Noche buena
Well, I edited the last post and may have deleted parts of it. that sucks...
At any rate, we're now in Antigua, the traveler's hub of central america and one of the most beautiful cities ever. it was originally built in the 1500s and has just barely been updated since then. all the streets radiate out from the parque central, a huge beautiful park bounded on the edges by old cathedrals and public buildings with long covered walkways. The houses and stores line each street and blend into a solid wall broken up by huge carved wooden doors and cement windowsills with deocrative iron work. each store and house is painted different colors so you look down the street into a long vista of bright colors and beautiful metal work. It feels like it's barely entered the 20th century, nevermind the 21st.
unlike guatemala city where you could go for days without seeing another american, here you can't go 10 feet without seeing someone who isn't guatemalan. every imaginable nationality and language interspersed with brightly dressed native men and women. when we were here in 1984 there were 2 spanish language schools,now there are 75. so most of the travelers here are learning spanish and struggling to speak to the vendors and waiters.
that's what makes this place amazing. what makes it a hazard is the street and the sidewalk. the streets are all cobblestone and there are no street signs, no lights and no speed limit. the only thing slowing anybody down is the cobblestones - doing a fine job - and the people trying to cross the streets at any given time - who are in slighly more danger. added to this colorful situation are the sidewalks which average about 3 feet wide and sometimes 2 feet off the street with an abrupt drop. here's an average walk down the street.
Run across the street, watch the motorcycle carrying a man, woman and 2 children swerve around you as a pickup truck stacked with probably 500 pineapples neary runs over the moto and then nearly runs into the building as it careens to the left at the last minute. hop up a foot onto the sidewalk, walk to the very edge of the sidewalk to avoid running into the windowsill and then flatten yourself against the building to share the sidewalk with the couple from canada coming the other way who are wearing camelbacks and carrying 2 way radios. continue down the sidewalk, leaping over the legs of the guatemalan man who's asleep in the doorway and then step completely over the head of the 2 year old who is selling a necklace and is squatted right next to the sleeping man. than abruptly the sidewalk slants down sharply as it turns into a driveway so you sidle along the wall back to the flat area and then jump over the hole in the sidewalk with a 2 foot drop and no cover. avoid another windowsill and then jump into the street to walk around the truck parked with one set of wheels on the sidewalk. hop back up onto the sidewalk, which abruptly ends at another cross street. Congratulations, you've gone one block in Antigua!
However, the food has been excellent and the parque central promises to be full of activity tonight on Christmas eve (noche buena). There will be live music, huge puppets, several santas, all the trees covered with white lights and probably midnight masses at all the cathedrals. I can't wait! more later...
At any rate, we're now in Antigua, the traveler's hub of central america and one of the most beautiful cities ever. it was originally built in the 1500s and has just barely been updated since then. all the streets radiate out from the parque central, a huge beautiful park bounded on the edges by old cathedrals and public buildings with long covered walkways. The houses and stores line each street and blend into a solid wall broken up by huge carved wooden doors and cement windowsills with deocrative iron work. each store and house is painted different colors so you look down the street into a long vista of bright colors and beautiful metal work. It feels like it's barely entered the 20th century, nevermind the 21st.
unlike guatemala city where you could go for days without seeing another american, here you can't go 10 feet without seeing someone who isn't guatemalan. every imaginable nationality and language interspersed with brightly dressed native men and women. when we were here in 1984 there were 2 spanish language schools,now there are 75. so most of the travelers here are learning spanish and struggling to speak to the vendors and waiters.
that's what makes this place amazing. what makes it a hazard is the street and the sidewalk. the streets are all cobblestone and there are no street signs, no lights and no speed limit. the only thing slowing anybody down is the cobblestones - doing a fine job - and the people trying to cross the streets at any given time - who are in slighly more danger. added to this colorful situation are the sidewalks which average about 3 feet wide and sometimes 2 feet off the street with an abrupt drop. here's an average walk down the street.
Run across the street, watch the motorcycle carrying a man, woman and 2 children swerve around you as a pickup truck stacked with probably 500 pineapples neary runs over the moto and then nearly runs into the building as it careens to the left at the last minute. hop up a foot onto the sidewalk, walk to the very edge of the sidewalk to avoid running into the windowsill and then flatten yourself against the building to share the sidewalk with the couple from canada coming the other way who are wearing camelbacks and carrying 2 way radios. continue down the sidewalk, leaping over the legs of the guatemalan man who's asleep in the doorway and then step completely over the head of the 2 year old who is selling a necklace and is squatted right next to the sleeping man. than abruptly the sidewalk slants down sharply as it turns into a driveway so you sidle along the wall back to the flat area and then jump over the hole in the sidewalk with a 2 foot drop and no cover. avoid another windowsill and then jump into the street to walk around the truck parked with one set of wheels on the sidewalk. hop back up onto the sidewalk, which abruptly ends at another cross street. Congratulations, you've gone one block in Antigua!
However, the food has been excellent and the parque central promises to be full of activity tonight on Christmas eve (noche buena). There will be live music, huge puppets, several santas, all the trees covered with white lights and probably midnight masses at all the cathedrals. I can't wait! more later...
posted by KBARRETT at 3:05 PM
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