Guatemala

I've already told you about landing in the Tropical Storm....the next day was Sunday and we had the opportunity to visit the new church plant in Antigua. I think it was only their 3rd Sunday to meet, but they were already having two services. The service was awesome, but we had a nice surprise afterward. Mario and his son, David, took us on a little walk. Our walk included a tour of the museum at the Casa de Santo Domingo.

The grounds are spectacular. I have tried to piece together a bit of the history from the signage at the museum and from what I could google. Antigua was originally Santiago de Guatemala (or St. James of Guatemala) and was one of the most important Spanish cities of the New World.

The city was built around a courtyard and included a church, convent, homes, etc numbering approximately 50 buildings. This photo was taken in a room underground and is one of the few remaining artifacts from the original buildings. There was an earthquake in 1773 so the capital was moved and the name changed to Antigua Guatemala or "old Guatemala." We were able to see the bases of the columns of the convent....they were massive.

We enjoyed getting to see a little bit the city. It is cleary very old, but is quite beautiful.

The city was first established in the early 1500s. It's pretty cool to walk around and see pieces of history that are 400 years old.

We also were able to tour a jade factory. Real jade is only found in a swath across Guatemala. We were told that Mexico does produce a lot of jade jewelry, they import it. It was also interesting to learn that Singapore jade is actually a different stone. (They told us the two different names, but I of course don't remember that. I do remember that Guatemalan jade was a better quality.) The Mayans placed great value on jade and actually attached it to their teeth as shown on this actual skull. (I know, it's a little creepy. I did at least leave out the photos of the priests, etc in the mausoleum. That was really creepy.) This little piece of cultural history helped me understand why so many women have gold on their teeth. They find it quite attractive.

The grounds were well-manicured and the plants fabulous. It seemed like a really great vacation spot sometime....maybe if I ever get my Spanish brushed up.