La Antigua Guatemala (Beginning)

Or I suppose that you could say Antigua, Guatemala. I think that more people are familiar with it in that manner. I do believe that the name comes from this: The capital for the Americas (yes, all of them) under Spain was Antigua for about 200 years until earthquakes destroyed the city. The capital was moved (although for a short while as revolt was on the horizon) to what is currently Guatemala City (I think). So for those of you out there not majoring in Spanish the word “antigua” means “old.” So the old Guatemala City is “Antigua Guatemala” or simply just Antigua.
Now that we are done with that history lesson, let’s move on to the point of this whole story. I went to Antigua this past weekend with a couple teacher friends. We left on Sunday afternoon after our parade on the 14th for the 15th (Independence day in just about all of Central America). We spent a couple days in Antigua before “apenas” (more on this later) returning to Copan. On Monday we toured a little around the city and set up what we were doing for the rest of our trip through some travel agencies but also just plans on our own. We took a bus up to the Pacaya Volcano and then hiked up to the top of it. When we arrived there was lava flowing from a couple different places. We walked out into the lava flow that was a couple days old to take a better look at it and you could feel the heat from the fresh lava! It was pretty cool, and no I did not burn myself.
On Tuesday we took a bus out to Panajachel (say that five times fast). It’s pronounced…well…let’s see how I can put this, pahn-ah-ha-che-el. Something like that, if pronunciation matters to you a lot I can say it for you at Christmas time.:) It’s a city right on Lago Atitlán, which is an amazingly beautiful lake with lots of annoying people. In Copan we have “tourist panhandlers” as I call them, but with a couple of negative answers or ignoring them I’m left alone. Oh no, not in Panajachel…we were followed and talked to in a mix of terrible English and accented Spanish. The people of Panajachel for the most part speak Spanish as their second language and I found it very difficult to communicate with some people. It was really cool to see a whole different world in Panajachel and another city on the lake named San Pedro. I’m glad to have gone so that I can say, “Been there. Done that.” But for enjoyment purposes I wouldn’t go back to the lake.
Last but not least is my ride home and this is where the “apenas” part gets explained. Apenas is a way of saying something that you did but “with pain.” Sort of explaining that you did it but with trouble or difficulty…