Trip to the Jade Factory

We made it through hump day at school. Only two more to go. Actually we are learning alot but damn, its hard.

The tour through the jade factory would have been more informative if the tour guide spoke in English. Obviously, we still have a long way to go with our comprehension of Spanish.

The one thing we did understand is that the Mayan people would inlay jade into their teeth. No one knows exactly why but it had to be extremely painful. There were no high speed drills then and only their medicinal herbs for pain. There were a few skulls there with the jade in the teeth.

In the museum there were also photos and small examples of how the streets are blanketed with colored sawdust at Easter time. You would swear the streets were covered with a huge colorful carpet. Someone said the elaborate picture made of colored sawdust is laid the morning of, the procession in the afternoon and it's cleaned up that same day.

We walked around central square afterward. Alot of people studying and lounging about. Not as many tourists as we had expected but we know from checking last year that Antigua is packed during the Easter holidays.