The Last Few Days...

On Friday afternoon we went to the Aurora Zoo right here in Guatemala City. Another couple came along with us, and it was a really nice time! It was pretty much like any other zoo though it did seem in some instances that the cages/fences holding the animals in weren't quite enough for our comfort! We saw the tigers and puma closer than we have ever seen these animals before. It was very cool, but a little unnerving!! We saw giraffes, elephants, hippos, a variety of primates. One of the primate cages was surrounded by a group of school children screaming, and the animal was yelling back at them, Greg has some video of it. We kept waiting for him (the primate, not sure what it was exactly) to come ripping out of the cage. Thankfully, he remained behind the fence. Ian's favorite part of the zoo was the snakes (serpentines) exhibit. It was extremely dark in there but Ian really got a kick out of the different snakes that were on display! Not my favorite, I'll admit! Ian also saw that some of the school kids had their faces painted and we spent a good amount of time searching for where they had it done. We asked the clown at the entrance and he said it is only done on Saturdays, so we missed out on that unfortunately. All in all though, I'm really glad we went! It was nice to get out of the hotel, it was inexpensive, and was a really nice zoo! We hired our taxi to meet us after two hours, so he was there to meet us as soon as we exited the zoo. I had heard that it is difficult to hail a taxi from the area, so I'm really glad we asked him to meet us back there. He didn't even accept payment until after the return ride, very cool! We spent the remainder of the afternoon in the hotel room resting, and headed down to the pool for dinner. We ate in the outdoor bar area, under the lanterns. There was a slight breeze, it was beautiful! Ana fell asleep while we were eating, then Ian and I went swimming after we were done. I had promised him, it was chilly outside though! It was warm while we were in the water, but man! As soon as we got out, brrrr! I think he just needed a little mummy time, so I'm glad I went.

On Saturday, we got out of the hotel again. We hired a tour guide named Victor to bring us to Antigua. He was wonderful!! I would highly recommend him to anyone looking for a tour anywhere around Guatemala. We left the hotel at about 10am, and returned around 6:30pm. We traveled with two other families, both who's blogs I follow so that was very cool! First stop was a coffee plantation where we were able to see how coffee is grown, harvested and roasted. We learned that Starbucks gets all their coffee from Guatemala. They had a museum of music there as well that Ian found interesting. They showed a video on Mayan traditions, Ana just sat and smiled the entire time. Ian got a whistle that he is very excited about. We got Ana a rainmaker. It was a very interesting place! Next we visited two churches. The first one was surrounded by festivities, vendors making churros and fried meats as well as lot's of souvenir type things. When we got into the church, they had a sand carpet very similar to the one we watched being made in the Marriott lobby. There were hundreds of people worshipping inside, leaving offerings for God. This is the start of Holy week in Guatemala, it is celebrated very big down here! The second church was closed, but there were hundreds of people out around the outside making things for Palm Sunday. This one was a beautiful old church that dates back to the 1500's I believe he said. The names of the churches escape me right now. It's just about 10:00 on Sunday night right now and I'm not feeling too good. My stomach did not handle dinner well, so I'm not thinking entirely clearly. My apologies for that! I just wanted to get something up there! The pictures are going to have to wait though I'm afraid. Anyways, we finished the day with a trip to the artisan market. We bought many things there, everyone had a "good deal" for us, "their friends" :) It was very difficult to walk away, everyone was calling for you, and God forbid you show interest in anything, they will do anything in their power to make sure you walk away with it in your bag!! It was fun though, and I think we got some great things for Ian and Ana, as well as for friends and family at home, you'll just have to wait and see!! I think we ended up getting McDonalds for dinner last night, and headed down to the pool for a little swim. Greg is getting good at going to McDonalds. We resorted to it to try and get Ian to eat something other than just french fries. At least at McDonalds, he would eat a grilled cheese along with the french fries! The first time ordering a grilled cheese was interesting, but a manager finally got what Greg was trying to explain. The next time he went though, he tried to order a cheeseburger, and the guy said "Oh, I know what he wants!" and gave him a grilled cheese. So now Greg believes he has ruined his chances forever of ordering a cheese burger at that McDonalds! Pretty funny, I think.

Today, we decided to relax here at the hotel. We got up and snacked in the room because we wanted to go to the buffet brunch that was supposed to have traditional Guatemalan fare with marimba music playing. It sounded to cool! Unfortunately, we showed up right at what was supposed to be the starting time, and it wasn't ready for at least another half hour. The music didn't start for another hour!! So it was a little disappointing to say the least. At least we got to eat really good food the day before in Antigua. I forgot to mention that we had lunch at a great restaurant. I'll have pictures of that as well.

Well, I think I'm going to close for now. Things are going great, Ana is still as happy a baby as ever. She started yesterday afternoon to "speak" more and is doing a lot of "ra ra ra ra ra" it is very cute. She is just a dream and I really can't believe that we are bringing her home with us tomorrow! Well, I'm really not feeling very well, I'm going to close for now. I'll update in the morning. Good night :)