Yo escale el Pacaya el 2 dic 2014

solo para que sepan que todavia puedo....
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Escalando el Volcan Pacaya

Estimados amigos,
Irlanda tiene colinas, Guatemala tiene montanias
No son las Rocollosas de California
pero son montanias, de 2, 3, 4 mil metros de altura.

Nunca en la vida he subido y bajado tantas montanias y colinas como hoy viajando desde La Antigua a el Pacaya, el volcan activo cerca de Amatitlan....asi se llama? !con tantos nombre mayas me confundo!

Me costo 12 dolares; los hay de 10 pero me parecio un buen precio: viaje en camioneta durante 90 mins.  luego la escalada con guia local, moderadamente dificil durante otros 90. No llegamos al crater pero llegamos muy arriba a una area cubierta de lava amontonada desde la ultima erupcion grande en 2010 y una menor en marzo de este anio; a no habia lava liquida ni fuego; solo quedaron unos agujeros en la piso de lava de donde salia humo y calor para derretir los malvaviscos (marshmallows, brodi!) La bajada al caer el sol era dificil por las piedras. Pero el ejercicio cardiovascualr fue muy saludable; y los muslos como piedras despues de esa subida... Mejor que el gimnasio!

Hermosa Guatemala, tienes tantas maravillas en tan poco espacio;
Yo, amante de los arboles vi un roble magnifico, y el guia nos ensenio el hormigo, donde viven las hormigas y del que se hace las teclas para la marimba...

Bellas vistas de Guatemala City, del lago Amatitlan, del Volcan de Agua, del laguito de Calderas...
y la buena compania de dos jovenos voluntarios y de una familia brasilenia....

La Antigua, a Polite City..."No tenga pena"", "Don't Worry"

The people of La Antigua are courteous, polite and helpful. And, to this old Irishman who has lived a few countries, it seems very genuine. La Antigua is "provincial" in the good sense of the term. The pace of life is generally slow and the local people greet each other -and you if you communicate with them- with "Good morning" -Buenos Dias- and Good Afternoon -Buenas Tardes,  as the case may be.

When vendors offer you something and your refuse they will say very politely, "No tenga pena" This is a great turn of phrase which appears typical of La Antigua; not sure if in the rest of the country.

If you bump into someone on the street they will say the same thing.

If you dont have enough money to pay, they will smile an say "No tenga pena" [but they wont give it to you for nothing!]

The phrase is not that easy to translate. It means something like "Don't Worry", "That's alright", "No problem." "You are under no obligation"

Sellers in the market have their own little formulas "Take a look. You can ask. You are under no obligation"

Literally it means "don't be embarassed"....

In Ireland it might like "No bother"

Honey of the Maiden in La Antigua, GTA - BILINGUE- Miel de doncella

"Honey of the Maiden", "Miel de doncella"

As we were strolling along Calzada Santa Lucia in La Antigua we were approached by a woman in native Guatemalan garb offering us honey. Her demeanor was kind and not pushy so we tarried with her. Under her shawl she had a large store of bottled honey. It seemed like she had brought them with her from one of the nearby villages to sell near the market. We asked the price and she gave us two although the large one liter glass bottles were the same size. According to her one was the regular honey; the other, more expensive one, for Q35, was “de la doncella.” This term intrigued and amused me because my Spanish was good enough to grasp “the maiden.” I thought this lighter-colored honey was “of/for the maiden” or meant for virgins or young women as opposed to the darker-colored destined for male consumption.

Until another local woman disavowed me as I told my amusing story about my encounter with the indigenous woman selling “honey for the maiden.” She explained that “doncella” was the species of bees that produced that lighter-colored, sweeter and more liquid honey. So much for my ignorance! That poor, humble native woman had been right in offering us “miel de la doncella”, the superior class honey coming from that peculiar species of bee a rank above your regular big honey wild bees.                                                                                                                                                        

 La anciana indigena se nos acerco por la Calzada de Santa Lucia, no lejos del mercado. Bajo su chal en un bulto llevaba varias botellas de vidrio lleno de miel. Cuando preguntamos el precio nos dio 2 cifras; una para la miel ordinaria y otra para la miel "de doncella"... Yo crei que doncella significaba que la miel era para doncellas, esa palabras de castellano antiguo, para senoritas, virigenes.....

hasta que otra persona me dijo que las abejas que producian esa miel mas clara se llamaban "abejas doncella". Ai, !que ignorancia la mia!