These posts cover our slow trip through the Scandinavian/Nordic countries from August 4 to October 30, 2026. I will be posting one long post about each area where we stay. I like to write one post about a particular place so that I can revisit our travels in one spot on my blog, according to location. I can also refer others to the post if they plan to travel to the destination and want ideas. I welcome you to read the entire post, read parts of the posts that interest you, simply look at the pictures, or not to read it at all. All who would like to come along are welcome.
Friday, September 25 to Monday, September 28: On Friday, we took a 10-hour train ride on the SJ Nord from Bodø to Trondheim. We had stopped for three hours in Trondheim on our MS Vesterålen cruise, but we hadn’t taken the time to visit the inside of Nidaros Cathedral. Plus, this was the best place for us to rent a car to drive to our next destination in Geiranger.
The 10-hour train ride from Bodø to Trondheim that became a 12-hour ride
Back in May, we had booked the 9 hour and 46 minute train ride from Bodø to Trondheim on the SJ Nord. It was touch and go because many trains were cancelled due to work on the railway lines and the train wasn’t even running on the 24th or the 26th, when we hoped to leave Bodø. It turned out there was one train running on the 25th, so we nabbed it and altered our schedule. The train left Bodø at 12:27 p.m. and was due to arrive in Trondheim at 10:13 p.m. with 25 stops altogether.
It is known as the Nordlandsbanen railway line – a 729km (453 mi) railway line between Bodø and Trondheim. It is the longest in Norway and lacks electrification. Bodø is the northernmost train station in Norway.
We found out our first night at dinner with Paul and Julia on the MS Vesterålen that they would be on the same train on the 25th. They didn’t sit near us, as we were in seats 45 & 46, and they were in seats 11 & 12, but we chatted with them periodically on the train. It was nice to have someone we had met before that we could chat with from time to time.
On the other hand, there were some people we wished hadn’t been on the train. Twelve young women got on the train at Fauske (the 5th stop about 37 miles south of Bodø) and sat a few seats up from us. Onto the train they wheeled their humungous pieces of luggage which they had to hoist up, with great struggle, onto the overhead luggage storage racks. They were friends from school and were taking a 10-day trip to Croatia. Their matching sweatshirts yelped “Loudness” and they definitely lived up to the theme of their adventure. From the time they got on the train, they talked, yelled and laughed obnoxiously, frequently and loudly. Though entertaining at first, they soon became incredibly annoying.
We enjoyed the scenery of high tundra, fjords, lakes and rivers from the train, but of course taking pictures out of a fast-moving train doesn’t yield the best photos.
At about 2:30, we passed by the Arctic Circle Center at Saltfjellet, which the friendly woman running the café pointed out. She also pointed out some white reindeer bounding across the landscape. She told us that the Arctic Circle is actually moving about 14 meters a year. The Arctic Circle as a line of latitude remains the same on maps for the sake of convenience, but it actually shifts in position over time. In 1990, when the center was built, it was believed that the Arctic Circle ran straight through the middle of the building, officially 66° 33′ north, but actually almost 66°34′ north. But since it’s always moving, the actual circle now lies north of the building. Apparently, it will go all the way up to the Lofoten Islands before moving south again, which will take about 40,000 years.
We emjoyed dinner in the café car. Mike had Chili without meat, with flavorful beans, veggies and rice. I had Meatballs in gravy with mushy peas, potatoes and lingonberries. I didn’t care much for the mushy peas, but Mike happily ate them. Paul and Julia joined us with their glasses of wine (they had brought their own food) and we chatted about our travels and books and movies.
At 8:24 p.m., about 1 1/2 hours from Trondheim, when we stopped at the town of Steinkjer in the dark, we were told that there was an accident on the track ahead. We would have to wait until the police completed their investigation and gave the go-ahead. We had no idea how long the delay would be, but it turned out that we sat at the station for over two hours. During those two hours the decibel level of those young Norwegian women traveling to Croatia rose to jarring levels. The laughing from two of them in particular was particularly grating.
We found out the next day in Trondheim (from a Norwegian dentist from Steinkjer) that a young man had jumped in front of the train and it had taken quite some time for the police to investigate the tragic incident. How sad that a young man would feel the need to kill himself in such a violent manner, and also how sad that the train engineer now has to live with the memory of that young man’s death.
We finally traipsed into the Clarion Hotel Trondheim at about 12:30 a.m.
Clarion Hotel Trondheim
The Clarion Hotel Trondheim is a huge complex right near the harbor, the port terminal and the train station. When we arrived at 12:30 a.m. there was loud music playing for a party of about 400 people attending a conference. Luckily, once we closed the door to our room, the loud noise was blocked out completely, and we crashed immediately.
Trondheim
Trondheim is the third largest city and one of the country’s oldest. The city was founded by the Vikings in AD 997 as a trading post. Trondheim was also the capital of Norway until 1217 and new kings are still crowned there. The city is built on a peninsula and at its west end is linked to the mainland.
Nidaros Cathedral
Saturday, September 26: We had made a quick (3-hour) stop in Trondheim while we were on our MS Vesterålen cruise, but all we did at that time was to wander through the town and see the outside facade of Nidaros Cathedral. You can see that post here: a short cruise on hurtigruten’s ms vesterålen: bergen to lofoten, norway.
Nidaros Cathedral was built over the burial site of King Olav II (c. 995-1030) who reigned from 1015-1028. He brought Christianity to Norway and became the patron saint of the new nation.
New Norwegian monarchs are today consecrated at the Cathedral. In addition, the Cathedral is a popular place of Evangelical-Lutheran Christian pilgrimage, with several thousand pilgrims visiting each year.
In 1152, the church was designated as the cathedral for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Nidaros. In 1537, during the Protestant Reformation, it became part of the newly established state Church of Norway. It is the northernmost medieval cathedral in the world.
Built over a 230-year period, from 1070-1300, additions and renovations have occurred intermittently since then.
We started by admiring the western facade of the cathedral, which was inspired by English cathedrals. In addition to the rose window, three lines of sculptures, 59 in total, dominate the façade. In the first line are mostly apostles, in the middle line are the four Norwegian saints, and in the top line are mostly prophets and kings from the Old Testament.
Inside we found the stained glass windows from the restoration period. The windows tell the stories of the Bible, both from the Old and the New Testaments. The grand rose window on the western wall depicts the Last Judgment.
The nave is the largest part of the church. It was destroyed by fire in 1531 and the roof collapsed. The nave remained a roofless ruin for several hundred years before it was rebuilt in the 20th century. It was finished just in time for the 900-year jubilee of the Battle of Stiklestad in 1930.
The oldest parts of the church today are seen in the transept which intersects the main body of the cathedral and gives the church its cruciform shape. It was built in the 12th century in the Romanesque style with its rounded arches.
By the 14th century, the church had an organ. Today the church has 3 big organs. The oldest is the Baroque organ from 1741 which sits in the northern transept. The Steinmeyer organ beneath the rose window is one of the biggest organs in Northern Europe; it was placed in the cathedral in 1930 for the 900-year jubilee of the Battle of Stiklestad. In addition to these two, the cathedral got an organ in the chancel in 2015, built to accompany choir song.
Finally the Octagon was built from 1190-1210 and is the most ornate part of the cathedral. Around the Octagon is an ambulatory. The shrine of St. Olav with his body was placed inside the Octagon. During the reformation the shrine was removed because the people were not supposed to worship saints or their relics. Some people wanted to throw his bones into the ocean, but others protested and moved his bones to an unknown location. Still, pilgrims can visit the present altarpiece as a reminder of the shrine.
In conjunction with the 100th anniversary of the first national Sami assembly, a Sami altar was made by Sámi artist Folke Fjällström and consecrated in Nidaros Cathedral in 2017. The altar and the decoration of it is made of birch that is oiled and processed after Sami tree traditions.
A walk along the Nidelva
After visiting the cathedral, we took a walk along the Nidelva, a river that runs through Trondheim. The meandering river stretches approximately 30 kilometers and is a defining feature of the cityscape, with beautiful wooden houses lining the river most notably in the Bakklandet district. Nidelva has played a crucial role in Trondheim’s history, serving as a vital waterway for trade and transportation.
It was a beautiful sunny day, and we simply enjoyed wandering aimlessly and admiring the chartreuse trees and the pretty landscape. We were misled into believing a small stenciled mural of a boy fishing was by Banksy, but it was actually @EHAstencil (Instagram).
Gamle bybro
Gamle bybro, built in 1681, is a landmark bridge with red portals over the Nidelva. It leads to Bakklandet’s colorful timber wharves on stilts.
A stroll along Nedre Bakklandet
Bakklandet was once a working-class neighborhood that was home to craftsmen, small-scale merchants and other workers, yet suffered under poor living conditions. Bakklandet has been ravaged by fires and threatened with demolition due to road construction. At one time, it was almost demolished to make way for a 4-lane highway, but residents squatted and protested to put an end to that plan.
Now it is a charming and photogenic cobbled street lined with cafes and shops.
A lunch break & a conversation with a Norwegian dentist
After our wanders, we headed to the National Museum of Decorative Arts and Design in the center of the city. Sadly, we found it was closed as the museum’s 40,000 works and objects were being digitized, packed and transported to new storage facilities.
another closed museum we tried to go to in Trondheim
Since we couldn’t go in the museum, we instead looked for a bench to sit on where we could eat the lunch we’d brought. All of the benches were wet except one where a Norwegian couple was sitting, and they offered to move over so we could sit beside them. We struck up a conversation with the friendly young man, a 42-year-old dentist, Bjornor, who lives in Steinkjer (his wife didn’t seem comfortable with English and took off to pop into various shops). He was the one who told us about the young man who threw himself in front of the train the previous night. Bjornor also recommended taking a scenic drive to Tännforsen Waterfall in Sweden, known as Sweden’s Largest Waterfall. We talked about his three children; his eldest daughter was in school in Trondheim studying nursing and that was why they were in Trondheim, visiting her. We also talked about the political situation in the U.S. and the right wing governments gaining ground in Europe and how they manipulate and brainwash people with propaganda and scapegoating of minorities. It was a long and interesting conversation and we were happy to be able to get to know a Norwegian young man and to learn something about the concerns and thoughts of a local.
dinner at Frida Cocina Mexicana
We went out to a wonderful dinner at Frida Cocina Mexicana. The atmosphere was lovely, cozy and warm. I enjoyed a delicious Shrimp with Mezcal: Pan-fried scampi in a creamy mezcal sauce, balanced with fresh citrus and mezcal’s characteristic smokiness. Mike enjoyed Frida’s Enchiladas: Chicken corn tortillas filled with cheese and beans, fried and served with green salsa. This was one of our top meals of our travels so far.
A country drive outside of Trondheim
Sunday, September 27: This morning we picked up a Volvo rental car to take a drive outside of Trondheim, plus to drive to Geiranger on Monday and then from there to Lillehammer on Thursday. We would have the rental car for almost five days and it cost us a fortune. Everything in Norway is outrageously expensive; there are no two ways about it.
We left the Sixt Rental place at 9:30 and headed northeast to Størdjal on the E6 and then headed east on the E14 into through farmland, rivers, and generally gorgeous scenery to Tännforsen, the “Largest Waterfall in Sweden.”
On the way back, we drove a more northerly route, which was also gorgeous but in a completely different way. We loved the black, white or red farm complexes, the sheep grazing in fields, the golden already-harvested fields, the bubbling streams and waterfalls, the yellow birches mingling with the dark green pines, and the red lichen dotting the landscape. It is difficult to capture scenery from a car during a road trip, but believe me, it was a stunning drive.
Tännforsen, the “Largest Waterfall in Sweden”
Tännforsen is one of Sweden’s largest unregulated waterfalls and has been popular with tourists since the mid-19th century. The waterfall and its surroundings were designated a nature reserve in 1971.
The waterfall falls over a jutting section of slate bedrock, which is a remnant from the formation of the Scandinavian mountain range some 500 million years ago.
The almost constant mist from the waterfall encourages the growth of interesting plants on the rocks and the trees around the waterfall, including no fewer than 21 red-listed lichens. Actually, for me the surrounding forest was the highlight of the reserve. It is a fairy-tale forest, with whimsical moss, lichens and feathery ferns. It’s the kind of place that invites one to lie down on the cushiony ground as if embraced by a cloud.
Here is a short video of our drive from Trondheim, Norway to Tännforsen in Sweden.
Leaving Trondheim for Geiranger
Monday, September 28: Our last morning in Trondheim, Mike went out to the Pirbidet, an aquatic center right next door to our hotel. He swam laps there, helping him to feel he’s at least attempting to maintain some kind of fitness regime.
We packed up and took off by 9:30 a.m. in our rental car for our 6+ hour drive to Geiranger.
These posts cover our slow trip through Scandinavia from August 4 to October 30, 2026. I will be posting one long post a week about each area where we stay. I like to write one post about a particular place so that I can revisit our travels in one spot on my blog, according to location. I can also refer others to the post if they plan to travel to the destination and want ideas. I welcome you to read the entire post, read parts of the posts that interest you, simply look at the pictures, or not to read it at all. All who would like to come along are welcome. 🙂
Monday, August 3: Our day in Virginia was hot and humid so I didn’t bother going for a walk. Mike made us salmon with pasta nests and broccolini for lunch so we could use up the rest of our food at home.
Allie had just woken from a nap when we were leaving at just before 5 p.m., so she refused to let us hug or kiss her. She’s such a grump after she wakes up. I think she’s going to miss us for the next 3 months. She’s going to have an extra hard adjustment since Jandira just got offered a new job and Allie will have to go to day care full time. Jandira is thrilled because the job is not in sales and she’ll work Monday through Friday, so she’ll have weekends off. She’s never had a job with weekends off, and she and Alex really need that kind of schedule for their family life.
Alex drove us to Dulles International Airport and we got checked in easily. We had a 7 hour 50 minute overnight flight ahead on SAS Airlines which would be sure to wreak havoc on our bodies.
On the plane I watched 1 1/2 hours of the 2 1/2 hour Project Hail Mary. I found it rather slow and boring and never finished the last hour after a vegetarian pasta dinner interrupted my watching. After dinner and a glass of wine, I took a half a Valium and ended up sleeping uncomfortably next to a solid Latvian guy for about 3-4 hours until the flight attendants woke us for breakfast, a heavy egg and cheese breakfast biscuit.
We started to land but the pilot aborted the landing and circled around again because air traffic controllers told him he was too close to the plane in front of us. Soon, he landed the plane in one of the smoothest landings I’ve ever experienced. The flight crew on our SAS plane were all extremely polite and orderly.
August 4-11, 2026: Copenhagen
Tuesday,August 4: We had to stand in line in Copenhagen for an hour to have passport control take our fingerprints and photos for the new EES system. The most boring man, originally from Baltimore but now living in Lithuania, stood in front of us in line telling us every airport and transportation dilemma he’s ever encountered.
It took us a while to find our luggage since it had taken us so long in passport control that they had removed our flight number from all the boards. Finally someone helped us find our bags and we made our way to the train, which we took to Copenhagen Central; there, we switched to a train to Sydhavn Station. From there it was a three minute walk.
Our apartment is on the 1th floor of #51 on Johan Kellers Vej in Sydhavn. It is minimalist Scandinavian style but the owner’s belongings are super organized in every available space.
Lunch at Wild Horses Cafe
We dropped our bags and walked to Wild Horses Cafe, a cute cafe where we shared “horses granola and yogurt with lemon curd and fresh strawberries” and a grilled sandwich with smoked cheese, chili jam, pickled red onion, pickle and mayo. It was a delicious but expensive ($35) lunch. We were serenaded by Connan Mockasin singing “Charlotte’s Thong.”
It was rather gloomy and sprinkling a bit but we walked back to the apartment, stopping at the convenient Netto market for some groceries.
Like we did when we went to Venice in 2023, we napped for 1-2 hours after lunch, despite the advice never to nap due to jet lag. It seems to work well for us to do that after having lunch. In the evening, we were still full from the heavy lunch, so we had a light snack of crab salad with ØGO crackers. We tried to watch Grantchester but we both kept drifting off.
Wednesday, August 5: We ate scrambled eggs with cheese and green onions. Mike had brought some exercise bands along and suggested we do some exercises in the apartment before heading out each morning. I was a bit grumpy about that idea as I don’t like to exercise with Mike “coaching.” If I exercise, I want to do my own thing and no more than 15 minutes. After all, we always do a lot of walking on our travels, so that is enough for me. No matter, I did some arm exercises and planks and then showered and headed out for the day.
Marmorkirken, The Marble Church, also known as Frederiks Church
We took the train to Marmorkirken, The Marble Church, an historic Evangelical Lutheran church. It features a massive copper-green dome spanning 31 meters and is the largest church dome in Scandinavia. It was designed by Nicolai Eigtved in 1740; King Frederik V laid the foundation stone in 1749.
The church is not made of marble, although that was the original plan. After the original architect’s death in 1754, the 1770 original plans were abandoned completely. For over 100 years, the building stood as a half-finished ruin. In the 1880s, industrialist C.F. Tietgen and architect Ferdinand Meldahl took over and because of a tight budget, they were forced to switch from marble to limestone. It was finished by Tietgen and Meldahl, finally opening in 1894. It was heavily inspired by St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
Designmuseum Danmark
We stopped in to visit Designmuseum Danmark since we had a lot of time to kill before the changing of the guard at noon at Amalienborg Palace. This museum was founded in 1890 and opened to the public in 1895. It moved in 1926 to its current location in a fine rococo building, former Royal Frederik’s Hospital. The hospital had the original goal of offering penniless patients free care. The Grønnegården garden in the courtyard center gave patients access to sunshine and fresh air.
The former sickrooms were designed as long galleries. The garden is now used as an exhibition space. The museum is one of Scandinavia’s leading exhibition venues for Danish and international industrial design, applied arts and craft. Its main goal is to communicate the idea of quality within design and is a source of inspiration for people working in industry.
We enjoyed the collections of ceramics, snuff boxes, table settings (“Little Table, Cover Thyself”), posters, chairs and contemporary furnishings.
The Designmuseum recognizes Japanese influence on Danish design and crafts since the end of the 19th century.
One exhibit at the museum was titled “Japan Modern Poster.” It introduces the history of Japanese graphic design through a selection of unique posters. During the 1940s and 1950s, while Japan was recovering from the ruins of war, many Japanese designers studied modern Western design and then established styles that reflected their individual sensibilities. The 1960s brought about major changes in Japanese society and graphic design flourished. At the same time, posters emerged that reflected the darker sides of society, such as war and environmental problems. Of course digital technology influenced design in the 1990s, and designers explored new forms of visual communication in the information society of the 2000s.
“Hokusai Japanese Woodcuts” exhibited about 40 woodcuts created by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), one of Japan’s most significant painters and printmakers; he helped make landscapes an independent genre of woodcut art.
Japanese woodcuts had their golden age during the Edo period (1603-1868). The genre, known as ukiyo-e (‘pictures from the floating world’) originally portrayed scenes from the entertainment districts of the time. Later, the artists expanded their thematic range to include landscapes, travel scenes and aspects of everyday life.
Ukiyo-e was a popular art form that was widely accessible and was not considered high art. It involved a division of labour from the drawing of the image to its transfer to a woodblock, the carving of the woodblock and, finally, the production of the multi-color print.
Popular images could be printed in hundreds or even thousands of copies, which contributed to the broad appeal of the genre and is testimony to the public interest in this art form.
After our foray to the Designmuseum, we walked down the street to Amalienborg Palace, where we passed Aleksander Nevskij Kirke, the only Russian Orthodox Church in Copenhagen. It was built by the Russian government between 1881-1883 on the occasion of Princess Dagmar of Denmark’s marriage to Alexander Alexandrovich in November of 1866 and their subsequent coronation as Tsar Alexander III of Russia and Tsarina Maria Feodorovna.
