Guatemala 2009 - Day 2 - Antigua & Santiago Atitlan

Posada de Don Rodrigo

I woke up on Sunday morning feeling quite refreshed. I headed down to our prayer time, stopping only briefly at the computer station to shoot my mom a quick email letting her know we had made it safely. After our prayer time we had some time of worship together, then Christian gave a short message. Following our private service, we had a wonderful breakfast, complete with native fruits such as plantains, mango, melon, among others. We also had toast with some kind of native jam and choice of pancakes or eggs. It was all so good! Soon after we started eating some good friends from Técpan stopped by to see us… Pastor Fransisco Bach, his sons Abraham and Chico and his daughter (and my friend) Haybi. They didn’t get to stay for long, but it was so good to see them prior to our arrival in Técpan several days later.

Room at the Posada where we ate breakfast and had Sunday morning service.

Antigua

After breakfast we had some time to do a bit of sightseeing in Antigua. I went with Anika and Jayson to the bank and then to an indoor market (our preference due to the relentless rain outside).

View of Antigua in the rain.

For lunch, the group enjoyed eating Pollo Campero and especially loved eating the donuts with ice cream on top.

Whitney, Bethany and Lisa at Pollo Campero

We then headed to visit the Iglesia y Convento de la Recoleccion (Church and Convent of the Recollection), an incredibly impressive site of ruins that date back to early 1700’s. The guys climbed, the girls took pictures, and Bethany begged for a game of hide and go seek (which was not granted).

Wayne as our tour guide, sharing the history of the Iglesia y Convento de la Recoleccion

The group climbing in the ruins

More Traveling

The bus ride to Santiago seemed longer than it really was due to my tendency to motion sickness. Thankfully we arrived before any disasters could take place, and we carried our luggage about a quarter-mile to our home for the next three nights, the Hotel Tiosh Abaj. The people of Santiago do speak Spanish, but many also speak the indigenous native language of Tz’utujil. “Tiosh Abaj” refers to sacred rock of the Mayan religion in that area. We had an incredible dinner at the hotel, then enjoyed a dynamic message delivered by our own Wayne Huff.

Our hotel in Santiago Atitlan, the Tiosh Abaj