Sunday, January 29, 2012

Antigua - el cafe Condesa


this cafe is in a colonial home built in 1549. At some point it was a royal home 
nowadays, they serve some of the best pastries we've ever eaten. Not overloaded with sugar at all.
there are three different courtyards
 



Antigua - el parque central




people from all over the world flock here to learn Spanish. Mostly, we saw a lot of Americans, Canadians and French people in large numbers and all ages

this town has a leisurely feel to it 



Antigua used to be the seat of Goverment until the last big earthquake in the 1700s, when goverment was transferred to Guatemala City 

Antigua - the organic farm

you can walk to everywhere in Antigua, it's not a very big place
this organic farm is on 5 acres. It was created by a young Guatemalan after he came back from the US. They can deliver a 17 pound bag of organic vegetables and fruit to your home for 20 USD every week



cocoa is a specialty of the area, as well as coffee 
this guys knows the truth. He sells excellent ginger beer
this organization builds earth-quake resistant/earth friendly homes for orphans. Outside walls are made of sand bags and concrete, and interior walls are made of filled plastic bottles:  
each home will have a permanent mum and 7 kids. The kids will stay there and not be adopted
the jet-set of Antigua was here: lots of Americans and Canadians, some with young children 


we hope the kids had a good day 

coffee beans






Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Antigua, Guatemala - our environment

We also took a collective van to Antigua
Maria is our neighbor at the language school. She is a Spanish teacher

we could not find Hadrien's hotel so the van dropped us off somewhere a couple blocks off the parque central. Right there is a language school with housing for families. The street is 1a avenida Sur
this is the entrance of the language school La Union
this is the free wi-fi area
all the way at the back is the entrance to our rental. The people sitting there are language students having private lessons

they are letting us stay in this house for a week for 1400 Q (USD 25 per night). It's like a hotel, there is house cleaning and linens are provided. These people seem to be very nice
this is the kitchen with everything we need. We're going to be able to eat some fruit and cook!
this is Angelina's bed off the kitchen
Louis's bedroom is upstairs
our bedroom is upstairs too 
there is a small private patio upstairs
there is an outside patio where we can have our meals
Louis and Angelina made some friends around the computer today