Amalienborg Palace, the Royal Residence, for the changing of the guard.
The Royal Family lives in Amalienborg Palace, which consists of four identical palaces surrounding a square with the equestrian statue of Frederik V from 1771. The palace dates back 150 years to Christian IX and Queen Louise. Today the Royals are King Frederik X and Queen Mary, an Australian woman who met Frederik at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney; they married in 2004. When a flag is flying, one of the royal family is staying at the palace: today 82-year-old Princess Benedikte, the King’s aunt, was present in the palace, as shown by her flag flying above her quarters.
The Palace is known for the Royal Life Guards. The changing of the guard takes place every day at noon. We stood in a crowd to watch but because I’m so short, I could barely see anything over the tall Danes in front of me. Mike, being taller, was able to get a few decent photos.
Hot dogs at Emmis Place & Coffee at Espresso House
We had to try some of the famous Copenhagen hot dogs, so we stopped at Emmis Place at Kongens Nytorv for the traditional hot dogs. I have to say they were just okay. Then we stopped at Espresso House for coffee and a chocolate cookie.
Nyhaven
Nyhavn (New Harbor) is one of Copenhagen’s most visited tourist attractions. The harbor dates back to 1673 and started as a busy commercial port. It was excavated from 1671-1673 by Danish soldiers and by Swedish prisoners of war from the Second Carl Gustav War. The area was notorious for beer, sailors, and prostitution and for many years was considered a seedy neighborhood.
Poet Hans Christian Andersen lived in three of the houses over a 20 year period.
Today the harbor is lined with sidewalk cafes and restaurants. The northern side has brightly colored townhouses built of wood, brick and plaster. The oldest house, #9, dates from 1681.
Canal ride on Netto Boat
We took the Netto Boat Tour from Nyhavn, sailing past Holmen, the naval base of Copenhagen for 300 years. We saw The Little Mermaid from the backside, and though Mike was adamant he had no interest in seeing it, I said I wouldn’t mind seeing it from the front side with the water behind. (He relented and we ended up going the next day.) We boated past Amalienborg Palace, Church of Our Savior, and many other sites, including an apartment building that holds the most expensive apartment in Copenhagen at $10 million. The front steps of this building along the harbor were lined with sunbathers, as if it were a beach.
We sailed through the Christianshavn canals with its many boats bobbing in the sunlight. This amazing maze of canals was built from 1617-1622, partly to protect the fleet of the Royal Danish Navy. We saw Amager Bakke (aka Amager Slope or Copenhill), a combined heat and power waste-to-energy plant opened in 2017. It is also a recreational facility with a dry ski run, a hiking trail, and a climbing wall; this opened in 2018 and has 42,000-57,000 visitor annually.
An evening in our apartment
We returned to our apartment around 3:30 and relaxed, after walking about 5.3 miles all day. We made a dinner of fish cakes and pasta with sun-dried tomato pesto, broccolini and garlic, and drank a Carlsberg beer. We watched the first episode of Season 4 of Ted Lasso and promptly conked out, exhausted from our day of travel and our busy first day.
Thursday, August 6: Even though Mike insisted he didn’t want to make the trek to see The Little Mermaid, he changed his mind after we saw the backside of her on the Netto Boat Tour. Plus, he knew I wanted to see it, so he agreed to make the trek.
The Little Mermaid
We got a rather late start and headed to The Little Mermaid, a statue famous because it serves as the ultimate national and cultural symbol of Denmark. Unveiled in 1913, the 4.1 ft. bronze statue connects the city to Hans Christian Andersen and his poignant 1837 fairy tale. It is also a symbol of Copenhagen’s resilience due to numerous meticulous restorations after frequent attacks of vandalism: multiple decapitations, severed arms, and paint splatterings by political activists.
St. Alban’s Anglican Church
Leaving The Little Mermaid, we walked past St. Alban’s Anglican Church, Copenhagenk, an example of Victiorian ‘Early English’ Gothic Architecture. It’s the only Anglican (Episcopal) Church in Denmark and was consecrated in 1887.
In front of the church is the Gefion Fountain which features a group of animals being driven by the legendary Norse goddess, Gefion. She was the goddess who ploughed the island of Zealand out of Sweden. The Swedish King Gylfe offered the goddess as much land as she was capable of ploughing in one day and night.
Strøget: La Glace and Ann Ricci Boutique
We took the metro to Strøget, a 1.1 km pedestrian shopping street established in 1962. We stopped for pastry and coffee at La Glace. Across the road from the expensive cafe was a shop, Ann Ricci Boutique, with a bohemian vibe. We were amused by the two little dogs who kept peeking out of the shop windows and getting the clothing caught on their long ears. The clothes in the shop also featured the shop’s dogs in graphics. I went in and found 2 tops and a scarf for reasonable prices, so I bought them.
We happened upon a craft market where we could have been tempted if we had any room in our suitcases. We had discovered that this week was Copenhagen Fashion Week, so we took pictures here and there of women flaunting their Scandinavian style.
After our stroll down Strøget, we took the train to the apartment and rested a while before going out to Tivoli around 6:30 p.m.
TIVOLI
In the evening, we went to Tivoli Gardens, an amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen. It opened on 15 August 1843 and is the 2nd oldest operating amusement park in the world after Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Klampenborg, also in Denmark. With 4.25 million visitors in 2024, it is the most visited seasonal amusement park in Scandinavia and the 2nd most visited in the world after Europa-Park, a theme park in Rust, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany.
We planned to go in the evening as the sun set and the lights came on and to enjoy dinner in one of the park’s many restaurants or the food hall.
Entrance to Tivoli
The buildings at Tivoli are in the style of an imaginary Orient and include a theatre, restaurants, cafes, flower gardens and mechanical amusement rides. After dark, colored lamps illuminate the gardens. It is a magical and whimsical place to visit, especially at dusk when the fading and blue light and the colorful lights and buildings make it seem otherworldly and exotic.
In 1943, Nazi sympathizers burnt many of Tivoli’s buildings to the ground. During WWII, several landmarks were bombed by Nazi saboteurs in June 1944. The government made sure to restore them quickly, just 25 days later.
We wandered all around the park and soaked up the atmosphere. In the Food Hall, we ate dinner at the counter of Wakha, a Moroccan food stand. I enjoyed a Vegetarian Moroccan flatbread with roasted aubergine, tomato glaze, goat cheese, walnuts and pomegranate seeds. Mike had a Lamb flatbread (tajine, raisins, mint yogurt, toasted almonds).
The park is best known for its wooden rollercoaster, Rutschebanen, built in 1914. I was most mesmerized by Svingkarrusellen, the swing carousel, with its pretty setting in the midst of gardens and ponds. Mike and I made the mistake of riding it (our only ride) after we ate dinner, not a wise move for our stomachs!
We returned to the apartment around 10:00, exhausted from a day of walking 6.8 miles. We managed to watch an episode of The New Adventures of Old Christine, and promptly fell asleep.
A DAY TRIP TO ROSKILDE
Friday, August 7: Today we took a 30 minute train west from Copenhagen to Roskilde to see Roskilde Cathedral and the Viking Ship Museum. First we walked through the charming town and enjoyed pastries at Lagkagehuset: Kanelsnegl (cinnamon snail), Kardemomme Snurre (cardemom buns), and Spandauer with a custard filling.
Roskilde Cathedral
Roskilde Cathedral, an early Scandinavian brick Gothic cathedral, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995. It has numerous unique royal chapels which reflect changing European architectural history over 800 years. It serves as the final resting place for 40 kings and queens. Altogether, there are more than 1000 graves in the church.
Built in 1200, the cathedral was Scandinavia’s first Gothic edifice. The Gothic pointed arches, vaulted ceilings and exterior buttresses enabled construction of light and lofty churches with large windows.
It was originally Catholic but since the Reformation in 1536, it has been Lutheran. Pews were installed after the Reformation because, unlike in early Catholicism, the congregation is a vital part of the services.
The King’s Door (2010) shows the Bible story “Journey to Emmaus.” After Jesus’ death, two of his disciples met a man they shared a meal with. When he broke the bread, they recognized the resurrected Christ. Only the royal family may enter through the door, but others may leave through it.
The pulpit is from the 1600s and depicts the four evangelists. The cathedral’s baroque organ is known as Raphaël’s Organ. It has a unique vintage tone. After Reformation, church music became important; the congregation joined in singing and sang hymns in Danish. The altarpiece was made in Antwerp, about 1560. The elegant Renaissance piece is of oak and depicts the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus.
According to plaques at the cathedral, the Royals of Denmark over the ages have been quite a mixed bunch. They either meddled in politics and turned the people against them, rode through Copenhagen on horseback daily to give hope to people during the German occupation, built buildings such as Rosenborg castle, expanded trade and colonial settlements, waged destructive wars, or conducted witch hunts. They inherited strong kingdoms and then devastated them, lost the race to Sweden to become the strongest Nordic power, were the center of scandals, or were notorious for wild parties, loose relationships with the truth, and divorces. One, Frederick VII, introduced democracy with a constitution, which won him widespread affection among the people.
Viking Ship Museum
We walked to the harbor to visit the Viking Ship Museum built in 1969. Its main focus is the permanent exhibition of the Skuldelev ships, five original Viking ships excavated nearby in 1962.
Around the year 1070, five Viking ships were deliberately sunk at Skuldelev in Roskilde Fjord in order to block the most important waterway and to protect Roskilde from enemy attack by sea. The five meticulously excavated ships ranged from cargo ships to warships.
After returning from Roskilde, we made dinner in and watched Sommerdahl and The New Adventures of Old Christine. Our neighbors in the apartment below us were having a party. It wasn’t noisy but it sounded like the group of young people were enjoying themselves until late Friday night.
Saturday, August 8: This morning, we took the train to Copenhagen Station and rented two Donkey Republic bicycles for the day. The bikes had names on them; mine was Richie and Mike’s Edinburgh. We stopped along the harbor to watch a kayak polo game in progress and admired the Havnebadet Islands Brygge (a harbor swimming pool) and Christiansborg Palace, which tells the history of Denmark’s monarchy and houses the Royal Danish collection, across the harbor.
We rode over bumpy cobbled streets through Christianshavn on the isle of Amanger, where we admired the boats along the canals. King Christian IV built the canals from 1617-1622 partly to protect the fleet of the Royal Danish Navy and partly to increase trading with merchants from abroad to level extra tolls from their ships.
We arrived just in time for lunch at Reffen Copenhagen Street Food, a colorful and cosmopolitan container city on the waterfront with narrow alleyways and beachy spaces. The complex features small street vendors from all over the world and was designed to blend with its maritime and industrial surroundings. Most structures are made from recycled materials and all permanent stalls are old containers that could no longer be used for shipping. More than 75 used shipping containers, four old German fire trucks and several worn-out vans make up the main building blocks of Reffen.
We ordered lunch from different food vendors. From the Japan-Easy vendor, I got shrimp and chicken gyoza ramen, and from an Afghan vendor, Mike enjoyed Borani Bonjan – deep fried aubergines with tomato sauce and yoghurt dressing with garlic and dry mint served with warm bread. Mike’s was much better than mine!
I ordered a Hugo Spritz from Kajen Bar and we sat on benches at this waterfront oasis with a chill vibe, watching sea planes land, boats zipping by, and people riding bicycles, pushing strollers, running and walking along the harbor front. We were serenaded by Wizkid singing “Blessed (feat. Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley) and David Astri singing “Safe & Sound.” This was one of our favorite days in Copenhagen.
After our laid-back afternoon, we rode our bikes back, stopping to admire the opera house and the busy harbor with Nyhavn in the background, then we returned the bikes to the train station.
After riding 10.9 miles, we were exhausted, so we took the train home to Sydhavn and relaxed in our apartment for the afternoon and ate dinner in. We watched The Split and The New Adventures of Old Christine.
Sunday, August 9: This morning we took a trip north to visit the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art and the town of Helsingør, home of Kronborg Castle and the filming location for the Sommerdahl Murders. We first got off at the Humlebæk station, and walked 13 minutes to the museum.
Louisiana Museum of Modern Art
The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is considered one of the most beautiful museums in the world due to the harmonious architecture and scenic location. Since its opening in 1958, the museum has conveyed international art and culture of high quality to its guests in Humlebæk. The aim has been – and is – to reach a large and diverse audience with an equally broad and varied selection of art and culture from the 20th and 21st centuries.
It was such a pleasant experience strolling through this museum. We walked through exhibition spaces with large windows to the green exterior, courtyards with views over Niva Bay, and green spaces that serve as a sculpture garden. There were numerous exhibits here (the museum is huge), too many to cover in much detail.
Sophie Calle (b. 1953): her original works tackle big questions of existence and human emotions with warmth, humor and poetry.
On the Hunt (2017-2024): A catalogue of the qualities most desired in women by men, and in men by women, drawn from a selection of personal ads published between 1895 and 2019.
The Blind (1986): “I met people who were born blind. Who had never seen. I asked them what their image of beauty was.”
Giacometti Gallery: works of Alberto Giacometti (1901-66): sculptures that appear at once strangely modern and very old fashioned. He draws on a tradition of Etruscans to create works that resemble something that has been through the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, creating associations with people in a post-nuclear wasteland.
Lucian Freud (1922-2011) : Works show his lifelong preoccupation with the human face and figure. “Everything is autobiographical and everything is a portrait.”
700 Nimes Road: Photos by Catherine Opie from the home of star Elizabeth Taylor.
House Beautiful: This exhibit includes “House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home” (1967-1972) in which American artist Martha Rossler combines images of homes in lifestyle magazines with images from the Vietnam War.
Leaving the museum, we got back on the train heading north to Helsingør.
Helsingør
Helsingør, known in English as Elsinore, sits on the narrowest part of the Øresund strait. It is a ferry city, with frequent departures (70 per day in each direction) connecting Helsingør with Helsingborg, Sweden, across the Øresund.
During WWII, Helsingør was among the most important transport points for the rescue of Denmark’s Jewish population during the Holocaust. Hundreds of civilians hid their fellow Danish Jewish citizens in their houses, farm lofts and churches until they could board them onto Danish fishing boats and ferry boats. Over 3 nights, Danes smuggled over 7,200 Jews and 680 non-Jews across the Øresund to safety in Helsingborg and Malmö in Sweden.
We wandered around the streets and stopped for lunch of smørrebrød (open faced sandwiches) at Café Kaiser. I had a Potato: Boiled potatoes, mayonnaise, homemade pickled red onions, radishes, chives and grated Vesterhavsost, a Danish aged cheese. Served on organic rye bread. Mike had Minced beef patty open faced sandwich (Minced beef patty, crispy lettuce, soft onions and a fried egg. Served on organic rye bread). As seems to be the case lately, Mike’s was better than mine. We also had chicken tenders, jalapeño poppers, and mozzarella sticks.
After lunch, we popped into St. Olaf’s Church, Helsingør’s red-brick Gothic cathedral built in 1559 on a site that had a church since the 13th C.
We didn’t have energy to go inside Kronborg Castle, but we strolled along the waterfront for a view of it. The UNESCO World Heritage-listed castle was built around 1420 as a fortress to help collect tolls from ships entering or leaving the Baltic Sea.
It is also the setting for Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Immortalized as Elsinore in the play, Kronborg is one of the most important Renaissance castles in northern Europe.
We were exhausted after our long trip so we got home and crashed, barely eating much for dinner, and watched the last episode of To Love, To Lose and Love Life.
A day around and about Koge
Monday, August 10: On Monday, we were lucky enough to spend the day with a Danish man named Jorn Ravnholt who went to graduate school at Penn State with Mike’s friend Louis in the 1980s. Both of them were getting Masters degrees in Sports Psychology there. Louis recommended that Mike contact Jorn and when he did, Jorn happily offered to drive us around the countryside south of Copenhagen from his hometown of Koge. We took the train to Koge and met Jorn and he spent the entire day driving us to various sites, going to lunch with us, showing us around the town of Koge and finally inviting us to his house to meet his wife Kirsten and to enjoy coffee and cake. It was one of the most relaxing days we’ve had so far, having someone to show us around in an area not only that he knew well, but also an area from where his family originates.
Gjorslev Gods
The first place Jorn took us was an old cruciform medieval castle called Gjorslev Gods. Originally owned by the Bishop of Roskilde, it is considered one of the most well-preserved examples of Gothic secular architecture in Denmark. Though not open to the public, Jorn wanted to show us the house where his uncle lived and worked as operations manager for the castle. Jorn remembered many Christmas holidays spent in that house and then long drives with the family through the countryside after dinner.
Stevns Klint
He drove us to Stevns Klint(Cliffs of Stevns), a UNESCO World Heritage Site (2014) because of its exceptional fossil record. It is a white chalk cliff stretching 17 km (11 mi) along the coast and is of geological importance as one of the best exposed Cretaceous-Tertiary (K/T) boundaries of the world. Though complicated, one of the layers in the cliffs is fiskeler enriched in iridium, a fact used in the hypothesis that the worldwide Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction was caused by the impact of an asteroid. This mass extinction occurred about 66 million years ago; during the event three-quarters of the plant and animal species on Earth were extinguished. It caused the extinction of all non-avian dinosaurs and most other tetrapods excepting some ectothermic species such as sea turtles and crocodilians.
The Old Hojerup Church stands at the top of the cliff and dates from the year 1200. As a result of erosion, a landslide in 1928 caused the chancel to collapse and fall to the shore below.
We drove through the town of Rodvig and then expansive farmland. Jorn then took us to a summer cottage that is for sale and that he and Kirsten are hoping to buy. The cottage is about 35 km from their house in Koge and it is about 500 meters from a nice beach.
In the summer cottage town, we had a nice lunch at Hjortholms Bistro No 1. I had fish and chips and Mike had a pizza. We also had some interesting and colorful refreshing drinks.
Jorn had no shortage of places to show us. He took us to a large limestone quarry, Faxe Kalkbrud, from which many buildings in Copenhagen are built.
Next up was Vallø Castle, which houses unmarried, widowed and divorced women of noble descent. The grounds are quite beautiful and Jorn said he and Kirsten walk there quite frequently.
Vallø traces its history back to the 14th century. The castle was devastated by fire in 1893 but restored largely to its old design between 1893 and 1904.
Lastly, Jorn took us on a walkabout of his town, Koge, which was quite charming with its medieval timber houses, lively market square and a modern waterfront.
To wrap up the beautiful day, Jorn took us to his house in Koge where he and Kristen served us coffee, a lemon mousse cake and other sweets and we talked about the political, environmental and other challenges we face today. We all shared our hatred of the current U.S. administration, and then talked about how our children seem to be losing all hope in the world and the direction it’s going. We tried to also inject humor and hope into our conversation. It was truly a lovely way to cap off our time in Copenhagen.
Tuesday, August 11: We checked out of our Copenhagen Airbnb and headed to Aarhus by FlixBus, a 3 1/2 hour trip.
Saturday, March 14: We went to Belize in search of the exotic, but it took some digging to find it. Mostly, I came up empty-handed. I had included it on our itinerary because we would be so close to the country when we went to Tikal that it seemed a shame not to visit it and check off our last remaining Central American country (except Honduras, which we didn’t intend to visit).
What I didn’t know when I first conceived of the idea was that Belize was once known as British Honduras (from 1862-1973). It was a British Crown Colony before changing its name and gaining independence in 1981. The name was changed to Belize to establish a distinct identity and to declare its sovereignty. However, Belize’s official language remains English. We found in actuality that most Belizeans speak English, but feel more comfortable conversing in Spanish, their native language.
