Antigua, Guatemala – September 2024

I am just back from my 3^rd trip to Guatemala.  This country enchants me like no other. It is beautiful and mysterious, colorful visually and quiet audibly. It’s old, it’s new, it’s borrowed (Spanish culture), it’s blue (the skies are magnificent)!  What is there not to like?

This latest jaunt was a trip accompanying my spouse to a training meeting for Rotary International leaders, in Antigua. We got to stay in the wonderful Hotel Casa Santo Domingo, a restored convent.  It has a stellar reputation – and well-deserved!  The place is gorgeous, the staff extremely helpful and capable.  The food, outstanding.

 

The first two days, I was on my own, while Gerry attended his trainings.  Before leaving WI, I had arranged to take a backstrap weaving course.  The location was not far from the hotel – maybe a 5 minute walk – allowing for the rough cobblestone streets it may have taken a minute or two more. The “school” is a quiet and lovely patio and tiny house, behind high walls that are typical in Antigua.  Besides teaching weaving, Kakaw Designs, supports other indigenous artist and crafters, with a shop.

Here I was able to purchase a loom, sold in a kit, perfect for a first-time weaver (definitely me, unless you count the stretchy potholders I made as a girl). Kakaw will supply a loom and all supplies to someone who does not want to purchase it, and it stays, I think, with Kakaw at the end of the session, though perhaps one can take their actual weaving home. Since I didn’t do that, I don’t really know.  You see, the classes are one on one.

And, yes, I learned to weave!  I was interested in the backstrap weaving because of the compact loom and the ease of taking it and setting it up just about anywhere. My interest in weaving comes from my interest in fabrics, and though I wanted a hands-on experience for fun, I also wanted to do it as a way of understanding different ways fabrics are made and experimenting in how to include it in my designs.  If you follow this blog regularly, (as in when I am actively posting, you’re actively looking at the pictures -and, hopefully, reading along), you will remember that last year in Patagonia and the Falkland Islands I bought wool.  I discovered it was not good for knitting or crocheting, so decided then that I needed to learn how to weave.

I was really thrilled with my class and my teacher.  We were able to talk about other topics, too, making my visit extra special.

I brought my loom home – I finished weaving my piece in the hotel while Gerry was in meetings.  Unfortunately, I did not learn how to take the piece off the loom, and I didn’t learn how to set up a new weaving (those are in the advanced class).  I will have to draw and photograph the loom parts carefully before I take it apart.  The idea behind the kit is that once you finish the piece, you can hang it, loom and all, as a piece of decorative art. That is actually a pretty good idea.

I spent a lot of my free time walking around Antigua.  This being my third visit, I wasn’t in a hurry to check things off, I just wanted to wander around, refresh my memory and people watch.  This coming Sunday (September 15^th) is Independence Day for Guatemala (and several other Latin American countries) so there is a good deal of commotion in the central plaza. I saw lots of people, tourists and indigenous sellers; kids with horns and other noise makers; flags; cotton candy – a veritable carnival atmosphere.

As part of the Independence Day celebrations, on Friday, we saw parades of elementary school children, each giving a performance for a bandstand of officials.  Lots of little baton twirlers!  The most memorable sight of all this activity was the faces of these little people; Who had to concentrate to do her part, who was so proud of his drum beating, who was bored, who was looking for Mom or Dad.

On Saturday, our Rotary meetings took us out of the center of Antigua.  Good thing! This was the day of parades of all the upper school school kids – and it was a madhouse of buses disgorging rambunctious teenagers.

Sunday, the actual Independence Day, things were relatively quiet, though everyone was dressed up, either for church or for eating out. It was a very festive couple of days.  And, of course, there were fireworks.

Back to wandering around Antigua.  I spent time under the Santa Catalina Arch, at the Iglesia de la Merced, the main square, ruins, more ruins, and the wash house.  I looked for restaurants where I had eaten before, hotels where I had stayed before and shops where I had purchased before.  It’s relaxing and fun just to be in Antigua.

 One morning, resting in the main square, two young ladies (high school age) from the mountains stopped to interview me for their English class.  That was quite fun, as I got to ask them all sorts of questions, too. They had made a 4-hour bus trip from their town to Antigua. Fter talking to them, I spent 9some time talking with an indigenous woman, from another mountain town, who was selling wares in the square. I bought a few things fromher – and she even did my hair!

My walking took up long mornings.  In the afternoons we had some noisy thunderstorms! 

I cannot forget to talk about the volcanos. Three of them are visible from Antigua, one spouting dark smoke at intervals. All are majestic, towering like the points of a crown. This trip we didn’t feel the earthquake that our fellow Rotarians were abuzz about, but where there are volcanos there will be earthquakes…and we did remember the one that sent us scurrying out of our hotel 15 years ago when we were here.  (PS That trip is also described in this blog and is a better place to go to get details about where to go and what to see. I did reread it on the bus to the airport coming home.  Funny coincidences!)

Given that the bulk of this trip was about Roarty International, let me make a plug for the organization before I sign off.  This was a zone meeting (Zone 25a), including countries from Mexico down to South America and the Dominican Republic.  Gerry attended because we will be traveling during our own zone meeting.  We were not the only “guests.”  In fact, there were people here from at least 16 different countries as well as the US and Nigeria. The president of RI was in attendance. We had a great time.  Rotarians are nice people, very friendly and lots of fun. They are also doing serious work around the world to make lives better in their communities, and because of the breadth of Rotary, it is a formidable engine for world peace.