Arrived in Guatemala on 13 March. Headed straight to Antigua which was the original Spanish colonial capital of the region in the 1500´s. Was also delighted to learn that the patron saint for city is Santiago/St James. It seems that I have been following him everywhere (Camino Trail in Spain, Santiago in Chile and Cusco in Peru). The original name for Antigua was La muy Noble y muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de los Caballeros de Goathemala. Can understand why the name was shortened to its current form!

The city is situated south of three volcanos and provide easy reference points to get around. Street signs here are an after thought and a bonus if you find one. It´s a good thing that the main area is only 8 blocks by 8 blocks!

Antigua is famous for Spanish Schools, there are usually at least 1000 students studying Spanish at any one time, and more than 75 schools to choose from. The streets are cobbled and architecture is reasonably earthquake proof now. The city was destroyed in the 17th century and again damaged in 1800s. Antigua is a national monument and in 1979 Unesco designated it a World Heritage Site.

I have been soaking up some culture and learning about Guatemalan Textiles.

There are 12 million people in Guatemala and 20 million in Central America. The big issues here are illiteracy (more than 60 percent of population is still unable to read and write)and poverty and a government which does not have much money. The private sector usually supports development of roads and infrastructure and pay most of the tax!. Employees receive 14 salary payments per year (bonus payments in June and December).

Women are most likely illiterate as they may have up to 8 children and 50 grandchildren. No time to learn to read and write! They do however, produce handicrafts and textiles with very complex patterns and very beautiful.

There are 23 Ethnic Groups in Guatemala and more than 200 costumes which are handwoven using backstrap looms.

Cotton is indigenous to Guatemala. The Pacific Slope and lowland areas produce white cotton and the highlands brown cotton. The former can be machine spun as it has large fibre, the latter spun only by hand due to short fibres. Corn starch is used to toughen the brown cotton fibre once it has been spun.

The costumes are usually made from white cotton, brown cotton, rayon, wool, acrylic and silk. The traditional costume consists of large piece of fabric joined at side (imagine stepping into a huge circle of material ..this is the skirt). The material is folded at each side to form pleats and then tied up with a long strip of material. The shirt is usually one, two or three panels of woven and embroidered material. A scarf and headband and another piece of material which doubles as a bag to carry children and/or shopping completes the outfit.

The handiwork on the textiles is multi-coloured brocade style, either single face brocade (pattern on one side only), two faced brocade (pattern positive on one side and negative on the other) and double face brocade (pattern on both sides). The design for textiles is passed on from mother to daughter. Very complicated designs with 350 warp threads. Tie Dye is also another style that the women work with. Cotton skeins are knotted at irregular intervals (according to pattern) and then dyed. When dry, the cotton is unwrapped and then woven according to pattern (following the white spots!). This is a faster method of weaving as the difficulty lies in number and distance in the knots.

Guatemala is also famous for high quality Jadeite. I have learnt that jade is not only green, but lilac, yellow, pint white and black! To discern quality jade, look for translucency, purity and intensity of colour and absence of flaws. If the jade scratches with pocket knife, it is not true jadeite but an inferior stone. Jade was loved by the ancient Maya people, so am looking forward to seeing the ancient traditional masks made from jade in Tikal in northern area of Guatemala.