After seeing all those school buses plying passengers for transport, get this… ice creams are sold all over Antigua out of containers that look like small school buses. The details are interesting – check out how the side view mirrors have been meticulously put in! I think Guatemala is fascinated by school buses!

Curiosity got the better of me and I walked into the Starbucks to see what it looks like. Sure enough, they had enough Mayan touch in their decor. Check out the huge wall painting. That bird on the top, middle part of the picture with a long tail is Guatemala’s national bird called quetzal (same as their currency) and you can find it on the national flag!

Lent is celebrated forty days before Easter the world over. In Antigua, this period is marked by the color purple. Every house has some purple flag or clothing out. And you will find jacaranda trees in full purple bloom all over Antigua. This is in the Central Park. That flag on the church? Purple in color (although it does not come across that way on this cloudy day in the picture)

First time in my life I saw a marimba. For one thing, I did not realize it is so big. I had assumed that it would be the size of a xylophone or something. For sure, I did not know that four people play simultaneously on it!!

Does anybody know the name of the instrument that young kid is playing? It think it was making the noise of a maracas but I could not isolate the noise from it in the middle of the medley.

Mesmerizing music. Stood there listening to them for about ten minutes.

Landed up in the House of Jade a few steps from my hotel. Learnt a few things about jades – their importance in Mayan culture, how Guatemala is one of the few places you can find jade in this world and a place to potentially avoid when I bring Sharmila to Antigua 🙂

What I learnt from my friend William (my local friend and tour guide) is that by looking at the design of the blouse (colors may differ), one can identify which region she is from, what Mayan language she speaks and what their food habits are!!

I loved the colors and the design!