|
JUNE 2007 New York-Mexico Trip
MAY 2006
David's GRADUATION University of Rochester
MARCH 2006
Jennifer's Birthday and Tuk-Tuk
CHRISTMAS 2005
WILLIAMSBURG
Cernikovsky Family
Christmas 2004 mail
Fuego explosions
8th January 2003, 2004
January 2003
Antigua family photos
House 2007
Photos 2003
Baths 2002
Kitchens 2002
Fireplaces 2002
Fountain 2006
Guest Apt 2004
NYC to Antigua trip 2002
Contact us
Jenny
Graduation
2003
Paris
April 2003
Germany,
Luxembourg
June 2003
London
April 2002
|
Tomas, Barbara, Jennifer & David
Cernikovsky
July 2010: The plot next door ... our
house is to the right, with new doors and windows and a patio under
construction. For years, there
was a very noisy church, with services many times a week. It also
had an extremely bad rock-band, with drums, practicing several times
a week. They would not lower the horrible noise and so, in the end
we bought the property. We are now turning it into a garden with a
fountain, a large patio, parking for our tenants, plus a small garden
and a laundry for one of our apartments. |
The plot next door ... our
house is to the right. This is what it looked like in April
2010, after the noisy church moved out. Silence, at
last!
|
May 29, 2010. Volcano Pacaya exploded two days ago and closed
La Aurora, the Guatemala City airport, which is covered in volcanic
ash. The airport is about 12 miles from Pacaya. We, in
Antigua, are about 13 miles from Pacaya, surrounded by inactive
volcanoes Agua and Acatenango, and a very active Fuego. There
is a mountain ridge separating the valley of Guatemala City and the
valley of Antigua and we have not seen any ash from Pacaya at all.
|
April 14, 2010: Volcano Acatenango, seen from our rooftop, WITH
SNOW! People who have lived here all their lives have never
seen anything like it. And, on the left, Volcano Fuego,
puffing.
|
|
Antigua, Guatemala: "The situation
was ravishingly beautiful, at the base and under the shade of the
Volcano de Agua, and the view was bounded on all sides by mountains
of perpetual green; the morning air was soft and balmy, but
pure and refreshing. With good government and laws, and one's
friends around, I never saw a more beautiful spot on which man could
desire to pass his allotted time on earth." So wrote
John Lloyd Stephens, visiting Antigua in December 1839, in
"Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan".
We quite agree with his assessment, and the government is still
working on its part, too. And many friends are already here,
while others visit from time to time. Please come and visit
us, too.
|
Jennifer comes up with many good ideas, this time
to take a formal family photo for Christmas presents.
 |
Easter 2010: For this Easter,
Barbara worked several days on her sewing machine and made the
splendid decoration you see on the front of our house.
|
During Semana Santa in Antigua, hundreds of
thousands of people visit for the Easter processions.
This photo was on Palm Sunday in front of our house.
|
Semana Santa in Antigua: the float,
called "anda", carried by 80 men, is passing our house
(yellow, on the left) on Palm
Sunday.
Click to see our photos of carpets
and an animated sequence of a procession
passing our house.
|
Christmas 2009 in our garden ... it's very
sunny ... click to see a larger image |
November 1, 2009, All Saint's Day, Sumpango ... click on the photo
to see a large panorama of these giant kites, and
click here to see many more
photos
|
September, October 2009:
London,
Cologne,
Armenia and Turkey, with
Jennifer and Sona. Here we are at the Khor Virap Monastery
(pronounced "Chor"), with a vineyard, in Armenia. And Mount
Ararat, where Noah's Ark landed after the flood. Ararat
is in Turkey, behind a closed border, but as we are travelling,
Turkey and Armenia are talking for the first time in 20 years about
reopening the border. Spectacular!
Click on the images to see
more or our photos!
|
Aspendos in Turkey, an extremely well preserved 2nd century A.D.
Roman amphitheater near Antalya.
|
Kaunos, 6th century B.C. hilltop town near
Dalyan, on the Mediterranean coast, with Sona, Jenny and Barbara.
|
Efes.
