TGIF

Friday has finally come. While I'm enjoying, for the most part, what I've doing here in La Antigua with Transitions, I am looking forward to the weekend. It's been a busy week and a lot has been accomplished, but it's time to play, but only after we do our weekly shopping. Linda is not yet comfortable with the idea of going shopping by herself, so we end up doing most of our shopping on Saturday.

During the week, I can either hitch a ride back to the Ochenta in the van the wheelchair workshop guys arrive in Monday-Friday. Some days, however, the weather is so beautiful, that I feel the need to walk the ten blocks across La Antigua just to enjoy the ambience. Here are some photos of the route I take.

Farther on, the streets get busier. Notice the tourist bus and the Spanish students on the right. Tourism is a year-round activity in La Antigua. It becomes even more active during the weekends of Cuaresma (Lent), when the religious processions begin. It becomes an actual obsession, however, during Semana Santa (Holy Week), when the town explodes (in number of people, not like with a volcano). 

Hereś another shot of my morning route to work. In the background of this  one you can see Volcán Agua. Itś actually looking back over the route I had just taken.

 I´m sure that many local residents, while both enjoying the ceremonies of Lent and Holy Week, resent the huge influx of visitors, most from Guatemala City, who descend upon La Antigua. There is one benefit, however. Every year, at this time, the Municiplidad fixes the cobble stone streets of La Antigua.

 As my daughter, Susan, would say. You have your workers and your watchers.

 Here´s one of the beautiful side streets I pass on the way to work.

 Last Friday we didn´t get lunch (part of my contract). Today, I discovered why. On Friday, the guys in the wheelchair workshop only work until noon and they return to Ochenta for lunch. After lunch, they play their weekly wheelchair basketball that I showed last week. Knowing how things work now (no one ever tells you), I had Linda walk over to Ochenta for lunch. On the way back, across from Escuela de Christo Church, we found this pick-up loaded with fruit. Since it was so close to our casita, we decided to load up on fruit ourselves. We purchased a small watermelon, two cantalopes, a papaya, and a  pineapple. All this fresh, ripe, delicious goodness only cost us Q55 ($7.08). The watermelon, alone, would cost almost that much back in Burlington.

 I can wait until next Friday afternoon, when I can get my next fruit fix.

 Here´s what a papaya looks like when cut open. The taste is very mild and not overly sweet. You often find papaya in fruit salad here.

Here´s a picture of the church. The complete name of this church is Nuestra Señora de los Remedios Escuela de Christo (Our Lady of the Remedies School of Christ). There´s a ruin of another church farther down the street that is also called Nuestra Señora de los Remedios. I suspect that the two churches merged, much like Ss. John and Paul did, or perhaps the name was reused as a sign of respect.

We didn´t get to go the the wheelchair basketball game this afternoon. Instead, I attended an online giving workshop presented by a group called GlobalGiving.org. I´m proud to say that I arrived on time, even though I took a wrong turn on my way there. The workshop was OK. The presenter´s presentation, however, violated every rule of digital presentation (too much information on the slides, fonts too small, etc.). I did pick up a few ideas, however, and validated others that I had. We may or may not make use of their system. The fulfillment (fancy term for the system that makes it work) cost is 15% of any donations received, which is quite a bit more than most on-line donation sites. They do offer a number of unique services, but I´m not convinced that they´re worth the cost.

This evening, since we´ve still not been able to get to the market, we decided to go downtown to eat. We first tried to eat at the fancy restaurant that had the hamburger plates for less than Q20, but they´ve changed their policy. They have now added a sticker to their door-sized sign that says para llevar solo (take-out only). Evidently, it was an oversight when they printed the banner. We followed their advice and took ourselves out and walked down the street to McDonalds for one of their hamburgers, for not much more. By the way, McDonalds here is considered expensive, gringo food. It also tastes better than the food you get back in the states at the same chain. Also, I have yet to get my tray to the trash can without an employee rushing up to take it out of my hands. When you order, if your food is still being prepared, they invite you to find a place to sit and they bring it to you. Sure doesn´t sound like the McDonalds I know in the states.

When we left the casita to head downtown this evening, we had the foresight to bring umbrellas, since there were dark clouds in the sky. It´s a good thing we did, as we hadn´t walked more than two blocks before it began raining. We continued on our journey and saw just as many people out walking in the rain as we would have seen had it not been raining. Some even carried umbrellas, like us.