When I came to Guatemala, I was interested in continuing  my study of Spanish with a Guatemalan teacher who would be able to help me increase my fluency and who might also be a guide for me in deepening my understanding of Guatemalan culture and  in finding places and people of interest for the tours I am leading.

I was truly fortunate in finding Mily, my teacher through Escuela de Español  Cooperativa in Antigua.  She’s had over twenty years experience teaching Spanish and was immediately excited about the tours.  She has a lively interest in teaching and in her own country and is an intelligent and progressive guide, in harmony with my own interests.  One of her first suggestions was that we take a field trip to Jocotenango, where an Antiguan coffee farmer, Ricardo Pokorny, has created a museum of music, culture, and coffee.

Jocotenango is a scant 3 kilometers from Antigua so we took the local bus.  Though it is close to Antigua, the setting is much less cosmopolitan and the mountains seem only a step away.  We arrived before the museum was open and so we wandered among the adjacent horse stables which are part of a project in equine therapy for disabled kids.  Each stall had a bright hand -decorated sign with the name of  each horse.  A few kids were there, mucking out the stalls.

When it comes to museums, there are basically two kinds.  One kind resembles a textbook, full of dusty  signs and displays of artifacts behind glass.   La Azotea is the other kind, one which takes great care in providing contextual and accessible exhibits and excellent bilingual tour guides.

We began with the museum of musical instruments.  Our first guide not only discussed the pre- Hispanic instruments of the Maya, but played each of them too!  Flutes are called divine instruments in the Popoh Vuh , the Mayan creation story.  Our guide played one of the ancient ceramic flutes so we could hear this ancient celestial sound.  Today Mayan ceremonies still use the flute as well the ancient drums.

But it’s the marimba that holds the most enchantment for me, with it’s cheerful , mellow tones which are made by hitting long wooden keys.   Guatemala is a natural home for the marimba, with its unique native tree, the horminga, known as the “wood that sings,” due to it’s  fine tonal quality.  Many marimbas have long gourds of graduated sizes attached to the keys for resonance.  Lengths of bamboo are also used to amplify the sound. 

There is still some debate over the exact origin of the marimba.   Some Guatemalan’s claim that marimbas existed in pre-Hispanic times and were destroyed, along with nearly all of the Mayan writings, in the Spanish inquisition.  Others credit the the African slaves who were brought by the Spanish to work in the sugar plantations in Guatemala with introducing the marimba.  Regardless of its early history, the marimba has been embraced by both the indigenous and the Ladino populations since the 1500s and is an integral part of many Mayan traditional dances.  Marimba music is also heard at all important celebrations and fills the cafes and walking street of Antigua with its captivating sound. 

The museum  also includes cultural dioramas which feature some of the traditions and lifestyles found among the twenty-two different Mayan groups who inhabit Guatemala.  One exhibit featured Maximón, the cigar smoking, rum drinking figure associated with healing and good luck.  I visited Maximón in Santa Cruz on Lake Atitlan when I first visited Guatemala.  He is tended by Mayan spiritual leaders, confrades, and is visited by Mayans and Ladinos alike with prayers for healing and luck. 

The museum itself is set on the grounds of a working coffee farm and naturally included a museum dedicated to coffee.  Guatemalan coffee is ranked the third finest in the world and is a major export.  Guatemalans are big coffee drinkers themselves, but most can only afford Nescafe, made, we learn on the tour, from the lowest quality of beans. 

The coffee on the Azotea farm is shade grown, with bananas, avocadoes and other fruit and native trees hovering over the coffee plants.  La Azotea uses a natural spray of cayenne pepper and water to control insects.   One coffee plant provides beans for about 40 cups of coffee or twelve cups of expresso.  In Guatemala, the beans are handpicked by Mayan women who receive only $5 for every hundred pounds they pick.  The men rake and dry the coffee, often working twelve to fourteen hours a day.  Given the high price consumers pay for a cup of fine Guatemala brew, the economic importance of Fair Trade coffee, where  workers receive a larger percent of the coffee profits, is significant. 

We tasted coffee beans and watched the process of roasting the coffee, which takes only several minutes.  Then we walked through the coffee farm, where many of the shade trees were labeled.  The tour ended on a perfect note with a demi-tasse of freshly roasted, perfectly brewed coffee which Mily and I savored on the patio.  It was one of the best cups of coffee I have ever had.

Perhaps you’re wondering about the most exotic and expensive coffee in the world?  A sign at the museum noted that Kopi Luak, with only 1000 pounds  harvested annually, sells for upwards of $600 pound or $100 cup depending on where you buy it.  Produced in Vietnam and the Phillipines, this coffee bean has some help achieving this distinction, as it has first been eaten by Asian Palm civets, partially digested in their stomachs and  then collected from their fecal matter.  (Civets resemble mongoose, so maybe Kona coffee growers can see if the local mongoose population has any affinity with their already tasty brew.) 

In the meantime, I’m more than happy drinking the world’s third finest coffee, fresh from the trees to the cup in Guatemala, with a little marimba music on the side. 

