Guatemala - Day 8

Dear Evan and Nathan, 

     We had a lovely day in Antigua.  What I learned - I need more time here for everything I'd like to do and see.  I started my day with a run up to a place called Cerro de la Cruz.  On my way, I passed through a neighborhood and got to see some of the brightly colored houses that people live in.  It is always fun to see a city wake up.  I passed almost no tourists, but saw many locals getting ready for the day.  Cerro del la Cruz is on a hill that overlooks Antigua and the Pacaya volcano.  I only passed one walker and one runner so it was very peaceful.  The view was beautiful.  I continued further on a trail and then a road that wound its way up the hill so I had several other beautiful views of the city and surrounding mountains. 

     Later in the morning, we went on a chocolate "tour".  We learned all about the history of chocolate and how chocolate is made.  Then we got to make our own!  We made our own candies, brewed tea from the husks of cocoa beans that we roasted, made a spicy Mayan chocolate drink from a paste we made from grinding the cocoa beans by hand, and hot chocolate from the same paste.  It was a lot of fun!  I took even more pictures than I am going to post because I think you would have loved making your own chocolate.  I'll show you when I get home.  I have an especially funny one just for the two of you.

     We spent the rest of the day exploring the city.  When I finally sat down to dinner, I realized that my legs were tired!  I miss you so much!  Have fun with Lauren tomorrow!

Love you, Mom

 

Lovely walk to breakfast 

 

Inside a cacao pod.  The white things are the cacao seeds, which are what chocolate is made from.  If you suck on them, the white part tastes like a sweet, ripe, mango.  The inside of the seed tastes bitter.

Dried cacao seeds

 My chocolates.

Roasting the cacao seeds.  They pop like jumping beans when they are ready.

We had a competition to see who could make the best cacao paste in 1 1/2 minutes.  Kaitlynn placed first; Danny placed second out of 12 competitors.

There is a stage set up in front of the ruins of a church.  We walked by a concert there last night. 

Inside the old convent Santa Domingo.  The grounds were incredibly peaceful and beautiful.

There was a wedding set up in the ruins of the convent.  Wouldn't it be nice to get married here.  You should have seen this space in person!

A procession for Lent.