June 7-13
My second week in Antigua was much like my first week; learning Spanish, volunteering at the school and exploring the city.
As it turns out, it wasn't the fructose killing me...it was a parasite! Not ideal, but the good news is that I got antibiotics and now it's gone, so I have been able to enjoy Antigua much more than last week.
My Spanish teacher, Mary, has been fantastic- not only in teaching me Spanish but helping me find medication etc. However, two weeks was more than enough to fry my brain!
A bunch of us went to trivia again on Monday...and came dead last again!
Kenzie and I walked up Cerro De La Cruz on a relatively clear day and managed to get a decent view.
We also went for a run one afternoon and discovered San Felipe church, which was quite pretty!
I finished up my volunteering on Wednesday so that I could have a bit of time to relax and enjoy Antigua before heading off on the weekend.
The kids were gorgeous and I'm really glad I got to see what school is like in Guatemala.
One evening I went with Kenzie, Jill (from Ireland, who moved into our house this week) and Jenn (from the UK, who I met through volunteering) to a fancy restaurant up on a hill that overlooks Antigua. We had to wait almost an hour to get the bus there..but it was worth it. I had the most delicious GF alfredo pasta in the whole world. We all ate so much that we were exhausted after and ditched our plans to drink in favor of sleeping!
On another afternoon Kenzie and I went to Museo de Choco to learn all about chocolate! We did a two hour class where we learnt about the history of chocolate and got to make various chocolate drinks as well as actual chocolate. We learnt about how the Olmacs, Aztecs, Mayans and Spanish used to make chocolate drinks - often using blood! First we had to separate the cocoa bean from the husk (outer shell). Then we roasted them on a comar (traditional ceramic Guatemalan plate). We used the husk to make cocoa tea - soooo delicious! Then we ground down the bean until it was a paste and used this to make two different hot chocolates- one Mayan, one Spanish.
Then the best part...the actual chocolate!! It takes hours to temper chocolate so we were given the melted chocolate, ready to be molded. I used turtle & starfish molds to create a variety of amazing chocolates- filled with coconut, pecans, macadamias, orange slices...many delicious things. We got to eat the left overs and then they let our chocolates set in the fridge for a few hours, before taking them home.
Success!! Deeeeeelicious!
For my final night in Antigua we went to Reilly's, had a few drinks and a little dance!
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