Well I hope I return from my travels without some sort of respiratory malfunction or disease. They surely do not have any emissions requirements in this city. Walking in el central you get blasted by bus exhaust on every street corner - therefore I´ve decided to start wearing a gas mask. I hope that I don´t stick out too much!
Perhaps I´ll try to capture the perfect moment on camera for you to enjoy!
Pray for my health - I need it!
Monday, October 26, 2009
Thursday, October 22, 2009
La Familia
You know – mi familia in Xela will never be my family! Dad and Mom are irreplacable! Plus, these people really feel more like a cousin or a brother and sister in another country. They are my same age with a one and half year old (David), so really they are just cool people that are helping me with my spanish! I try to speak to them about all the new stuff that I learn, but I butcher it everytime. At least they are patient with me, and help me figure it out. I’m pretty sure that I’ll never get POR or PARA in the correct context! I’ll try to get a family photo of them before I leave here so you can see who they are… you know the sad thing is that Alejandra (Sadie) is the wife, and I can never remember her husbands name. I think it starts with an E! I suppose I should figure that out sooner than later, especially if I want to write a thank you note for allowing me to stay at their house.
Oh a few things about the house. You can see a picture of that here, but you should know that it’s just the upstairs. It’s just slightly bigger than my old apartment off 13th Ave. It may not even be much bigger actually, but nonetheless you have an idea of size. You walk into the family room where they have some funny couches (I’ll try to get a photo of them soon), and a rocking chair – but not your typical rocking chair just one that sits in the corner holding stuff. To the direct right off the family room, you find their bedroom (where they spend most of their time). Next to that is a small kitchen complete with a stove about 1/3 the size of the average stove, a microwave (yes amazing), a fridge the size of my old one in my apartment (and believe it or not, it’s actually nicer than my old fridge! HA!), a small sink and a few cupboards. Nothing too fancy, and it’s pretty small. They have a bathroom just off the family room, and it’s your average bathroom. No tub, just a shower with very little warm water. A heating plate to try and warm the water. If you turn the water on too high, it gets cooooold, and when I say cold I mean that I thought I was going to have a heart attack from shock… So you can try to find warm water if you’re lucky! Oiff the back of the family room there is a dining room where we always eat, so we have family dinners which is pretty cool, and a great time to practice my spanish! I suppose that I get confused and play charades with them often at dinner to figure things out! I bet they go to bed and laugh at my lack of spanish skills! Oh well, as long as I can provide some entertainment!
My room… hmm. The window, or lack there of. I suppose it would be a lie to say that I don’t have a window, but it only goes to the hall closet, so really it’s useless. Not even sure why it’s there!? If you can figure out why a room would have a window into a hall closet, I would greatly appreciate the explanation because I’m quite confused. No air circulation + humidity = one really interesting way to sleep. They ask to keep the door closed because of their son, David, so you can imagine how HOT it is! I hope that one day I don’t suffocate! My room is more like a large walk in closet with a bed, desk and dresser. I do have a radio in my room that gets some good spanish stations, so that’s good!! I suppose it’s not a bad set up, but the lack of air flow does kind of put a damper on feeling sane in my room! I guess that’s good to keep me from spending time just sitting in my room staring at the wall, THAT may be a crazy person! HAHA!
Oh a few things about the house. You can see a picture of that here, but you should know that it’s just the upstairs. It’s just slightly bigger than my old apartment off 13th Ave. It may not even be much bigger actually, but nonetheless you have an idea of size. You walk into the family room where they have some funny couches (I’ll try to get a photo of them soon), and a rocking chair – but not your typical rocking chair just one that sits in the corner holding stuff. To the direct right off the family room, you find their bedroom (where they spend most of their time). Next to that is a small kitchen complete with a stove about 1/3 the size of the average stove, a microwave (yes amazing), a fridge the size of my old one in my apartment (and believe it or not, it’s actually nicer than my old fridge! HA!), a small sink and a few cupboards. Nothing too fancy, and it’s pretty small. They have a bathroom just off the family room, and it’s your average bathroom. No tub, just a shower with very little warm water. A heating plate to try and warm the water. If you turn the water on too high, it gets cooooold, and when I say cold I mean that I thought I was going to have a heart attack from shock… So you can try to find warm water if you’re lucky! Oiff the back of the family room there is a dining room where we always eat, so we have family dinners which is pretty cool, and a great time to practice my spanish! I suppose that I get confused and play charades with them often at dinner to figure things out! I bet they go to bed and laugh at my lack of spanish skills! Oh well, as long as I can provide some entertainment!
