The Tourist Police compound was like our own walled park for vanlifers.The German with the man bun is playing a digeridoo.
A four leaf clover I found growing near our van.
The compound got fairly crowded at some stages so we were glad we were tucked in a corner. The big Unimogs had to squeeze into the line of vans and campers.
A part of the market as it is starting to clear out.
Umbrellas versus inside stalls. Folks come from all over to bring their goods to sell here on market days.
I don't even know what these things are!
Chiles of all sorts here.
On of the egg sellers. Often only sold in flats. Otherwise you have to carry eggs in a plastic bag if you don't want all 30 in the flat.
The Police truck forced its way through the market. Men had to move the crates around to make room for them to pass.
They sell mangos cut up and served in plastic cups, too.
Ladies making fresh corn tortillas.
An old building under restoration/reconstruction. What ornate brickwork.
A huge stone head that was just moved into place at the museum courtyard.
Jade necklace at museum.
Jade anklets and bracelets at the museum.
Some pretty wicked flint spear tips.
Detail of an old wooden lintel from a Mayan temple.
Nice view of the volcano from the Munog museum 2nd floor.
A very ornate gold piece from a church. Most of the church items here are silver, not gold.
A giant bronze head sculpture of a conquistador. Who would ever commission such a thing these days?
One interesting piece I liked in the museum of modern art section
Looking down at a wash station.Nice colors.
A large ring of tortoise shells.
Really? A gold McDonald's cup in the museum as art?
A colorful wheel is more my style.
The 'mermaid' of the Munog museum.
Water fountain in the plaza square.
Another ornate facade in Antigua.
Arches are a common theme here in the architecture.
A paper cross at a construction site in town.
An old wall used as a foundation structure for a new wall for a home.
A giant shooting star flower on a vine of a home we passed.
Fuego and Acatenango volcanos from the mirador/lookout over Antigua. Fuego (on the left) is still pretty active and you can't climb it. Acatenango is a 4-6 hour hike that many fit persons do and you stay overnight hoping to see lava flow or eruption from the neighboring Fuego.
Old town Antigua from the Cerro del Cruz overlook, with Agua volcano as a backdrop.
The cross at the Hill of the Cross (Cerro del Cruz) lookout above Antigua. Agua in the background.
Jason at the overlook.
Karen with quetzal wings at overlook.
The road up to the overlook offers a good morning hike up. Gotta go in the mornings or the haze obscures the view. We never had a really clear day in Guatemal. Between the volcanos, people still using wood to cook, slash and burn land clearing, and the humidity, it's hard to get a clear vista these days.
The welcome sign to the overlook start.
This lady's tamales were a popular draw on the street corner for breakfast.
Iconic yellow church in Antigua.
Nicely restored.
Remy and Liz as they prepare to leave for Semuc Champey and beyond. Good new friends.
Typical woman with bundles on her back and head and in her arms.
I bought this bracelet for Liz as she had told me about it and she wasn't sure she'd get back to the shop to get it. She was thrilled with the gift.
Jason getting down to Guatemalan size.
Jason towers over the clerk at the store.
I bought the one on the left but there were so many pretty ceramic bead things in this store.
The huge green stone or ceramic necklace in the center weighed a ton! No way could I ever wear it. I could barely lift in on its holder here.
Fancy beadwork was the norm here.
The beadwork at the entrance that told me I was in the right place.
Jason's Mayan symbol for his birthdate is the feathered serpent, Kan. They make jade disks at the jade store to represent it.
My birth date symbol is the crocodile, Imox.
This is the explanation of Imox characteristics. Insanity?
I never knew Mayans used to imbed jade bits into their teeth! This skull shows some of that.
The newest color of jade discovered is lilac jade. It's usually mixed in with white, but it is very pretty. Jade comes in whiite, blue, green, lilac and black, with various shades in each, especially the traditional green. Such a pretty stone.
A large jade marimba in the jade store.
One store has a workshop in back where employees cut, carve and polish jade items for sale in the shop up front. They have quite the lapidary setup.
This guy was cutting out jade discs from a slab.
Another large jade marimba.
Jade carving of a Mayan corn god.
A skull with jade-embedded teeth.
Beautifu lilac jade necklace.
Jade burial masks were popular with the Maya. The shop/museum has many and they make replicas for sale.
Lilac jade pendant with blue and green jade bead necklace.
The jade mask and figure at the entrance to Jade Maya store/museum/workshop. I spent so long in there looking that Jason thought I was lost and went looking for me.
Walking along a typical cobblestone street in Antigua. Really old buildings mix in with the newer/renewed buildings. No signage on the streets here. You have to look for the name on the wall as you walk past.
Some very unusual joints of wood in a basket at a shop front.
Part of a wall of orange stucco. So many shades, I don't think you could make the coloring on purpose, but it works. I like it,
Some pretty orange flowers hanging over a wall.
Dried flowers of various colors seem to be a popular decoration on the fronts of some buildings.
A huge ball of twine in the library in Antigua. There was no sign or info about it. It's about 3 feet in diameter!
The courtyard of the Antigua library. Only one short side of the second floor is the library; the rest is a free art gallery and cultural center.
Sonny cooking us hamburgers on the back of his rig after the Pacaya volcano hike.
A man with a bundle of sticks. He's carrying it somewhere to burn for cooking.
A grub of a big black beetle. Our guide Dario is explaining it to us as we found it on the trail up the volcano.
After running down the scree slope at the end of our hike, we all had to stop and take off our shoes to shake out a huge amount of black sand. The slope was covered in several feet of crunchy, loose, black lava sand that filled our shoes.
Looking back up the scree slope, you can see our footprint indents as the darker sand spots
Group photo of our hiking group at the top of Pacaya. Ready to head down now.
Jason on Pacaya volcano.
Some pretty reddish orange lava along one of the flows. Different minerals cause the different colors. Our guide found some lava with copper in it; I found some with a blue sheen. The regular black was very light and sharp.
Our focaccia bread with for lunch on Pacaya Volcano. The dogs already up on the volcano and were waiting for scraps.
More colorful lava at our lunch spot.
You can see the steam rising from the lava around us. The red umbrella is a vendor who sells drinks. They advertise that you can cook a pizza on the lava up here, but the steam vents weren't even hot enough to melt cheese on our bread.
An interesting curl of lava formation near the vendor's spot. Perhaps he has a hot spot he protects.
Jason on a lava promontory with a Guatemalan flag.
Jason bothering a local dog who found a comfy spot to lay in the sharp lava rocks.
A fumarole, a hole in the lava where steam and gasses escaped. It was mostly cool now, but had been active a couple of years ago.
