sabado, 22 abril
hmmm. saturday now. san pedro seems worlds away and a lifetime ago. the capital is very urban. both modern and anachronistic. parts of it feel very much like the 1950’s, but some of it feels like the seventies and some is right up to date, but with a central american twist. a lot of the businesses and brands that advertise on the signs are US companies. the clothes sold on the street mostly have catchy english phrases or American name brands – either actual or knock off, depending on the brand mostly I think, but if you want something designerish you can pretty easily get it.
also dvd’s and cd’s are everywhere as are lots of food choices if you’re willing to eat carne o pollo, which so far I’m not, but I’ve been really considering it. I looked around yesterday and couldn’t find any nearby restaurants that had a non-meat dish. today I expanded my search and tried to hunt up a vegetarian restaurant that was listed in my guidebook, but it musta moved or been closed on saturday… which seems like a strange idea, but a lot of the shops and restaurants are closed today. I’m not sure what to expect for tomorrow.
I got up bright and early after a really great night’s sleep. I was exhausted last night, after a few nights of revelry in san pedro, followed by the four hour tight squeeze busride here and then a day with little to eat – there is a grocery store down the street, and I think that’ll end up being my solution, I’ll just buy something there and bring it back to my room. anyway, last night was an early one. thought briefly about going out exploring and trawling for edible vegetarian food, but then it started pouring down rain and that made my decision for me. I don’t know how long the rain lasted, but I was asleep when it stopped. I woke up to a bright morning pouring in through the skylight at around 6:30 local time.
I should’ve gone out to breakfast. it was silly not to, because it’s probably the one meal that I could find a meatless version of, but it was too late by the time I realized my mistake. the thing was, I was in a bit of a hurry, and at that point was more optimistic about finding options. my plan was to walk to the popol vuh museum, which houses (according to the lonely planet, and I’ve no reason to mistrust them) the country’s best collection of mayan artifacts. it’s located all the way across town on the grounds of the universidad francisco marroquin in zona 10 (my room is in zona 1). on saturdays the museum is only open from 9am – 1pm, so I wanted to try to get there as early as I could. thinking the walk might take me as much as two hours, I wanted to get an early start. I really figured I could walk it in an hour and a half, but figured I should allow for confusion (which, of course, I’m prone to) as it turned out, I made it there in just a little more than an hour, maybe an hour exactly, whatever it was, I had plenty of time to read while I waited, but no place close by to get some desayuno.
the museum was great, very educational and inspiring. the explanatory cards that accompanied the pieces were in both Spanish and English, so I was able to practice my translating abilities as I went along. learned some interesting things about the jaguar and the maize gods, I particularly liked the depictions of the maize god with a corncob growing up out of his head, and also of him emerging (being born out of) the jaguar god’s mouth – that’s some good stuff! they also had a really interesting collection of ancient clay whistles in interesting shapes (animals, humans, plants) including one double sort of vessel that when one side was filled, the sculpted bird on the other side would whistle because it was constructed in such away that the process of filling woud force the air out – I guess you probably had that figured and didn’t really think it was just magic… of course maybe it is, I didn’t see/hear it demonstrated… I’m just guessing myself.
after the popol vuh, I let the lonely planet talk me into checking out the museo ixchel, next door. the authors loved it and said it was a must see, but I was pretty unimpressed. the only worthwhile thing about going was that if I hadn’t, I woulda felt like I’d missed out on something… so I guess that itself was worth the 25Q.
from there I retraced my steps back to the hotel room, which is in a building that reminds me of the kind of place mickey spillane or mike hammer would’ve lived in LA in the fifties. big, airy, dilapidated, with sitting areas and a bar downstairs. the room is the nicest that I’ve had in Guatemala, with a dresser with a mirror, two end tables and a queen sized bed. it came with a roll of toilet paper, a small bar of soap and a towel. the bathroom is just close enough and the shower is warm. it’s three times the price of my room in san pedro, but even at that it’s only a seventh of what my rent in Venice was… so that puts thing in perspective I guess.
I’ve spent the afternoon so far, exploring the city to the north of the hotel. the plaza de la constitución is there as is (I had hoped) a veggie restaurant. instead I just wandered around the plaza and through the stalls along the street selling various things. I checked in at one store that sells cameras to see if they had the memory card I need, but they didn’t… too bad really, because there’s a lot of things to take pictures of – good graffiti and signage all over the place. I never found the restaurant – I guess I mentioned that already, but I did finally give in and buy some papas fritas on the street.
tomorrow I’m going to walk even further – to zona 13, and go to the zoo and the museo arqueología y etnología, which, I just discovered when I looked in the book to check my spelling, is the home of the largest collection of mayan artifacts, although apparently they’re not well labeled, which is where the popol vuh gets the advantage on them – so popol vuh isn’t the biggest, but is thought to be better, if I have it right, which I might not. anyway, it should be a good outing.
my knees feel good, but my back hurts – in case you were wondering. my stomach feels great, if a bit empty. maybe this little enforced fast is being good for me.
the photos are leftovers from san pedro, just included here because it just seems better to have something other than words to look at___actually, it looks like no pics today. the place I found yesterday where I could plug in my laptop, was closed early today, which makes tomorrow not look promising. the good news is that I found a place where I can plug in and post this, but photos seem like too much to ask. oh well, that's more for later since the hopes of finding a memory card look pretty dim too.
hmmm. saturday now. san pedro seems worlds away and a lifetime ago. the capital is very urban. both modern and anachronistic. parts of it feel very much like the 1950’s, but some of it feels like the seventies and some is right up to date, but with a central american twist. a lot of the businesses and brands that advertise on the signs are US companies. the clothes sold on the street mostly have catchy english phrases or American name brands – either actual or knock off, depending on the brand mostly I think, but if you want something designerish you can pretty easily get it.
also dvd’s and cd’s are everywhere as are lots of food choices if you’re willing to eat carne o pollo, which so far I’m not, but I’ve been really considering it. I looked around yesterday and couldn’t find any nearby restaurants that had a non-meat dish. today I expanded my search and tried to hunt up a vegetarian restaurant that was listed in my guidebook, but it musta moved or been closed on saturday… which seems like a strange idea, but a lot of the shops and restaurants are closed today. I’m not sure what to expect for tomorrow.
