What an Experience

Today after Spanish class we wanted to stay in Antigua, but we had to go home for lunch first, then Bob drove us back into Antigua. The whole group got some ice cream, and then from there we walked back to the market. We decided to split up and go our separate ways. John, Jen, Caleb, and I had already done most of our shopping the first time we came to Antigua. Though John still needed sunglasses, so our group split up, we went to look for John’s sunglasses. We found some at a little shop in the market; John tried on a few before he found the ones he liked. He bought the pair that he liked, working out to a few dollars, Canadian. We then decided it would be fun if we just randomly hopped on a bus and went somewhere else because we’ve already seen most of Antigua. On the way to the bus depot, behind the market, Caleb decided that he was thirsty, so we stopped to get drinks. We decided to get our pop in a plastic bag; we’ve heard of it being done before and thought it would be cool to experience it ourselves. It tastes just as good in a plastic bag as it does in a bottle, but it looks cooler this way. I wasn’t sick tonight, so it must have been sanitary. You can also squish the pop around in a plastic bag. The reason they like putting the pop in a plastic bag is so that they can return the bottles. We walked to the buses with our pop in hand. We wanted to get on the first departing bus, but we decided it probably wouldn’t be a good idea, so we asked one of the bus drivers what other cities were close to our house. He said to the south is San Pedro (where we live), San Juan, and Santa Maria (we had already gone there). We only had a couple hours so we couldn’t go too far from home, and we had already been to Santa Maria, so we decided it was time to scope out San Juan. It was a fun bus ride, as always, with the music going and all the Guatemalans around you. Upon arrival we made way into their central park, (which every town seems to have). It was an amazing view. Antigua is situated in the valley; San Pedro is just a fifteen minute ride from Antigua; Santa Maria is up the side of the volcano, but is around the corner, so you can’t really see into the valley; San Juan is about fifteen minutes from San Pedro, half an hour from Antigua, but it is ascended up a little from San Pedro on a hill. It is a nicer view than the one from San Pedro because from San Juan you can see San Pedro just over the edge, and Antigua in the distance. I started taking all the pictures I could, taking scenic photos, group photos, and church/central park photos. All the cities tend to have a church with a cross a certain amount of feet away, in a central park. Some have fountains, some don’t. We spent about forty five minutes exploring before heading home. It was a neat experience just going off, the four us, just taking a bus to a new place. When we got home, we got to boast and brag about the experiences we had making the others jealous.