Happiness - A lesson we learned today.

Hernan, a shoe-shiner at Parque Central in Antigua

We met Hernan, a 5-foot-tall Guatemalan man who has been shinning shoes at this location for forty-nine years. He told us, with great prime I may add, that he started shining shoes when he was 7 years old. He went to school in the morning and went to the park to shine shoes in the afternoon. When he started in 1963, he got paid Q 0.01 per pair of shoes (the equivalent of 1 penny). He told us, with a big smile on his small, tired face that now he has to charge Q 3.00 ($0.39) because the price of material has increased and is very expensive. We watched him work intensively without pause for 20-25 minutes shinning a pair of shoes. He was kind, courteous and happy...very happy. It has been said many times that those who have the least are the happiest people on earth. We can testify to that because of Hernan, this is so true. Now, we asked ourselves, how could we ever complain again?

The shoes look better than new!

We then went to the "Hotel Posada de Don Rodrigo" to visit one of the first hotels in Antigua. There, we took pictures and admired the gardens, the artist painting pictures, the antiques, and the colonial architecture. In addition, we went up to the "terraza" for hot chocolate and "champurradas", again. From there, we could see the three volcanoes on the outskirts of the city: "Volcán de Agua," "Volcán de Fuego," and "Volcán Acatenango." We were able to see the "Volcán de Fuego" erupt three times, and the accompanying cloud of brown smoke rising above the clouds!

Courtyard of one of the areas of the hotel. A couple of painters paint and display their art

A view from the terrace of the larger courtyard gardens

The eruption of El Volcán de Fuego (the peak is obscured) next to Acatenango

Finally, Gabe, Emily and I attended a salsa dancing class at the "Centro Lingüistico Maya" where we will be taking Spanish classes next week and the week after. 

¡Qué bonito!

I look forward to traveling to Jalapa with Julio tomorrow in order to work with ecofiltro:one on a project in a small community in great need of potable water!

¡Hasta pronto!

Kyle