No other country has welcomed us so fabulously. First impressions count for a lot, you know, and these countries we visit would do well to impress us early on. The strength of our recommendation to others depends on how much we are knocked off our feet, after all.

Consider us squarely knocked to our rears, Guatemala. After an inauspicious beginning at the crowded airport and first view of our hotel, we were not expecting much. But enter the Casa Santo Domingo, a monastery-turned-five-star-hotel with an insistence on wooing us. Well, we can be bought. Arriving at the hotel, the first thing we noticed was the peaceful scent on the air - it can truly not be described as anything but such, consisting of a melange of smoldering wood and light incense. The scent was not heavy, however, as it was cut by the slightest chill in the night air. Adding to the peaceful feeling was the medieval chanting floating over the grounds, which were lit by thousands of pure white flickering candles. The candles created perhaps the best atmosphere, as they were so prevalent that they completely transported us. There is something magical about looking out over a sea of blackness and seeing so many tiny white lights combining to make a otherworldly glow. They were scattered in the grass, lined up on low stone walls, and placed in sconces on the bumpy walls. Authentic religious sculptures (while slightly creepy when missing hands) completed the monastic feel. We fell asleep completely content.

The next morning, we set out for a walking tour of Antigua, one of the oldest cities in Central America, and set our sights on a little history. Though interrupted by a festive presidential rally, the tour was informative and spanned the time from the mid-1500s (when it was founded as the capital by the Spanish conquistadors) to the late 1700s (when Antigua suffered a terrible earthquake that prompted the government to order the city abandoned) and on. We spied the building that, incredibly, once served as seat of Spanish colonial government for the Kingdom of Guatemala, which included Chiapas (southern Mexico), Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. (As an American, it is nearly impossible to imagine all of this going on in our hemisphere before our country was even "founded.") We visited an old church that is now in ruins and learned about the traditional house style (modeled after the Romans and featuring a large central courtyard). Antigua is a fascinating little town.

Our hotel, being the best ever, also hosts three museums inside, so we returned there to view some more creepy religious art in impossibly clever surroundings (one wall of one museum was an old monastery wall). Then it was on into Antigua on our own to look around and sample some delicious traditional dishes (I swear I consumed more pumpkin in two days than in an entire normal year. A scrumptious recipe for pepian, a Guatemalan dish, follows. Mine had pumpkin in it) and get caught in the daily rainstorm. Later that evening, one of our hotel's museums opened a photo show so we stopped by to enjoy the incredible photographs (http://www.fotokids.org/gallery.htm) and free wine. Then onto dinner (more pumpkin!) and more wandering the Santo Domingo's grounds, thinking how lucky we are, and the day ends, soft as it began. I loved Guatemala. There's nothing more to say.

Corn Pepian

Ingredients:
10 ears corn
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 small onions, finely chopped
3 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 jalapeno peppers, stemmed, seeded if desired, and finely chopped
4 ounce panela cheese, cut into 1/8 inch dice
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1/2 bunch fresh dill, leaves only, finely chopped

Directions
Slice the whole kernels from 5 ears of corn and set them aside in a bowl. Slice the kernels from the remaining 5 ears and place them in a blender with 1 1/2 cups of cold water. Blend until completely smooth, then press the liquid through a fine sieve, pressing down on the skins to extract all the juice. Discard the skins and set the mixture aside. In a heavy nonreactive saucepan heat the bacon fat over medium heat. Add the onions and cook for about 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until softened but not browned. Add the garlic, salt, cumin, and pepper, and cook for 2 minutes, then add the jalapenos and cook for 2 minutes more. Add the whole corn kernels and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the pureed corn and reduce the heat to its lowest possible setting. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring and scraping the bottom of the pan every 10 minutes or so to keep the mixture from scorching or sticking. Stir in the cheese and the vinegar, cook for 5 minutes more, then sprinkle with the dill and serve.

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c.1997, M.S. Milliken & S. Feniger, all rights reserved