It was easy to catch a shuttle to Antiqua from the airport in Guatemala City.  And yet at first it was hard to pay much attention to Antigua itself, even though it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  But I found Antigua’s natural setting so captivating that my first impression was being held in a ring of lush green mountains.   

As a resident of both  Hawaii and of the Pacific Northwest,  I’m no stranger to vistas which include awe inspiring mountains and even active volcanos.  But Guatemala. the land of “eternal spring,”is unique.  Cradled in the Panchoy Valley,12,325 foot inactive Agua Volcan rises to a dramatic peak.  While Agua Volcan appears to be the highest mountain in the vicinity, in fact Acatenago to the west, at 13,900 feet, is even higher.  Next to Acatenango are the  active Fuego Volcanos.  Like Hawaii’s Kilauea, Volcan Pacaya emits slow flowing lava and it is possible to get quite near the lava with a reasonable uphill trek.  I have met travelers who have even roasted marshmallows over the hot spot at the top of Pacaya!   

I settled for a shorter excursion on my first day though, content with climbing to the roof of my hotel to more fully enjoy the 360 degre view and also to  look down on the tile roofs and the inner courtyards of the city.  The grand arch of Santa Catalina and the ornate church of La Merced dominate the skyline of the city.  The bells of Antiqua's churches punctuate the mornings and evenings.  From the roof it is also possible to see evidence of the city's colonial architecture as well as the remaining ruins from the 1773 earthquakes.     

Across the cobblestone street from my hotel room I hear the soft and regular sound of hands patting.  Two women wearing Mayan skirts (cortes) and blouses (huipils) slap the maza, the cornmeal dough, into flat round tortillas which they place on the brazier to cook.  These tortillas are made fresh every day by women in the doorways of tiendas and then sold, warm,  to the surrounding families  to stuff like tacos with frijoles and rice or to fold and dip into savory bowls of soup. 

The streets are lined with dwellings and shops, each demarcated by a different color of paint.  So that looking down streets one sees what appears to be a continuous wall, painted blue, rose, red, yellow, orange and peach -- interrupted by recessed windows or long metal or wooden doors or the open entryways of tiendas.  The tiendas are small, specialized local businesses -- small food stores and laundries, coffeeshops, hotels, bakeries, language schools, restaurants, internet cafes, candy sellers, motorcycle repair shops  and venders of office supplies and photocopies.   

The smell of freshly made bread, pan, is an irresistible lure into one of the many panaderias, bakeries.  But there is more than fresh bread  inside.   Flaky pastries with sweet layers of frosting;  croissants plain or with ham;  empanadas with apple, pineapple or strawberry filling and  chocolate cupcakes or donuts fill the cases.  Antiqua is also well known for her pastielles or cakes.  These line the pastry cases like glistening gems , covered with chocolate glaze from local cacoa beans and accented with slices of fresh oranges.  Other  cakes are topped with sugar- glazed kiwis, bananas, limes and strawberries all arranged in an artistic bouquet of color on the white frosting.  Many of the cakes are sliced into individual pieces which are sold separately.  Of course, in the name of research for my tours, I must try one (a day)!

In the morning the soft scratch of brooms made of long lengths of straw is the daily sound of workers and shop keepers sweeping sidewalks and the footpaths of the parks.   Antiqua has many pleasant and well-maintained parks which are well -used  by both residents and visitors.  In fact, my favorite post- lunch past time is to read for a half hour in my nearby  park.  

Cotton candy vendors roam the parks carrying trees of pink and blue spun sugar enclosed in clear bags.  Young  lovers kiss without pause or self-consciousness as workers with machetes weed the flowers and ornamental plants.  Groups of men meet and talk over newspapers.  Women  sell roasted corn, chile relleno sandwiches, peeled pineapple and papaya topped with a spoonful  of chile while children play with brightly colored balls.   Foreign students emerge from the nearby language schools to smoke cigarettes on the benches and clear their minds of wriggling conjugations of verbos while Guatemaltecos pass on the street, the white sticks of lollipops protruding from their mouths.   

Sometimes I am serenaded by a group of primary school children wearing pleated skirts, dark pants and white shirts under school uniform sweaters.  A few of the children  carry drums while others tote metal instruments shaped like lyres, but with metal bars like xylophones, played by striking the metal keys with mallets.  Their teacher leads them in “Are you sleeping, brother Juan?” and “Twinkle, twinkle, little star.”  The lyres make a sweet chiming sound, like hundreds of little bells.   

Antigua is a city with mixed population of Mayan indigenous peoples, Ladinos and also foreigners who come to learn Spanish or to explore Guatemala, a county which remains "off the beaten track" of international tourism despite it's rich cultural heritage.  The people here are welcoming and curious about where I have come from and why I am in Guatemala.  Every day I exchange greetings with nearly everyone I pass on the street, "Hola, Buenos Dias," we each say with a smile.  

Antigua is a wonderful base for my exploration of Guatemala, not only because the city herself holds endless treasures  but also because Antigua is well located for exploring the surrounding pueblos including the home of the giant kites of Sumpango~!
 And yes, for learning more Spanish, tambien.