Day 27 - El Volcan de Agua, Catacombs, and Macaws

On Wednesday, we decided to get closer to the Volcan de Agua. We had to drive to the town of Santa Maria de Jesus, which is at the foot of the volcano. We stopped at the marketplace and Abuelia bought some shoes. I introduced Sergio to mamones and he bought some pitayas, which are a fruit that resembles a prickly pear by stranger, and that tastes like mild strawberries. The flesh is fuchsia!Sergio. Pamela and David walked a little farther towards the volcano, while Abuelita and I sat at a little store (what we'd refer to as a pulperia in Costa Rica...) and drank 7-up and ate chips. They had to walk through milpas (corn fields).

They didn't get too far because it takes several hours to climb the volcano. They ran back for fun. Since it was our last day in Antigua, we had to get back to the house and clean it up. We also took the opportunity to take a dip in the pool. It was SO COLD! Mary, who had lent us the house, told us later that they actually heat the pool on the weekends.

On our way out of town, we stopped to buy traditional candies and then went to the Hotel Santo Domingo again, this time to explore in in the daylight. The hotel has an area that is a museum, including the ruins, a ceramics and candle making shop, and art galleries. We took a roundabout way in, just by coincidence and curiousity, and somehow managed to miss the official entrance, where we would have been charged 40 quetzales each to get in. But we didn't realize that until we left through the official entrance, but it was too late. So we enjoyed the museum for free :).

We visited with these macaws on our way out. While trying to get one to sit on his finger, David got bit. But it turned out for the best, because David didn't stop speaking Spanish the rest of the day. He was a little perico himself!