6.4 & 6.5

Sari and I

San Vincente de Paul
Today a group of girls came from a middle school to throw a party for the residents. They sang songs, danced with the women, gave them snacks & juice, and flowers. It was very sweet. They also helped push the wheelchaired women around, but it ended up being a slower journey, because they didn't know where to go and kept getting jammed up in the narrow hallways. It is much more efficient to have two or three people take them than 20. After the women were all set up in their rooms, Sari and I visited with a couple of them and learned about their families. Then we cleaned up the activity room since there were flower petals and crumbs everywhere. We got back, had a quick lunch, and then got in the bus to go see the Coffee Plantation.

Coffee Plantation
We head back out to a coffee plantation outside of Antigua for a brief tour. The guide first takes us through the museum and explains the coffee bean process. The beans start bright red - the coffee cherry. The skin is shucked off and the red part is used in the compost pile. Next, the yellow "parchment" of the coffee bean is separated, revealing the green bean. The green beans are roasted and turned into the dark brown that we see when we buy coffee beans. The type of coffee - light, medium, dark - depends on how long the beans are left to roast. The best tasting coffee is roasted in the sun rather than an oven. We toured the outdoors where the coffee was physically growing. There were beautiful banana trees towering over the coffee bean trees. The guide allowed us to try a few of the coffee beans to taste the different flavors - word to the wise, coffee beans don't taste that great unless they're covered in chocolate.

Next, we took a short tour through a little museum dedicated to Mayan musical instruments. The new guide, a woman, is dressed in traditional Mayan garments still seen all around Guatemala. Most are made from clay or gourds, but a few use more interesting materials, such as cat intestines and horse jaws. She plays all of the instruments and we have the opportunity to play and buy some in the gift shop at the end of the tour.

6.5
Woke up with a horribly sore throat and what felt like a sinus infection today. Decided to stay home from work and the afternoon activity to try and rest up. The staff took me to the pharmacy to buy some antibiotics - here, you don't need a prescription from a doctor. When everyone got home, we decided to order pizza from Domino's. Only a week in this country and we are all craving American food like crazy!!