Busy Weekend!

Laurie posted pictures that speak a thousand words. We worked hard last week with a 6 day work week and we played hard this weekend.

We started yesterday morning with a quick breakfast here at the hotel. We then had about an hour of running around Antigua getting tickets for tonight's concert, grocery shopping, and finding a sandwich shop for our day trip. The day trip was a four hour hike up the Pacaya volcano. The hike was quite strenuous. It reminded me of the hike I do with my gym friends at crystal springs but harder,especially given the altitude, and much longer.It was incredible arriving at and hiking across the volcanic ash to an area where we made s'mores and literally toasted sandwiches in the heat coming up from the volcano. It was an incredible experience I won't soon forget,

When we got back to the hotel we headed out to the most incredible French restaurant "como como". Laurie and I had dinner surrounded by many couples out for a romantic meal. Some were even feeding each other. Laurie was so exhausted from the hike she was acting drunk and kept putting her head down on the table. Antigua is a very walkable city as it is basically 9 x 9 blocks but for the first time we got a tuk tuk home. Laurie was too tired to walk. I must say I was happy and a little scared to experience the tuk tuk. Taking corners on cobblestone roads is a jarring experience.

This morning we had a quick breakfast in the town square and headed to the ancient laundry. Having watched the locals do their laundry this past week we thought it would be fun to experience washing our clothes the VERY old fashioned way. Laurie posted some pictures in her entry. By the time we were finished we charged home to hang the clothes to dry using every possible location around the casita. We were in a hurry because we were heading to see the Antigua professional soccer team play against another Guatemalan team.

Laurie and I suited up in our jerseys and had a lot of fun at the game even though there was no score. We sat beside a large cheering section complete with drums, bells and noise makers of all kinds. We did learn some valuable Spanish phrases however, In particular "hijo de puta" (son of a bitch) which was screamed pretty much incessantly. I took off my jersey after the game as it was getting quite hot but Laurie kept hers on. For the rest of the day people in shops and restaurants kept stopping us wanting to know what the score in the game was.

After the game we went to the ruins at casa Santa Domingo as I had only seen it after dark previously and I wanted to check out the art exhibit that was there. I am now a proud owner of a piece of art by Angelina Quic. The piece had struck me when I first saw it! Thanks Michael for the early Christmas present!

We continued to shop in little markets all over town and had a lovely lunch at tartines overlooking, yes, more ruins! We spent the afternoon with Jesse, one of the OR nurses. She hails from Ireland but immigrated to Canada and lives in Halifax. She told wonderful stories about growing up, one of eleven children, in a pub, that was started by her family in the mid 1800's.

We ended our crazy day by heading to the ruins of Santa Cruz, a stones throw from our hotel, to see a concert by an Israeli group called "voca people". The concert was enjoyable but the venue was spectacular!

Tomorrow it's time to head back to work at the clinic. We didn't get much rest this weekend but I am excited to get back to the work we came here to do!

Picture 1. On the volcano
Picture 2. At the soccer game
Picture 3. 5th caille/avenue Antigua after the game with Jesse and JP (one of the ENT surgeons)
Picture 4. My new piece of art