Being a Tourist

So finally I was able to be a tourist. We visited the city of Antigua after making one delivery to Hope for the Future, an orphanage right outside the city. It was interesting to find out that a lot of orphanages that are American run go through a lot of directors. Often a director becomes so overwhelmed that they give up and head back to the states. 

This would have been extremely depressing if I didn't know the opposite type of director- on Tuesday we met Pastor Jacob. He runs Nuevo Reto, but originally started out taking in street kids to his home. When he got to overwhelmed by numbers he and his wife started an orphanage. From then they have done nothing but expand and improve with their buildings and children. 

I have discovered that it takes a certain type of person to work at and run an orphanage. 

So back to being a tourist. We visited the markets in Antigua and were told hundreds I times, "best price for you." It was so colorful and beautiful. But probably some of the most beautiful sights were the older buildings and their architecture. 

This is the church La Merced. We were able to see both roman and Celtic crosses indicating that it was built before the 1600's. 

This is The Arch of Saint Catherine, built for the nuns to walk from the convent to the church and back.  It was thought that if the nuns walked on the streets outside they would become too worldly. 

And finally the clouds moved enough for us to see the volcano Agua. It was given that name because before it erupted it had water sitting in the top of it. When it erupted in the 1500's the water came down on the City of Antigua and killed a lot of people and destroyed a good amount of the city. Which is actually why Antigua is no longer the capital of Guatemala.