Farewell to Guatemala

Our time in this beautiful country is almost over.  This post covers our farewell lunch with President and Sister Burk and the Roberts as well as our despedida and pictures of our beloved temple staff.  We went to lunch at San Martin on April 6.  Here we are posing as we were leaving.

                               Pres. & Hna Burk, Hna & Pres Roberts, Elder & Hna Eberhard

The next pictures are our temple staff along with some of the missionaries and presidency.

Bro. Carranza, the recorder who works with Gary, Bro. Ibanez, an engineer, Maggie, a secretary, Hna Guzman, a missionary who often works in the office with Gary, Hna Guerra, maintenance, Bro. Zea maintenance, Marta, secretary.

                              Two secretaries, Brenda & Hna Estrada, laundry worker, Hna Carcamo, the Barneys Allreds, and Burks

 Bro.  Jimenez, Hna Rosades, Bro. Ibanez, Bro. Carranza, Sister Roberts, Maggie, Pres. Roberts, Hna Guzman

   Center back not shown in pictures above is Jose Martinez from the Laundry

                                            The temple presidency and their wives.

                                                         Eberhards at the despedida

                                                             The Roberts

 

                                    Above, the Allreds and Thompsons.  Below the Rosales.

This is Erick, the temple gardener who keeps our patio flowers so beautiful.

And these two pictures are our housekeeper, Sandra.  She came by on our last day here to get this picture with  both of us.  We will really miss her and all the work she did for us!  We  never thought we would have a housekeeper, but everyone hires her because she is a single mother with two missionaries out and three younger children still at home, and it costs so little to keep our apartment clean and help her to provide for her family.

Mixco Viejo

On Monday of this week we had a group outing to the ancient Mayan ruins of Mixco Viejo.  These date back to the post classic period or around 1300 to 1500 AD.  It was about a two hour drive through some very interesting countryside and small towns.  Here is a government building in San Pedro.

 And here is an interesting Catholic church in the same little town.

Mixco Viejo is up high on a mountain and was a major stronghold of the Mayans against the Conquistadors.

 This is the Mayan name for it.  Don't ask how it's pronounced!!

 This is the entrance.  Obviously people don't sneak in!

 You can see how high up the site is by this photo of the valley below.

Here is all our group except for Sister Burk who took the photo.

 Just inside the park is this relief map which shows how the civilization was situated on top of the mountain and shows how extensive it was.

 This map is etched in the side of a large concrete wall and shows that Mixco Viejo is completely surrounded by rivers making it even more difficult to conquer.

 We met this young lady who was selling bottled drinks from the tub she carried on her head.  Gary bought a bottle of water and could barely hold the heavy tub while she found him what he wanted.  It was amazing that she could carry it on her head let alone balance it!

 
These pyramids are made of a rock that is much thinner than the other ruins we have visited.  Apparently it is simply what was available in the area.

Here is President Burk a-top one of the pyramids.

 The stairs were steep enough that we needed to climb them with our hands on the steps above us.

 It seemed that most of the clusters of pyramids included ones like these.  They were in pairs and had really steep stairs with very narrow steps.

 And, of course, Gary had to climb it!!

 President and Sister Burk posing in front of the stairs.

 And Gary and Dorine in the same place.

 This is one of the balls courts.

 This shows some of the original stucco that at one time covered all of the pyramids and was painted different colors.  Very little of it is left now.

 This is the women's court.

Here, after several more bottles of drink had been sold, Dorine tries to lift the tub onto her head and can't even get it in place! 

 And here is Gary on top of yet another pyramid standing in his "Eberhard pose!"

 On the way home we drove through the market in San Pedro and got some fun photos.  The colorful displays of fruits and vegetables almost, but not quite, compete with the colorful clothing the women wear.  And the ladies carry their loads on their heads here as well!

El Cerinal Branch

We have been attending the El Cerinal Branch now for about a month.  It has been quite an experience! 
                           






                              
                                              This is the chapel from the street.

 Here is the front door from inside the gate showng Elder and Sister Done.  This door opens into the hallway.

 This  picture is from the side of the building from the parking lot.  The door on this end opens into the chapel.

This is the little palm tree next to the parking lot in back.  There is only room for a few cars as most people don't own cars.  They either walk or come by bus.

These are the children in the Primary. I took these shots from my tablet without them knowing I was doing it. Sister Done was giving rules for reverence which Elder Tingey, one of our young elders,  was translating into Spanish.  You don't think they were bored, do you???

 This is a fun sight we saw on the way home from church.  It's hard to tell what it is from the photo, but it is a truck full of goats with the goat herder taking a siesta in a hammock strung from the rack at the back over the goats.