The history of the British involvement in British Honduras (now Belize) mostly revolved around the wood they could extract from the land. The first was a swamp-loving tree known as logwood, whose heartwood could be boiled down to a blue-black dye, an alternative to indigo. When demand for logwood died off, the British moved on to mahogany, spurred by demand from Chippendale’s high-end furniture. So, the British “came for the wood, and when they took the last tree, they left.” (The Last Flight of the Scarlet Macaw: One Woman’s Fight to Save the World’s Most Beautiful Bird” by Bruce Barcott).
We took an early morning shuttle to the Belize border, where we crossed easily and quickly. Then we were on to San Ignacio, a small town about 20 minutes from the border at Melchor de Mencos.
Saturday marketin San Ignacio
Now that I was in my 43rd country, I could search out the exotic. What, I wondered, would delight me? What would the evidence be that I was elsewhere? Unlike Guatemala, there was no traditional dress like the women’s huipil (traditional blouse worn by indigenous women there). The colors were more muted. People wore regular Western clothes: jeans, shorts, t-shirts. I think of traditional dress I’ve found in other parts of the world: the sari, kalwar sameez, and kurta in India; the djellaba and kaftan in Morocco; the traditional kimono in Japan as contrasted with the black or navy suits and white shirts worn by almost every Japanese man and woman when going to work; the dishdasha and mussar for men and the burqa and colorful headscarves in Oman; the kebaya and sarong in Bali.
The first thing I noticed as we walked through the Saturday farmer’s market was that the people were more mixed than Guatemala’s indigenous Mayans. The country is mostly made up of Mestizos (53%) but 26% are Creole and 11% are Mayan. Garifuna and East Indians make up almost 10%. The Garifuna are an Afro-Indigenous people of mixed free African and Amerindian ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and traditionally speak Garifun, an Arawakan language. Creole can refer to a diverse array of backgrounds, including Afro-Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. There were even a group of Mennonites at the market; apparently there is a large community. So, the people of Belize seeemed diverse.
The fruit and vegetable offerings looked similar to those in many Central American markets: varieties of peppers and squash, potatoes, mangos, plantains, pineapples, watermelons, and turmeric. The market seemed rather tired and shabby. The prepared food stalls didn’t look appetizing and there were no souvenirs worth perusing. It lacked the color and vivaciousness of many of the world’s markets. I think of Barcelona’s amazing central market, and Moroccan, Thai, and Turkish markets, which offer huge arrays of exotic spices, foods, textiles, and beautiful items such as lanterns, ceramics, silver and gold jewelry, swords, and paintings.
The Iguana Project at San Ignacio Resort Hotel
Someone on our shuttle told us of the Iguana Project at the San Ignacio Resort Hotel. Maybe we would find the exotic there. It was rather exotic to see iguanas up close, but we see many iguanas in Costa Rica, even on the driveway leading up to our condos on Lake Arenal. The exotic thing was being able to touch them and hold them, which I would never consider doing to one of the wild ones wandering around in Costa Rica. They felt scaly and these, who see humans every day while in captivity, didn’t shy away. In reality, they were not that exotic, considering they were for the most part domesticated. The iguanas we could pet and hold were Black Iguanas that couldn’t be released back into the wild because of injuries or other problems.
What we found most exotic were the facts that people told us or that we read about. Iguanas were called Itzamna by the ancient Mayans. The guide told us that all snakes in Belize are poisonous and that there is little serum to treat snakebites available in hospitals. That sounded scarily exotic. I knew I didn’t want to encounter any snakes.
Two ecologists, Miriam Roberson and Daniel Velasquez, launched the Iguana Project in 1996 because they were concerned about the alarming decrease in the numbers of iguanas. The purpose is to conserve and look after the endangered Green Iguana species in Belize. Green iguanas are hunted in Belize but like all game species there is a closed season (February 1- July 1) to allow for breeding season and thus protect them from extinction. There is no faster way to bring a species to extinction than by killing pregnant females.
Maya Mountain Lodge
We were finally able to check into the Maya Mountain Lodge at 2:00. Our room was weathered but clean. Dark curtains covered the windows. There was no way to open them until Mike finally figured out on our last day that he could tie them in knots to let the sunshine in. We hung out by the pool in the afternoon, where we were able to commandeer the only two hammocks. Not many chairs were available and the few available weren’t lounge chairs, but uncomfortable slightly reclining plastic chairs. Mike had asked our last taxi driver to stop at a market where he bought some local beers: 501 Stout Break Loose, which we sipped while reading in our hammocks.
So far, I didn’t feel that we’d found anything super delightful or exotic. The only thing that caught me off guard was when the people spoke to us in English, which was always a surprise. And the price of taxis was outrageous. No Uber was available in the small town, and the taxis charged a whopping $8 for every trip, no matter how long or short. We paid an Uber driver about $5 to drive us in Guatemala City, sometimes for half-hour drives through heavy traffic. For such a small town this was outrageous. Exotic? Certainly not, but it was aggravating, especially since our hotel was not within walking distance of town.
Sunday, March 15: Maybe we would find the exotic as we explored the Mayan ruins of Xunantunich or Cahal Pech. Maybe we would find it in the food. We were open to any surprises that might await us.
Xunantunich
We arrived with a driver to the Mopan River, where we took the whimsical hand-cranked ferry across the river. We had to exit the car and walk on to the ferry while Rodolfo drove the car on to the ferry. It only took a few minutes to get across. Then Rodolfo drove us about a mile to the parking lot, where he would wait for us for two hours. I have to say, this cute little ferry was rather exotic.
Xunantunich means “Maiden of the Rock” or “Stone Woman.” The “Stone Woman” refers to the ghost of a woman claimed by several people to inhabit the site, beginning in 1892. She was said to be dressed completely in white with fire-red glowing eyes. She most often appeared in front of “El Castillo,” ascended the stone stairs, and vanished into a stone wall.
The story seems exotic (if not the stuff of pure fantasy), and the site seems exotic, as most Mayan sites are. There are many more of such sites we could see, if we had endless time to travel — all through Honduras, Belize, Guatemala and southern Mexico. Of the three we saw, Tikal felt the most exotic because of the effusive jungle surrounds, and the pure scale of the site. For Xunantunich, the findings have been insubstantial to prove it was a site of importance.
The ancient Mayan archeological site of Xunantunich sits in western Belize, right up against the border with Guatemala. The core of the city occupies about one square mile, with a series of six plazas surrounded by more than 26 temples and palaces. It sits 183 meters above sea level atop a ridge above the Mopan River. It served as a Maya civic ceremonial center to the Belize Valley region in the Late and Terminal Classic periods (c. 700-900 AD). At that time, when the region was at its peak, nearly 200,000 people lived in the Belize Valley. There is much evidence of trade and communication. Pine was a valuable commodity controlled by elites and rulers; it was used in ritualistic and building purposes for the upper class.
The pyramid “El Castillo” is one of the site’s better known structures. It is the second tallest structure in Belize (after the temple at Caracol) at some 40 meters (130 feet). It was actually a large multi-complex building that served as a dwelling, shrine, and administrative hub for the elite rulers of the center, rather than the primary temple. A series of terraces leads to a fine stucco “frieze” depicting the birth of a god associated with the royal family, gods of creation, as well as the tree of life (which extends from the underworld, the earth and the heavens).
We were able to climb El Castillo for magnificent views of the entire site, as well as the countryside extending into Guatemala. Because we were the first people to arrive, we had the place almost to ourselves.
In 750 AD, Xunantunich was left in a state of abandonment due to an unknown violent event. It did not reestablish itself as a strong presence until the Tsak’ phase in 780-890 AD.
Interestingly, while most Maya civilizations were crumbling, Xunantunich was expanding its city and power over other areas within the Valley. It lasted a century longer than most of the states within the region.
The site was first explored in the 1800s by a British medical officer, Dr. Thomas Gann. There have been continuous excavations and restorations since 1990 by the University of California (ULA).
Here’s a short video of the view of Xunantunich from El Castillo.
Cahal Pech
Cahal Pech is another Mayan site located within the city of San Ignacio. A rendering in the museum at the site looks like this:
The Museum at Cahal Pech is chock-full of information about the Mayans, including a map of all the archeological sites in the Upper Belize Valley, a Chronology of the Mayan civilization, and summaries of all the developmental periods from Middle Preclassic to Post Classic and Colonial. The museum also had a useful map that showed where the Mayans lived in what are now numerous countries: Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Belize and several states in Mexico.
Cahal Pech is translated “Place or City” from the Yucatec and Mopan Maya. The name was coined in the 1950s when the reserve was still a cattle pasture.
Cahal Pech was first occupied in about 1200 BC, in the Preclassic Period, and is one of the earliest known Mayan villages. Houses were simple low platforms with tamped clay floors and thatch roofs. The people planted corn, beans, squash, and chili peppers in the rich alluvial soils. They also hunted local game, collected freshwater snails, and caught fish, iguanas and crocodiles in rivers. Contact with other groups was indicated by the presence of obsidian, jade acquired from Guatemala, and objects produced from coastal Caribbean shell.
In the Middle Preclassic period (900-300 BC), Cahal Pech increased in size and the people began to construct monumental architecture. Obvious differences in the social status emerged. Ceramics became more standardized due to communications with other communities. Structures were built for ritual use; five of these are found at Cahal Pech.
In the Late Preclassic (300 BC to AD 300) Cahal Pech became one of the primary centers in the Upper Belize River Valley. At this time, Maya civilization, with its hieroglyphic form of writing, solar calendar, base-20 numeral system of mathematics, complex art, and monumental architecture became fully established.
In the Classic Period (AD 300-900), Cahal Pech competed with other cities for local affluence. Many violent conflicts were recorded. Most of the site’s large temples and palaces were built between 600-800 AD. An estimated 10,000-20,000 people lived in Cahal Pech during the late Classic Period, with the majority being farmers on the periphery with elites in the site’s center.
Contact with other sites such as Caracol were evident. At Caracol, about 82 km south of Cahal Pech, a common ritual involved the offering of human fingers in small bowls. More than 200 of these finger bowls were discovered in a tomb at Cahal Pech.
Despite the Mayan’s accomplishments, the Maya system in the lowlands eventually failed and people began to abandon the once-thriving cities. Scientists believe the collapse was a combination of social and environmental stresses and the inability of the political and economic system to deal with the changes. At the end of the 9th century, Cahal Pech was gradually abandoned. Strangely, other sites in the area continued to prosper after the fall of Cahal Pech.
In the Postclassic period (AD 900-1500) Maya rulers no longer enjoyed the godly stature and power they once had. Carving of monuments and building of large scale architecture ceased. New communities were founded along coastal regions and maritime trade thrived, leading to a powerful and influential merchant class.
The Colonial Period (1500-1800 AD) saw the Spaniards dominate the Maya area. Spanish friars ventured into the interior to convert the Maya to Catholicism.
Scientists and researchers have suggested reasons that the Maya developed such an advanced civilization. Guesses include many far-fetched ideas such as the following: 1) the civilization was purely the result of external forces (Phoenicians, Carthaginians, people from Atlantis); 2) extra-terrestrials taught them their astronomy, mathematics and calendrics; 3) seafarers from China, Japan or North Africa brought them more advanced knowledge. Most archeologists believe that the development of the civilization was a gradual process that combined ecological adaptation, trade and interaction with other communities, the elite’s desire for exotic status symbols such as jade, quetzal feathers, and marine products, and their use of writing and calendrics for propaganda, along with a strong belief in the power of their gods and religion.
We enjoyed walking around Cahal Pech, which is more extensive than appears at first sight. The trees growing on the ruins reminded me of the Angkor Wat ruins in Cambodia, but less exotic-looking.
Food adventuresin Belize
San Ignacio Resort Hotel& The Famous Marie Sharp’s Habanero Pepper Sauce
At the San Ignacio Resort Hotel, after visiting the Iguana Project, we found something exotic. While eating a lunch of chicken salad (decidedly NOT exotic), we found a bottle of “The Famous Marie Sharp’s Habanero Pepper Sauce.” According to the bottle: “Her secret homemade recipe utilizes the potent red habanero pepper. Produced in the fertile paradise of Belize, her red habanero is considered to be one of the hottest peppers known to man.” Her factory is based on Stann Creek Valley Road in Belize. Apparently it is one of the exotic things to be experienced in Belize. We sprinkled some on our chicken salad, but it didn’t burn our mouths as we feared it might.
KO-OX-HAN-NAH(Let’s Go Eat)
We stopped at the well-known KO-OX-HAN-NAH (Let’s Go Eat) after sweating away at both Xunantunich and Cahal Pech. I felt and looked like something the cat dragged in. However, we did enjoy the atmosphere and a common Belizean dish: Coconut Rice and Stew Beans with Chicken. It was delicious, especially the tender chicken with its delicious sauce. We also ordered some deep fried jalapeños stuffed with chicken that didn’t thrill me.
Fiona’s Cafe at Maya Mountain Lodge
We were happy to find exotic food choices at the hotel’s onsite restaurant, Fiona’s Cafe. Our first night, I ordered Garifuna Sere: Coconut soup, prawn and snapper fillet with hints of cilantro and local yams. Served in an asymmetrical white bowl, it introduced me to delicious flavors that felt very exotic. Mike had a Maya Fish Fillet: red snapper with onion, tomatoes and bell peppers wrapped in an obel leaf (mint flavored leaf). It was very tasty indeed. Both were brimming with unusual flavors and textures. To top off our meal, we ordered Sweet Jacks for dessert: deep fried cinnamon fry jacks drizzled with golden plum jam on flavored ice cream. Fry jacks, a traditional dish in Belizean cuisine, are deep-fried dough pieces usually served for breakfast; they can be shaped as circles or triangles.
Our second night, we figured we would eat at Fiona’s again. After all, it would cost us $16 round trip to go into town. Plus, the food had been wonderful on the first night. We ordered the same Maya Fish dish to share but this time the fish wasn’t snapper. I can’t remember what it was. We also shared a Beet Root Salad: crispy greens, roasted beet root, carrots, cherry tomatoes, orange wedges, caramelized almonds, coco chips and citrus dressing. The beet salad was delectable but the Maya Fish somehow didn’t seem as good as on the first night. I don’t know if it was because the fish was different or the novelty had worn off.
The two breakfasts at Fiona’s were not too exotic other than the fry jacks. The first day’s Belizean Breakfast was scrambled eggs, refried beans, bacon, fry jacks and a side of fruits.
Waiting for the shuttle and returning to Guatemala
Monday, March 16: Our last morning, we took our sweet time, lingering in the apartment in the morning and going for a late breakfast. We waited until the last possible moment to check out, 11 a.m., because our shuttle wouldn’t leave San Ignacio until 2:30 to cross the Belize border and return to Flores in Guatemala.
Mike had Huevos Rancheros and I had an “Omlet con todo.” During breakfast our last day we talked to a young Belizean man who led early morning birding walks at the hotel. He told us the national bird of Belize was the Keel Billed Toucan, which we see often in Costa Rica. Then he informed us that the National Bird of Costa Rica was the boring little brown clay-colored thrush, known locally as the yigüirro. We were surprised it wasn’t something more exotic since Costa Rica has an abundance of beautiful birds. But apparently the clay-colored thrush is one of Costa Rica’s most common birds and is found throughout every region. It was designated the National Bird in January of 1977. Discovering this fact about Costa Rica from a Belizean birder was surprising, and a bit exotic!
The waitress told us on our last morning that her daughter had been bitten by a poisonous snake the day before. She gushed about her brother, who always drops everything when she needs him, as he was on a quest to get some serum for her daughter. We of course don’t know the outcome, but we hoped the best for her daughter.
We hung out by the pool until our ride picked us up until 2:00. It was hot and rather boring, as waiting for anything usually is. The ride back to the Belize border was quick and the border crossing was easy. And then we returned to Flores, where our shuttle driver dropped us directly at Maya Mundo Airport in Flores for our 8:45 flight back to Guatemala City.
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One of my intentions on this trip was to write about: What do you find exotic? What delights you? What is the evidence that you are elsewhere?
I did this above, though it was difficult since I didn’t find that much of the “exotic” in Belize.
Thursday, March 12, 2026: I learned that days seem to last forever when you get up at 3:30 a.m. for a 6:00 flight, arrive at your destination before 7:00 a.m., and can’t check into your hotel until 3:00 p.m. I also learned that you can’t mess with Avianca when it comes to the weight of your carry-on. They stick strictly to a 10kg weight limit.
I learned that a heavy breakfast after an early morning, followed by a walk in the sun in a tropical environment, makes me sleepy and irritable.
I learned that all the paraphernalia associated with cuaresma (lent) in Antigua is also evident in Flores, at the opposite end of the country: the alfombras de aserrín (sawdust carpets) , the religious dioramas, and the purple colors everywhere. I learned that our Hotel Casona de la Isla is cute, has a swimming pool and bar, and that the apartments (where we would stay) are across the street in another building.
I learned, especially after being in the dry and cool climate in the Costa Rican and Gautemalan highlands, that I’m miserable once I am immersed in tropical regions with high temperatures and high humidity. I know this fact, yet I somehow always forget, or conveniently file it away, until the unpleasantness hits me once again.
I learned that Flores is a town in Petén Department’s northern region that sits prettily on an island on Lake Petén Itzá. It is a town of pastel-painted houses and businesses, cobbled streets, and souvenir shops, and is the gateway town to the Mayan ruins of Tikal. It is the second continuously inhabited settlement in the Americas after Cholula in Puebla, Mexico. It was the last Maya city to fall to the Spanish in 1679, at which time, whoever wasn’t slaughtered fled into the jungle. The Spanish destroyed the city and built the new city of Flores on top.
I learned, although I’ve actually always known, that I love taking photos of colorful things. And I’m easily charmed by anything colorful, especially murals, pastel-painted buildings, textiles, paintings, and local markets.
I learned that there is one hill in Flores, and that steep streets lead to the white twin-domed Catedral Nuestra Señora de Los Remedios y San Pablo Itzá, which hosts a rare Cristo Negro (Black Christ). I learned that this church was built on the site of an original Mayan temple in 1718 following the Spanish conquest of Tayasal.
I learned that the Petén Department of Guatemala accounts for a third of Guatemala’s area and has a tropical monsoon climate. It is bordered on the east by Belize and by Mexico with the Mexican states of Chiapas to the west, Tabasco to the northwest, and Campeche to the north. It is a densely forested low-lying limestone plain with small rivers and low-lying seasonal swamps. A broad savannah extends south of the central lakes which features a compact clay soil too poor to support heavy cultivation. The savannah is surrounded by hills covered in dense tropical forest.
I learned that we don’t care for apartments with no windows or natural light, or ones that lack air-conditioning in common areas. I learned that I get annoyed with 3:00 check-ins and hotels that really stick to that time. I also learned that I felt more relaxed on this trip because I didn’t post on Instagram, but then I didn’t use my time to write either. I remembered that in the days when I traveled alone, I always spent time in the evenings writing in my journal, but when I travel with Mike, I either read or watch TV. This was one of the few places where we had streaming services, so we watched Virgin River and Emily in Paris.
I learned that I love taking a boat ride in a lake to see cute towns from the water and to feel a cool breeze. I also love soaking in a cool pool with a beer after traipsing around sweating all day.
I learned that the lake was especially high after the rainy season and had flooded many businesses along the shore.
a business flooded on the lakeshore
I learned that when we find a restaurant we love, we will go to it numerous times during a visit. In our case, we ate lunch and dinner at the wonderful Nativo which serves refreshing native food with a contemporary twist. At lunch, we shared a Nativo Poke Bowl with shrimp and at dinner a Chistorra Chorizo pizza. After our long hot day traipsing around Tikal, we returned one last night for dinner where I had the best ceviche I’ve ever had: Nativo’s Aguachile, with shrimp marinated in spicy Tiger milk with habañero (a typical chile of this region), cucumber, seasonal tomatoes, golden sweet potato, and avocado, served with totopostes (crunchy tortilla). Mike ate a Pulled Native Pork: Brioche bread, lettuce, house-made pork barbecue, cheese and cabbage salad. Sadly, the night was a bit ruined by an obnoxious and loud group of drunken young people who were hollering at each other over the mellow music during our entire meal.
