Sunshine on a Cloudy Day: Day 2 - Getting My Bearings

I love all the doors!

"Two dots do not make a straight line but three do" - spoken by new friend Karen, who I ran into the third time this morning. She and her significant other Ishmael were on the same shuttle from the airport, I saw them at Cafe No Se last night, and then again this morning. We had some coffee at a cafe I will return to - it was amazing. Next time I will get the cafe made in this - it's a 12 hour process. The coffee beans are only lightly roasted and the flavor is very earthy, almost floral. The barista was kind enough to give us a small sample.

Iced water is in the top section, ground coffee in the next, and then it drips to the third. So. Good.

After coffee, we went our own ways. (ETA: and then we saw each other a 4th time while I was at breakfast. It was meant to be. I now have friends to visit in San Diego!)

They are heading to Lake Atitlan today and will let me know of any must try places as they will be at the neighboring village to where I am staying, though will likely be gone when I arrive.

View from breakfast. I can't imagine riding a motorcycle on those streets!

Antigua is a small, quaint town full of people. People are nice. I am fascinated by the traditional Mayan clothing many of the women and children wear. It's handmade and is very ornate.

I walked around today - seems like I will have an album called "The Doors of Antigua." I just sense a theme developing.

I toured an old convent - Santa Clara. It has received damage from earthquakes over the years. I paid my admission fee and the. Was naive enough to say yes when Marcellano, dressed in official tourist department clothes, offered me a tour. At my request, he spoke in Spanish and then English as I needed. He was very accommodating and informative. It was about a 30 min tour. So I have him a gratuity but he said the tour was 200Q (about $26 USD). Ummmm....no. I don't think so. I told him he should have told me at the beginning; I thought he was included with my admission to the convent. Oh well. Live and learn. Here is Convento Santa Clara from the outside. I'll have more pictures later once I transfer from my camera.

I think I realized today that next time I travel to another far away place, I may try to fly by the seat of my pants more. Just go-figure out where to stay when I get there. I may not want to stay someplace for days. Stay a bit here, jump there, and just go. Be. Ishmael and Karen were doing that and I was a little jealous of the freedom. Of course, I could still do that now but I've already paid for the places I'm staying. And I am more or less just going with the flow, but I could still be a bit less controlled. I mean, why micromanage life, right? Go, be, take things as they come. There's something freeing about that.

Tomorrow, I am leaving for a volcano hike at 6 am. Should be fun.

Finally - some pics from my camera are below. I'm at a restaurant on the side of a mountain and there is wifi. It's raining so I'm hanging out ...