GUATEMALA 2026: ANTIGUA

 March 21, 2026

Our last full day in Guatemala was spent in Antigua, which served as the capital from 1543 to 1773 when the country was part of the Kingdom of Spain. As a result, it is full of Spanish Baroque architecture and Old World charm and has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Actually, Bob left early in the morning for a birding expedition, but I figured I could explore the Old Town area around our hotel by myself while he was gone. While I was looking for breakfast, I wandered into this park a few blocks from our hotel.

The "Fountain of the Sirens" was added in 1738. The four bare-chested women that are part of the fountain are quite eye-popping. It is no suprise that today the park is still a hub of activity, and when I was there, it was full of vendors, musicians, and tourists.

I enjoyed some pastries and wandered back towards our hotel. Shops across the cobblestone street from our room were just beginning to open. The street vendors were just starting to set up as well. Check out this guy bringing in an assortment of hats!

Before long, there was plenty of commerce going on. Under that pile of textiles is a little Guatemalan grandma selling her wares.

GERMANY: DACHAU

 May 25, 2025

We visited Mauthausen Concentration Camp in Austria in 2012 and Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp and Treblinka Concentration Camp in Poland in 2019, so we assumed we were more or less prepared for a visit to Dachau. However, I learned that you can't actually be "prepared" to face horror on the scale of a concentration camp.

Historians believe over 1.1 million people perished in Auschwitz during its less than five years of existence, 800,00 to 925,000 Jews were gassed in Treblinka in just over a year, and 90,000 to 120,000 people were killed or died from the horrific conditions at Mauthausen during its seven years of operation. In contrast, "only" 41,500 or so people died in the Dachau concentration camp and its extensive subcamp system, and that was over a period of twelve years. Auschwitz-Birkenau and Treblinka existed primarily as extermination centers--the "final solution to the Jewish problem." Mauthausen started as a labor camp, but eventually became an extermination center as well. Dachau was a prison camp--a place in the beginning for the Nazis to intern their political opponents; then groups regarded as criminals such as Jews, Romani, homosexuals, and Jehovah's Witnesses; and finally, foreign nationals from countries that Germany occupied or invaded.

We arrived in the city of Dachau by train, and I was kind of surprised that there was a city--I had only heard of the camp. A map at the station highlights "Historic Old Town," "Dachau Palace," and  ways to experience nature near the town of 50,000. The last thing on the list is a "Place of Learning and Commemoration"--the concentration camp.

We had a private guide who showed us a map of the major concentration camps in Germany itself--most of which I hadn't heard of--along with the subcamps and Aktion T-4 centers. There are so many.

Grafeneck, where our grandfather was murdered on May 21, 1940, is on the map.

It was gloomy and rainy at Dachau, appropriate weather for the experience.

The Dachau concentration camp was opened by Heinrich Himmler in 1933, the first concentration camp established by the Nazi Party and the longest to be in operation, from March 1933 to April 1945 when it was liberated by American forces.

GERMANY: MUNICH

May 24, 2025

Munich, the third-largest city in Germany (after Berlin and Hamburg), has a population of 1.6 million and is the capital of Bavaria. However, strolling around in the Old Town area (below left), we didn't feel like we were in a huge city as there is a lot crowded into a very walkable area. 

The most dominant building in the Old Town square is the neo-Gothic Neues Rathaus,  or New Town Hall (below right).

 It is called the NEW Town Hall because it replaced the 14th-century OLD Town Hall (seen below) in 1874.

The New Town Hall has an impressive 400 rooms.

But what it is best known for is its mechanical Glockenspiel, which twice a day uses 32 life-size figures to re-enact scenes from Munich's history. See my four-minute video of part of the action here.

MALTA: DAY 1, THE FORTIFICATIONS, MALTESE NEIGHBORHOODS, AND MORE

 March 18, 2024

We had an uneventful flight from Catania, Sicily, to Valletta, Malta, where we were met at the gate by our fabulous guide, Julia. She has a master's degree in history and a special interest in the Maltese Knights, but she knew a lot about everything and was pretty open in expressing her opinion, which we really liked.

I knew absolutely nothing about Malta before this trip other than that it is an island. I didn't know it was located in the Mediterranean Sea between Italy and Tunisia. I didn't know the official languages are English and Maltese. I've discovered that it covers just 122 square miles and is the tenth-smallest country in the world by area. Its capital, Valletta, is the smallest capital city in the European Union by both area (.24 square miles) and population (about 5,200).

We were ferried around town in a large van with a driver. It was a relief to have so much space after our cramped transportation on Sicily, and nice not to worry about navigating. We started off our late afternoon and evening tour by walking along the 16th-century fortifications on one end of the island in the capital city of Valletta. They were added to over the next three centuries, but most of the original structures remain intact. As you might guess, they (along with the capital city of Valletta, which they protect) are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I believe these next few photos are taken from across the harbor, looking at Valletta.

As you can see on the map below, Valletta is located on a rather small peninsula between two harbors, which I imagine leaves it vulnerable to attack:

Map from here

GERMANY 2000: STUTTGART, ROSENFELD, FREIBERG, AND ALLGAU

December 16-17, 2000

Our next stop was Stuttgart, a city 30 miles east of Pforzheim and where my mother's friend Eberhardt was living. It is the capital of the German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of over 600,000 (and over 5.5 million in its metropolitan area), it is also the largest city in the state. Porsche and Mercedes-Benz headquarters are here.

