Yesterday we walked through the ruins of the San Francisco convent. The place was almost empty. The scale of it all is amazing. Completely different from the reformed ruin of Santo Domingo. Most of San Francisco has not been rebuilt. Huge columns support lonely walls reaching into a blue sky. There are smudges of original designs in plaster on the bricks. One arched cavern with a chimney hole is labeled cocina. In the next cavern is full of lumber and what appears to be set pieces for a theatre. The placard on that room is a dark and can’t be read. The sprinklers are on and their spitting breaks the silence. Walking through the trees and flowers amidst half buried passages and rooms is unbelievable. The Franciscans built a church there in 1579. Most of the construction is red brick with large rocks making up some layers. Between the bricks is at least an inch of mortar that turns to sand at a touch. There are signs reminding tourists that they are walking where a saint walked. Inside the modest museum we discovered what that meant. Santo Hermano Pedro lived there. He’s also called Saint Peter of Saint Joseph Betencur. He started a school and hospital in Antigua in the 1600’s. Apparently he walked the streets of Santiago (now Antigua) with a bell and told people to pray for the sick. He was canonized in 2002 and was buried in a tomb in the new San Francisco church next to the ruins. In the museum there are thousands of pictures and notes from people thanking Hermano Pedro and his organization, the Bethlehemites, for helping them.
After the ruins we took a chicken bus to Valhalla. Valhalla is a macadamia nut farm twenty minutes from Antigua. The bus was crowded and we were 3 to a seat. We squeezed our way out onto the side of the highway and saw the sign for the farm. Walking in we saw a tourist shuttle van sitting in the parking lot. I think they pay $25 for the same trip we were getting for about $4. The macadamia trees are long lived and they can grow in the same places as coffee. Unlike coffee, the trees can provide nutrition to the farmers, firewood from pruning, and the nuts are worth more than coffee. The macadamia trees are efficient for reforestation and as carbon dioxide processors. Jill and I got a face massage with macadamia oil and some creme. Jill bought some too, then we were off to catch the chicken bus at the end of the driveway.
I didn’t take any pictures.
I love macadamia nuts!