My room… hmm. The window, or lack there of. I suppose it would be a lie to say that I don’t have a window, but it only goes to the hall closet, so really it’s useless. Not even sure why it’s there!? If you can figure out why a room would have a window into a hall closet, I would greatly appreciate the explanation because I’m quite confused. No air circulation + humidity = one really interesting way to sleep. They ask to keep the door closed because of their son, David, so you can imagine how HOT it is! I hope that one day I don’t suffocate! My room is more like a large walk in closet with a bed, desk and dresser. I do have a radio in my room that gets some good spanish stations, so that’s good!! I suppose it’s not a bad set up, but the lack of air flow does kind of put a damper on feeling sane in my room! I guess that’s good to keep me from spending time just sitting in my room staring at the wall, THAT may be a crazy person! HAHA!
Blue Angel
You know that I would have thought that most of the café’s in Central America would just be unbelievable and incredible to just see each and everyone one of them, but I’m beginning to see that I am wrong about a lot more things that I thought! Central America = good coffee & café’s, right!?! NOPE, WRONG!! Places to avoid – Blue Angel. We have our school meeting here every Monday, and well let me tell you that this place is overpriced and doesn’t even have good coffee. I would rather drink instant coffee than this coffee! 10q for some coffee with cream and sugar (which is equivalent to about $1.15), hello Starbucks of Xela! I suppose I had a good Oatmeal Cookie (vegan style) there… that’s about all the good I have to write about the Blue Angel. If visiting Xela, don’t waste your money!!!
CEMETERIA
This ground is off limits! They say to stay away from the cemetary, which I suppose is a good place to stay away from in ANY country; but it seems so much more inticing when someone tells you to stay away. This cemetary is HUGE! The picture doesn’t do it justice, and well it goes on for blocks and blocks and blocks and blocks… They say that the hoodlums hang out there, which I would imagine to be those people that might beat me up and rape me, so I will stay away. However, I can’t tell you that I’m not tempted to sneak a peek in there! J There are other places they have told us to avoid, however they didn’t tell us where they were so how do you expect me to avoid those places??! Just curious!!!
I suppose that I will TENGO CUIDAD! (take caution!)
I suppose that I will TENGO CUIDAD! (take caution!)
FOOLED BY CHICKEN BUSES!!
So… lesson – if you have to yell at someone in spanish, even if you don’t have the right vocabular, try anyway. A group of 6 of us were on our way to Las Fuentes Geroginas and the climb of Volcan Zunil for the weekend. We decided to take “chicken buses” for 5 quitales (5 Q) about 50 cents in the states. For those that don’t know, these are old US school buses that obviously don’t pass any of the requirments for safety or emissions in the states; therefore, they are shipped to Guatemala for the use of public transportation. Not just any public transportation, but for transporting TONS (and when I say tons, I mean if people are not stacked on top of each other the bus is not full) of people.
We declined a ride in a van for 10 Q because we wanted to save the money so that round trip it would only be 10q for the weekend, but in hindsight we should have jumped on the opportunity. We arrived at the bus stop (aka – side of street where hopefully a bus will stop because you’re standing there), and a few seconds later the bus came. We jumped on with SEVERAL other people and paid our 5Q. We made it about 5 minutes on this bus, and on the first hill the bus broke down. Yes, the hood came open, and the bus driver popped out to “fix” the bus with his small tool kit. YEAH RIGHT! The bus wouldn’t even move, it sounded like an elephant having a baby – the bus was dead. About 10 minutes later the bus driver had made a call, and began to yell at us to get off the bus and onto the other bus that had just pulled up behind us. He opened the back door and the front door and told every one in a loud spanish yell to get on the other bus, my ignorance thought that we didn’t need to pay the second bus because we already paid the first one. WRONG! I was fooled by the stupid bus driver, I swear this is a job they do all the time to make more more. A conspiracy in Guatemala! (I just know it!)
Anyway, success getting to the town right outside of Las Fuentes and Volcan Zunil… Now the way home. You would have thought we learned out lesson to just make sure the bus was working. I swear this one was fine. No crazy noises, and we made it successfully half way back to Xela before the bus stopped, the bus driver turned off the engine and we just sat on the bus for 20 minutes. Finally, Deny (one of the guys traveling with us) got off to ask what the problem was because we were NOT about to get fooled again by these Chicken Bus Drivers! Oh no mister, I learned my lesson, you were not going to take my 5 Q and try to tell me to get on another bus! He said the bus was not full enough, so we had to wait until the bus filled up with people. This is where I learned what a full bus was! I thought when the seats were full, and the standing room in the center of the bus (which they would NEVER let you do in The States) was full, that we were ready to go. WRONG AGAIN! People kept coming in the bus, passing me and I have no idea where they were going. I thought for sure that someone had the back door open and people were walking in the front door through the bus for a tour and then jumping off the back. WRONG AGAIN! They were just piling people in the back like sardines. Literally I had a womans belly hanging on me the whole time… Ah yes, personal bubble POPPED!
