Guatemala City day 1

 Need I say, I woke up early. But I slept the whole night and woke up refreshed.

Many places that offer breakfast, start breakfast at 8. I was happy this morning to see the breakfasts ready at 7. Very nice pancakes, fresh pineapple chunks that were very delicious on the pancakes and syrup. Of course coffee and tea were also available.

Tasks to start the day include: finding an ATM to withdraw Quetzal, buying and installing a local SIM card, and researching bus transportation to Antigua for tomorrow.

A girl staying here, heard me inquiring about going to Antigua and turned me onto BookAway to book a shuttle to Antigua. I logged into the site, and booked my round trip ticket. $34 usd. The shuttle will pick me on where I am staying and drop me in Antiqua where I will be staying. I could save about 20 usd by taking the local bus. But then, I would first have to find about the local bus, get to where I would board the bus and get from the bus to my accomodation in Antigua. It was an easy decision for me to go with the shuttle.

Task 1 of 3 done. It was now time to go to the ATM. A search on Google maps showed me there were ATMS only about 4 blocks away.  This happened to be in a shopping mini mall. I located the ATM,  and got some dinero. Next I asked around about the SIM card and it just so happened there was a Tigo kiosk in the same mini mall. For about 10 usd I was able to get the SIM card, data and voice service for 15 days. More than enough for the time I will be in Guatemala.

Maybe you wonder, why get a SIM card for each country. The biggest reason is the data access so google maps will work and even more important is to be able to book Uber rides.

Tasks done. It is now time to be a tourist for the day. My first stop (via Uber) was to Museo de Ixchel del Traje Indegina (Indiginous costumes). I didn't do my research well enough, and didn't realize it was exclusively a fabrics museum. All the same is was very interesting tracing the earliest ddevelopment of fabrics from 200 BC to present day.

From very basic Mayan weaving to industrialization after the arrival of the Spanish. I am also including a picture of ancient masks. The masks played and play a part in religious ceremonies to scare off evil spirits.

Next stop, again via Uber, to the historic center of the city. A bonus here is that the cities big marketplace was only about 3 blocks from where the Uber dropped my off. I hadn't fully charged my phone before heading out for the day and if my phone died while I was out, I would be in big trouble. So, I needed to find a battery pack pronto.

The marketplace was hidden, lucky for me a local lady almost took me by the hand to escort me to the market. Visible from the street was only a parking lot, the market was under the parking lot. I thank my escort and we went our seperate ways. 

The market didn't have the battery packs, but a vendor there told me they were available across the street at a different market. I found the shop, bought a nice battery pack that I can put both the battery and my phone in one pocket.

Ever present on the streets are fresh tropical fruits.        

I started heading back to the center square, but then realized I had forgotten one important thing. A hat. Back to the market, where I did find a had, this one will strings to tie it to my head so I don't leave it behind. Actually better than the one I left on the plane.

Hat on head, I headed to the city square. More specifically to the National Palace of Culture to join a tour. Very interesting building, beautiful with a rich history. Built as the government seat after a few flawed attempts to build a palace for the government. Although relatively new, with construction starting in 1939, the building has all the granduer of much older structures.

I only had to wait about 20 minutes for the start of the tour. Unfortunately it was in Spanish, so I didn't get the detailed history, but that didn't diminish seeing beauty of the many rooms that we toured. 

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There are many huge walls painted depicting the history of Guatemala, many stained glass window walls with a variety of subject matters, grand columns, staircases and chandeliers.