We were surprised to learn that we loved sitting in the restaurant overlooking Lake Petén Itzá and watching the small lanchas puttering past the rectangular windows as if in some video game. We were especially charmed by the ferry that engined past carrying one or two cars, with its dark profile moving across a sky unfurling with pink, purple and orange clouds at sunset.
I learned that I love nothing better than calling it a night after a tough long day, and returning to our “home away from home.”
Tikal Ruins and National Park
Friday, March 13: Today, we took a shuttle an hour and a half to Tikal Ruins and National Park, where we spent nearly five hours and close to 19,000 steps traipsing around the huge site in hot and humid tropical jungle.
I learned that Tikal National Park encompasses 575 square kilometers (357 sq. mi.) of jungle and thousands of ruined structures. Only 15-20% of the vast site has been officially excavated and restored after decades of archeological work. The vast majority of structures are still hidden under dense jungle foliage and soil. Tikal is the ruin of an ancient city, likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in the Guatemalan rain forest. It is part of Tikal National Park, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.
I learned that the Maya settled in the area now known as Tikal in about 900 BC. Over the centuries, Tikal became an important ceremonial, cultural and commercial center. Most of the city’s massive temples were built during the eighth century AD. Tikal became one of the most massive cities in the Maya world, with a population of maybe 100,000. It was the capital of a state that became one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient Maya, reaching its apogee during the Classic Period, c. 200-900 AD. During this period, the city dominated much of the Maya region politically, economically, and militarily, while interacting with areas throughout Mesoamerica such as the great metropolis of Teotihuacan in the distant valley of Mexico.
I learned that, like similar Maya complexes on Mexicio’s Yucatan Peninsula, Tikal fell into decline at the end of the 9th century and was virtually abandoned. The causes of the empire’s collapse remain a mystery, but wars, famine, overpopulation, and resource depletion have all been blamed. The most likely cause of Tikal’s collapse was overpopulation and agrarian failure.
I learned that the giant Kapok Tree (Ceiba pentandra) that we encountered near the park entrance is considered the sacred tree of the Maya. Other important trees at Tikal are tropical cedar and Honduras mahogany.
I learned that Tikal is home to a diverse animal kingdom: agoutis, white-nosed coatis, gray foxes, Geoffroy’s spider monkeys, howler monkeys, harpy eagles, falcons, ocellated turkeys, guans, toucans, green parrots and leafcutter ants. Jaguars, ocelots and cougars also are said to roam the park. We added some new birds to our Life List on Merlin: an Ochre-bellied Flycatcher, a Short-billed Pigeon, and a Lesser Greenlet. We also saw some howler monkeys in the trees.
I learned that Tikal had no water other than what was collected from rainwater and stored in 10 reservoirs. The average annual rainfall in the area was 76.6 inchees. However, the rain was often unpredictable, and long periods of drought could occur before crops ripened, threatening the survival of inhabitants.
I learned that Temple VI is known as the “Temple of Inscriptions” and is the furthest building from the city center. We walked for 20 minutes through the jungle to get to it. The temple has a long inscription on the rear facade of the crest which was stuccoed and painted at some time in history. It is adorned with reliefs on the north and south facades. It was built between 730 and 800 AD. We started here because we often like to start at the furthest point out and work our way back.
I learned that the Palacio de la Acanaladuras (Palace of the Grooves) was a residential complex; the bedrooms have built-in beds. It was named such because of the vertical panels that surround the inner courtyard. We entered through a thin narrow tunnel leading to the central courtyard.
I learned that many structures at Tikal are not officially identified.
I learned that the Edificio Teotihuacano (Teotihuacan Style Building) has a Teotihuacan construction style, with use of the Talud-Tablero. It has representations of the god of rain, Tlaloc. It is nicknamed “Embassy.” I learned that there is a long history of interactions, both positive and negative between Tikal and Teotihuacan.
I learned that the Gran Plaza contains Templo I and Templo II. These are the site’s most iconic structures and were largely excavated and restored in the 1950s and 1960s by the University of Pennsylvania.
Here’s a very short video of the Gran Plaza, with views of Templo I and Acropolis Norte from Templo II.
Templo I (Temple of the Great Jaguar) is a funerary pyramid dedicated to Jasaw Chan K’awil who was entombed in the structure in AD 734. The 47m (157 ft) pyramid was completed in AD ~740-750.
I learned that Jasaw Chan K’awil was an ajaw (similar to “leader,” “ruler,” “lord,” “king,” or similar titles depending on the individual) of the Maya city of Tikal from 682-734 AD. He was one of the most venerated of Tikal’s rulers because his defeat of the rival Maya city of Calakmul in 685 was seen to represent a resurgence in the strength and influence of Tikal after a 130-year-long hiatus in the city’s influence. I learned that we could see his burial items in the National Museum of Mayan Art: Archeology and Ethnology in Guatemala City.
I learned that the 38m (125 ft) tall Templo II (Temple of the Mask) was built in AD 700 and was dedicated to the wife of Jasaw Chan K’awil, although no tomb was found. We were able to climb this temple via wooden steps on the back of the pyramid to have a view of the Gran Plaza.
I learned that the 52m tall Templo V was the first great temple built by the 22nd ruler of Tikal, Animal Skull, in 600 AD. It is oriented to the north facing the Acropolis, the same area where previous rulers were buried. Offerings there included obsidian, shell and ceramics.
I learned that Plaza de los Siete Templos (Plaza of the Seven Temples), covering 25,000 square meters, was named for 7 small temples, all lined up along the east side of the plaza. It includes three ball courts and three administrative-residential buildings. The plaza was conceived to carry out the ritual of the triple ball game, a unique architectural element in all of Mesoamerica.
I learned that by this time in our wanderings I was exhausted and sweating like a thermal waterfall, so I didn’t feel like climbing the 30m high Gran Pirámide in the Plaza de Mundo Perdido (Lost World). Mike, however, did climb and got some excellent photos from the top of Tikal’s other temples rising above the jungle. Covering 60,000 sq. m., this plaza contains 38 structures, one of which was designed as an astronomical complex. A square-shaped structure with stairways on all four sides, bordered by stylized masks, the Gran Pirámide is the main structure of the complex. It was designed to observe the stars and solar cycles. It was built between 250 BC to 150 AD. It was difficult to get a photo of this pyramid because of all the foliage surrounding it.
I learned that the Templo Talud-Tablero (Talud-Tablero Temple) was named for an architectural style consisting of a horizontal rectangula panel (tablero) above a steeply sloping wall (talud). It housed two burials belonging to elite characters and was built between 250 BC -150 AD.
I learned that Templo IV is the largest construction associated with Ruler B of Tikal. It is 64.6m high and is considered one of the most iconic pre-Columbian structures in Tikal. Mike climbed this for views of other temples jutting skyward from the jungle surrounds.
Finally, I learned that Acrópolis Norte was a burial ground or acropolis. This was a sacred place where evidence of royal burials have been found. It was occupied for 1,500 years as demonstrated by numerous constructions and the 16 temples are associated with ritual activities. Numerous stelae and altars found here record the history of Tikal. Other evidence has revealed that this was where the first settlers of Tikal were established.
When we returned to Flores, I learned that my brother in the hospital had half of his foot amputated today. I felt heartbroken for him, but at the same time I was relieved. The doctor had discussed the possibility of him losing all of his leg below the knee, so this was the best of the possible outcomes. Then the hospital did dialysis, which they’ll do every other day from now on. I was happy to find that my brother has now agreed to have dialysis, something he swore he would never do.
I learned that it was lovely to sit at the outside bar at our hotel to have a drink and enjoy the sunset and to watch the little boats scurrying past.
I learned that in tropical climates one should always carry an umbrella. After our last dinner at Nativo, a thunderous rainstorm began and we had to splash through puddles, dashing from one overhang to another, only to arrive home to our apartment utterly drenched. We spent our last night in Flores packing for an early departure to Belize the next morning, and watching Between Lands.
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One of my intentions on this trip was to write a “things I learned today” list, which I did here.
A shuttle carries her north from the hub of Pana, on mountainous roads through bedraggled towns where unfinished concrete buildings hunch by the road
wearing metal stalks of rebar, like hair standing on end. Here, she sees piles of kindling in a yellow haze, and stout Mayan women, with colorful huipil blouses, carrying loads on their heads.
In the highlands of Chichi, the K’iche' Mayans sell textiles, masks, huipil, wooden miniatures of the Holy Family, and hummingbirds hovering on handbags in the Sunday market. Incense wafts like prayers,
mesmerizing tourists or communing with ancestors who might have perished in the Maya genocide during the Guatemalan Civil War. Their remains might be found
in the hilltop cemetery of candy-colored mausoleums and tombstones – white for purity, turquoise for protection, yellow for the sun’s life force or maybe just the deceased’s favorite colors – lime green, coral, lavender –
as invitations to make peace with death’s inevitability. Death looks cheerful here, and she thinks she could lie down among the pillows of tiny graves that bear only death dates.
On the eighteen steps to Iglesia de Santo Tomás, which match the months of the Mayan calendar, the indigenous K’iche' burn incense and make offerings of blossoms or corn, holding dearly to their ancient beliefs.
When she returns from Chichi, she sips wine under a rainbow of banderitas at Atlantis, with her husband, gathering her thoughts. Nearby a fountain advises: “Love all. Serve all. Help ever. Hurt never.”
The next day, she takes a lancha southwest across the ancient volcanic caldera, now Lake Atitlán, to San Pedro la Laguna, where she walks through hectic streets painted in murals.
Tuk-tuks scurry to go elsewhere. She sits drinking Turkish tea overlooking the buzzing water taxis and silent kayakers. The Israeli owner wishes he were home,
with his family while their country (& hers) are at war with Iran. The last thing she wants is to be a party to war, but this young man seems hungry for it.
A tuk-tuk scuttles her to San Juan la Laguna, where, in a cave-like structure, Tz’utujil women serve lunch of traditional food: jicama, chicken and beef stew. These Mayans believe spirits control the natural world and people’s destinies.
The yellow stripe in their weavings promises abundance - in coffee and maize, in life. Murals in the town square manifest Mayan stories - harvests, musical processions, a tattooed man with a leopard head.
She makes her way to the dock, along streets covered with sombreros and umbrellas. A jarring water taxi, packed with tourists, sprays its wake into volcano shapes mimicking the real volcanoes on the far shore.
Back in Pana, she sips a beer on the porch with her husband in the encroaching evening, infused with indigenous voices and customs. She's filled with a deep foreboding of the demise of the "other," who no one makes an effort to understand.
The last day, a tuk-tuk takes her east to Santa Catarina Palopó where she says a prayer in the church for her brother in the hospital and for the Iranians who are being slaughtered by two hateful old men
who are dizzy with power. She wanders among the peaceful blue buildings painted with Mayan symbols. In a candle factory, rainbows of twisted and twirled candles hang from rafters in waxen silence.
From Pana again, after slurping ramen noodles, she takes a lancha to San Marcos la Laguna, a place that promises spiritual nurturing but little of Mayan culture. Anything here is possible: tattoos, yoga, meditation,
sound bathings, cacao ceremonies, full moon dances – even nirvana. At a “spiritual bakery,” “ordinary” tunes of a “stolen dance” serenade the huge dog sleeping on the floor and her, in her embarrassing pale skin.
Notes about the places on the map:
Lago de Atitlán
Lake Atitlán is a natural lake filling an enormous caldera formed from a supervolcanic eruption some 79,500 years ago. It is in the Guatemalan Highlands (over 5,000 feet in elevation) in southwestern Guatemala. With a maximum depth of 1,120 feet (340 meters), it is the deepest lake in Central America. It is fed by two nearby rivers and doesn’t drain into the ocean and is shaped by deep surrounding escarpments and three volcanoes on its southern flank. Atitlán means “between the waters” in the Nahuatl language. The culture of the towns and villages surrounding the lake is strongly influenced by the Mayan people, who make up nearly 42% of Guatemala’s population.
The deep escarpments surrounding the lake make it difficult to get to the surrounding villages by roads, much like the Cinque Terre in Italy, meaning that using lanchas, or water taxis, is the most efficient way to get to them.
Lake Atitlán has three volcanoes on its shores that are part of the Central American Volcanic Arc: 1) Volcán Atitlán, active historically with more than a dozen eruptions between 1469-1853; 2) Volcán Tolimán, a stratovolcano on the southern shore of the lake; and 3) Volcán San Pedro, which rises above Lake Atlitlán northwest of Volcán Atitlán.
Panajachel(“Pana”)
Panajachel, often nicknamed “Pana,” is the main gateway town on Lake Atitlán, and the least interesting. It is a jumping off point for visits to all the other towns on the lake and to the town of Chichicastenango, where a huge market is held every Thursday and Sunday. We rented an Airbnb here, from which we launched all of our explorations.
Chichicastenango’s Sunday Market
Chichicastenango (nicknamed Chichi) is a town an hour and a half north of Panajachel in a mountainous region of Guatemala, populated by mostly the K’iche’ (98.5%), one of the Mayan peoples. Masheños (citizens of Chichi) are famous for their adherence to pre-Christian beliefs and ceremonies. The town’s famous cofradías (religious brotherhoods) hold processions in observance of their saints around the Iglesia de Santo Tomás, which dates back to the 16th century. It was built on top of an existing Mayan temple. The 18 steps leading up to the church are original and symbolize the 18 months of the Mayan calendar.
The Popul Vuh, the K’iche’ Maya’s story of creation is said to have been discovered at the Iglesia de Santo Tomás in Chichicastenango. Though Roman Catholicism is predominant here, it is infused with Mayan ritual.
In the town’s Thursday and Sunday markets, vendors sell handicrafts, food, flowers, pottery, handbags, wooden boxes, condiments, medicinal plants, candles, and copal (traditional incense), cal (lime stones for preparing tortillas), grindstones, pigs and chickens, machetes and other tools. Woven textiles are famously sold here, particularly women’s blouses called huipil.
The Chichicastenango Cemetery
The Chichicastenango Cemetery is a cemetery overlooking the town. The rainbow-colored above-ground mausoleums and tombstones celebrate the afterlife and can symbolize different family roles. White means purity. Mothers’ tombs are often painted turquoise for protection. Grandfathers’ tombs are often painted in yellow symbolizing the sun’s life force. Other graves are painted in lime green, lavender, red, or the favorite color of the deceased.
According to indigenous Maya tradition, honoring the dead encourages the living to make peace with the inevitability of death. Round offerings called comal (griddle) are made as offerings to the dead, as well as flowers, incense, candles and chickens. Families clean and repaint graves of their beloved on the Day of the Dead. If the rent for the plots can’t be paid by the family, it is said remains can be exhumed and placed into mass graves.
San Pedro la Laguna
San Pedro la Laguna is known as a backpacker and party town. It is dotted with cheap accommodations, international restaurants, street murals, and terraces perched above the lake. A big Israeli ex-pat community owns many of the businesses.
San Juan la Laguna
San Juan la Laguna is a town near San Pedro whose population is about 95% Tz’utujil. Agriculture is most important for the economy, especially coffee and maize, as well as tourism. The community is known for its adherence to traditional Atiteco culture and religious practices; they have a cyclical rather than linear concept of time. Children are thought to be reincarnations of other family members, most often grandparents.
The people speak the Tz’utujil language. Spirits are believed to control the natural world, other spirits and people’s destinies. Traditional customs come from Nawals, spirits known as “Ancient Ones” — believed to be ancient Tz’utujil people who gained divine status.
Women use a backstrap loom and the Tz’utujil weavings consistently contain a yellow stripe going through the center of cloth, symbolizing abundance.
We ate lunch at Deleite Ancestral Experiencia Gastronomica Tz’utujil, which offered traditional Tz’utujil food. The town is awash with beautiful murals that symbolize Mayan tradition. For us, this was the most gorgeous of all the towns. Pavement is painted and two streets are covered in umbrellas and hats: Calle de las Sombrillas and Calle de los Sombreros.
Santa Catarina Palopó
Santa Catarina Palopó is a town we could get to by tuk-tuk as it isn’t far from Panajachel. The town is painted in vibrant colors and Mayan symbols to encourage tourism, thanks to a local initiative Pintando el Cambio (Painting the Change). The project painted all 850 houses and buildings in the town. Local families choose the colors and traditional Mayan symbols they want on their houses. The town boasts great views of the volcanoes.
San Marcos la Laguna
San Marcos la Laguna is NOT known for Mayan culture, but instead draws New Age and hippie types. It has murals, bohemian clothing shops, cafes and hostels. Offers for spiritual nurturing include yoga, mediation, tattoos, sound bathing, cacao ceremonies, reiki, chakra alignment, massage, and full moon dances.
Here’s a little video of Lago de Atitlán and Chichicastenango.
Other notes of interest:
The population of Guatemala estimated in 2025 is 18,636,532, the most populous country in Central America. According to some sources, it is estimated that 43.75% of the people are of indigenous heritage belonging to the 22 Mayan peoples. Many others self-identify as indigenous, meaning that percentage estimate may be low.
The Guatemalan genocide (aka the Maya genocide) was the mass killing of Maya indigenous people during the 36-year-long Guatemalan Civil War (1960-1996) by successive Guatemalan military governments that first took power during the CIA-instigated 1954 Guatemalan coup d’état. The perpetrators were U.S.-backed Guatemalan military governments and local militias. The motive was anti-Communism, anti-Mayan sentiment, and right wing terrorism.
The yellow haze and piles of kindling throughout Guatemala is caused by the indigenous women spending 6-8 hours per day cooking on indoor open fires. This cooking method exposes families to toxic smoke and causes illnesses including respiratory problems, eye irritations, chronic cough, cancer, heart disease, asthma, and headaches. Children risk life-threatening burns. Deforestation has a devastating impact on the environment.
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One of my intentions on this trip was to write a poem about “maps to where she’s been.” I attempted this above. 🙂
“Words are not for such things.” (said by mountaineer Knut Vole as quoted by Paul Watkins in The Fellowship of Ghosts)
In the central highlands of Guatemala sits an enchanting town of cobblestoned streets lined with Spanish colonial mostly one-story buildings with bland edifices hiding ebullient and colorful courtyards. Framed by green mountains and three looming volcanoes, the town of Antigua contains a mix of preserved ruins – ex-convents and monasteries – and modern-day establishments, including charming restaurants, local and artisanal markets, and churches with vibrant communities and strong survivor instincts. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1979.
Antigua: Capital of the Captaincy General of Guatemala
Antigua reminded me of several other Spanish colonial towns such as Granada and León in Nicaragua; it even looked a bit like a flattened-out San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. But in reality it is, or was, much more. It served as the capital of the Captaincy General of Guatemala for 230 years, from 1543-1773; this was an administrative division of the Spanish Empire which included present day Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala and the Mexican State of Chiapas. Its reach was far and wide. Much of Antigua’s Baroque-inspired architecture is from that period.
The additional pleasure offered by Antigua is in its weather. Being in the central highlands, the weather is cool at night (~50-60F) and warm and dry (low-to-mid 80s) in the afternoons. Not a smidgeon of humidity was felt, making it a dream destination for me.
