JTOG Day 36: Come Back with Me to Guatemala!

JTOG Day 36 was a free day to explore two nearby places, one a historic site and the other something that triggered my interest the day I played the Mayan Golf Club. One Torch and I were able to find, the other was too elusive to locate. Here is my invitation to you to come join me in Guatemala City in May 2016 as part of a unique golf and humanitarian visit that will surely be a memorable and meaningful experience. More details below.

Antigua is Spanish for “Ancient” and was once the capital of the Kingdom of Guatemala back in the mid 1500s.  It is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site,  one of about a 1,000 in the entire world. I got up early, drove the 15 miles there, toured the city and made it back to La Reunion for a late breakfast about two hours later. The streets of the old city are made of volcanic rock and the centerpiece of the city is the Central Park and all the historic buildings. The architecture is Spanish Baroque and one quickly takes in the atmosphere of colonial churches, Franciscan monks, and royal palaces. As at nearby La Reunion, one is immersed in close proximity of volcanoes—the Volcán de Agua or “Volcano of Water,” the Volcán de Fuego or “Volcano of Fire,” and  Volcan de Acatenango. But it is earthquakes that two centuries later forced the move of the capital to present day Guatemala City.

How many of you have met a sister, a religious sister at the golf course? That is what happened to me when I played the Mayan Golf Club with Pepe. after we played I met a sister, rather a mother, Madre Ivonne from the nearby Monastery of the Holy Trinity. I saw the remarkable Monastery from the 10th fairway. The Monastery hosts their visitors in the lodging rooms of the Mayan Club and Madre Ivonne was giving some of them a tour when I met her. The monastery was founded in April 1986 by Mother Inés (Ayau Garcia) and Sister María Amistoso. Mother Inés has ties to the club through Rafael Ayau who was the president of the club when it moved to its current location overlooking Lake Amatitlan. Her great-great-grandfather founded an orphanage in 1857 which has been run by the Monastery since 1996.

I was so inspired by Madre Ivonne, the Monastery and their orphanage that I decided to backtrack (only time on the Journey) and take a ride to visit the monastery that overlooked Lake Amatitlan.

Without GPS or the Garmin working or a specific address I set out to find it via its location relative to the lake and the golf course. That was easier said than done. I headed back up the tollway (CA-9) towards Guatemala City, past Pilar and exited at Amatitlan. Thinking I could approach the monastery from below, I took several roads in the direction of the lake but never quite found it. I got back on the tollway and went closer to the ridge of mountains upon which I thought was the Mayan Golf Club. This time I found the lake and a park like bazaar at its end called Allagoode Amatitlan. I headed down the road on the edge of the lake only to hit a dead end after several miles on a dirt road.

Not deterred from my goal of visiting the monastery I though it best to find the Mayan Golf Club and ask for directions from there since it was within eye distance. Easier said than done as I had a difficult time navigating through Villa Nueve. Admittedly frustrated I realized it was late in the day with the sun going down so I headed home back to La Reunion. Tomorrow was a big day with another border crossing into El Salvador.

I will find the Holy Trinity Monastery one day. Would you like to come along? Here is my idea for a combined humanitarian and golf trip. Fly into Guatemala City and volunteer a few days at the orphanage and at Habitat for Humanity Guatemala. Stay at the Hotel Bresciani and play golf at the Guatemala CC and the Mayan Golf Club. Then catch the Sunday final round of the PGA TOUR LatinoAmerica’s Guatemala Stella Artois Open at La Reunion. After seeing American Danny Balin defend his title, we will check in and enjoy playing the Fuego Maya Course the next day and visit Antigua too. A spiritually refreshing vacation along with being recreationally restorative too. Please let me know if you are interested! Looking for 12-16 people to join me. Exact dates TBD.

My stay in Guatemala would be too short, a Sunday arrival and a Saturday departure. Amazingly the Journey continued to plan itself with a connection made with Hotel Intercontinental (San Salvador, El Salvador, Tegucigalpa, Honduras and San Jose, Costa Rica), plans to meet Perry Dye in person in San Salvador and play “dirt golf” at his latest Central America creation—El Encantro (The Charm) and more golfing contacts in El Salvador.

I wondered what excitement this Guatemala-El Salvador border crossing would bring…

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