Saturday, August 16, 2008

The Guatemala Story

We're back in San Miguel de Allende. Arrived home Thursday night but it has taken some time to sort through emails, wash clothes, buy groceries.....you know all those things that make up life. I took 15 rolls of film with the Holga. It is off being processed. I'll get it back on Monday evening. If the Holga angel was on my shoulder, I'll have a few pictures to go along with the blog.

The trip to Guatemala was great. We had a wonderful time but I'm not going to give you a day by day trip report but I would like to tell you some things about the trip so over the next week or so, I'll add additional entries.

The schedule for the trip was planned by Bill who has been to Guatemala many times over the last 30 years and he was the textile expert who traveled with us. We wanted to hit the market days in several places and so the trip was planned around them. Just in case anyone else might want to do the same, I thought I would share the plan with you.

Hotels – Guatemala
August 4-14, 2008

Monday and Tuesday
Aug. 4 & 5 Antigua – Casa Ovalle B & B
011 (502) 7832-3031
casaovalle@yahoo.com
Great B&B in the Centro

Wednesday
Aug. 6 Chichicastenango – Mayan Inn
011 (502) 7756-1176
info@mayaninn.com.gt
The huge Chichicastenango market is on Thursday. We left Thursday afternoon after the market.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday
Aug. 7,8, & 9 Panajachel – Hotel Dos Mundos
011 (502) 7762-2078
info@hoteldosmundos.com
Panajachel is on beautiful Lake Atitlan. It is very easy to rent a boat to take you to the villages that surround the lake. The Solola (about an hour away) market is on Friday

Sunday and Monday
Aug. 10 & 11 Antigua – Quinta de las Flores
011 (502) 7832-3721
contact@quintadelasflores.com
The Antigua market is on Monday

Tuesday
August 12 Tikal - Jungle Lodge
011 (502) 861-0446
reservaciones@junglelodgetikal.com
Visit Mayan ruins of Tikal Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning.

Wednesday
August 13 Flores - Hotel Isla de Flores
011 (501) 926-0614
reservaciones@junglelodgetikal.com
Out of the jungle and close to the airport for early morning flight back to Guatemala City on Thursday.

We used private shuttle vans for all the travel between towns. Provided by: Turansa
evadeguardia@turansa.com

Yes it is a lot of moving about but at the same time we covered places that we really wanted to see. We went down with only one suitcase each but with extra baggage which we managed to fill up with textiles as we traveled so by the time we were 3/4's of the way through the trip we looked like we had moved to Guatemala and getting from one place to another become more difficult. I kept saying that I really was only going to buy one or two things. Babs told me I would not be able to resist the textiles. She was right.

Okay, now you have the trip plan so if you like my stories about Guatemala, you can duplicate it.

9 comments:

Steve Cotton said...

Great to have you back. I will admit textiles are not my forte. But I am looking forward to learning something new from you.

Jonna said...

Billie, how wonderful! I've been to all those places, in our RV, and am anxious to return. I love textiles and I too bought more than I intended but it is so beautiful and so well done. I think it is fantastic to have your own expert with you on a trip like that. I had an RV full of books and, of course I could carry more back with me. A mixed blessing ;)

I can't wait to do some more looking and shopping in Guatemala when the house is done. I am actually sitting here at the condo now surrounded by the weavings and fabric I bought in Guatemala.

I'll bet you got some fantastic pictures. Everywhere I looked I felt was a picture and the markets, the lake, the volcanoes + your talent is going to equal incredible pictures. I can't wait to see some of them.

Anonymous said...

Welcome home, chica. I've got my fingers crossed for your Holga picture. There should be gold in there!

Cristina

Cynthia said...

Welcome home! Can't wait to see your photos and hear more about the trip.

Babs said...

Thank goodness you're home! Did you leave old clothes in Guatemala like I did so I'd have more room to bring stuff back?
With you, Wayne and First mate gone all at the same time, it has felt "deserted" around here on the blog.

Calypso said...

selfishly I am glad your back - like everyone else looking forward to the photos.

YayaOrchid said...

I can hardly wait to see pictures of all the wonderful goodies you brought back!

jennifer rose said...

It's about time you checked in, young lady. You didn't write; you didn't call. We were worried sick.

Oh, I spent your absence in Manhattan.

Billie Mercer said...

Hey, everyone, I'm glad you checked back in. I think I should not have mentioned the rolls of film. Now I'm nervous...having performance anxiety. But if nothing is worth showing, I'll blame it on the holga or maybe the airport scanner.