Lovely hotel. Definitely a step above Holiday Inn Express. Dinner was a seafood buffet, but there was enough to interest Steve as well. A lot, if not all, meals will be buffet. THAT will require disicipline. Everything last night was delicious. Breakfast was delicious and I mostly stuck with fruit, yogurt and granola. OK, plus a couple pastries. And a piece of banana bread. Like I said, discipline will be required.
We started the morning with an orientation. We went around and introduced ourselves--40 of us. Mostly active seniors. A few less active. Several from Wisconsin. A German couple next to us. Everyone seems friendly. No one seems too excentic.
After a break we boarded the bus for a couple museums at the university.
Museum Ixchel (named for the goddess of the moon, of love and of the textile arts) is a textile museum specializing in Guatemalan weaving. There are 120 different blouse styles representing different people groups. Sounds like a lot until you find out there used to be more than 300. A workshop on traditional technique was being taught in the basement.
No photos were allowed in the museum. I'll have to watch for fabrics and traditional dress elsewhere.
The archeological Museu Popol Vuh (People's Book) was across the courtyard.
It allowed photos if you bought a special pass, but I'm not a fan of pictures taken through glass display cases so I skipped that. This guy was in the courtyard. You are looking at a person emerging from the jaws of a snake, seen above and below. (The snake would be more obvious if I had thought to take a side picture as well.)
The museum is divided into small exhibition rooms from pre-classic through Early Classic, Late Classic and Post Classic to the Spanish periods. I had to laugh as we breezed past Spanish art that I would have considered fascinating in Europe, but wasn't worth my time in Guatemala. Our guide is very knowledgable and told lots of myths and history. Unfortunately, I have forgotten most of it, but I come away with an impression of a highly developed Mayan society with writing, a base-20 counting system and the concept of zero. Also 200 years without rain. That certainly gives new urgency to talk of climate change.
We came back to the hotel for lunch--another buffet. This time I focused on salads of which there were several very tasty ones with completely different flavors.
After lunch some people hung out in the hotel. Steve was tempted by the football game on TV (Colts vs. Chiefs) but we decided to take the bus tour and catch the second half. The bus took us down a lovely Avenue of the Americas with lots of parks and monuments in the broad median. Lots of plush condo high-rises, but no skyscrapers since the airport is right in town. We saw lots of new development, but I'm not a fan of pictures from moving buses any more than I am of pictures through glass museum cases, so you'll have to look up Cayalá on the internet.
We did make one stop (without getting out of the bus) near some governement buildings. I was impressed with the traditional art incorporated into the modern architecture.
Tomorrow we have to have our luggage outside the door by 6 AM for the drive to Tikal with a stop on the way at Quiriguá, another archeological site. This should be the highlight of the trip.
No one too eccentric!! Well, that's not nearly as fun!!!
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