Moral of the story – PERSONAL BUBBLES DON’T EXIST ON CHICKEN BUSES, GET YOUR MONEY BACK FROM SOME GUY IF HASN’T DROPPED YOU OFF AT YOUR FINAL DESTINATION, AND YOUR SPANISH IS NEVER TOO BAD TO YELL AT SOMEONE TRYING TO PULL A FAST ONE….
We declined a ride in a van for 10 Q because we wanted to save the money so that round trip it would only be 10q for the weekend, but in hindsight we should have jumped on the opportunity. We arrived at the bus stop (aka – side of street where hopefully a bus will stop because you’re standing there), and a few seconds later the bus came. We jumped on with SEVERAL other people and paid our 5Q. We made it about 5 minutes on this bus, and on the first hill the bus broke down. Yes, the hood came open, and the bus driver popped out to “fix” the bus with his small tool kit. YEAH RIGHT! The bus wouldn’t even move, it sounded like an elephant having a baby – the bus was dead. About 10 minutes later the bus driver had made a call, and began to yell at us to get off the bus and onto the other bus that had just pulled up behind us. He opened the back door and the front door and told every one in a loud spanish yell to get on the other bus, my ignorance thought that we didn’t need to pay the second bus because we already paid the first one. WRONG! I was fooled by the stupid bus driver, I swear this is a job they do all the time to make more more. A conspiracy in Guatemala! (I just know it!)
Anyway, success getting to the town right outside of Las Fuentes and Volcan Zunil… Now the way home. You would have thought we learned out lesson to just make sure the bus was working. I swear this one was fine. No crazy noises, and we made it successfully half way back to Xela before the bus stopped, the bus driver turned off the engine and we just sat on the bus for 20 minutes. Finally, Deny (one of the guys traveling with us) got off to ask what the problem was because we were NOT about to get fooled again by these Chicken Bus Drivers! Oh no mister, I learned my lesson, you were not going to take my 5 Q and try to tell me to get on another bus! He said the bus was not full enough, so we had to wait until the bus filled up with people. This is where I learned what a full bus was! I thought when the seats were full, and the standing room in the center of the bus (which they would NEVER let you do in The States) was full, that we were ready to go. WRONG AGAIN! People kept coming in the bus, passing me and I have no idea where they were going. I thought for sure that someone had the back door open and people were walking in the front door through the bus for a tour and then jumping off the back. WRONG AGAIN! They were just piling people in the back like sardines. Literally I had a womans belly hanging on me the whole time… Ah yes, personal bubble POPPED!
Moral of the story – PERSONAL BUBBLES DON’T EXIST ON CHICKEN BUSES, GET YOUR MONEY BACK FROM SOME GUY IF HASN’T DROPPED YOU OFF AT YOUR FINAL DESTINATION, AND YOUR SPANISH IS NEVER TOO BAD TO YELL AT SOMEONE TRYING TO PULL A FAST ONE….
FRIJOLES, HUEVOS, Y TORTILLAS…
That sums up what I eat nearly for every meal. Oh wait, I forgot black coffee with A LOT of sugar! Oh the food here is interesting. There are some things that I just love, like the pancakes (in spanish said – pan-cake-es). LOVE THEM with Jelly. Yeah, I know, kind of weird without syrup, but I think it’s better than syrup to have Marmilada Fresca (Strawberry Jam)… I don’t get Peanut Butter on them, so the jelly is a nice change of pace! J
Okay other examples of food that we’ve had thus far:
· Bananos boiled with crema (boiled banana’s with cream) – quite good actually.
· Plain Corn Flakes with warm milk – GROSS! Actually double gross. I can barely even eat it, I tried to have it just plain one morning and crunch on some corn flakes, but that just didn’t cut it. I can tell you that my ceral because a bowl of sugar REALLY fast!
· This morning we had some weird milk/water something, I think it was supposed to have oatmeal in it, but it just looked like dirty water. I didn’t even touch it, it was a little too scary to me!
· Enchaladas = tostada shell, some mayonase (you all know how much I love that!), some lechuga (lettuce), and some carne (meat), with a slice of onion on top. – I actually like these! I could eat these for every meal.
· On break during school, we always eat pan (bread). It is quite addictive, and bad for someone that didn’t eat much bread before they got here. I suppose that I may gain 30 pounds from bread alone – let’s hope that the runs and weekend adventures help subside that! Anyway, the bread with the swirly top is the best. It’s like candy. I think it’s call Pan Dulce (candy bread). I think this could be one thing that I miss when I leave Guatemala!)
· We had these things called Whiskel – it must be some sort of green vegitable. I really liked it, but it made my mouth itch. So I suppose that means that I am allergic, but I didn’t die so it must not be deadly – I may eat it again. They cook it in slices with cheese between the layers, wrapped in a egg batter (like french toast) and then pan fried. Oh wow, so good… Served with rice and an orange. I could definitely eat this again, minus the mouth itch!