While Stuttgart was bombed 53 times by the Allies, it didn't suffer the total destruction that Pforzheim did. In total, "only" 58% of the city's buildings were destroyed, and about 4,500 people were killed.

We were there to experience our first Weihnachtsmarkt, or Christmas market. It was spectacular.

NORTH CAROLINA: RALEIGH

 October 2022

On my last day I had several hours to kill after my son went to work and before I had to head to the airport, so I decided to take a look at North Carolina's capital city, Raleigh, named after Sir Walter Raleigh of Roanoke Colony fame. With a population of about 475,000, it is the 41st largest city in the United States, the 2nd most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, and one of the fastest growing cities in the country. In 2011 was ranked by Time as the third most-educated city in the US. 

Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the US, was born here in 1808. Other notables include Olympic figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi, American Idol star Clay Aiken, and writer David Sedaris.

I was headed for the capitol building, but I detoured when I saw Christ Episcopal Church, built in 1848 to 1853. I love this sculpture entitled Peaceable Francis.

Down the street and around the corner is the First Baptist Church, completed in 1859.

JAMAICA: FINAL THOUGHTS

 Post trip, February 2023

We have developed a habit of listing our insights, most memorable experiences, questions, and so on after we return from a trip.  Here is our list for Jamaica:

Jamaica is very big, bigger than it looks on a map, and maybe it seems so big because it takes forever to drive anywhere because the roads are so awful.

The tap water is drinkable, surprising because the infrastructure (for things like roads) is so horrible. 

People are very friendly and usually open to conversation. (Chad is very friendly, which highlighted this for us.)

Jamaica has amazing natural diversity, both flora and fauna. For example, there are at least four types of unique, beautiful hummingbirds, lots of endemic species, many plant varieties that were unfamiliar to us, etc.

For such a relatively small area, the landscape/climate is quite diverse--beaches to mountains.

There are no big predators!

Stray dogs are everywhere, and they all look the same: mid-size, short hair, tan/caramel-colored. They never approached us, but they weren't afraid of us either.

There were a few feral cats, but not nearly as many as dogs.

There are SO many styles of hair--braids in every design, dreads, natural fuzz, shaved, etc.  I think there is more "hair diversity" here than anywhere we've been.

Many of the beautiful landscapes feel inaccessible, including steep mountain roads without turnouts and beautiful beaches on the northern coast with no parking.

The tourism potential here is much bigger than the tourism reality. The all-inclusive resorts dominate and the rest of the country has very little international tourism.

"Tourist atractions," like the botanical gardens or the Greenwood Great House, are at the end of horrible roads or are not adequately marked with signage. Some of the properties are also not very well maintained.

They don't have decent souvenirs. They could do a lot better in this area as well.

In contrast, Bob Marley's house is well-marked, well-maintained, and tourist-friendly. You can definitely tell where the international travelers like to go.

At the the better developed sites, like Dunn's River Falls or Konoko Falls, the system is very inefficient. Nothing is automated. They are 20 years behind in tourist technology.

Restaurants are so slow, even U.S. chains like Pizza Hut and Burger King, and even the nicer hotel restaurants. There is no culture of efficiency. Everything is very laid back.

Outside of tourist areas, and even within them, the standard of living looks pretty low. There are a lot of shacks and a lot of litter.

We did not notice any satellite dishes. Do they have TV? Is it all cable?

There were no diet drinks, and Pepsi reigned over Coke 10 to 1.

KFC and Pizza Hut dominate the U.S. chains.

There is very little public art. We saw only a few murals, not many statues or sculptures, and almost no live music anywhere. That may have been the biggest surprise of all.

The churches were small and non-descript, and were dominated by Anglican and Baptist churches (white and black, respectively), with almost no Catholic churches or other churches.

We never saw any evidence of an LDS presence (missionaries, chapels), although there are 6 wards, 12 branches, and a stake there.

About 99% of the population appears to be of African descent, but the owners of large businesses that we came into contact with (rum distillery, Greenwood Great House, etc.) are white.

We had very knowledgeable tour guides who weren't formally educated for their job.

Well-dressed school children wear clean, pressed uniforms.

The locals don't seem to want to talk about their history of slavery. We can't figure out why. They just seem to largely ignore that part when discussing the cultural and historical past.

To say they love Bob Marley is an understatement.

Some people wore face masks, but not many--about the same as in the U.S.

Compared to Puerto Rico (Jamaica is 1.2x larger but has 280,000 fewer people), Puerto Rico has much better infrastructure: nicer roads, better cared-for sites, better food, better signage, etc.

We felt safe. The locals never felt threatening.  The only time we felt unsafe was on the roads. Jamaicans are crazy drivers and the roads, as noted earlier, are awful.

Almost everywhere we went, "the credit machine was down." Prices were often given in U.S. dollars, so to convert to Jamaican (at whatever rate they wanted) probably cost more than just paying in U.S. currency. We liked having both USD and Jamaican dollars available. We paid for very little on a credit card and almost never could use an American Express card ("Don't leave home without it").

One U.S. dollar = 151 Jamaican dollars. That made conversion from Jamaican to U.S. difficult.  For example, something that cost 25,000 Jamaican dollars would be about $165 U.S.