Cuaresma (Lent) in Antigua
Antigua’s character dawned on me slowly, with sound bites reluctantly offered by our private driver from Guatemala City on a late Wednesday afternoon in early March, right after we’d arrived in the country. The driver was mostly taciturn during the nearly 1 1/2 hours it took us to escape Guatemala City at rush hour in gridlocked traffic. Only as we broke ranks with the city and escaped in darkness onto the mountain roads leading to Antigua did he start to talk. What I heard were enthusiastic Spanish words: “alfombras de aserrín,” “procesiónes,” “domingo,” “cuaresma,” and “velaciones.” I caught and understood the words “carpets,” “processions” and “Sunday” and I got the gist that long processions occurred on Sundays that went on for hours. I wasn’t sure what the carpets were until we checked into our hotel, Hotel Posada San Pedro, which our friend Carol had recommended after her visit to Antigua some 35 years ago. The hotel didn’t look like it had been upgraded much during that time period. The hotel did however have one of the carpets alluded to by our driver.
I finally figured out that Antigua is a place that takes the Lenten season (Cuaresma) seriously. Things apparently gear up during Semana Santa, or Easter Week. We decided after being in Colombia during Semana Santa in 2024 that we’d never again travel in Latin America during Easter Week. But it was special to be in Antigua during the Lenten season. Everything was draped in purple – statues, icons, church interiors, crosses, windows – as a symbol of mourning and anticipation of Christ’s passion. Even the jacaranda trees knew the right time to unfurl their purple blossoms. The liturgical color represents penance, mourning, humility, and spiritual reflection leading up to Easter.
Specific churches organize velaciones (vigils) every Friday during Lent. Velaciones are deeply spiritual events in which specific churches create a “vigil” – an artistic display of statues, candles, and floral arrangements – that invites the public to reflect on specific religious themes. On Friday of our stay, in front of the gorgeous yellow Baroque Iglesia Merced, we found children dressed as Roman authorities standing somberly around a beautiful alfombra asserín, or sawdust carpet. These carpets are ever-present throughout Lent in Antigua.
The Alfombras de aserrín are elaborate sawdust carpets made of colored sawdust, flowers and flower petals, fruits, vegetables, rice, colored earth, ashes, pine needles, fragrant corozo palms and other organic materials. They are created inside churches, on sidewalks, inside hotels and restaurants, and on the streets. They are meant to greet a religious procession that walks over them, destroying them in an instant. Carpets may reflect religious themes, elements of nature, geometric patterns and sometimes even humor or political views.
Every Sunday during Lent, a major hours-long procession departs from a different church to portray biblical scenes from the Passion of Christ. We weren’t in Antigua on a Sunday, so we missed seeing one of these processions.
On penitence, mourning and prayer
We found penitants “walking” on their knees up the aisle of the beautiful Iglesia Merced, clutching the end caps of the pews as they inched along. Whenever Mike and I go into a church, we sit on a pew and say prayers. Despite the fact that I don’t consider myself religious in the way of organized religion, I do believe in the power of prayer. I watched the penitents scoot up the aisle, knowing they must be in pain, and offered up prayers for these unknown Guatemalans. I also prayed for our continued safe travels, for the halting of endless wars, especially the ongoing Ukrainian war and the current war against Iran (a completely unnecessary war), and for an end to the hatred that infests the world and that our feckless leaders enflame. I prayed for our family members, and especially for my youngest brother, who entered the hospital the day before we left for Guatemala because he was experiencing pain in his leg and hadn’t realized, because he is practically blind, that one of his toes had turned black. He suffers from many ailments (poor kidney function, diabetes, heart disease, and excessive weight). He is barely ambulatory and doesn’t leave his house much because of all of his issues. I feared he would have to have his toe amputated, and was surprised to find out from my sisters that he’d already had toes amputated on his other foot years ago!
Words are not for such things, so I held the people I care for in my heart for a while. While I was at it, I also offered up prayers for a woman who lost her baby right in front of us on Thursday in front of a coffee shop in Antigua.
On Thursday, our first full day in Antigua, we were heading to the Mercado Local when my nephew Seth (my sister Joan’s son) texted to let us know he could meet us at any time. I looked on Google Maps for a nearby coffee shop and told him to meet us at Al Tueste Coffee House, just a block away. When my brother’s problems took him to the hospital, I had informed my sister Joan that I would be partly incommunicado for the next two weeks due to our trip to Guatemala. Surprised, she said, “Seth is going to Guatemala!” I wanted to know when, where and why, and all she could tell me was that he was going to climb a volcano with some friends as his last adventure before his baby girl is born on May 26. It turned out he would be in Antigua the same days we were there; Thursday was the only possible day we could meet because he was to climb Volcán Acatenango on Friday and Saturday, and we would leave Antigua on Saturday morning.
Mike and I went into the café to wait, and immediately an ambulance pulled up and paramedics jumped out and raced past us. Confusion reigned as a woman rushed out from the kitchen of the café holding a baby, surrounded by the paramedics. They took the baby into the ambulance and immediately began CPR, but we could see that it was too late. The baby died or might have already been dead (maybe from SIDS?) and the mother was weeping, hysterical and inconsolable. It was devastating to be right there witnessing a mother lose her baby. How cruel life can be.
Seth and his friend Joel walked in as all this was happening, and we quickly went back into the courtyard to give the family privacy and to get out of the way. We were all shaken but eventually had some coffee and asked about Seth’s adventure. He and Joel and two other old friends would climb 5,000 feet with a guide on Friday, set up camp at 3:00 p.m., then relax for the night. At 3:00 a.m. on Saturday, they would hike to the summit of Volcán Acatenango where they would be able to see the neighboring Volcán Fuego, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, emit ash, smoke and molten lava. The volcano is consistent in its shows; it spews molten lava every 15-20 minutes.
Later, I told my sister what happened and that Seth had been there to witness a baby’s death. She was concerned about how this affected Seth since he has a baby girl due at the end of May. I said we were all shaken, but he didn’t seem to think it was a bad omen for him. But later, when he returned home and Joanie asked him about it, he said, “We will never speak of it again.”
As mountaineer Knut Vole said at one time (as quoted by Paul Watkins in The Fellowship of Ghosts): “Words are not for such things.” He was referring to the majestic landscapes of Norway, but there are many things in life for which words are not sufficient.
Volcanoes and earthquakes
Words are not for such things as a town like Antigua that is surrounded by treacherous nature. There are three volcanoes around it: the very active Volcán Fuego, the dormant/active Volcán Acatenango, and the dormant Volcán de Agua, the most prominent volcano viewed from Antigua’s central plaza, arches and rooftops.
Volcanoes are not the only threat from nature. The country lies in a major fault zone known as the Motagua and Chixoy-Polochic complex, which cuts across Guatemala and forms the tectonic boundary between the Caribeean plate and the North American plate. In fact, Antigua has suffered numerous earthquakes in its history, one of which was the end of its tenure as capital of the Captaincy General of Guatemala.
On September 29, 1717, Antigua was hit by a 7.4 magnitude earthquake. This earthquake badly damaged the two-story Iglesia y Convento de Santa Clara, commissioned by the Franciscan order in 1699. It was established as a religious retreat for 46 nuns belonging to the Order of Saint Clare, otherwise known as the Poor Clares. The nuns had a strict devotion to prayer, penance and extremely humble living conditions. After the 1717 earthquake, the nuns were displaced to another town while repairs took place over 17 years. In August of 1734, the nuns were able to return and remained 39 years until the 1773 earthquake destroyed the convent once again. It was occupied by squatters until 1944, when it was reclaimed by the state.
We visited this gorgeous and atmospheric ruin late Friday morning. The grounds were punctuated with flowering bushes and the grounds were manicured and verdant. Other people must think so too, as a wedding was being set up during our visit.
There was another earthquake in Antigua in 1751, but not much is known about it. The worst and biggest was on July 29, 1773. It was a 7.5 magnitude quake that was part of a sequence of quakes that started in May of that year. Called the Santa Marta earthquakes because the series started on the feast day of Saint Martha, it killed 500-600 people immediately. Another 600 died as a result of starvation and disease. After the earthquake, the Spanish authorities decided not to rebuild the town. In 1776, the capital was moved to what is now Guatemala City. Because nothing new was built for a long time, the ruins of Antigua were preserved for centuries, creating the town’s mix of the bygone with the modern.
The striking yellow Iglesia y Convento de Nuestra Señora de la Merced (Iglesia Merced) was one church that was NOT destroyed. The thick-walled structure was built to withstand earthquakes and is still in good shape after three centuries. Only the church is still in use, and it is possible to go to the rooftop to see views of Antigua and the surrounding volcanoes.
Iglesia y Convento de Nuestra Señora de la Merced (Iglesia Merced)
Another landmark, the Arco de Santa Catalina, which frames Volcán Agua, was likely damaged but survived the 1773 earthquake. It was built in 1694 to enable the nuns from the Santa Catalina convent to cross the street without being seen. The clock tower was added in the 19th century.
The Antigua Colegio de la Compañia de Jesús, a monastery established in 1626 and built between 1690-1698, saw its Jesuit order expelled in 1767. Six years later, the great earthquake left it in ruins. The complex was eventually reborn as a cultural center.
Destroyed in the 1773 earthquake was the Catedral de San José, which stands next to Parque Central. Begun in 1545, it was destroyed by the earthquake and was only partially rebuilt over the next century.
Also destroyed in the earthquake was the Ex-Convent and Church of Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Zaragoza (Capuchinas), consecrated in 1736. It was the last convent (Order of Capuchin Poor Clares) founded in the city. The nuns followed maximum rules of poverty, penance and fasting and had to subsist on alms provided by the faithful. The building was designed so all of its interior could be seen completely from a central point, the orchard. Most of the time, the nuns were confined to their cells, inside of which they each had a bed, a small table and a chair. The common art themes in the now partially restored convent include Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, angels, apostles and saints.
The Church and Monastery of San Francisco el Grande was originally founded in the 16th century. The historic church is still an active Catholic church and is famous for housing the tomb of Saint Hermano Pedro (Brother Peter), Central America’s first saint (canonized in 2002), making it a major pilgrimage destination. He arrived in Guatemala from the Canary Islands in 1651 and devoted his life to caring fot the sick, the homeless and the abandoned. He established the first hospital in the Americas dedicated to serving the poor. He died in 1667 and his tomb inside has been a pilgrimage site ever since.
However, the attached original monastery complex remains in evocative ruins after it was destroyed by the 1773 earthquake. We walked all around the grounds of the ruined monastery on our last afternoon in Antigua. It seemed the most ruined of any others we saw.
Again, words are not for such things. How were so many devout people and their monasteries and convents felled in one earthquake?
What is striking in Antigua is that these ruined convents and monasteries are beautifully preserved in this town that goes on with contemporary life all around them. Time marches on and life goes on. Yet history is preserved. This is the way it should be.
Humor, vibrancy, color, textiles, coffee & foods of Antigua
Finally, humor, vibrancy, color, textiles, coffee and distinct foods arose out of the ashes of Antigua.
Humor is found in the so-called chicken buses buzzing around the town. These are repurposed school buses that offer cheap transport to residents and visitors alike. Each bus is specially named and decorated with personal flourishes such as hood ornaments resembling swans, eagles, horses, and even busty females. Each bus is named after a woman and the ultimate destination is written above the front window. Bright lights line the outside of the buses. An assistant stands in the open door, yelling out destinations and collecting money.
Tuk-tuks are abundant and in one ride back to our hotel, the driver got into a jubilant race with another driver as we bumped frantically along on the cobblestone roads.
The vibrancy, colors and textiles are found in the clothing of the women, in their specially woven Huipil blouses and skirts that they wear in their everyday lives. They are found on a young girl wearing a blue quinceañera dress, in ice cream carts with displays of pastel-colored flavors, and fruit carts decked out in plastic flowers. They are found in the Mercado Local where locals sell fruits and vegetables; vendors outside sell sliced mango, avocado, and melon. Men sell wooden tube-like musical instruments or beaded hummingbirds to hang from rearview mirrors. In the Mercado de Artesanías and at the Nim Po’t cooperative, women sell candles, masks, Huipil blouses, colorful pants, tablecloths, pillows, handbags and change purses. We wandered around the market and ate lunch at the market, at the Comedor Samaritana, where we both ate meals that somehow messed with our stomachs. Of course, I had to buy some textiles: two blouses and a pair of loose pants – a patchwork of Guatemalan textiles.
Last but not least was the coffee and the food scene that arose from the ashes of Antigua. Coffee shops abound and we stopped in them whenever we needed a break. We drank the local Gallo beer. We shared Baked Camembert with Onion Chutney, Sopa de Tortilla and pork ragout alongside a gurgling fountain in the courtyard of Las Antorchas (The Torches). At Seth and Joel’s recommendation, we ate tacos at Tacos La Loteria at a colorful food court. We stopped twice at a little bar called Red Zebra where I drank a decadent Fresa Colada (Strawberry colada) while Lost Frequencies sang “Black Friday (pretty like the sun)” and “Are you with me?” The second time I went lighter with a glass of wine to the tune of “Prayer in C” by Lillywood & the Prick & Robin Schulz. We gobbled up a Cactus (Nopal) Wrap with chicken and a Veggie Quesadilla at Union Cafe. And finally, we had authentic Mayan cuisine at Itzam: corn croquettes with Iguashte Sauce, Guatemalan BBQ (Churrasquito), and for dessert a Tamalito, neatly presented in a slit-open corn husk. Mike said his beef was the most tender he’d ever had. It was no wonder; they cooked it for 16 hours!
Antigua is a complex and fascinating colonial town, but even with all my words, I am unable to capture all of the threads that make its essence. After all, words are not for such things.
Here is a short snippet from our time in Antigua..
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One of my intentions on our trip was to write down some words or a phrase that inspired me. Freewrite using that word or phrase in relation to your journey and see what comes up.
The phrase I used was “Words are not for such things.” (said by mountaineer Knut Vole as quoted by Paul Watkins in The Fellowship of Ghosts)
Friday,November 14, 2025: Bocas del Toro is an archipelago on the Caribbean side of Panama almost to the Costa Rican border. We arrived to the largest of the islands, Isla Colón, this morning at 11:00 am at the Bocas del Toro Airport. I think it may be the smallest airport I’ve encountered in my travels to 41 countries. Airport security had dogs sniff each piece of luggage and then loaded the suitcases through a small door for passengers to pick up.
We then got a taxi – a 5 minute ride – to our Airbnb on Saigon Bay.
Our Airbnb rental at Saigon Bay in Bocas del Toro was called The Orange House, a rental by Over the Water. It offered free paddle boards, kayaks and snorkeling equipment to use. It had a living-area deck, equipped with a hammock, couches, chairs and a table, overlooking the bay. It was so relaxing with the sound of water lapping underfoot that I was tempted not to do a thing but laze around during our entire four-day stay.
The purple house in the pictures was a neighboring house.
After checking in and getting a tour of the property by one of the owners, Marlin, we walked down a path to the main road and ate lunch at what Marlin called a “working man’s” restaurant, El Beso del Dragon. I had pescado frito (fried whole fish) and Mike had sopa de carne y rabito (beef and oxtail soup). Then we walked to the supermarket to get some supplies for our stay.
After lounging about the house all afternoon, Friday night we had dinner at the charming El Ultima Refugio in Bocas Town. It was a pleasant experience, sitting in the restaurant that juts out into the Caribbean with waves lapping underfoot, a cool breeze and a perfectly mellow playlist.
El Ultimo Refugio is a Caribbean-fusion restaurant with an ever-changing menu seasonally steered by the availability of fresh local ingredients. The server brings out a whiteboard and props it on a chair so patrons can study the evening’s menu.
We shared three “small plate” appetizers which were so generous we had to take some home: fried shrimp with pineapple salsa; Patacon Pisao (fried green plantains topped with BBQ pulled pork, pico de gallo & passionfruit sauce); and gnocchi in creamy garlic sauce with white wine, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli, and Parmesan cheese. We also shared a Snickers bar-type pie.
Saturday, November 15: Saturday morning in Bocas del Toro, we rented e-bikes and rode 40 minutes to the far end of Isla Colón to Playa Boca del Drago, where we caught a water taxi to Playa Estrella. There we found colorful beach shacks serving various foods and beverages. Further down the beach, removed from the eating establishments, we found numerous starfish on the sandy bottom. People are not supposed to touch them or they can die, so we just waded carefully in the water observing them and taking photos. It was interesting that each one had a different pattern.
At Playa Estrella we had smoothies while waiting for our water taxi to take us back to our e-bikes.
From there we backtracked another 25 minutes then turned to the northwest to visit Bluff Beach. This was a nice beach but more for surfers as the sea here was rough. We stopped at Skully’s, not the best move as the place was inefficient and lackadaisical. We gobbled down a few sloppy tasteless tacos and then rode back the rest of the way to Bocas Town where we returned the e-bikes at Bocas eBikes.
Saturday night El Ultimo Refugio had live music 🎶, so we had dinner there for the 2nd night in a row. We shared a delicious tomato curry soup and salmon rigatoni with pesto sauce, bacon, cherry tomatoes and Parmesan. This time we sat next to a young couple with a 3-month-old baby. Strangely enough, the young woman was married to an Angolan man (the opposite of our son Alex who is married to an Angolan woman), and their baby was a boy. We told them about our son and daughter-in-law and that they were living in our house while we were living in Costa Rica. We said we hoped Alex and Jandira could save money while they lived there, although the day care is outrageously expensive in Northern Virginia at $1,800/month for only 3 days/week! They told us they were living currently in the young woman’s parent’s condo in Chicago, and they were finding the same outrageous costs for daycare that Alex and Jandira are encountering. This is a such a financial burden for young couples trying to start a family. The woman said that she doesn’t think the U.S. is family friendly. She and her husband met in South Africa and wonder if they should move somewhere outside of the States.
Sunday, November 16: On Sunday, we took a taxi to Bocas Town where there was a big festival going on to celebrate the town’s founding. We wrangled our way through the crowds to find a water taxi to take us to the more sedate Isla Carenero, adjacent to Isla Colón. Our water taxi pilot, Luis, dropped us at the pier at the rather decrepit Buccaneer Hotel.
Next door was Bibi’s on the Beach, a restaurant our neighbors Steve and Sidney from Vermont recommended. We had to wait a half hour for Bibi’s on the Beach to open at noon, but soon we ordered drinks, an Aperol Spritz & a Gin Basil, and enjoyed their music playlist and views of the archipelago. We shared sautéed mussels with lime & garlic & Coco & Curry fish: Grilled with coconut & curry sauce with toasted almonds. We lingered for quite a while soaking up the atmosphere until Luis returned with the water taxi to take us to our next destination, Red Frog Beach on Isla Bastimentos.
We arrived by water taxi at the marina near the Red Frog Beach Resort on Isla Bastimentos, paid the $5/person fee, and then walked 13 minutes to the other side of Isla Bastimento to the Beach Club. It was rather gloomy when we first arrived. Mike went for a swim while I relaxed under the thatched umbrella and drank a beer. Finally the sun came out and we took a little walk on the beach.
We continued our walk on Red Frog Beach until we found an interesting piece of driftwood sticking out of the beach which called out to us for photos. While taking the last photo of Mike, I ran smack into the other end of the driftwood sticking out of the sand and punctured my shin, releasing a stream of blood and causing an immediate edema. Ouch! I waded into the sea to rinse off the blood. Luckily, lifeguard Juan Carlo put ice on the swelling and patched me up. We caught a golf cart back to the other side of the island where Luis soon came to pick us up in the water taxi, returning us to Bocas Town.
Back at our Orange House, Mike took good care of me, bringing me an ice pack to put on my elevated leg. The owners gave us some antibiotic which I applied. I was sure I’d have a nasty bruise for a while once the swelling went down. This was my third accident today, the first knocking over & spilling my drink at Bibi’s, the 2nd running into the driftwood, and the 3rd, dropping one of the clothespins into the water when I was hanging out clothes on the line. What a klutz I was today!
