After lunch at the coffee plantation, we drove to the old city of Antiqua. After the morning's plantation tour, Tom did not feel up to walking around the city. He planned to stay with the bus, so he waved goodbye to me and I joined the tour group at the foot of the cathedral.
But our tour guide was a stickler for his company's rules, so he wouldn't let Tom stay behind. "Only four blocks," he said.
Baloney! It was more like ten or twelve! Tom survived, but he was not a happy follower. Walking the distance in the heat and on uneven cobblestone roads was major challenge for many in our group.
It was a good thing that Tom was carrying his cane/seat. It was a bad thing that our tour guide was walking too fast. The further he went, the behinder we got. Needless to say, that guy did not get a tip for the trip.
In addition to the walk being hard, it was not peaceful. All along the way, a beehive of ladies constantly hounded us, each lady carrying a closet worth of woven scarves on her head and enough jewelry on her arms to fill a drawer.
Every lady claimed her scarves were "handmade" and that she wove them herself. It was a little hard to believe since one woman's scarves looked like
every other woman's.
Guess who was the biggest moneymaker!
She was with her mother and grandmother. Now who could resist taking a snapshot of her?
She was not at all shy about taking a "dollah" and only then did she (almost) smile!!
To the ladies with scarves, I must have said "No gracias" forty times if I said it once.
One woman in particular followed me for a block or two. She was long on persistence. I became short on resistance. I began to admire her gracious tenacity. What is more, she had a black-and-white patterned scarf that no one else seemed to have. We settled on $15.
She was happy and I was happy. I wore the scarf to dinner that evening--and all the next day.
City sights included the following:
Hey! That little tut-tut (cab) is smaller than our Wannabe.
Hmmmm. An embarrassed statue.
I poked the iPhone/camera through a fence to get a photo of these statues from the Good Friday procession.
A very tiny handicap parking sign:
After many city tours one tends to get an attitude: a church is a church is a church. But this man made this church memorable:
He was pleased that I was photographing his flower arrangements, so he came over to me holding a single bud between his fingers and manipulated it like a finger puppet. "A dragon!" he said in English.
I smiled because it did look like a dragon. It wasn't until I walked away that it dawned on me. It was "snapdragon," of course!! Duh!
On the way back to the bus a young man was trying to sell me a carved wooden pipe instrument.
"$20 dollahs...."
"No gracias. I only have three dollars left."
"$10 dollahs....."
"Eight dollahs..."
"No gracias. I only have three dollars left."
"Missus! THREE dollahs!" said a enterprising young woman showing me a beaded necklace.
I smiled at how smart she was, but still said "No gracias "
"TWO for three dollahs!" she pressed.
Very smart lady!
I capitulated and it was a happy exchange.
On our way back to the ship, I did get to see a "chicken bus."
But no volcano. Maybe next time . . . .
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