Library of Celsos, 135 A.D. Click for an even larger image.
|
We have a full-time gardener,
Felix, on the right, who takes care of our gardens inside the house, the
planted area behind, as well as hundreds of plants in the hallways
and the rooftops. Benigno, in the red shirt, worked for us for
several years and, before we handed the 200 gardens and over 70 new
trees to the city, took care of the
Alameda, watering, planting, fumigating, fertilizing, and so on.
Here they are in May 2009 (our house on the right), planting a new
jacaranda tree, in garden #196.
|
Further down the street, here are two
more new jacaranda trees, #199 and 200, in May 2009. After the
photo was taken, the metal "protections" were installed, without
which new trees would not survive in the Alameda.
Click here to go to the 7 pages that describe
the project and its "members" ... between 2002-2009, we have
constructed 200 gardens, which we are maintaining. We have
planted 72 new trees in new places, and as replacements for trees
that died. Of the 200 gardens, in the 7 years, 26 got smashed
by crazy drivers and with the help of friends and neighbors, we have
replaced them.
|
We drove from Antigua to Houston, in two cars,
with Barbara's wheelchair, and then took a long trip returning home
through Mexico, in January and February 2009. The photos are coming ...
please visit us again soon. This is breakfast at our lovely
hotel overlooking Guanajuato, one of the old colonial silver mining
towns.
|
Right after we returned from Mexico, Josef & Jana Cernikovsky, from
Vermont, visited us in Antigua and we made some trips around
Guatemala together. Josef is a first class photographer.
To see the best of the 5,000 photos that he took, click here.
|
Antigua at Christmas 2008 ... the whole
family's here
|
Jennifer & Monica, at the "giant kites" of
Sumpango, not far from Antigua, 1st November 2008.
Click on
this photo to see many others from this fascinating trip, with many
friends
|
|
June 2008:
In the Outer Court of the "Forbidden City" in the center of Beijing,
fascinating! Click here to go to an index of all our photos from Korea and
China. Barbara wrote a long narrative of the trip on that
page.
|
|
The last day in Beijing
it was raining and we took a day-long taxi ride from one spot to
another, the driver waiting while we had lunch, shopped for shoes or
saw places, and here he took us to pose in front of the Birds' Nest,
the Olympic Stadium.
|
|
The Great Wall of China: we climbed a stretch of it and here
you can see more of the Wall below us. Originally 6,000 km
long, it still climbs today over the mountain ranges.
|
|
Easter "Domingo
de Ramos" ... Palm Sunday, a block-long carpet, made of coloured
sawdust in front of our house is ready to
be destroyed by the procession that will be coming down the Alameda
Santa Lucia (see an animated
sequence). We contribute each year towards the cost of carpets.
In the background, Jenny's
shop
is on the left of the house. |
|
|
|
Our garden in Antigua
with a couple of amaryllis plants that Felix keeps on dividing, so
we have more and more here and some to give. |
|
Barbara and Ana Maria in
our kitchen ... they have been spending money on
flowers again, as they do every Saturday in the market just behind
our house. All these flowers cost about $6! What a treat!
In New York, that would have been $60! After they get the
flowers, they go in the market again and buy fruits and vegetables
for the coming week. Sammy, also in the photo, does not do any
shopping. |
|
Here is a colourful
blessing, in April 2007, of the newly paved section of the market
behind our house, attended by hundreds of Mayan women in typical
clothes. Behind the priest, who was blessing baskets full of
vegetables, is the back of our house.
|
|
Jennifer and Helen on
opening day of
JennyStar DVD Rentals in our house, February 2006
|
|
October 2004 Venice Again ... Silver
Wedding Anniversary. Our 5th visit. |
Our house, September 2006, with Guatemalan flags for Independence
celebration ... it's Guatemalan "winter" ... trees and flowers are
growing rapidly. Jennifer's "JennyStar DVD Rentals
is on the left
March 2003 - garden is growing
Everybody visiting -
January 2003
February 2002: on the road to Antigua, with
our new truck
|
