A Bouquet of Flowers for $1.00!

Yes, it's true. Flowers for $1.00. I'll explain. Yesterday, Blake and I went for a long walk in the section of the market that is not the most pleasant for some, but for me, the most interesting! When I took my sister to this section of the market for example, she had to leave because she almost threw up from the raw meat smells lingering in the air. I like this market because everyday you find something new. I think I mentioned this market last time I was here, but I swear, I just found that it continues on and in a way it is kind of intriguing when you have nothing better to do in Antigua! So, getting back to the point of this entry. I came across a Mayan woman selling flowers in a back corner. She had a variety of Mums, Roses, and Hawaiian looking flowers. The ones that caught my attention were so fragrant. They reminded me of the scent of a Hawaiian lei. They were gorgeous. So, I asked the woman how much a bouquet would be figuring that this fancy of a flower would be about 50 quetzales (about $6.00) but no - she first said, "8 quetzales" which is the equivalent of about $1.00. I couldn't believe it. Of course I bought them and just gave her 10 quetzales. So this was the nice part of today's events. It became not-so-nice later that evening. We brought the flowers home (I gave some to Amanda to put in her room and I put the other vase in mine) and Blake grabbed and smelled them the entire way home from his front pack. We ate dinner, got ready for bed and then Blake went down for the night. At about 9:30PM, Blake was restless, and he was coughing and congested. Blake has always had a little bit of a lung thing (which the doctors here say is Bronchitis, however after having it for 4 months now, I'm beginning to think it's something else) so I thought nothing of it. I got up with him, made a new bottle and we walked around a bit. Finally it dawned on me that perhaps Blake's breathing issues are allergy related and are brought on by things like fumes in the air, FRAGRANT FLOWERS, etc. After 4 hours of no sleep, I removed the flowers and wouldn't you know, Blake was out. I don't know if this was just a coincidence or if indeed he does have allergies or allergy onset asthma. Any nurses out there? So, here we are today and Blake is sleeping well. In fact, he took a 3 hour nap this morning (7:30-10:30) to make up for last night's lack of sleep (I took advantage of this nap time too!)
The sun is just beginning to come out again after 7 days of Seattle weather (rain and clouds). It's actually rather cold here at night, so we get fairly bundled up before bed. Let's hope the sun stays for awhile now! It's much more fun to explore Antigua when it's sunny! Enjoy these new pictures - steak anyone?!!