Sunday evening we stayed in at our Orange House over the water and watched the sunset, ordered a pizza for delivery, and then had drinks with our neighbors Steve & Sidney from Vermont. Their kids had finally flown the coop and, in their mid-50s, they’d decided to start working remotely in different places. Steve works for the State of Vermont and Sidney does immigration work, helping people to get their paperwork and green cards. They came to Panama for a month and had settled in nicely in Bocas for a couple of weeks to work and soak up the island life. The things that Sidney said sounded like they’d come right from my mouth, so I took an immediate liking to her. They said they hope to be traveling like we do when they finally retire.
Monday, November 17: We enjoyed the views Monday morning from our Orange House. After our lazy morning, we took the kayaks (offered free by our Airbnb) to an island and snorkeled around looking at coral 🪸. We saw mostly yellow corals, but some red, purple & orange. Some were like tropical leaves, others like boa constrictors tightly wound. We saw mostly tiny fish. What put a stop to my snorkeling adventure was coming face to face with a jellyfish. We enjoyed our leisurely paddle back to our Orange House and then ate leftover pizza.
I had to take a picture in the hammock of life mimicking art, 🖼️ except for the 70-year-old legs 😩.
Our last evening in Bocas del Toro we continued soaking up the pleasant atmosphere at our Orange House. We went out for dinner at Om Cafe in Bocas Town. We shared Butter Paneer and chickpea masala. The last two pictures are from the bathroom doors at Om Cafe.
It was hot and humid on this Caribbean side of Panama, but once were were “over the water” in the evenings, we found a cool breeze and a pleasant vibe. Many foreigners come here to live citing a “tropical paradise” but much of Bocas Town is impoverished and the heat & humidity during the daytime are oppressive. For me, it’s nowhere close to my perfect place to settle. I’ll keep searching but in the meantime, I dream of Crete or the highlands of Mexico.
Tuesday, November 18: Tuesday morning, it was check out time from “our” Orange House. We waited until the checkout time of 11:00, with Mike even taking the kayak out into Saigon Bay one last time. Meanwhile I relaxed, showered and packed. One picture below shows a seashell 🐚 at the end of the pull string for the fan, with the fish painted on the wall. The whole place was charmingly decorated with hundreds of huge conch shells and other natural things from the sea.
After checking out, we sat in the common area waiting for a 1:00 taxi to the airport for our 2:30 flight back to Panama City. I wish we had known that there was a very small plane that flies directly from Bocas to San José. It would have saved us a lot of time. As it was, we had to return to Panama City, spend the night, and catch an early flight out to San Jose on Wednesday morning. Then we’d have a 3-hour drive to our house in Tilaran.
It’s a bummer when you find out too late that things could have been easier!
Below were our last views of Bocas del Toros. Little did we know what we would encounter on our return trip to Panama City….
As we approached Panama City from Bocas del Toro on Panama Air, we saw the bay in the first picture below not once, not twice, but three times as we flew in circles around the domestic airport, Marcos A. Gelabert International Airport (PAC), because of a “meteorological event.” We finally landed in the middle of “una tormenta,” a storm with raging winds, a torrential downpour, thunder and lightning. We sat on the plane for 40 minutes, unable to safely get off because it was a small plane where they pull up a portable staircase so passengers can disembark on the tarmac. The storm wasn’t letting up at all. Suddenly the plane started moving and we thought they might be taking us to a hangar to let us off the plane under cover. But the next thing we knew, without a word from the pilot or the stewardess, we were taking off down the runway. Everybody was looking at each other: “What’s happening? We’re taking off again? Where are they taking us?” Nobody had a clue what was going on. We flew in a wide circle overlooking the ships sitting waiting to enter the Panama Canal. We thought maybe they were taking us to Tocumen International Airport, east of the city. But no! We realized that they were taking us back to the same airport where we’d landed the first time. Why, why, why??
This time, the storms had cleared and we were able to disembark, an hour late, just in time for rush hour.
After the dogs sniffed everyone’s luggage, we picked ours up and called an Uber. The Uber driver told us it would take two hours to get to our hotel near Tocumen Airport. But he was wrong. The roads were in utter gridlock, we weren’t going anywhere. The estimated time was growing to 2 1/2 hours! The driver said it was because of the big fútbol match between Panama and El Salvador that was at the stadium near Tocumen. (Panama won and qualified for the World Cup; it was only the 2nd time they’ve qualified for the World Cup since 1978.)
We changed our destination with the Uber driver to Pedro Mandinga Rum Bar in El Cangrejo. It took us 1 3/4 hours to get there. We drank (a Casco Viejo – their in-house aged rum – & a Carajillo a la Pedro), ate (Crostini Romesco & Vegano Trio de Patacones). We waited until the game had started at 8:00, confirmed by Waze that the traffic had died down, and took an Uber another 30 minutes to our hotel. What a day!
Wednesday, November 19: We left our hotel at 6:00 am on Wednesday morning for an 8:40 flight from Panama City to San José on Copa Airlines (about a 1 hr+ flight). We ate breakfast at the airport and took off on time in pouring rain. We flew over the ships waiting to enter the Panama Canal and before long were above the clouds. As we crossed into Costa Rica we saw nothing but mountains beneath us, although Mike could see the Caribbean and I could see the Pacific Ocean and the Nicoya Peninsula from our respective sides. (We each got aisle seats across from each other with no one else beside us). How I love seeing the landscape and the clouds from a plane.
When we flew into Costa Rica at 9:05 am (CR time) on Wednesday, we were awestruck by the mountainous surroundings around the capital of San José. From the air, they looked to be uninhabited, with barely a car, road or house in sight.
The metro area of about 2 million people sits in a high valley surrounded by volcanoes and those seemingly impenetrable mountains. From where we live in Tilaran, it takes about 3 hours to drive there taking the flattest route close to the country’s southern border on Route 1. That road is often only two lanes and is usually burdened by heavy traffic, especially during weekdays.
We were pleasantly surprised by the perfect cool and breezy weather (especially after sweltering Panama). We took a taxi from the airport to the hotel where we’d left our car, encountering numerous detours due to road construction. We found when we put our route home into Waze that we needed to avoid Route 1 and go north over winding mountain roads through Atenas, Palmeras, and San Ramon and then through La Fortuna at the NE end of Lake Arenal to get home, an estimated time of 4 hours and 40 minutes. We weren’t happy about that, but it would be better than sitting in heavy traffic on Route 1. Plus, we would see parts of Costa Rica west of San José that we’d planned to visit on a road trip the week before Christmas. It took a lot of time and concentration, especially for Mike who was driving, but we loved the scenery especially once we got away from the city.
We arrived in La Fortuna at 1:30 and stopped for lunch at Kappa Sushi, a place we’d liked when we visited the area in August. After lunch, it was another 1 hour 40 minutes to our house in San Luis.
We arrived home at 4:00 and opened the house to cool breezes and gorgeous skies. Within an hour, we witnessed a marvelous richly-hued sunset. We were happy to be home to our house on Lake Arenal, but sad to know that in just 10 days, we’d be moving to the other end of the lake to Lake Arenal Condos for our last 6 months here.
Here is a video of our time from Bocas del Toro back to Costa Rica.
Monday, November 10, 2025: We arrived at the San José Airport (Juan Santamaría International Airport) and waited for our 10:05 a.m. Copa Airlines flight to Panama. The flight was about 1 1/2 hours and luckily without incident.
El Cangrejo
We arrived at our neighborhood of El Cangrejo in Panama City at PH Sky Swiss, an Airbnb apartment on the 19th floor of a condominium. There we found a bearskin rug, which Mike quickly commandeered, and magnificent views of the city’s skyline.
We went out for lunch at Uva Cafe next door to our building. Mike had a Smash Burger Cuarto de Libro and I had a Perrito Mejicano (a hot dog on a Brioche bun with jalapeños, salsa and cheddar). We saw the Panamanian flag everywhere and found out that day, November 10, was Los Santos Uprising Day in Panama. This public holiday commemorates the beginning of Panama’s struggle for independence from Spain in 1821.
The event that sparked an anti-Spanish uprising in La Villa de los Santos is known as Grito de La Villa de los Santos or the Cry of Rufina Alfaro. Rufina Alfaro was a young woman who lived in a small village near Los Santos. On November 10, 1821 she led a group of Panamanians, shouting “Viva la Libertad” (Long Live Liberty). People armed with sticks and stones seized Spanish barracks without spilling a single drop of blood. Many claim that Rufina is a legend, although the uprising in Los Santos did occur.
After lunch we relaxed in the apartment after our two days of travel, enjoying the views and the air-conditioning.
In the evening, we wandered around El Cangrejo finding some colorful murals on a dollar store and Einstein’s Head, also known as Cabeza de Einstein, a landmark located on a traffic island in the neighborhood. The bust that changes color at night was donated by the local Jewish community and designed by Panamanian artist Carlos Arboleda in 1968.
We enjoyed dinner at Pho Vietnam, which was colorfully decorated with umbrellas on the ceiling and a giant plastic bowl of Pho at the entry. I had Mixed Noodles with Shrimp and Mike had Combination Pho. We then strolled around the lively neighborhood after dinner.
Tuesday, November 11: We enjoyed morning views from our apartment window, ate breakfast in, then went out to explore Casco Viejo, the Old Compound. We took Ubers everywhere we went in Panama City at a very reasonable cost.
Casco Viejo (Old Compound)
Following the destruction of the old city in 1671, the Spanish moved their city to a rocky peninsula at the foot of Cerro Ancón. The new location was easier to defend as the reefs prevented ships from approaching the city except at high tide. The massive wall surrounding it also helped with defense. Casco Viejo (Old Compound) got its name from this wall.
In 1904, when construction began on the Panama Canal, all of Panama City existed where Casco Viejo stands today. However, as population growth and urban expansion pushed the boundaries of Panama City further east, the city’s elite abandoned Casco Viejo and the neighborhood rapidly deteriorated into a slum.
Today Casco Viejo’s crumbling facades have been mostly replaced by immaculate renovations. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003, the restored architecture gives a glimpse of the old city’s magnificence.
We started our exploration of the area Tuesday morning at Plaza Francia. At the tip of the southern point of Casco Viejo, this plaza pays respect to the French role in the construction of the canal. Its large stone tablets and statues are dedicated to the memory of the 22,000 workers who died trying to create the canal.
The Paseo las Bóvedas esplanade runs along the top of the sea wall built by the Spanish to protect the city. From here, we could see the Puente de las Américas arching over the waterway and the ships lining up to enter the canal.
We dipped into an art gallery in Las Bóvedas (The Vaults) next to the Teatro Nacional, built in 1907.
We walked along the sea wall on Paseo Esteban Huertas where we found indigenous Kuna women selling the embroidered molas (handmade textile panels) for which the country is famous.
The compact Casco Viejo is a mix of restored neoclassical, rainbow-hued buildings with wrought-iron balconies; centuries-old churches; and narrow cobblestone streets.
We came upon a large recessed brick arch known as Arco Chato (Flat Arch), about 15 meters long and 10 meters high, which supported the choir of Saint Dominic’s Church. It became a popular tourist attraction in the 19th century, despite being located among ruins. It was declared a national monument in 1941.
The flat Arch remained standing until 2003, when it collapsed unexpectedly. The current arch is a reconstruction lined with its original bricks.
In the Augustinian Iglesia de San José (built 1671-1677), the extraordinary Altar de Oro (Golden Altar – a wooden altar covered in gold leaf) is a treasure – with a legend to match.
The story goes that when Welsh privateer Henry Morgan launched his 1671 attack on Panamá Viejo – which resulted in the destruction of the original Panama City – Jesuit priests painted the altarpiece black to disguise it, telling Morgan that another pirate had already stolen it.
In a back room of the church was an expansive village diorama that told the story of Jesus, from Mary’s visit from the angels to everything before Christ’s resurrection. In the same room were wooden life-size figures of the 12 disciples, except for one that was missing.
We continued our stroll through Casco Viejo: Plaza Herrera, government buildings, Church of the Mercy (a small church with a 1680 Baroque facade), Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of Santa Maria the Ancient, and the Municipal Palace.
We enjoyed a nice lunch at Al Alma Cafe & Brunch, where we shared a chorizo empañada & Eggs Benedict with avocado & Parmesan. We had a great time chatting with Nicholas, our server from Medellin, Colombia, before heading over to the Panama Canal Museum.
The Panama Canal Museum (Interoceanic Canal Museum) covers a lot of the complicated history of this massive project.
The Panama Canal is an artificial 82-kilometer (51-mile) waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a conduit for maritime trade between the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.
France began work on the canal in 1881, but stopped in 1889 because of a lack of investors’ confidence due to engineering problems and a high worker mortality rate. The US took over the project in 1904 and opened the canal in 1914. The US continued to control the canal and the surrounding Panama Canal Zone until the Torrijos–Carter Treaties provided for its handover to Panama in 1977. After a period of joint American–Panamanian control, the Panamanian government took control in 1999. It is now managed and operated by the Panamanian government-owned Panama Canal Authority.
The history of the canal is long, complicated, and littered with lost lives. Mike just finished an excellent read about it by David MuCullough: The Path Between the Seas. If one took the time to read every placard in the museum, one might also gain a thorough understanding of the obstacles faced in the canal’s construction.
We also found an art exhibition about migration, especially through the Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama. According to the exhibit: “In recent years, the Darien rainforest has become one of the busiest and most dangerous migration routes in the world. Since 2016, more than one million people have crossed it, facing extreme conditions, violence, and exploitation. In 2023, the number of migrants reached a record 520,000, many of them seeking asylum after fleeing economic crises, conflicts, and persecution in their countries of origin.
“In 2025, the dynamic has changed dramatically. The recent closure of immigration centers in Panama and the mass deportations implemented in the United States have reduced transit through this route by 98%. These measures have forced many migrants to return to their countries, while others seek alternative, often more dangerous, routes.”
The last place we stopped in Casco Viejo, was Victor’s for a Panamanian “Panama hat.” Even though I bought several Panama hats in Ecuador, the true source of Panama hats, in 2022, I figured I should have one from its “Panama” namesake. The hats were misnamed because they were traded through Panama; they didn’t originate here. Still, a brown one was calling my name! 😂🤣🥹
El Cangrejo
After our long hot day, we returned to our condo for a cool-off in the pool. It was way too hot & humid in Panama for me!
Tuesday evening we wandered into El Cangrejo, stopping at a cute shop, M. Saldaña, which sells paintings and other merchandise created by artist Mario Saldaña. Here, I bought a journal and a print. I loved these colorful paintings.
We spent a mellow evening at Pedro Mandinga Rum Bar. The name Ron Pedro Mandinga pays homage to the legend of Pedro Mandinga, a 16th-century Panamanian runaway slave who symbolizes courage and collaboration. His alliance with Sir Francis Drake, showcasing Panama’s rich multicultural heritage, inspires the essence of its Panamanian rum brand.
Ron Pedro Mandinga Panamá was born with the vision of creating an exceptional Panamanian artisanal rum, committed to quality and tradition. Unlike other rums, Pedro Mandinga’s secret lies in the use of artisanal raspadura, the “ancestral sugar” of sugarcane, sourced from the owners’ family farm in the fertile volcanic soils of Boquete.
Amador Causeway
Wednesday, November 12: This morning we caught an Uber to Flamenco Island, the furthest point out on the Amador Causeway, a long and narrow man-made island extending out at the southernmost point of Panama City.
We had read it was a 2km walk to the BioMuseo, but it was actually 4km. We were soaked in sweat by the time we made it to the Biomuseo. We realized quickly that this wasn’t the best way to start our day, but nothing was to be done but to keep walking. We did enjoy views of the boats and the skyline of the city, but it really wasn’t worth doing anything but driving down it.
BioMuseo
The BioMuseo in Panama City was designed by the famous American architect Frank Gehry, his first and only design in Latin America. The design was conceived in 1999 and the museum opened on 2 October 2014. The museum is focused on the natural history of Panama and how it reshaped the entire world.
After our walk down the Amador Causeway, we explored the museum’s colorful galleries showcasing the biodiversity of Panama. Exhibits vary from audiovisuals & sculptures to an ocean gallery with multiple aquariums.
We learned that 70 million years ago, there was no isthmus that connected North and South America. Panama didn’t exist except as a number of underwater volcanoes 🌋 on the ocean floor. Once a land mass was formed above water this opened a corridor for a mass migrational interchange of animals from one continent to the other.
The Human Path, a space partially open to the outdoors, displays 16 columns providing information about human impact on the natural world.
The goal of the museum is to make visitors aware of their personal impact on biodiversity and to encourage them to protect and cherish it.
Mercado de Mariscos
We stopped at the Mercado de Mariscos, the seafood market, where we strolled through the market and then ate a lunch of sea bass and yucca fries.
El Cangrejo
Wednesday night was a fun night out at La Rana Dorada Beer Garden, associated with the Pedro Mandinga Rum Co, where we went Tuesday night. We enjoyed drinking craft beers, playing pool & eating pizza. I won by default because Mike scratched going for the 8 ball. 🎱 . We were extremely rusty at pool! Still. A good time was had by all.
We topped the evening off with some ice cream.
Miraflores Visitor Center & the Panama Canal
Thursday, November 13: Today, we made our way to the Miraflores Visitor Center to see the Panama Canal in action. We stood on the viewing platform with hundreds of other people vying for a spot at the front. It is said that about 30-40 ships go through here each day and we were lucky to see two, a container ship 🚢 and a cruise ship🛳️ . A special pilot from the Panama Authority boards each ship and pilots it through the locks. Only the pilot speaks, and is answered solely by boat horns.
The container ship moved slowly into the lock, pulled by tiny but powerful locomotives on the edges on the locks. Once the lock gates were closed, water filled the chamber, raising the huge ship to the next level, enabling it to leave the lock on the other side. Water rushed in and out of the locks solely by gravity; no pumps were used.
It was a fascinating yet slow-moving spectacle to watch. I wish they had a higher and longer viewing platform as it was difficult jostling with the crowds to get decent views.
The 45-minute IMAX film was a dramatic rendering of the canal’s history; the modern expansion in 2016 which doubled the capacity of the canal and increased the width and depth of the lanes and locks, allowing larger and more ships to pass; and the modern-day operation of the canal.
We had seen the Soo Locks in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan in 2021, and that was amazing to see as well. I cannot comprehend how these engineering marvels are conceived and built as I don’t have that kind of mind. But it is an amazing thing to behold.
Panama Canal Murals at the Edificio de la Administración del Canal de Panama
The story of the monumental effort to build the Panama Canal is depicted in murals by notable artist William B Van Ingen of New York. The murals are mounted in the rotunda of the Panama Canal Administration Building. The paintings have the distinction of being the largest group of murals by an American artist on display outside the USA.
Museum of Contemporary Art of Panama (Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Panamá), or MAC Panama
The Museum of Contemporary Art of Panama (Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Panamá), popularly called MAC Panamá, is the only museum of contemporary art that exists in Panama. The institution was founded in 1962 as the Panamanian Institute of Art and in 1983 it became the current museum.
We watched a twenty-minute documentary of sorts called “Zone” by Simon Shim-Sutcliffe; “it reflects on how liquid infrastructure operates within the space of abandoned memory and the remnants of successive colonial empires. It offers a poetic and critical reflection on how water reshapes landscapes and histories, becoming a transformative agent of geography and collective memory,” according to the museum.
“Drawing on his family’s heritage as Chinese immigrants who worked on the Canal, Shim-Sutcliffe reflects on erased legacies and the reconstruction of forgotten images, demonstrating how fluid landscapes have been fundamental in guiding our collective fictions of progress. Zone uses archival material, aerial shots, 16mm film and digital, phone recordings, set design and collage to explore the political and cultural forces that have shaped the configuration of this contested site. Water in the work functions not only as a medium but as a character: an agent carving pathways through empires, trade, and memory.”
