Anne Dalke's blog

A number of years ago, when we were traveling in Spain, we were struck to find, in the main piazza in Madrid, what seemed to us a kind of stand-off between the cathedral and the palace: it looked to us like two heavy power-hitters facing off across an open space. In Antigua we see the remnants of this arrangement: on one side of Parque Centrale are the ruins of the Cathedral, on another the Palacio Capitanes (which now houses the tourist bureau).

• the archeologists who have excavated pottery from the lake bottom have turned up a series of the most surreal, laugh-out-loud items (see right and below...)
• this tremendous lake was formed by a huge volcanic eruption 85,000 years ago, one that sent ash as far away as Florida; and

So it’s been quite an experience for me to find myself living in a country where the weather is as changeable as my moods. Most mornings here in the highlands of Guatemala are gloriously clear and sunny, full of flowers, birdsong, possibility…

We have begun to buy newspapers regularly (makes for lots of hilarity on the street corner, since our Spanish is quite terrible). This week we read in the newspaper that Antigua was hosting a conference for indigenous delegates from the governments of 23 countries. The next day, the delegates published a proclamation in the newspaper. But we had seen no evidence of their activity anywhere in the city, in the streets ….