Two days of parties, surprises and regional fairs

Thanks to the slow internet I believe we have a few days to catch you up on.

Thursday was full of the usual school in the morning. In the afternoon Alex went to the beach with Antonio (Rosa’s younger brother) while Tim and Michelle dropped off laundry and walked around town. We talked a bit about what to do for our last weekend in Guatemala. Tim really wanted to see the ancient city of Antigua. He had a number of discussions with Justin about it, which only confirmed his interest. Having convinced Michelle, we had to determine how we could get there and back. Being a single guy, Justin will often take what are called chicken buses. These are Big Mac truck looking buses that are decorated in wild and crazy colors and lights that go to various places on different routes. You hop on, and for as little as $5 you could get from San Pedro La Laguna to Antigua. The only problem is that these buses are not the safest. The other route would be to take a boat to one of the bigger cities on the lake and a shuttle bus from there. This option would take a lot more time and money. In the end we opted to choose a shuttle bus, which would leave at a set time with 8-12 people in the bus and we could also book a return time on Sunday so that we were able to get home. The nice thing was that we had a day or two before we had to make a reservation.

Dinner on Thursday was pasta but with a bit of an Asian spin. Full of fresh veggies and small portions of chicken topped with a light soy sauce. It was delicious, as usual.

Friday was a special day at our school. The school supports a number of social causes in the community. One is the home building project that Tim worked on last week. They also support about 30 local families who live below the poverty line with food every other week. This week was the week to deliver food to the families that are attached to each of the teachers. All of the students, including Alex, walked to the families homes to deliver the food. And of course chatted with their professors in Spanish along the way. Though Rosa has taken us around town a number of times, and we walk the city almost every day, it was good to get out and get a different perspective. Once the packages were delivered it was back to the school for the last bit of school for the day.

Friday was also a special day in our house as it was Rosa’s birthday. As a birthday gift Tim and Michelle bought Rosa a new blender cup. She had one that worked, but it would leak every time she used it and it was missing a lid. We noticed it as she has made a few delicious liquados for us during our stay. We were able to find a replacement for her and surprise her with it after school. She was very happy.

Tim and Michelle finally decided on the plan for the weekend and headed over to a travel agency. A shuttle for 4:30am was booked. If traffic is good, we would all be in Antigua by 8:00 am. More than enough time to see the sites of the city and do a little shopping on Saturday, leaving Sunday for anything still undone before we tried to head home in the afternoon.

Back at the house, we decided to take Rosa and the kids to the neighboring village of San Juan. There was a traveling fair which is in San Juan this week and will be in San Pedro (our city) next week. In fact, preparations are already being for the fair in San Pedro. We traveled by tuk tuk and arrived in the town within a few minutes.

At the fair there were a number of stands selling all manner of food and trinkets. The one that made us laugh was the “American churros” sign over a funnel cake store. The rides looked sufficiently scary, and tim and Michelle were a little nervous that the kids were going to want to go on them. At the end of the fair there was a double decker bounce house that we let the kids go on. At the end of 20 minutes the kids were sufficiently sweaty and tired. We played a few carnival games and bought some Guatemalan candy. The sky began to cloud over and we headed for home. Another quick tuk tuk ride and we were back at home about 5 minutes before the sky opened up and dumped a ton of rain. Lightning and thunder soon followed.

Because it was Rosa’s birthday her sister came over and made Hawaiian pizza for us. Her sister used to work in a restaurant, and to have the two of them in the kitchen together is quite the tour de force.

Michelle took Alex to the school for the weekly soccer game while Tim helped prepare the pizza. In the end there were six large pizzas that were devoured quickly by the family. All being in a food coma we headed upstairs to pack for the early morning shuttle ride to Antigua. We were packed and in bed by 9pm.

More on our great first day in Antigua soon!