice things about traveling solo is that you can take a day off whenever you feel like it. Sometimes you want a little down time to sit and reflect, or just laze about. If you´re running around on a tour, there isn´t much opportunity for that, but if you´re traveling on your [...]