Antigua Spa

Looks like V has come up with a creative solution to our house problem in Antigua. Up until now it seemed that we had a fairly limited set of options, none of which was exactly ideal.

- Live in it ourselves
- Rent it out to a stranger
- Have a member of the family 'look after it'
- Hire a guardian
- Sale
- Demolition

However, the woman that runs the Antigua Spa Resort Hotel located just around the corner is looking for a property to handle their regular overflow - an annexe of sorts. The Spa would maintain the patio and accommodate guests in the four bedrooms whenever the main hotel is fully booked. And she isn't that much of a stranger as she's a good friend of V's sister.

She is in fact the adopted daughter of non-Guatemalan multi-millionaires who returned to the land of her birth in order to set up a range of businesses, and unlike many wealthy Guatemaltecos is refreshingly natural and unspoiled. The Spa is a top notch hotel and a very successful venture.

For the past few days V has been getting up at 6am and working long hours picking coffee on the terrenos she inherited from her mother. On Saturday she and her sister gathered 2 quintales (approx. 400lbs) of beans which they later sold - though this activity has very little to do with economic need. It's a spiritual sisterly thing - communal and communing - with each other and with their dearly departed. I am already being encouraged to get with the programme when I arrive there next week.