Another exhibit at MAC Panamá called “Musa” explored feminine universes and visions, interweaving, from diverse positions and perspectives, the specific identity of being a woman. Another brought together a series in which abstraction and formal experimentation articulated a space of spiritual inquiry where feminine subjectivity embraced the fantastic, the dreamlike, and the magical. Yet another brought together works that addressed the political memory and social critique of different historical moments.
lunch in Curundú
When we took an Uber to the neighborhood of Curundú in Panama City, the Uber driver was baffled as to why we were visiting the impoverished area.
The neighborhood is tucked in the heart of Panama City. In the very center of Curundú is the Estadio Juan Démostenes Arosemena, an imposing baseball stadium.
The neighborhood is a vibrant Afro-Panamanian community in one of the most racially and economically unequal countries of the world. It originated as a median between the United States Canal Zone and Panama City: informally planned, with a majority Black or Indigenous population, its culture is unique to its borders. Curundú has a tense relationship with the rest of Panama City and can’t shake off its stigma of poverty, racial stereotypes, and perceived crime.
We were in search of a restaurant called Peach Fuzz International, owned by Danny, the father of a woman, Tae, who has worked with Mike at LMI since 2014. We introduced ourselves to Danny, who seemed upbeat and excited that we had taken the time to visit and bring messages from his daughter, who he hasn’t seen in two years. He advised us to try the shrimp with garlic sauce, which he then painstakingly began to prepare.
Danny’s brother Bryce showed up and we met him. Then Danny’s cousin, Marlin and his wife Diana, who were visiting from LA, showed up with Diana’s mother from Puerto Rico. They all ordered food and Diana said the shrimp with garlic was her favorite. It turned out to be an old family and friends’ gathering. Diana & Bryce said they come once a year to Panama and always visit Danny when they come. It was definitely a cultural immersion in one of Panama’s struggling communities.
El Cangrejo
We spent the afternoon at the pool with Panama beers to cool off from our day out & about.
Celebrating our 37th anniversary at Marques
Our last night in Panama City happened to be our 37th anniversary (13 November), so we toasted our enduring marriage, the ups & downs, with wine & a special dinner out at Marques. I had catch of the day – sea bass fillet with pistachio crust, mussels in coconut milk with lemongrass, ying yang sauce, and blue curaçao. Mike got a Del Bosque: Risotto served with asparagus, mushrooms, and Parmesan with imported beef strips. We shared a brownie with ice cream for dessert. As we are early eaters, we had almost the entire restaurant to ourselves.
Leaving Panama City for Bocas del Toro via Panama Air at Albrook Gelabert Airport
Friday, November 14: This morning we made our way to Albrook Gelabert Airport, Panama City’s domestic airport, to take our 50 minute flight on Air Panama to Bocas del Toro. We waited around a lot; there was really no need to arrive 2 hours early. We found a huge puzzle on the wall showing the whole of Panama City.
Here is a video of our time in Panama City, including the slow-moving ships going through the Panama Canal.
August 31, 2025: Welcome to our August cocktail hour. Let’s have a piña colada and pretend we’re drinking it on a rooftop. We can enjoy breezes and sunset views, and maybe we’ll be lucky enough to see Keel-billed Toucans and Red-lored Parrots. You can even come along vicariously on our getaway to La Fortuna near Volcán Arenal. Sunset is is now at around 5:30 every night; twilight brings with it lots of mosquitoes, so be sure to slather on the mosquito repellent.
I have a variety of soda, seltzer water, or bebida de aloe for those of you who don’t drink. Mike can also whip up some excellent smoothies. Thanks for joining us in our escape into a peaceful corner of the world.
August marked our third month in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. It was in some ways a busy month and in other ways a laid-back, homebody-type month.
Our last day in Tamarindo
We left Tamarindo on the 1st of August after taking an early morning walk on the beach. On our way home, we stopped at Panamar for seafood.
Tamarindo Beach
Tamarindo Beach
Tamarindo Beach
Tamarindo Beach
Tamarindo Beach
Tamarindo Beach
Tamarindo Beach
Tamarindo Beach
Tamarindo Beach
Tamarindo Beach
Tamarindo Beach
Tamarindo Beach
BOHO Tamarindo
Dining out with a few musical interludes
This month we tried out more local restaurants. We ate pizza at Gutierrez Family Pizzeria Express and enjoyed Taco Tuesday at Lake Arenal Brewery while being serenaded by Charly Lopez from Uruguay. We went to the dilapidated-looking Equus for fish fingers and BBQ pork on the 8th. We sampled sushi at Wabi Sabi Sushi on the 9th and ate lunch at Hacienda La Pacifica Eco-Lodge on the 12th after visiting the Puma Sanctuary. Anne and Jack rewarded us for our time, after we spent two-hours witnessing their will-signing in Nuevo Arenal, by treating us to lunch at Restaurante Tinajas on the 14th. On Dia de las Madres (Assumption Day/Mother’s Day), we went with Anne and Jack to a Cuban event at Lake Arenal Brewery with Olsen del Toro singing and his mother cooking Cuban food for a tasting menu. We had a lunch out at Soda La Macha in Rio Piedras and enjoyed dinner and drinks with our friend Carol, who lost her husband Carlos at the end of July, at Plaza Paseo de Viento. We had dinner with our friend from the gym, Darrell and his wife Farida at Restaurante Linda Vista, and the next day, Mike and I enjoyed cocktails on the rooftop at Paseo del Viento while watching a thunderstorm move in. We also enjoyed a dinner at Vento Bistro before attending the last event, a dancing activity, of the Celebramos 102 Años de Cantonato (de Tilarán) del 21-31 Agosto 2025.
me at Gutierrez Family Pizzeria Express
Mike at Gutierrez Family Pizzeria Express
Gutierrez Family Pizzeria Express
Gutierrez Family Pizzeria Express
Taco Tuesday at Lake Arenal Brewery with Charly Lopez from Uruguay
Taco Tuesday at Lake Arenal Brewery with Charly Lopez from Uruguay
Anne & Jack at Taco Tuesday
Lunch at Equus
Lunch at Equus
Lunch at Equus
Restaurante Tinajas
Jack, Nixon, me and Anne at Restaurante Tinajas
Anne and Jack at Restaurante Tinajas
mural at Restaurante Tinajas
Cuban night at Lake Arenal Brewery with Olsen del Toro and his mother
Anne & Jack at Lake Arenal Brewery
Mike at Lake Arenal Brewery
me with Anne at Lake Arenal Brewery
Plaza Paseo del Viento
Carol and Mike atPaseo del Viento
Carol and me at Paseo del Viento
me at Soda La Macha
Mike at Soda La Macha
me at Soda La Macha
Darrell & Farida at Restaurante Linda Vista
comida typica at Restaurante Linda Vista
me, Darrell, Farida and Mike at Restaurante Linda Vista
me with daiquiri at Paseo del Viento
drinks at Paseo del Viento
Mike at Paseo del Viento
Mike at Vento Bistro
Me at Vento Bistro
view of Tilarán’s city park from Vento Bistro
Drives, walks and local explorations
We drove on a gravel road to El Silencio, where we found some amazing views. We continued our walks around Tronadora: the gravel road to Santiago’s pitaya farm, two attempts to walk on Peninsula 2, and one walk on Peninsula 1, and the 4-mile loop from our door to Tronadora and back.
walk up gravel road from Tronadora to Santiago’s pitaya farm
walk up gravel road from Tronadora to Santiago’s pitaya farm
Santiago’s pitaya farm
walk up gravel road from Tronadora to Santiago’s pitaya farm
Drive to El Silencio
Drive to El Silencio
Drive to El Silencio
first attempt to walk on Peninsula 2
first attempt to walk on Peninsula 2
first attempt to walk on Peninsula 2
Walk on Peninsula 1 in Tronadora
Walk on Peninsula 1 in Tronadora – sighting of Volcán Arenal
Walk on Peninsula 1 in Tronadora
Walk on Peninsula 1 in Tronadora
a horseman & 2 horses in San Luis
view from our 4 mile loop in Tronadora
horse on Peninsula 1
horses on Peninsula 1
Walk around Tronadora
Four days/three nights in La Fortuna
On Tuesday (8/19) through Friday (August 22) we took a trip to La Fortuna, the area around Volcán Arenal at the east end of Lake Arenal. We explored new places, activities and experiences that made this one of our best weeks in Costa Rica so far. We enjoyed upscale thermal springs from Volcán Arenal at Baldi Hot Springs; went whitewater rafting on the Class III-IV Río Sarapiqui; descended 517 steps to the Catarata Río Fortuna and swam in the surrounding pools; hiked a boring trail at Parque Nacional Volcán Arenal; enjoyed a mediocre massage at Spa Luz de Luna; and visited Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park in the rainforest of La Fortuna. We really enjoyed our trip to this area.
Café con Amor in Nuevo Arenal
me, Jackie Ruíz and Mike at Café con Amor
me at Baldi Hot Springs Resort & Spa
Baldi Hot Springs Resort & Spa
Mike at Baldi Hot Springs Resort & Spa
Mike at Baldi Hot Springs Resort & Spa
me at Baldi Hot Springs Resort & Spa
Mike doing tree pose at Baldi Hot Springs Resort & Spa
view of Volcán Arenal from Baldi Hot Springs Resort & Spa
sauna at Baldi Hot Springs Resort & Spa
tropical plants at Baldi Hot Springs Resort & Spa
Spicy Sloth and Green Gin at Baldi Hot Springs Resort & Spa
Yellow Tree Suites
Sunny’s Indian in La Fortuna
Sunny’s Indian in La Fortuna
Mike & me on our whitewater rafting trip
whitewater rafting on the Río Sarapiqui
whitewater rafting on the Río Sarapiqui
whitewater rafting on the Río Sarapiqui
Me with Mike at our break on the whitewater rafting trip
Mike jumps into the Río Sarapiqui
Me, Mike, Carlos and Monica from Madrid on our whitewater rafting trip
view of Volcán Arenal from Yellow Tree Suites
me at Catarata Río Fortuna
Mike at Catarata Río Fortuna
Catarata Río Fortuna
me at Catarata Río Fortuna
me at Catarata Río Fortuna
Catarata Río Fortuna
me on hike at Parque Nacional Volcán Arenal
Parque Nacional Volcán Arenal
Parque Nacional Volcán Arenal
church in La Fortuna
Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park
Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park
Turquoise-browed Motmot at Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park
Mike at Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park
Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park
Mike at Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park
Me and Mike at Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park
Mike at Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park
Mike at Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park
Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park
me and Mike at Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park
Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park
Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park
Mike at Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park
me at Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park
view of Volcán Arenal from Mistico Arenal Hanging Bridges Park
looking at the dam from Mistico
Desfile de Caballistas (Parade of Horsemen)
Once we returned home, we enjoyed one event of many that comprise the Celebramos 102 Años de Cantonato del 21-31 Agosto 2025: the Desfile de Caballistas (Parade of Horsemen). Before that event, we ate at Iván’s restaurant, Tilatacos. Iván has become Mike’s swimming buddy in the lake for the last several weeks; because Iván is new to open-water swimming, he appreciates Mike’s advice and companionship.
On the last day of the month, we went to the final event of the Celebration: Gran Actividad Bailable de Cierre en el Parque Flaqué Montull (Great Closing Dance Activity in Domino Flaqué Montull Park). It wasn’t all that thrilling, probably because we were there too early.
me with Mike at Tilatacos
Mike and fellow swimmer Iván (owner of Tilatacos
Desfile de Caballistas (Parade of Horsemen) in Tilarán
Desfile de Caballistas (Parade of Horsemen) in Tilarán
me at Desfile de Caballistas (Parade of Horsemen) in Tilarán
Desfile de Caballistas (Parade of Horsemen) in Tilarán
Desfile de Caballistas (Parade of Horsemen) in Tilarán
Gran Actividad Bailable de Cierre en el Parque Flaqué Montull (Great Closing Dance Activity in Domino Flaqué Montull Park)
My Summer Bingo Card
I checked off a lot of items on my Summer Bingo Card in August. It’s a good thing since summer ends on September 21. I put smiley faces on the following:
Beach time (Tamarindo)
Taco Tuesdays (1 x)
Kayak in the lake
Have a pool day (numerous times)
Make corn soup with shrimp
Family time (Alex, Jandira & Allie – FaceTime)
Frozen drink – piña colada – on rooftop at Plaza Paseo del Viento (2x)
Paddleboard in lake (2x)
Swim in the lake (2x)
Visit Centro de Rescate y Santuario Las Pumas in Cañas
Eat seasonal fruit (added passionfruit – maracuyá)
Pedicure (white semi-permanent) 1x
La Fortuna (see above for photos)
Spa Day (Baldi Hot Springs)
Whitewater raft (on the Río Sarapiqui)
Hike a volcano (Volcán Arenal)
Visit a National Park (Parque Nacional Volcán Arenal)
Visit a waterfall and swim in it – Catarata Río Fortuna
Have a massage (Spa Luz de Luna)
Rain Forest Visit (La Fortuna) – Mistico Hanging Bridges
Finished 6 books (3 in August)
ready to kayak on the lake
kayaking on Lake Arenal
kayaking on Lake Arenal
kayaking on Lake Arenal
kayaking on Lake Arenal
pool day
pool day
pool day
Frozen drinks on the rooftop at Plaza Paseo del Viento
cerveza and. Piña colada
me with my frozen drink on the rooftop
paddle boarding on the lake
Mike paddle boarding on the lake
me paddle boarding on the lake
Santuario Las Pumas in Cañas
Santuario Las Pumas in Cañas
Santuario Las Pumas in Cañas
Santuario Las Pumas in Cañas
Santuario Las Pumas in Cañas
pool day
on the way to the lake for paddle boarding
getting ready to paddleboard
paddleboarding on the lake
me paddle boarding again
Mike paddle boarding
my Summer Bingo Card as of 8/31
my Summer Bingo Card as of 8/31
Identifying birds & flora
We saw Keel-billed Toucans in our tree outside our house two times this month, plus we saw them in captivity at Centro de Rescate y Santuario Las Pumas in Cañas. We have both downloaded the Merlin app to help us identify all the birds that wake us up each morning. So far I have a Life List of 34 species. We’ve had several visits by Keel-billed Toucans, and regulars here at our house include Great-tailed Grackles, House Wrens, Red-lored Parrots, and Cabinis’s Wrens. One morning a flock of Orange-chinned Parakeets descended on the trees surrounding our house. Birdsong is ever-present in our days, except on days when it’s raining.
At Anne’s suggestion, I downloaded “seek by iNaturalist” but I haven’t found it to work for me.
Keel-billed Toucans in our tree
Keel-billed Toucan in our tree
Keel-billed Toucan in our tree
Keel-billed Toucan in our tree
pretty tropical flower
a tree I tried to identify but couldn’t
Toucans seen August 27
Toucans seen August 27
Toucans seen August 27
Toucans seen August 27
Orange-chinned parakeets
ExperiencingVeranillo in August
Apparently July to August is considered the “little high season” (also known as veranillo or “little summer”) with pleasant weather with minimal rain, moderate crowds and lower prices. We enjoyed an overall less rainy month in Costa Rica than we did our first two months. People say October and November are the rainiest months.
Family happenings
Allie and Jandira arrived safely home from their month-long trip to Angola on August 6. Jandira got a new job as Assistant Manager at a jewelry store close to our house in Oakton, and Allie started going to a new daycare. She also continued taking swim lessons.
In Nicaragua, Cristy bought nail polishes and nail tools so she can practice doing people’s nails.Later, Cristy got her certificate of Manicure & Pedicure for the course she completed.
Allie at the Lisbon airport
Allie at the Lisbon airport
Allie, Alex and Jandira – reunited after the girls were in Angola for a month
Allie at daycare
Allie at daycare
Allie taking swim lessons
Allie at our house
Cristy with her nail polish supplies
Cristy gets her certificate of completion for Manicure and Pedicure
Homebody stuff
We continued our three times per week workouts at Monster Gym and our Wednesday yoga sessions at Living Forest Yoga. We also run errands for food and day-to-day needs. We cook in quite frequently, trying to limit our dinners/lunches out only to 3x/week. I had a hair hydrating session at the end of August, as well as a pedicure.
Mike leaving Living Forest after yoga
verduras & frutas in Aguacate
tilapia and zucchini meal we made
sunset from our house
the front of our house
pedicure at S.O.S. Beauty Salon
pedicure at S.O.S. Beauty Salon
beautiful sunset
beautiful sunset
I finished 3 books in August, bringing my total to 31/48. I especially enjoyedOut Stealing Horses by Per Petterson. We watched three movies: The Penguin Lessons (Argentina), My Oxford Year, and Fall for Me (Mallorca), all of which we enjoyed. We started watching a couple of new series: Territory, Asura no Gotoku, If Only (Si lo hubiera sabido), and Platonic. We finished watching North of North, Tuiskoms, Letters from the Past (Gelecege Mektuplar), and The Survivors (excellent!). We continued watching Younger, Seinfeld, Togetherness, and Pernille. This month we made a decision to stop watching Severance: it’s just too bizarre and not our thing.
On my Costa Rica blog, you can find my weekly recaps of our lives in Costa Rica for the month of August:
I hope you’ll share how the year is panning out for you, and what plans you have for the summer and the rest of this year.
How did your August go? Did you have any special family gatherings? Have you welcomed any new additions to your family? Did you celebrate any birthdays or anniversaries? Have you read any good books that can inform your worldview, seen any good movies, binge-watched any television series? Have you planned any adventures or had any summer getaways? Have you dreamed any dreams? Have you gone to any exotic restaurants, cooked any new dishes? Have you been surprised by anything in life? Have you marked off activities on your Summer Bingo card? Have you tried out any new water sports like kayaking, paddle boarding, white water rafting? Have you soaked in thermal pools or hiked in any national parks? Have you learned anything new, taken any classes or just kept up with the news? Have you sung along with any new songs? Have you undertaken any new exercise routines? Have you marched or otherwise participated in political protests? Have you been battered, or alternately, uplifted by any news?
Please share your August with me by giving me the plot below, or a link to a post in your blog that tells about your month.
Wednesday, February 19, 2025: On Wednesday morning, we woke up to a steady rain and a forecast for more rain until at least 2:00. We decided we’d spend the morning in two museums, starting in Polanco at the Museo Jumex.
Polanco is a privileged neighborhood in CDMX, with fine restaurants, shopping malls chock-full of designer clothing stores, and sky-high rents.
The sole heir of Jumex, the Mexican juice company, has amassed one of Latin America’s leading contemporary art collections in Museo Jumex. Temporary exhibits draw on around 2600 pieces from renowned Mexican and international artists, including Gabriel Orozco, Fernanda Gomez, Andy Warhol and Jeff Koons.British architect David Chipperfield designed the museum’s sawtooth roof.
The exhibit we saw today was Gabriel Orozco’s career-spanning exhibition, “Politécnico Nacional.” The artist was born in 1962 in Jalapa, Mexico. In 1966, the family moved to Mexico City, where Orozco grew up attending schools that emphasized active forms of learning; there he was immersed in Mexico’s progressive cultural milieu.
Orozco studied at the Escuela Nacional de Artes Plásticas, UNAM (1981-1984) and then at El Círculo de Bellas Artes in Madrid (1986-1987). From 1987 to 1991, he hosted “El Taller de los Viernes” (The Friday Workshop) in his house in Tlalpan, a collaborative learning workshop with younger artists Abraham Cruzvillegas, Gabriel Kuri, Damian Ortega and Jerónimo López (aka Dr Lakra).