I got up bright and early after a really great night’s sleep. I was exhausted last night, after a few nights of revelry in san pedro, followed by the four hour tight squeeze busride here and then a day with little to eat – there is a grocery store down the street, and I think that’ll end up being my solution, I’ll just buy something there and bring it back to my room. anyway, last night was an early one. thought briefly about going out exploring and trawling for edible vegetarian food, but then it started pouring down rain and that made my decision for me. I don’t know how long the rain lasted, but I was asleep when it stopped. I woke up to a bright morning pouring in through the skylight at around 6:30 local time.
I should’ve gone out to breakfast. it was silly not to, because it’s probably the one meal that I could find a meatless version of, but it was too late by the time I realized my mistake. the thing was, I was in a bit of a hurry, and at that point was more optimistic about finding options. my plan was to walk to the popol vuh museum, which houses (according to the lonely planet, and I’ve no reason to mistrust them) the country’s best collection of mayan artifacts. it’s located all the way across town on the grounds of the universidad francisco marroquin in zona 10 (my room is in zona 1). on saturdays the museum is only open from 9am – 1pm, so I wanted to try to get there as early as I could. thinking the walk might take me as much as two hours, I wanted to get an early start. I really figured I could walk it in an hour and a half, but figured I should allow for confusion (which, of course, I’m prone to) as it turned out, I made it there in just a little more than an hour, maybe an hour exactly, whatever it was, I had plenty of time to read while I waited, but no place close by to get some desayuno.
the museum was great, very educational and inspiring. the explanatory cards that accompanied the pieces were in both Spanish and English, so I was able to practice my translating abilities as I went along. learned some interesting things about the jaguar and the maize gods, I particularly liked the depictions of the maize god with a corncob growing up out of his head, and also of him emerging (being born out of) the jaguar god’s mouth – that’s some good stuff! they also had a really interesting collection of ancient clay whistles in interesting shapes (animals, humans, plants) including one double sort of vessel that when one side was filled, the sculpted bird on the other side would whistle because it was constructed in such away that the process of filling woud force the air out – I guess you probably had that figured and didn’t really think it was just magic… of course maybe it is, I didn’t see/hear it demonstrated… I’m just guessing myself.
after the popol vuh, I let the lonely planet talk me into checking out the museo ixchel, next door. the authors loved it and said it was a must see, but I was pretty unimpressed. the only worthwhile thing about going was that if I hadn’t, I woulda felt like I’d missed out on something… so I guess that itself was worth the 25Q.
from there I retraced my steps back to the hotel room, which is in a building that reminds me of the kind of place mickey spillane or mike hammer would’ve lived in LA in the fifties. big, airy, dilapidated, with sitting areas and a bar downstairs. the room is the nicest that I’ve had in Guatemala, with a dresser with a mirror, two end tables and a queen sized bed. it came with a roll of toilet paper, a small bar of soap and a towel. the bathroom is just close enough and the shower is warm. it’s three times the price of my room in san pedro, but even at that it’s only a seventh of what my rent in Venice was… so that puts thing in perspective I guess.
I’ve spent the afternoon so far, exploring the city to the north of the hotel. the plaza de la constitución is there as is (I had hoped) a veggie restaurant. instead I just wandered around the plaza and through the stalls along the street selling various things. I checked in at one store that sells cameras to see if they had the memory card I need, but they didn’t… too bad really, because there’s a lot of things to take pictures of – good graffiti and signage all over the place. I never found the restaurant – I guess I mentioned that already, but I did finally give in and buy some papas fritas on the street.
tomorrow I’m going to walk even further – to zona 13, and go to the zoo and the museo arqueología y etnología, which, I just discovered when I looked in the book to check my spelling, is the home of the largest collection of mayan artifacts, although apparently they’re not well labeled, which is where the popol vuh gets the advantage on them – so popol vuh isn’t the biggest, but is thought to be better, if I have it right, which I might not. anyway, it should be a good outing.
my knees feel good, but my back hurts – in case you were wondering. my stomach feels great, if a bit empty. maybe this little enforced fast is being good for me.
the photos are leftovers from san pedro, just included here because it just seems better to have something other than words to look at___actually, it looks like no pics today. the place I found yesterday where I could plug in my laptop, was closed early today, which makes tomorrow not look promising. the good news is that I found a place where I can plug in and post this, but photos seem like too much to ask. oh well, that's more for later since the hopes of finding a memory card look pretty dim too.
posted by joe at 3:23 PM
1 Comments:
Hi Darling,
We are at Tim's for Mac's confirmation celebration. Tim and Nick have been printing out your blogs for me and that has made me really relax about you being there. Enjoy!!!
Love,
Mom and Dad
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