Day Two: Antigua

I headed to Antigua from Guatemala City via collective transfer (a local minibus) instead of a chicken bus. This is my preferred method of local transportation because of its local/affordable rates, opportunity to commute with the locals, and what interests me the most is listening to conversations around me. Prior to my trip, I had heard about several accidents that involved an extremely overfilled bus flying down winding roads in the highlands and a drunk driver at the wheel. When I got into Guatemala City, many locals confirmed this. There was also too much risk of robbery with my pack, and too difficult to maneuver. It was a 40 minute drive at about 9AM, post traffic hour. Once entering into the city, I was greeted by this beautiful main arch of the calle principal.
 

I later learned that the right side of this arch is the cloister for monks who were in the former monastery. When monks enter the cloister, they are not allowed to come into contact with the world outside of the monastery.  However, they still needed food--this archway allowed them to walk across and obtain food without coming into contact with people outsdide of the monastery.


I dropped off my pack at Posada Los Búcaros, and headed out to explore the city's churches, old houses, and do a guided walking tour to learn about the city ruins, colonial history, civic center, etc.

Mid-day, it started pouring rain (typical of the wet season in Central Am.), and my belly was pretty hungry, so I ducked in for Sopa Chapines in a rainy afternoon...mmm! It warmed my soul!

 

Guatemala City (La Ciudad de Guatemala)

I landed in Guatemala City mid-day, and headed straight for the hostel to drop off my pack, grab some lunch, and head off to explore! I ended up spending the second half of my day at Museo Ixchel and Museo Popol Vuh, just a 30 minute walk from where I am staying, in Zona Viva (Zone 10).

Museo Ixchel would have been a museum my mom would have loved, for its unique textile offerings, vibrant colors, natural dye methods, and natural color fast methods. Traditional Mayan daily dress includes the huipil. There are 117 huipiles from 117 municipalities, located in 17 of Guatemala's 22 departments. Huipiles are distinct in that each municipality and department have an embroidery pattern. When looking at a huipil that a Mayan is wearing, you would be able to tell where they are from. Huipiles are grouped according to the language spoken in the country (16 of Guatemala's 22 Mayan languages). Some styles are on the verge of disappearing because of the small number of weavers who remain active. Weaving is a special part of Mayan culture, in which this type of distinctive clothing is a dynamic manifestation of identity. It reflects the deep history of a people who have passed down generations of patterns, connecting the past and present, a unique form of communication. This form of embroidery in huipiles, and other textile variations were originated in the pre-Columbian era.

 

 

Museo Popol Vuh was a really interesting pre-Columbian artifacts museum. I'm particularly facinated with the Classic Period (AD 250-900) for its hieroglyphic inscriptions, which provide insight into historical events--wars, famines, crop variations, times of prosperity, marriage alliances, royalty, etc. After having been to Teotihuacan in Mexico in 2008, it was interesting to see how that empire flooded the Petén region in Guatemala. Particularly since the Ruins of Tikal is considered as the "cradle" of the Mayan world.

Jade necklaces, as jade was a natural resource found in the region.

 

 

Look at how detailed these faces are! They were as tiny as my pinky nail--that's pretty tiny!

 

 

Dresden Codex--the Mayans apparently wrote on paper long before the Egyptians did. This was done on the bark of a native fig tree, and folded such that one could read several pages at once. There seems to be a lot written about the gods, cultivation, and other natural resources.

 

 

Pre-colonial Mayan handcrafted bowl

 

Funeral Urn

After heading back to the hostel, I met Andrea (Argentina) and Luís (Colombia), who live in Mexico DF. We decided to head to a local creperie for dinner and hang out. We became instant friends and we found out that we were are all headed to Antigua tomorrow and will meet up there later in the evening. Hasta Antigua!