October 14 Puerto Quetzal and Antigua, Guatemala
The port itself is mainly an industrial port for commercial shipping so we had to take a shore excursion to see Guatemala. There was a Dole ship with Dole containers in port so we watched them unloading the containers. I think it might have been bananas or pineapples that they export here. Sugar cane has surpassed coffee as their biggest export.
We rode on the bus for over an hour to reach the coffee plantation and the UNESCO site of Antigua, the first capital of Guatemala settled by the Spaniards in the 1500s. We had a wonderful tour of the Fonterra coffee plantation followed by a delicious lunch. Making coffee is a surprisingly intricate and complicated process. It is also very labor intensive. This is amazing considering we pay so little for a cup of coffee. In Guatemala the soil was not so good for growing the best bean, the Arabica, so they have to graft each plant with a robust root and an Arabica top. By hand. One woman can do 150 plants an hour. Hard to imagine! There are 120,000 coffee plantations in Guatemala and I learned that dark roast coffee is almost burned so it it not the best to buy. A medium roast is good flavor and can be made strong but taste better than dark roast. Coffee should be kept in a glass container and used within 2 months when opened. But you can keep it 8 months unopened.
On the way to and from the ship we saw a few very close volcanos, one that was active and smoking. There are 37 volcanos in Guatemala due to the shifting of the tectonic plates. It is a very interesting country that is trying to improve conditions there and encourage tourism.
Stay tuned for the next country, Ecuador!
The port itself is mainly an industrial port for commercial shipping so we had to take a shore excursion to see Guatemala. There was a Dole ship with Dole containers in port so we watched them unloading the containers. I think it might have been bananas or pineapples that they export here. Sugar cane has surpassed coffee as their biggest export.
We rode on the bus for over an hour to reach the coffee plantation and the UNESCO site of Antigua, the first capital of Guatemala settled by the Spaniards in the 1500s. We had a wonderful tour of the Fonterra coffee plantation followed by a delicious lunch. Making coffee is a surprisingly intricate and complicated process. It is also very labor intensive. This is amazing considering we pay so little for a cup of coffee. In Guatemala the soil was not so good for growing the best bean, the Arabica, so they have to graft each plant with a robust root and an Arabica top. By hand. One woman can do 150 plants an hour. Hard to imagine! There are 120,000 coffee plantations in Guatemala and I learned that dark roast coffee is almost burned so it it not the best to buy. A medium roast is good flavor and can be made strong but taste better than dark roast. Coffee should be kept in a glass container and used within 2 months when opened. But you can keep it 8 months unopened.
Next we drove a short distance to the old city of Antigua. Much of this city was destroyed many years ago by a landslide from the near-by volcano. The capitol was then moved to Guatemala City. There is still standing the first church from the 1500s, built by the Spanish. The buildings in the town square are all old Spanish Government buildings. It is a town worth exploring and there are a good many ex-pats living there we hear. Our group was easily identified as a group of tourists so we were hounded by village women selling colorful textiles and cheap souvenirs. I would love to go back a little more incognito and visit the shops housed in these old buildings.
We stopped at the Jade museum and shop called, "The Jade Maya". It was started by archeologist Mary Lou Ridinger and her late husband. She was featured in National Geographic in 1987 for discovering the amazing jade masks that the Mayans were buried with. They discovered the source of the jade in Guatemala which was previously unknown and hence the jade industry there was started. She still lives there and gave us a brief introduction to the history and source of the jade. There was a very large jade stone that was showcased as well as a lot of jewelry and armed guards at every doorway. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Lou_Ridinger
On the way to and from the ship we saw a few very close volcanos, one that was active and smoking. There are 37 volcanos in Guatemala due to the shifting of the tectonic plates. It is a very interesting country that is trying to improve conditions there and encourage tourism.
Stay tuned for the next country, Ecuador!
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