And this is our beautiful geranium in the patio.  It has three different colors of blossoms.  Apparently three different geraniums are potted together.  In the picture you may not be able to discern the differences in color, but there are lavender, pink, and red blossoms all blooming together.  Love it!!

Trips to Antigua and Atitlan

This week, the second of our temple closure, we did a lot of traveling.  Our first trip was to
Antigua, the former capitol of Guatemala.

 Our first stop was the Hotel Casa Santa Domingo which was made from an old convent.  It is a five star hotel and is quite expensive but is very ancient looking.

We then visited the central plaza and then hit the shopping.

 

 This is a famous arch that shows up in many of the paintings done of this ancient and beautiful city.

 We had fun in this shop that sold all kinds of unique items and had some fun photo ops!

                                       
 We don't know why, but Guatemalans seem to have an obsession with giraffes!

This ancient cathedral is very ornate and, unlike most in Antigua, is still in use today.

 We then went up on the hill overlooking the city to get  pictures.

 Outside Antigua is the Apple Factory where they make all kinds of fruits, vegetables, and other carvings from wood that are so realistic you think you could take a bite.

 They also have some rather interesting other carvings!

 After Antigua we went up on a hill to a nice resort area where we enjoyed a meal in a very nice restaurant that serves  mostly Italian foods, hence the sculpture of a giant fork and spoon twirling spagetti.

 We had fettucini alfredo and enjoyed the panoramic views from the hilltop restaurant.  The white you see on the hill is smoke from the homes up among the farms on the hillside.

 We were directly above Antigua and could see it from the hill.

Not sure the significance of this statue, bu Gary couldn't resist posing with him!

On Wednesday and Thursday we traveled to Lake Atitlan, said to be the most beautiful lake in the Guatemala and one of the most beautiful places in the world.  We got so many good pictures that this is going to be a really long post!
On the way we stopped for a potty break and Gary discovered this old machine that was used to thrash something.  It was quite fascinating!

 As we approached the lake we could see why this is considered one of the most beautiful places in the world!

                               We stopped at this spot to rest and check out the items for sale.

                    Here is the raw meat meal we were served in Panajachel.  Didn't like it much!

 This LDS chapel was recently enlarged by adding a second story.  It is right across the street from the restaurant.

                       Here are samples of the markets all along the road down to the lake.

                  Gary thought Dorine should buy a pair of pants like this.  She didn't!

                                         Gary says this is the Angel Moroni!!
                                        
 Gary paid 2 quetzales to have his picture taken in this tall hat that looks like the hat worn by the man in Curious George!

                       The dock where we boarded our little boat to head off to our hotel.

 This is boat dock at the hotel.  Not sure why, but they had beds with curtains out on the dock! 

 The beautiful greenery around the hotel included this banana tree with a bunch of bananas.

                                              The bed in our room.

                                            The outside of our room.

 This is our favorite picture of the trip.  We are posing on the canopy bed on the dock with a volcano behind us and the sun starting to set. 

                     We so enjoyed the sunset over the water.  It was a perfect night!

 Here is the dinner the hotel served out on the dock.  It was served by two darling girls.

                          Boarding the boat the next morning to set off on more adventures!

 The volcano in the morning.  It was amazing how much it changed with the different light.
                                      

                                         
                               

 We went to the small city of Santiago where our first adventure was visiting a little shop where this lovely Mayan lady showed us how she put on her head dress. 

 She then dressed the Roberts' daughter-in-law, Alice in the typica of Santiago.

 Then she added the other two daughters-in-law, Kinda and Criscell and their son, Kyle!

 We then went on a tour of the city in a convoy of tuk-tuks, these three wheeled taxis.

                  We stopped at an overlook where we could see the LDS chapel of Santiago.

                             We had our picture taken here on the overlook in front of the volcano.

 Here are our tuk-tuk drivers.  The one in the back in the red shirt was ours.  His name is Miguel.

 We stopped at the cemetery where people are buried in crypts above ground.  After 7 years they are pushed out into a mass grave so the crypt can be used by someone else.

This is a memorial park commemorating the deaths of 13 Mayans in the Guatemalan Civil War

Thus is how the women of the city do their laundry.

                                         We went into this Catholic Cathedral

                                               and sat in on a little bit of their mass.

 We next traveled to the village of San Juan where we went to a textile place.  This woman is weaving.

                                        This is a demonstration of spinning cotton.

                                    Here she is dying the yarn with natural dyes made from plants.

                                    She put this shawl on Dorine and tied a beautiful knot .

                   We then went to the Hotel Del Mundo for lunch.  Here is Gary waiting for his food.

                                           This is the view from the outdoor restaurant.

It was a beautiful trip to a very beautiful place.  A perfect way to spend our holiday.