The rest of the trip

On our final Wednesday, we packed up our things, and said goodbye to Reu and our new friends. We headed for Antigua, a city near Guatemala City. Antigua has language schools so there is great diversity in the city. There are people from all over the world there that are students.

Antigua is also known for it's incredible Artisen markets....We had a shoping list of what we wanted to pick up....but after walking through the market, our list grew. We wanted to look for rainsticks, something for Kolton and Kamryn, table runners, a tortilla squisher, a lemonaide press....to name afew. It did not take long to figure out that the tortilla squisher and press were not going to be practical given we were flying home and not taking the bus back.

However, during a conversation about how they made black beans, we decided that we needed a bean pot. Esturado came to the rescue and through his amazing ability to network, found a woman who knew a guy in her village who made the pots. So we put in our order. The pots were delivered on Saturday morning just before we had to leave for the airport. I wrapped it in the table runners and pillow covers that we bought and put the pot in my backpack.

It is actually a small miracle that the bean pot and the 5 foot rainstick all made it home safely. Both ended up being carry ons for the flight home. But they did. The rainstick found a home in Elayne's office. And we are waiting for a day when we can tend a fire all day to try out the bean pot.

Thursday we said good-bye to Diane, Theresa, and Katheryn as they left for the airport. Due to an emergency at home, Gabriel went home as well.

After the good byes we went back to the markets to see what we see. The markets were an experience. You could get just about anything. It was strange to my eyes to see beef and other meats hanging and ready for your purchase. I passed.... There were all kinds of fruits and vegtables that were being hauled in huge baskets on top of their heads.

But the artisen market was a feast for the eyes with the colors and things that were available. Like everthing else, there were no listed prices, you had to tell what you wanted to pay and go from there. Bargining was not only the way it was done, but it was expected. I had fun with it, but I don't do math, so there were challenges with converting dollars into Q's. It was to much fun!

We decided to do something different on Friday....