antigua

Our visit to Antigua has been the second best thing about our trip to Guatemala (try to guess the first!) Yesterday afternoon we spent all afternoon walking through the mercado which must have been an entire city block. The first thing we purchased was a traditional sling for Marcos. Once snuggled in, he contently slept through all our shopping. We had a good time picking out surprizes for Eliza and Max, especially traditional musical instruments to add to our "box of music." Neither Tony or I are very good at bartering, so I hope we made someone's day by giving them a good price. After about a half an hour of shopping the thunder cracked and it started raining buckets. Most of the booths were covered with tin, but the ground turned into little lakes in minutes. We were running though stalls of raw fish, chicken, spices and unrocognizable fruits and vegetables laughing our heads off. At one of the stalls we met the most lovely girl named Monica and we sat and talked for quite a while. She wanted to know everything about the kids and was most anxious to meet Max. Our driver Luis had recommended an authentic restaurant for dinner and we enjoyed it so much, epecially the kids. I'm so proud of the kids for trying new foods. Today Wilson ordered linguini with squid and loved it.

One of the kid's most fun experiences was last night when we went to get ice cream . A girl about Wilson's age was selling necklaces and was more than persistant! She spoke amazing English and simply would not take no for an answer. The boys were fascinated by her and keep quoting her lines like, "yes my friend, I give you a good price," and "you liike this? I give you two!" I was glad to see my kids giving away all their Quetzales to people on the street. Cooper commented that he will bring more next time to give away. I hope it sunk in that the kids were making a living,not playing a game.

Our hotel room in Antigua was posh. We all slept in late and enjoyed a great breakfast buffet with watermelon and cantalope juice, omlets and of course, almond cookies and chocolate-real chocolate with cinnamon drunk from a mug. We spent the rest of the morning hunting down authentic Guatemalan music and visiting a museum in el centro. Back at the hotel the boys and I took a quick swim in the beautiful pool surrounded by Guatamaya birds (they look look parrots). Luis drove us back to Guatemala City and then joined us for lunch. My new favorite food is Peruvian Seviche, which unlike Seviche I've had before, is more like a salad than a soup. It was amazing and makes my mouth water thinking about it. We have confirmed that Marcos loves lime! He goes wild with it. After lunch we took the kids to the children's museum. We only had an hour, but it was a great place to let them explore and hear other kids speaking spanish.

We are packed and ready to go home tommorrow. The boys can hardly wait for Max and Eliza to meet Marcos. He is so sweet, so perfectly delicious. But mostly, so ours.