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Tuesday, September 1st 2009
8:58 PM
Guatemala City
On Monday morning I bid farewell to Quatzaltenango (Xela) and headed for Guatemala City, a five hour bus ride in the rain. I had actually planned to be in Xela for a couple of more weeks, but decided that I had enough of "total immersion". As I have mentioned earlier most of the students are just out of college and have extensive Spanish in high school and college and are at the school to perfect their Spanish. The school was really not scaled to someone like myself who was just starting out in Spanish. Five hours a day of one-on-one was like drinking from a firehouse! Rather than "total immersion" it was drowning! However the two weeks did give me a good basis and I am confident that with my Rosetta Stone CD's and books I can pick up the remaining Spanish that I want to learn. So I decided to head for home.
I am spending three nights and a couple of days in Guatemala City. It is a total change from Xela. Total. Xela was a small, poor village with the streets full of stray dogs and chickens. Guatemala is a modern city with modern hotels and museums and restaurants. A welcomed change! I am staying in an American chain hotel, Howard Johnsons, and it is great! Air conditioning, hot water, Internet, big screen plasma TV, cable, and a great restaurant right in the hotel!
On my first day here in Guatemala City I hired a tour guide and toured the entire city by car to see the major sites and learn the layout of this city of 3 million people.
Cathedral Metropolitana, completed in 1815.
The highlight of the day was a visit to Museo Miraflores. It is a beautiful, modern, world class museum built over the site of an ancient Mayan village. The manager of the museum was a friend of my guide, and he gave us a personal tour of the entire museum, even allowing me touch and handle some of the ancient Mayan carvings and other antiquities.
Museo Miraflores. A modern museum built over part of the Mayan site of Kaminaljuyu, dating back to 600BC.
Behind the museum building a giant mound of dirt, which covers one of the 3rd Century BC Mayan temples, has been excavated with a tunnel dug under it where one can see the skeleton of a 3rd Century king. The excavation of the grave is covered with thick glass panels which allows one to see the entire burial site. The skeleton is still wearing a jade neklace and other jade jewelry and is surrounded by the skeletons of servants and pottery and utinsels that were buried with him to serve him in the after life. It is really astounding to think that these remains have been there for 1800 years.
This evening had a great dinner in the hotel restaurant of French onion soup, a white fish cooked in foil with fapers, tomatoes, and onions; yellow rice; and perfectly sauted vegetables. This was followed by a classic Spanish style custard in caramel sauce with rich Guatemalan coffee. Perfect!!!!
Definitely enjoying the cosmopolitan environment of this city and wish I had time to travel to Antigua. That will have to wait for a future trip.
I am spending three nights and a couple of days in Guatemala City. It is a total change from Xela. Total. Xela was a small, poor village with the streets full of stray dogs and chickens. Guatemala is a modern city with modern hotels and museums and restaurants. A welcomed change! I am staying in an American chain hotel, Howard Johnsons, and it is great! Air conditioning, hot water, Internet, big screen plasma TV, cable, and a great restaurant right in the hotel!
Lobby of the Guatemala City HoJo. Civilization!!
On my first day here in Guatemala City I hired a tour guide and toured the entire city by car to see the major sites and learn the layout of this city of 3 million people.
Cathedral Metropolitana, completed in 1815.
Palacio Nacional de la Cultura, also known as the Green Monster. Built between 1938-1943 and is the Guatemalan White House, however most of the Presidents have chosen not to live here but just work herel.
The highlight of the day was a visit to Museo Miraflores. It is a beautiful, modern, world class museum built over the site of an ancient Mayan village. The manager of the museum was a friend of my guide, and he gave us a personal tour of the entire museum, even allowing me touch and handle some of the ancient Mayan carvings and other antiquities.
Museo Miraflores. A modern museum built over part of the Mayan site of Kaminaljuyu, dating back to 600BC.
Behind the museum building a giant mound of dirt, which covers one of the 3rd Century BC Mayan temples, has been excavated with a tunnel dug under it where one can see the skeleton of a 3rd Century king. The excavation of the grave is covered with thick glass panels which allows one to see the entire burial site. The skeleton is still wearing a jade neklace and other jade jewelry and is surrounded by the skeletons of servants and pottery and utinsels that were buried with him to serve him in the after life. It is really astounding to think that these remains have been there for 1800 years.
Standing on top of one of the mounds which cover the Mayan ruins of Kaminaljuyu, built around the lake Miraflores. These temples were built of clay, not stone, therefore the dirt mounds cannot be removed without destroying the ruins within them.
The museum manager who led our tour of the museum describing the original architecture of the ancient site.
The skeleton of a king buried under this mound in about 300BC. His remains, and the remains of several servants and a number of pots and other artifacts are intact where they were found when the area under the mound was excavated. The skeleton still has the jade necklace and other jade ornaments that were on the body when he was buried 1800 years ago.
Also built on top of the ancient Mayan site is a modern mall, complete with a Chili's restaurant (note the red chili on the right). One wonders if this mall will be excavated by archiologists 1800 years from now and what conclusions they will make about our civilization!
There are a few infrastructure issues even here in the capital. Note the sidewalk down the street on a major thoroughfare of the city. A bit off level.
This evening had a great dinner in the hotel restaurant of French onion soup, a white fish cooked in foil with fapers, tomatoes, and onions; yellow rice; and perfectly sauted vegetables. This was followed by a classic Spanish style custard in caramel sauce with rich Guatemalan coffee. Perfect!!!!
The hotel restaurant is quite a change from the small mountain village of Xela. The food is top notch.
Definitely enjoying the cosmopolitan environment of this city and wish I had time to travel to Antigua. That will have to wait for a future trip.