A day in Antigua.....with the Bright Star team!

Yesterday, I got to go with the Bright Star group to Antigua, Guatemala. It was so much fun! The van I rode in had Daniel (the driver), Richard Jacobus, the Grucas, the Altomares, the Reynolds, and the Peteros. Getting to listen to their conversations and enjoy one another’s company was cracking me up! They are all so funny! Our first stop of the day was at La Iglesia de San Francisco. This is the church that holds the bones of Santo Hermano Pedro, the only saint from Guatemala. We walked around the ruins, looked at the museum (where we saw Pedro’s burlap underwear that he wore to punish himself), and we also got to see inside of the church. Our second stop of the day was at the coffee plantation. We had a Spanish tour guide because the English one was not there, so Daniel translated for the group! He did an excellent job! I think the team really enjoyed this place since a lot of them love coffee! We ate NI-FU NI-FA for lunch; it’s a REALLY good steak restaurant in Antigua! It was awesome! We had salads from the salad bar, garlic bread, French fries, and giant steaks. We also decided to have dessert and split them with another person. Kara and I ordered the cheesecake, which was not like cheesecake in the U.S. It had a good crust, but that was about it. The actual cake part had a tofu texture; it jiggled when I touched it! After lunch we headed to the market for shopping. I got to help out the Reynolds with buying jewelry and t-shirts, and then I also helped Heather Petero barter for some things for her friends. I mainly acted as their translator; it was fun and very good practice for me! Oh and Bob Reynolds was cracking me up while I was shopping with him and Nancy. He was trying to figure out an easy way to calculate the exchange rate for quetzals to dollars in his head, which is very hard to do since it’s about 7.5 quetzals for every dollar, but he was determined to find an easy way to do it! And then on the way home, every time someone would mention how much they paid for something at the market, he would try to figure out how many American dollars they had spent. We were all cracking up. Bob had also made the mistake (earlier in the day) of calling a quetzal a “casino”, so we got the pleasure of making fun of him all day for that, too! It was a fun day with the Bright Star team in Antigua! I’m SO glad I was able to tag along and hang out with for day!

[Me at La Iglesia de San Francisco]


[A few of us at the ruins at La Iglesia de San Francisco]


[Tim and Kara in the van]


[Riding with the Bright Star crew to Antigua]


[Jim drinking his free cup of coffee at the Coffee museum]


[Lisa enjoying her cup of free coffee]


[Kara and I sipping on our coffees]


[The Bright Star team at the Coffee museum]


[The restaurant where we ate lunch]


[Jack drinking his Pepsi at NI-FU NI-FA]


[Raise your hand if you want black beans for lunch!]


[Heather and I at NI-FU NI-FA]


[Me with my very yummy steak]