Antigua

I love traveling.

There are many beautiful places in this world, one of the most beautiful is right here in Antigua Guatemala.

I got the chance to go with the PA team to Antigua last weekend for a little vacation.
Antigua is one of the best preserved old spanish settlements next to three active volcanoes. It has been destroyed many times by those same volcanoes, but it still survives.

Cobblestone streets, Tiled roofs. Fernando's Coffee. Mmmm. I love this place.

Ahh, volcanoes. 

What is it about them that just sucks me in? They are so fascinating. 

Seeing them in person takes me back to elementary school and the Magic School Bus TV show.

I am definitely putting on my bucket list volcano surfing. 

If you want to know more, see here: Volcano-boarding.

Antigua is a wonderful tourist attraction. It is a little weird to come here after living surrounded by poverty, and people who live on a dollar a day.

But it is certainly a place I really enjoy going to.

Early breakfast at Fernando's

Fernando's is one of the best coffee places in Antigua. I highly recommend it. Yum. 

We had the chance to do some touring around Antigua. We visited some ruined cathedrals that had been destroyed in some earthquakes.

We also saw an old convent that was only open for a few years due to a major earthquake in the 1700s. 

Back then, the firstborn was always given away. Boys either could be sent to the army or the priesthood, and girls were sent to a convent, never to leave. 

If I had to spend my whole life locked away in one building, this one would be a pretty awesome one.

The back of an awesomely big oven.

1700s version of a spa, complete with an oven to boil the nice-smelling herbs for the bath.

Water pipes through the kitchen.

1700s version of a toilet.

The room where the new nuns would stay for a week to pray and fast.

The three alters for Holy Week.

The Crypt. Best Acoustics Ever.

Guatemala is a very large producer of Jade. We had the chance to visit the Jade museum, and learn a bit about the history of the Mayan Kings who first used jade. Apparently, they also did a game similar to a mix of soccer and basketball that you could only use your knees, chest, and upper arms to hit the ball. The winner of the game got to be sacrificed to the gods.

Yep, the winner.

Jesus won everything in my opinion. He paved the way for us in blood. He did it so we wouldn't have to. I think that's the thing that is really hard to tell people here. Here, it is about doing all the things you can to appease the gods. adding one more god is just something you do. I don't think people die for the gods here anymore, but they do mix religions quite a bit. Any church you enter here has a mix of Christianity and Mayan polytheism going on, that is supremely muddled. If you want to know more about the syncretism, please see my post in April titled "Time is Speeding Away".

Thank you Jesus for giving us Truth. My prayer this week is that the Truth would spread through Antigua, just as it has in Tactic.