Antigua

N and I have been super busy but we finally got a chance to take a little breather and stop by the Internet cafe and check on the digital life. I am still working on posting photos. We managed to get a USB cable from a guy on the street (you can buy anything you want from a guy on the street here) but it turns out buying a cable from some guy on the street doesn't guarantee the cable will work.

Antigua sure is an interesting place. It would take too long to describe everything so here are some highlights:

While waiting in line to go to the bathroom (baño, it´s important to learn these words) I got to chatting with a Guatemalan man. After about 5 minutes of waiting he says "come with me" and we wander outside. Then he gestures me near him beside a car and says "in Guatemala you pee on cars" and we bonded while peeing all over some car on the side of the road.

We met up with one of N's friends here a 72 year old masseuse, grandma, activist, sweet lady who isn't afraid to drop an F-bomb or 20. We had a great chat over food and a couple of beers then she took me to a big fancy hotel where we walked through the lobby and she told me the history of Guatemala using the paintings on the walls as reference. Then we went and saw a really beautiful view of the city from the top of a hotel/resturant near her house.

Nitivia, Deet, and Scott (in order from left to right)

That's us at her house for a late night cup of tea. She is pretty great and very crazy but then you would have to be a little crazy to be friends with us!

This pool was hot as hell then you got in the cold as shit tub.

N and I decided to splurge a little bit and thanks to N's cousins contribution to the honeymoon we went to a Spa outside of lake Amatitlan. I hadn't ever gone to a spa before but this was a pretty cool experience. We did a circuit of lava spring hot pools where you jump into a 105 degree tub, then a 70 degree tub, 98, 95, then alternate between the 105 and 70 tub a few times (10 minutes each). After the tub circuits we took a steam bath, got a massage, and went swimming for an hour. I don't know if that what spas are supposed to be like but it's fun to go (although I wouldn't say it´s worth going more than once every few years).

Looking all relaxed after falling asleep during her massage.

I was clearly born for  life of luxury but thanks to my parents I was forced to live without terrycloth robes and volcanically powered pools.

Harvest time!

Today we went on a tour of a coffee farm outside of town through a local NGO called "As Green As It Gets" which helps the local farmers combine their crops for easier exportation and sale in foreign countries. I had no idea it took so much work to grow coffee! It takes 3 years for a coffee bush to begin producing fruit and it won't hit it's prime until it's 10 years old! then the bush will begin to decrease production until it needs to be replace at between 15 and 25 years. Once a bush begins producing you have to harvest the berries by hand because the tree produces berries from the inside to the outside of the plant and the blossoms will fall off easily if disturbed so you can't use mechanical harvesting. Once the berries are harvested you have to strip off the fruit, ferment, wash, wash, de husk, dry, sort, and roast. It takes 10 lbs of berries to yield 1 lb of drinkable coffee. On the plus side at the end of the tour we got to roast, grind, and drink the coffee. You haven´t tasted good coffee until you have drank coffee that you roasted over a wood fire and ground (by hand on a giant stone called a Molina). After the tour we got to eat some really wonderful home made food (thank you Timeteo!) If you are ever in this area you HAVE to do this tour, it was beautiful, educational, interesting, delicious, fun, and a really wonderful way to hike around the jungles of Guatemala.

If you can't guess this is coffee you haven't been paying attention.

The last time I was doing this was when my Mom was forcing me to harvest huckleberries.

This machine lets you ride a bike to strip the outer berry from the bean. The berry goes into a heap to fertilize the coffee field while the bean progresses to the next stage.

The beans dump out into a sack all conveniently like it was intelligently designed.

Fermented, washed, and dried you can either ship these out or roast them.

Roasting the traditional Mayan way. Under that chunk of steel is a wood fire. That room was so hot and smokey but the result was sooo worth it.

Tossing the toasted beans to cool them.

This ancient form of torture is called a Molina and is used to remind you how lucky you are to have an electric grinder at home.

Enjoying the freshly roasted coffee. This was the best cup of coffee I may have ever had.

Timoteo! This guy was one of the highlights of the trip. I haven't had a better tour yet.

(Begin gross story about poop)
It´s inevitable while changing climates and foods to get a little ill and boy did I get a bit sick for a day. I woke up with a slight headache and a rumble in my belly. I thought, oh well just a little ill let´s go out and have some fun anyway! Well let me tell you a thing or two about having intense, black, stinky, bowl shattering diarrhea in a bathroom stall in the middle of a hostel where everyone can not only hear but smell you...

That thing is don't do it.

Seriously, you will get a really grossed out look from people.
(End gross story about poop)

Well there is a lot more and when I have time I will write more (and post photos, I swear!)