Tapestry on the restaurant wall.
Sooooo beautiful.
Can't get enough of this blue.
Big crazy families are big crazy families in ANY language.
Oatmeal and bananas.
Scrambled eggs and plantains.
And . . . SURPRISE!! Giraffe cake at breakfast!
Sobrinos!!
Rafa, me and the girls.
Love this photo. Rafa is outstanding in his field.
Shuttle train to the Xetulul amusement park.
ENTRY!
The entrepreneurs of Guatemala pay tribute to Ricardo Castillo Sinibaldi, a visionary of recreation and constructor of the IRTRA projects that have led happiness to millions of Guatemalans.
He's kind of the Walt Disney of Guatemala. We met him at breakfast. He'd flown in on his helicopter. I didn't get a photo with him. Silvia did.
His vision.
Traditional marimba band.
Although it may look like a xylophone, Guatemala’s national instrument is usually made out of wood and produces a rich and beautiful sound that is now used in many different styles of music from traditional folk music to classical and modern rock. Guatemalan music would not be the same without it.
Like many other styles of Latin music, the marimba shares many African, Spanish, and indigenous influences. It has a long history and diverse roots from all over the world. The marimba is believed to have originated in West Africa and brought to Guatemala by afro-Caribbean slaves in the 1500’s.
Marimba bands became popular in Guatemala in the 1800’s and musicians brought the instrument to the United States in the early 1900’s. Today, the marimba is used in many different genres of music all over the world and is featured in festivals and concerts in places as diverse as the Americas, Croatia, and Japan.
The marimba plays such a central role in the culture that the government erected a marimba monument in Quetzaltenango. The instrument is a common sight and sound no matter where you go in Guatemala and the Teatro Nacional, the cultural center in Guatemala City, includes the National Marimba Institute dedicated to the promotion and preservation of marimba music.
In addition to its amusement rides, Xetulul is also known for its architecture. The park features architectural reproductions of many landmarks from across the world, including the Trevi Fountain, Moulin Rouge, and the Tikal Temple of the Great Jaguar. It is divided into seven total plazas, which feature architecture from a total of six countries, including France, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Spain, and Switzerland. Each national architecture style is featured in its own unique plaza.
The name "Xetulul" originates from the K'iche' language, and means "under the sapotes."
Such adorable kids.
The Castle of San Felipe.
Basically a glorified water pistol fight, but surprisingly fun.
The "castle" is probably based on the original "Castillo San Felipe de Barajas," a fortress in the city of Cartagena, Colombia. It was built by the Spanish during the colonial era. Construction began in the year 1536, and it was originally known as the Castillo de San Lázaro, It was expanded in 1657. It's located on the Hill of San Lázaro in a strategic location, dominating approaches to the city by land or sea.
The fortress, built in a triangular shape on top of the hill, with eight batteries and a garrison of 20 soldiers and 4 gunners. Its name was given in honor of Philip IV of Spain. An additional expansion was made to the fortress in 1763 by Antonio de Arévalo.
In the 1697 raid on Cartagena, during the War of the Grand Alliance, the castle fell to the French privateer Baron de Pointis. It was repaired by José de Herrera y Sotomayor in 1739. British Admiral Edward Vernon attacked the fortress in the 1741 Battle of Cartagena de Indias, an important conflict of the War of Jenkins' Ear. Vernon's forces were repelled by the Spanish admiral Blas de Lezo.
During the Spanish American wars of independence by mid-1815 a large Spanish expeditionary force under Pablo Morillo had arrived in New Granada. Cartagena fell in December, and by May 1816 the royalists had control of all of New Granada.
The fortification consists of a series of walls, wide at the base and narrow toward the parapet, forming a formidable pattern of bunkers. The batteries and parapets protect one another, so making it practically impossible to take a battery without taking the whole defense system. The castle is striking for its grand entrance and its complex maze of tunnels. It is the most formidable defensive complex of Spanish military architecture. It is 135 feet above sea level.
Mayan inspired art on a footbridge.
The image looks like a leopard, but it's actually a jaguar.
The representation of jaguars in Mesoamerican cultures has a long history, with iconographic examples dating back to at least the mid-Formative period of Mesoamerican chronology. The jaguar (Panthera onca) is an animal with a prominent association and appearance in the cultures and belief systems of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican societies. Quick, agile, and powerful enough to take down the largest prey in the jungle, the jaguar is the largest of the big cats in the Americas, and one of the most efficient and aggressive predators. Endowed with a spotted coat and well adapted for the jungle, hunting either in the trees or water, making it one of the few felines tolerant of water, the jaguar was, and remains, revered among the indigenous Americans who live closely with the jaguar.
All major Mesoamerican civilizations prominently featured a jaguar god, and for many, such as the Olmec, the jaguar was an important part of shamanism.
Shamans often associate the jaguar as a spirit companion or nagual, which will protect the shamans from evil spirits and while they move between the earth and the spirit realm. In order for the shamans to combat whatever evil forces may be threatening, or for those who rely on the shamans for protection, it is necessary for the shamans to transform and cross over to the spirit realm. The jaguar is often as a nagual because of its strength, for it is necessary that the shamans "dominate the spirits, in the same way as a predator dominates its prey"
The jaguar is said to possess the transient ability of moving between worlds because of its comfort both in the trees and the water, the ability to hunt as well in the nighttime as in the daytime, and the habit of sleeping in caves, places often associated with the deceased ancestors. The concept of the transformation of the shaman is well documented in Mesoamerica and South America and is in particular demonstrated in the various Olmec jaguar transformation figures.
For the Maya daytime and nighttime represented two different worlds. The living and the earth are associated with the day, and the spirit world and the ancestors are associated with the night. As the jaguar is quite at home in the nighttime, the jaguar is believed to part of the underworld; thus, "Maya gods with jaguar attributes or garments are underworld gods"
'Nother pyramid.
Love this photo!
Quick trip to the Trevi Fountain.
Le Grand Theatre.
Moulin Rouge.
Rafa in Paris!
A little tour of Florence.
Yeah, yeah. I know.
Pretending to be in Andalucía.
Hotel Modelo, Quetzaltenango. Quaint and "old world" without the bad connotations of those words.
Though the proprietor DID have a strange obsession with typewriters.
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