A pancake breakfast was served at 7:15. Many of the students had found entertainment in the city center the night before but all were in good spirits except Kim who was under the weather with stomach problems. We packed the vans and drove to the central plaza and let everyone wander for 45 minutes. Fuego gave a puff on the way down. I stood in the colonnade on the north side of the square and took several fotos of the volcanoes looming over the city, including several with Fuego erupting.

We left via the road to Chimaltenango with David now becoming an adept Guatemalan driver. Traffic was much lighter than it had been for Stan and me a few days earlier because it was Sunday. We headed north off of CA-1 at Los Encuentros to go to the market at Chichicastenango. The market was really bustling. It is very colorful with all of the textiles for sale and the women in their traditional garb. I bought 3 wooden masks for my collection for Q50 each, taking them down from their original Q170 price. I also bought a bunch of small gift items. Then these two guys came up to me and wanted to sell me old silver Pre-1900 coins the oldest of which was minted in 1733. They wanted Q75 each. I resisted until they came down to Q25 and then gobbled up 7 of them. Most are Guatemalan, but some are Spanish*. Then, David, Zack, Jonathan, and I ate lunch at the Cofrades Restaurant on the second floor above the market where we had a great Guatemalan meal.

After the meal, we returned to the vans and were soon on our way back to CA-1. Somehow we got ahead of Stan's van which resulted in our losing an hour while we tried to reunite with them. We finally waited for them outside Xela and followed them in to the Hotel Modelo. Then we found out that the hotel had not recorded our reservation. Stan was pretty perturbed. I managed to get things worked out and the students were put up in the annex.

We had a late dinner. Stan wanted to go out to Pedro's to cancel our night hike but it was after 10:00, so he bagged it. Basically, there is too much neat stuff to do and too little time to do it. We knew this would be the case from the outset. Stan was quite worked up about how to get to the Santiaguito observatory. Just as I said “Don't worry. It will work out.” Otoniel Matias, a well-known Guatemalan geologist, walked into the hotel. He recognized Stan and Stan recognized him. Stan left Oto and me and we worked out a plan for Wednesday morning. Oto is a wonderful guy. I had recommended him to graduate program at Michigan Tech in the late 80's or early 90's, at Dick Stoiber's request but I had never met him before.

Stan returned and we laid out the plan, learning that Santiaguito usually clouds in around 10:00 AM. After Oto left, Stan and I discussed logistics and decided to go to Huehuetenango on Tuesday. He was frustrated so I told him to be kind to himself. He was asleep by the time I finished my shower.

*Buyer beware! I've since learned that these are counterfeit. I must admit that I suspected this when I bought them but kept hoping I was wrong.