Antigua was all about the studying. We started school on a Monday morning. I think our professors were a little weirded out by our request - we wanted to learn and practice terminology related to speech/language pathology. They were good and acted like they knew what they were going to do with us but they were just acting while they formulated a plan. The days following the first would be infinitely better than I had hoped. The pictures are of our indoor/outdoor classroom and some studying time.
We spent 4 hours in class Monday through Friday. We came home for lunch just about every day and took a siesta (oh, how I miss the siestas) and then we were free for the afternoon. The catch was that the mornings usually were the best parts of the day. Some afternoons were wonderful and warm and sunny - others were torrential downpours for one hour to endless hours. We had plenty of time to visit all there is to see in Antigua despite the rain.
Ruins are EVERYWHERE. You can't get away from them there are so many. They appear to have been in the process of restoring a lot of buildings but some more 'ruin-y' ruins have become beautiful gardens. My favorite picture of a ruin, however, is when we went inside McDonalds which was very very nice. There was a patio garden outside and then Ronald McDonald just relaxing on a park bench in front of a fountain. Behind him are some ruins and one of the volcanoes that surrounds Antigua. I like to think it represents the juxtaposition of old and new in Antigua.
The ruins are of a variety of buildings or converted buildings. Many are churches. Some look like churches but they actually house hospitals or government office-type buildings. The whole town is very colonial since it used to be the colonial capital of Guatemala. Due to the threats from the volcanoes that surround it, the capital was eventually moved to Guatemala City where everything and everyone would be much safer. I should note that the volcanoes don't erupt often but, apparently, when they do, death and destruction abounds. The more original capital was Ciudad Vieja (that depressing little city from Guatemala Part One) which had been destroyed when a volcano erupted and everyone fled to Antigua. Antigua, it seems has been slowly rebuilding after some hearty quakes in the 1970's. Slow going but the succession of quakes at that time really left it's mark on many of the buildings. Some buildings were beyond repair so they were turned into beautiful gardens or left in the background throughout the city.
Here's one of my absolute favorite photos:
Remember: Juxtaposition: two objects that oppose one another; two random objects moving in parallel. This is the shocking thing about Antigua that, even though I read some about it, still struck me every day. There was the constant presence of old and new. The buildings were one thing but the people were a shocking other.
Many people dressed in modern clothing but there was still a large amount of people (women mostly) who dressed in "traditional" clothing. It was very colorful, modest, and distinctive. There were horse drawn carriages that went alongside the brand new looking cars (Mazdas, Jeeps, Volkswagens, Toyotas, etc.) - not the european mini cars that I remember from Costa Rica. And remember, the chicken buses may be old, but some of them are very fancy. I don't have a picture of the depressing looking ones :(
One rainy afternoon Lindsay and I hiked to Cerro la Cruz - a viewpoint that overlooked the city. We had to go in a group because of the danger to lone tourists that ramble up the hill to look at the city. It was pretty amazing. I bet it would have been more amazing on a dry, sunny day, but we still enjoyed the hike up the hill.
The funniest thing about walking to school every morning was that we had to pass through the Parque Central. We were scheduled to start school at 8am and I was always shocked that there were people already up and ready for there day but they were sitting on park benches making out and cuddling. They weren't just kids in uniforms before school, these were actually adults dressed and ready to go to work. I think it's because the families typically continue to stay in the same house until they marry. Antigua is a relatively expensive city to live in so if you want to cuddle your honey, you get out of bed early and cuddle in the park. (Everyone gets up early thanks to the church bells that ring throughout the town promptly at 6am). Here are some pictures of the park:
No blog about Antigua would be complete without pictures of the shopping experience. This is all I have to say about the mercado: Sensory Overload. I don't know how people shop there. It is so disorganized and all over the place. The building looked like it was added on to randomly with sub-par construction. I was pleased to see Bruce's favorite energy drink was available, though:
Finally, I'll add random pictures we took when walking around town. Some days are beautiful and sunny, some days started out that way but then we had to wait under cover as the torrential rains would run through.
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