Orozco’s interventions into urban and natural spaces, both public and private, started out in his walks around Mexico City and Madrid in the mid-1980s. These developed into actions as seen in works such as Until You Find Another Yellow Schwalbe (1996), in which he drove around the streets of Berlin looking to park his own yellow motorcycle next to another one of the same color and model (see photos below).
Orozco’s entire body of work could be thought of as a compost of commodities.For example, while traveling in Brazil in 1991, one of his first site-specific interventions was to place discarded oranges on trestle tables in a market that had recently packed up. The fruits were carefully arranged, one on each table, and then photographed. Through this simple gesture, the market was transformed into a kind of game board, with the leftover oranges as pieces in a new system of play.
While living in New York, he created ephemeral interventions in the supermarket near his apartment, disrupting the ordered universe of products in the aisles. Gatos y Sandías, for instance, documents cans of cat food placed on a display of watermelons. Gato en la jungla mixes cans of cat food with cans of green beans to depict cats peering out of tropical greenery. In these cases, commodities were taken out of their normal circuit of distribution and inserted in a different one, captured in photographs that would end up belonging to another kind of market. This basic game between different modes of circulation and distribution has preoccupied him ever since.
Playing with the idea of commodity lies at the heart of Orozco’s practice, such as La DS (1993), a sliced Citroën DS as a deconstructed cultural commodity of French modernity.
One of Orozco’s most famous works is Caja vacía de zapatos (Empty Shoe Box), which was sitting on the floor of the museum watched over carefully by two museum guards.
Museo Jumex
Museo Jumex
Caballos corriendo infinitamente (Horses Running Endlessly) (1995) at Museo Jumex
Atomistas. Asprilla (1996/2024) at Museo Jumex
Museo Jumex
Museo Jumex
Museo Jumex
Museo Jumex
Gabriel Orozco, La DS (Cornaline) (2013) at Museo Jumex
Gabriel Orozco, La DS (Cornaline) (2013) at Museo Jumex
Until You Find Another Yellow Schwalbe (1996) at Museo Jumex
Until You Find Another Yellow Schwalbe (1996) at Museo Jumex
Until You Find Another Yellow Schwalbe (1996) at Museo Jumex
Gato en la jungla (1992) at Museo Jumex
Gatos y sandías (Cats and Watermelons) (1992) at Museo Jumex
Museo Jumex
Perro durmiendo (Sleeping Dog) (1990) at Museo Jumex
Museo Jumex
Mike at Museo Jumex
Caja vacía de zapatos (Empty Shoe Box) (1993) at Museo Jumex
Sin titulo (Untitled) 2006-2022 at Museo Jumex
Museo Jumex
Éclaircie (2008-2019) at Museo Jumex
Museo Jumex
First Lady (2017) at Museo Jumex
Museo Jumex
Museo Jumex
Mis manos son mi corazón (My Hands Are My Heart) (1991) at Museo Jumex
Cementerio (Vista 2) Cemetery (View 2) (2002)at Museo Jumex
Museo Jumex
Mike with bicycles at Museo Jumex
Museo Jumex
Adjacent to the Museo Jumex in posh Polanco is Museo Soumaya. The silver, rotated-rhomboid shape of this private museum is an art extravaganza in and of itself. Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim named his six-story behemoth after his late wife. Designed by son-in-law architect Fernando Romero, with guidance by Frank Gehry, Soumaya is plated with 16,000 aluminum hexagons.
We didn’t go inside but instead admired the interesting building, set off with lavender jacarandas, as we entered Museo Jumex and later, as we stood on its balconies.
Museo Soumaya
We also had views of gleaming high rises and high-end shopping malls all around.
high rises around Museo Soumaya
high rises around Museo Soumaya
Museo Soumaya
Bosque de Chapultepec: Museo Nacional de Antropologia
We took an Uber to the Museo Nacional de Antropologia in Bosque de Chapultepec. This museum presents the rich history of Mexico in a fascinating, accessible way. We were able to get close to artifacts and even a reproduction of a pyramid from Teotihuacán. Giant Olmec head statues and intricate temples sit in verdant outdoor courtyards, uniting the old world and real world. Sadly, maybe because of the rain, the outdoor areas were roped off today.
There is so much to see in this museum that even a whole day wouldn’t do it justice. We first were met by an impressive cascade in the central courtyard known as el paraguas (the umbrella), which acts as a reminder of our connection to nature.
Various halls line up around the perimeter of the courtyard showing the rich aspects of Mexico’s long and varied culture: Teotihuacán Hall, Lost Toltecas, the Mexica (aka Aztec), Ozxaca and the Gulf of Mexico, and finally, Maya.
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
me at Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Museo Nacional de Antropologia
Condesa: Parque México & Avenida Amsterdam
We enjoyed a nice lunch at Santas Conchas Lonchería. We shared Tlalpeño Broth (Chicken, rice, chickpeas, vegetables, avocado, chipotle and melted cheese) and a Chili Dog (Pork sausage with chili, tomato, onion, cuaresmeño chili, mayonnaise) served with french fries. We also shared a Concha (shell), a traditional Hispanic sweet bread (pan dulce) with similar consistency to a brioche. Conchas get their name from their round shape and their striped, seashell-like appearance. Eating one was like eating air!
Chili Dog (Pork sausage with chili, tomato, onion, cuaresmeño chili, mayonnaise) served with french fries
me at Santas Conchas Lonchería
Concha at Santas Conchas Lonchería
The heart of the Condesa neighborhood is the peaceful Parque México, the oval shape of which reflects its earlier use as an hippodromo (horse-racing track). The art deco park opened in 1927 and the sculpture of an indigenous woman holding water pitchers at one entrance was designed by great Mexican sculptor José María Fernández Urbina.
Parque México
Parque México
Parque México
Parque México
Parque México
Parque México
Parque México is ringed by a tree-lined median walkway called Avenida Amsterdam that is almost a park itself. After lunch, we walked the circular route around the walkway, enjoying an overview of Condesa, with roads running off it like wagon-wheel spokes. Each section has its own flavor, and intersects with sculptures and plazas.
Avenida Amsterdam
Avenida Amsterdam
Avenida Amsterdam
Avenida Amsterdam
Avenida Amsterdam
yoga studio on Avenida Amsterdam
yoga studio on Avenida Amsterdam
yoga studio on Avenida Amsterdam
Avenida Amsterdam
Avenida Amsterdam
Avenida Amsterdam
Avenida Amsterdam
After we walked around the elliptical Avenida Amsterdam, we stopped for a happy hour at Butcher & Sons. We relaxed to songs “Silbo” by Féloche and “All That is You” by Me and My Friends. Mike got two tequila shots for the price of one, with salt and lime 🍋. I had to remind him how to do the salt on the back of the hand, a sip of tequila and the lime in the mouth. I had a Mr. Tambourine: Hendrick’s gin, cucumber slice, lemon twist, tonic water. I am such a sucker for drinks with cucumber in them!
Butcher & Sons
Mr. Tambourine at Butcher & Sons
Mike at Butcher & Sons
me at Butcher & Sons
Steps: 10,146; Miles 4.3. Weather Hi 70°, Lo 48°. Cloudy and rainy.
San Ángel
Thursday, February 20: Our last day in Mexico City, we went to the southern neighborhoods of the city, San Ángel & Coyoacán.
Templo del Carmen & Museo de El Carmen
Our first stop was Templo del Carmen, once a monastery and college built for the Discalced (Barefoot) Carmelites in 1615. The Aztec village of Tenanitla grew around it and became San Ángel. Today the church is an example of Herrerían-style architecture with its dome tiled in weathered Talavera and a golden baroque altar inside.
me at Templo del Carmen
Mike at Templo del Carmen
Templo del Carmen
Templo del Carmen
Templo del Carmen
Templo del Carmen
Templo del Carmen
Templo del Carmen
Museo de El Carmen was founded in 1938. It reopened as a museum in the well-preserved 17th-century grounds of the El Carmen monastery and college. The El Carmen Monastery College, originally for the Discalced Carmelites, provided for an entirely hermetic life and seclusion from society. The temple was dedicated to the Catholic saint, San Ángel Martir, for which the neighborhood of today was named.
The museum collection includes examples of Sacred Art. This includes Baroque altarpieces in the chapels, reliquaries, crypts, sculptures, paintings, and even the mummified bodies of some of the Carmelite friars. These were uncovered during the revolution by Zapatistas looking for buried treasure.
In the Sacristy, a golden and polychromic mudejar-mannerist inspired ceiling is crowned with a work by colonial artist and Mexican master Cristóbal de Villalpando. He faithfully depicts the origins of the order.
The Carmelite Orchard had up to 30,000 specimens of fruit trees, highlighting pear trees, peaches, olive trees, and apple trees. A small portion of the land was for vegetables for the friars. There was also a pond to provide fish and frogs, to grow flowers and to grow medicinal plants for the temple, the oratory and the school pharmacy.
The entire area was protected by a stone wall about five meters high to protect the enclosure. In the end, the pear trees from the orchard brought the most fame and profits to the College.
For the Carmelites it was also a place of meditation and reflection, as well as the basis of their economy. The entrance to its famous Pear Shop was on the corner of the Monasterio alley and the Plazuela del Carmen Street and its famous products were sold there. Today the garden is a space for enjoyment, education and recreation with cultural activities.
We also found a modern exhibit of different dance forms found in Mexico.
Museo de El Carmen
Carmelite Orchard at Museo de El Carmen
Carmelite Orchard at Museo de El Carmen
Museo de El Carmen
Museo de El Carmen
Museo de El Carmen
Museo de El Carmen
Museo de El Carmen
Museo de El Carmen
Museo de El Carmen
Museo de El Carmen
Museo de El Carmen
Museo de El Carmen
Museo de El Carmen
Museo de El Carmen
Museo de El Carmen
Museo de El Carmen
Museo de El Carmen
Museo de El Carmen
dance exhibit at Museo de El Carmen
dance exhibit at Museo de El Carmen
dance exhibit at Museo de El Carmen
dance exhibit at Museo de El Carmen
dance exhibit at Museo de El Carmen
dance exhibit at Museo de El Carmen
dance exhibit at Museo de El Carmen
Beneath the main building, the heavily decorated Mortuary Chapel and a vaulted underground hall hides the crypts of order members and benefactors.
Mortuary Chapel at Museo de El Carmen
Mortuary Chapel at Museo de El Carmen
Mortuary Chapel at Museo de El Carmen
Mortuary Chapel at Museo de El Carmen
Mortuary Chapel at Museo de El Carmen
Mortuary Chapel at Museo de El Carmen
San Ángel
We loved the colorful neighborhood of San Ángel. We even found a cute shop where I bought a Mexican poncho and bracelet.
San Ángel
San Ángel
San Ángel
San Ángel
San Ángel
San Ángel
San Ángel
San Ángel
San Ángel
me with shopkeeper in San Ángel
San Ángel
me in San Ángel
Mike in San Ángel
San Ángel
San Ángel
San Ángel
We strolled through the leafy and colorful streets of San Ángel to the Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo.
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo and husband Diego Rivera called this place home from 1934 to 1940, after a three-year stint in the USA.
The most interesting is Rivera’s abode. His studio preserves his art tools, with brushes laid out and jars stained with colored waterlines. Rivera produced 3000 art pieces here until his death in 1957.
Now only giant papier-mâché figures that Rivera (and Kahlo) collected inhabit Rivera’s high-ceilinged studio.
The now-museum, Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo, was designed by the couple’s friend, architect and painter Juan O’Gorman. Frida, Diego and O’Gorman each had their own separate house: Frida’s (the blue one) and O’Gorman’s have been cleared for temporary exhibits.
The houses are linked by a walkway, visually reflecting their joined but separate lives.
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Diego Rivera’s bedroom at Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
me near the walkway to Frida’s house at Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
It was here that Mexican artist Frida Kahlo painted two works that established her true artistry: Lo Que el Agua Me Dió (depicting her whole life in a bathtub) and El Difunto Dimas (of a deceased child).
Frida returned alone to her Coyoacán home in 1941 and remained there until her death in 1954.
Frida’s bedroom at Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Frida’s bathroom at Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo
Maque Café
After visiting the Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo, and before going to Coyoacán, we stopped into the adorable Maque Café, where we enjoyed a delicious lunch. I had wanted to try a mole dish and so ordered Enmoladas: Mole de la casa, pollo, crema y queso. It was scrumptious!
I didn’t know exactly what made an enmolada different from an enchilada. From all appearances they seemed alike. But Mike did a little research and found an enchilada is a taco prepared with a tortilla that has been previously soaked in a hot-pepper (chile) tomato sauce; an enmolada is a taco prepared with a tortilla that has been previously soaked in “mole.” Mole is a sauce that goes back to the Aztecs and is prepared with hot pepper and chocolate.
Mike ordered two Empanadas, acompañada de ensalada: Jamón con queso & Espinacas con queso. We shared one but took home the spinach empañada, only to forget to take it out of our refrigerator when we left Mexico City on Friday morning. 😱😓😥😰
Yet another pleasant dining experience in Mexico City.
Maque Café
Maque Café
Enmoladas: Mole de la casa, pollo, crema y queso
Mike at Maque Café
me at Maque Café
Coyoacán: Museo Casa de León Trotsky
I had read a book, In the Casa Azul: A Novel of Revolution and Betrayal by Meaghan Delahunt, before coming to Mexico. The novel told, in a rather disjointed fashion, the story of León Trotsky and his exile in Mexico. Thus, I was interested in seeing the Museo Casa de León Trotsky in Coyoacán.
Having come second to Stalin in the power struggle in the Soviet Union, Trotsky was expelled in 1929 and condemned to death in absentia. In 1937 he found refuge in Mexico. No other countries would accept him. Trotsky and his wife Natalia lived briefly in Frida Kahlo’s Blue House, but after falling out with Kahlo (following an affair) and Rivera they moved nearby.
According to Ted Grant, in Russia: From Revolution to Counter-Revolution (published January 1, 1997):
In the whole history of the world labor movement, there was nothing similar to the persecution suffered by Trotsky and his followers. Trotsky’s entire family was wiped out, except for his grandchildren: Sieva Volkov, who now lives in Mexico, Alexandra Moglina, who died in Moscow in 1989, and Yulia Sedova (Juliia Sergeevna Rubinshtein), who now lives in the United States.
In fact Sieva Volkov died on June 17, 2023 in Mexico. He was 97. Volkov was the last surviving witness of the murder of his grandfather in 1940. I couldn’t find whether Yulia Sedova is still alive today, but it is doubtful she is.
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Leon Trotsky & Diego Rivera in the Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, others and Leon Trotsky
Leon Trotsky in Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Trotsky as a child at Museo Casa de León Trotsky
a young Trotsky at Museo Casa de León Trotsky
“Stalin, the Executioner, Alone Remains”: Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party of 1917. By 1940 there was only one survivor (Trotsky) apart from Stalin.
Trotsky’s exile in the world
Mexico Harbors the Russian Exile Nobody Else Wants Leon Trotsky
Trotsky family tree
Leon Trotsky and Diego Rivera
Leon Trotsky in his garden
Memorabilia is displayed in buildings off the patio, where a tomb engraved with a hammer and sickle contains Trotsky’s ashes. Bullet holes remain in the bedroom, the markings of an earlier failed assassination attempt in which Trotsky’s grandson, Sieva Volkov, was shot in the leg.
The house and grounds are quite lovely with abundant tropical vegetation and flowering bushes.
The Trotsky furnishings in the house remain virtually untouched.
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
me at Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Mike at Museo Casa de León Trotsky
Museo Casa de León Trotsky
The photos below show the room in which Trotsky worked tenaciously for at least ten hours each day. This was also the scene of this Russian revolutionary’s final fight with his assassin: a Catalan named Ramon Mercader del Rio, one of Stalin’s agents, who on August 20, 1940, gave Trotsky a mortal blow in the head with an ice axe.
The table is covered with books that belonged to Leon Trotsky, who, in his last months of life, was working on the manuscript which would reveal the hidden side of the Stalinist government: Stalin’s biography, which he left unfinished.
Next to the table can be seen the Edison Dictating Machine dictaphone, where Trotsky used to record his work in wax cylinders like the ones that are on the table. On the left side of the desk is the bookcase where dictionaries and reference book were kept.
On the north wall is the largest bookcase, which contains the main collection of Trotsky’s library: several of his works, some of Lenin’s works, essays by Marx and Engels and 86 volumes of the Brockhaus and Efron Russian Encyclopaedia, among many other works in different languages.
In the corner is the bed where Trotsky used to rest for a few minutes during work days. One of the main worries Trotsky had about himself during his last years was the high blood pressure that he suffered from, and which caused him to have strong headaches which forced him to stop working to seek relief. Testimonies of this worry appear in his last letters and in the will that he wrote in this house.
In the museum, we studied mug shots of Ramón Mercader, a photo of the ice axe used to kill Trotsky, Trotsky in the hospital (surprisingly he didn’t die right away and was lucid enough to tell those around him to get his grandson out of the room), & Trotsky’s funeral procession.
Trotsky’s study where he was assassinated
Trotsky’s study where he was assassinated
Trotsky’s study where he was assassinated
Trotsky’s study where he was assassinated
The assassination of Leon Trotsky
the ice axe used in the murder
Police identification card of Ramón Mercader
Mercader surrounded by judicial agents in the garden of the house after the reconstruction of the events.
Trotsky’s funeral procession in the streets of Mexico City.
Trotsky in the hospital after the attack
We found a small display about Lenin in the museum before leaving. Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (1870 – 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until his death in 1924, and of the Soviet Union from 1922 until his death. As the founder and leader of the Bolsheviks, Lenin led the October Revolution which established the world’s first socialist state. His government won the Russian Civil War and created a one-party state under the Communist Party. Ideologically a Marxist, his developments to the ideology are called Leninism (Wikipedia: Vladimir Lenin).
Vladimir Lenin pontificating
Lenin, 1891. Krupskaya, Lenin’s wife and fellow revolutionary, 1895.
revolutionary literature
revolutionary literature
Vladimir Lenin
One of the main reasons people come to Coyoacan is to visit the Museo Frida Kahlo. Sadly, I waited until we arrived in Mexico City to buy my tickets, and found, much to my disappointment, that tickets were sold out through mid-March. That left me no choice but to return one day to Mexico City, which I happily hope to do.
La Romita
We got another Uber ride from Coyoacán to La Romita, a small colorful plaza in the midst of Roma Norte. We wandered around admiring the colorful murals, the hole-in-the-wall Tortillería, and the white Rectoría de San Francisco Javier church. Then we ambled a number of blocks back to our apartment in Roma Norte, stopping for beers at a little outdoor cafe, Chico Julio.
La Romita
La Romita
La Romita
La Romita
La Romita
La Romita
La Romita
La Romita
La Romita
La Romita
Chico Julio
Chico Julio
Chico Julio
Chico Julio
Chico Julio
Roma Norte
Roma Norte
Tr3s Tonala in Roma Norte
La Chicha Roma
Finally, we finished up our 6th & final night in Mexico City by returning to one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants, La Chicha Roma, where we had wrapped jalapeño chilies in ham and stuffed squash blossoms to the tune of “Petit nez” by King Doudou & Triplego. Yummy!
Mike at La Chicha Roma
stuffed squash blossoms at La Chicha Roma
me at La Chicha Roma
wrapped jalapeño chilies in ham at La Chicha Roma
Steps: 14,028; Miles: 5.95. Weather Hi 69°, Lo 47°. Partly cloudy.
On Friday morning the 21st, we would pick up a rental car at the airport and drive 4 1/2 hours to Guanajuato.
My path less traveled. Rediscovering self after surviving the abuse that almost sunk me. Goal of strengthening and thriving on my adult legs. 👣🙏🏻 #recovery #forgiveness
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Explore, discover and experience the world through Meery's Eye. Off the beat budget traveler. Explore places, cultural and heritage. Sustainable trotter.
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