Antigua Trip 8/7/10

Today I went to Antigua. It was so cool! Very traditional and colonial. Cobble stone streets and old unique buildings. We left in the morning at 8:30AM. The drive through the mountains to get there was really cool. It was a clear morning and we were able to see the volcanoes perfectly. When we got to Antigua, a few of us walked to a Bagel shop while waiting for other people to arrive. It was funny that they had a bagel shop and everything was in English. It was a cool cafe and reminded me of one in NYC. I tried to order a bottle of water and some how ended up with a bagel with butter & jelly haha! You live and you learn. We broke into groups right after that and were sent off to explore the city. We had three people from the school in our group and 4 new teachers. They sent us on a little treasure hunt. The hunt was basically specific rquests to take pictures in front of things that are special to Antigua. Such as admiring jade, admiring textiles, in front of a fountatin, picture with one of the funny taxis in the city called a Tuc Tuc (I think). We had a lot of fun!

Jade is beautiful and I look forward to buying some special jewelry here. I loved the city and wished the school was just a little closer. It took us about 45 minutes to drive there. They brought us to this amazing chocolate shop. It was so good! Guatemala is also known for it's chocolate! It was so cool and was owned by this French guy that spoke Spanish. He was singing and making chocolate, he was just full of life. I bought a bag of cafe and cardamom chocolate. It was yummy! One of the guys in my group is so funny. He bought a bunch of hakey sacks and told that he wanted to have a juggling contest. So we all took turns juggling and he played music on this instrument while we had the contest. It was hysterical. The consensus said that I won! He gave me a necklace he bought on the street as a prize. At 12:30pm all the groups met at the nicest hotel in Antigua called Casa Santo Domingo. It was was the nicest hotel I've ever seen! Definitely try and look it up online. It's really romantic. Reminds me of the secret garden or something. Totally indoor/outdoor with beautiful flowers everywhere. We had special lunch set up for all the new teachers in a big banquet room. The tables had really unique pink flowers as center pieces. The first course was pea and carrot soup, then chicken, rice, carrots and broccoli. For dessert we got two different types of flan with caramilized sugar on top. The food here for the most part is not that good. This lunch was exceptional. The cool thing about the fruits and veggies are that they are soo fresh. The seem to have so much more flavor than at home. After lunch we headed back to the hotel and I met up with a special person....