Central America: Antigua and Panajachel

After 8 hours in the bus, we arrived in Antigua last night...just in time for dinner, then to bed, then off to Panajachel, which is where the photo above was taken. Lots of travelling, and on some amazing roads. Skinny roads thru the highlands, carved out of the hillside. No place to go if you break down, and tons of hairpin turns that make you dizzy. Several trucks and busses DID break down, though, which meant that the traffic was backed up several times around all of those turns. In fact, on one of the wider roads, an 18 wheeler had been going too fast and flipped over...effectively blocking 3/4 of the road. That backup put us more than an hour behind schedule. It was really something. Add to that the smell and smoke of garbage or brush burning (looking out onto any vista, you can see between 4 and 10 fires burning at any given time) and the thick, black exhaust from all of the busses and trucks. By the end of the ride today I was nauseous from all of the fumes...Ok, it's blurry because I shot from the bus window but what I am trying to document is the way that they use all of the land here. Even areas that you think are too steep (and it's all steep), they have figured out a way to access it and plant...something. Corn, cabbage, watermelons, you name it. They grow it. This photo doesn't even show the really steep areas.

A market that we stopped at for a few hours today. Busy place. Lots of beautiful things, textiles mostly. I am reminded on a daily basis of the lessons learned in India, and I am not buying anything that takes up space. NOTHING. Nada. Not this time. I did, however, find a nice silver ring for myself today. I have been keeping my eye out for something like that, I finally found one that met my specifications. I'm kinda picky with things like that.

Steps to a church in the middle of that market.
Chicks for sale. Anyone need a nice chicken?
The colorful area on the far hillside is a cemetery.

There are not as many skinny dogs here as there were in India, but the dogs still aren't exactly pets. They scrounge around the streets looking for garbage to eat, and then when they sleep they are out cold, anywhere. I have seen dogs sleeping in the road. This one was at least within the market, no cars allowed.
This was a quick shot last night in Antigua. The place is gorgeous...a beautifully laid out Spanish city. It was the capitol until it got levelled by one too many earthquakes. We are going back to Antigua in a couple of days, I will get more of a chance to look around then. I am afraid I might buy something there, though. They have such nice things. Really nice.
And one last shot...the place I picked for breakfast today had a resident cat! As I sat there petting the happy little thing, it was the first time the whole trip I have smiled so much. Nothing like a furry creature to make me happy. :)