Antigua Guatemala

I´ve been here for almost a full week now. It´s a beautiful city; the kind of place I picture when I daydream of living in Latin America. Cobblestone streets, brightly colored buildings lining the streets, short women carrying baskets of tortillas on their heads, beautiful colonial churches.

We´re staying in a guesthouse run by a young Guatemalan woman named Magdelena. Along with Magdelena there is Josefina who makes fresh corn tortillas three times daily, and another young lady who helps with the cleaning and cooking. 3 surprisingly delicious meals are provided everyday. The place has about 10 rooms built around an open, tiled courtyard. I wake up everymoring and walk out of my room for a view a cloud obscured volcano. It has been pretty rainy since we arrived, so I haven´t had an unobscured view of the volcano yet.

We have some sort of happy ragtag international family in our guesthouse. Arriving the same week were two french girls, a Kiwi (New Zealand) and another girl from Nasvhille. We all get along well and are all spending around 2 months here. We have avoided any major international incidents as of yet, mostly due to the fact that our proudest patriot is the Kiwi, and no one is too threatened by a land flowing with sheep and flightless birds. There is also a group of 3 Germans staying in the guesthouse, but my experience has been that (broad generalization) German travelers stick to themselves. There is a reclusive Taiwanese guy too. I tried to speak Chinese with him, but couldn´t get beyond the first phrase. Spanish has taken over the second language part of my brain already.

My daily schedule has been this so far: I wake up about 6:45, get dressed, and have breakfast with everyone. Class begins at 8 and ends at 12. Magdelena serves us lunch at about 1, and then I attempt to have a siesta. I wake up in a foul mood around 2:30 and go find a nice cafe to study in. Dinner is at 7, after which we all play cards, talk, read and go to bed.

My Spanish lessons are one on one with a man named Reginaldo. I wasn´t sure what I thought about him the first couple of days, but he is a good teacher and an interesting guy to talk to. He goes into long speeches about Guatemalan customs and the moral decline of the society following the feminist revolution. I don´t follow all of what he says, but its great listening practice. I think I will spend one more week with Reginaldo, and then change teachers.

Yesterday, David and I along with the two French girls (Audrey and Amelie...easy to remember, one is the actress and one is the fictional character) and the kiwi (Husky) hiked Pacaya Volcano. It was a lot of fun. Who has never wanted to poke lava with a stick. The muddy descent in the dark was a little frightening though. There were times when I thought I might just have to curl up in a ball and wait for morning.

I´m going to end this abruptly as I need to return to see whats for lunch, but I will post some pictures when I can.