· We’ve had asian food a few times, and Alejandra is a great cook, so that is always good! Served of course with tortillas and salsa! HA!
· Spagetti one night was good, but they don’t put meat in their sauce, so that was a bit diappointing, but oh well it was still good.
· Drinks: Café, tea, or water with some sort of fruit blended in (generally limon (limes) or papaya) and sugar. The papaya water is interesting since I think that it tastes a lot like butter water, I try to avoid drinking at dinner those nights!
I suppose that’s it for now, I’m sure I’ll have more food stories as the time continues… I did try street tacos, they were SO good! They tell you to avoid those places, but it looked so good I was willing to take my chances! No side effects and that was 2 days ago! YES, I passed!
Okay other examples of food that we’ve had thus far:
· Bananos boiled with crema (boiled banana’s with cream) – quite good actually.
· Plain Corn Flakes with warm milk – GROSS! Actually double gross. I can barely even eat it, I tried to have it just plain one morning and crunch on some corn flakes, but that just didn’t cut it. I can tell you that my ceral because a bowl of sugar REALLY fast!
· This morning we had some weird milk/water something, I think it was supposed to have oatmeal in it, but it just looked like dirty water. I didn’t even touch it, it was a little too scary to me!
· Enchaladas = tostada shell, some mayonase (you all know how much I love that!), some lechuga (lettuce), and some carne (meat), with a slice of onion on top. – I actually like these! I could eat these for every meal.
· On break during school, we always eat pan (bread). It is quite addictive, and bad for someone that didn’t eat much bread before they got here. I suppose that I may gain 30 pounds from bread alone – let’s hope that the runs and weekend adventures help subside that! Anyway, the bread with the swirly top is the best. It’s like candy. I think it’s call Pan Dulce (candy bread). I think this could be one thing that I miss when I leave Guatemala!)
· We had these things called Whiskel – it must be some sort of green vegitable. I really liked it, but it made my mouth itch. So I suppose that means that I am allergic, but I didn’t die so it must not be deadly – I may eat it again. They cook it in slices with cheese between the layers, wrapped in a egg batter (like french toast) and then pan fried. Oh wow, so good… Served with rice and an orange. I could definitely eat this again, minus the mouth itch!
· We’ve had asian food a few times, and Alejandra is a great cook, so that is always good! Served of course with tortillas and salsa! HA!
· Spagetti one night was good, but they don’t put meat in their sauce, so that was a bit diappointing, but oh well it was still good.
· Drinks: Café, tea, or water with some sort of fruit blended in (generally limon (limes) or papaya) and sugar. The papaya water is interesting since I think that it tastes a lot like butter water, I try to avoid drinking at dinner those nights!
I suppose that’s it for now, I’m sure I’ll have more food stories as the time continues… I did try street tacos, they were SO good! They tell you to avoid those places, but it looked so good I was willing to take my chances! No side effects and that was 2 days ago! YES, I passed!
INDIANA JONES: THE ADVENTURE OF EL VOLCAN ZUNIL & LAS FUENTES GEORGINAS
You would think that living a mile high above the ocean I would have been prepared for a volcano that was only 12k high. Heck, I’ve climbed mountains higher than that! I suppose being dehydrated from sitting in Las Fuentes Georginas (hot springs) at 8500 ft the night before with a diet of beans and eggs might have something to do with it… nah!!
The morning of the hike up Volcan Zunil I felt like death. I think a small alien was growing in my estomago (stomach)… not until I drank nearly 1 ltr of water did I feel better. There went half of my day’s water! I hope I don’t need any more to climb this beast! The volcano was dressed with a jungle of plants, bugs, snakes, and other fun mysterious things! I never have wanted a machete more than during that hike... After climbing up and over, and under and through different looking plants, and bamboo trees, and what looked like a perfect setting for the Blare Witch Project I was ready to start hacking a way!! There were times that I was so soaked from the dew on the plants that I thought I might have actually gone swimming. I was really confused. Ah, the adventure!
Entonces, 4.5 hours later we made it to the top to find fog… Yep. All that work for no view. I suppose I was glad there were a few stops along the way that allowed us to peek out to see the view of Guatemala, and also the other volcanos in the area – but it was quite disappointing how fast the clouds moved in! We actually got quite nervous that the black storm clouds were going to rain on our nice dry and clear trail – ha! Yeah right it was already muddy, the last thing we needed was to have more water running through the little trail that existed!
Shout out to DAD for making me learn how to navigate through mountains without a trail, and still find the way home! I think that you taught me more than any survival class could have. I do have one question thought – which of these fungi could I have consumed if it became a dire situation??
Well… until the next adventure… stay tuned.
The morning of the hike up Volcan Zunil I felt like death. I think a small alien was growing in my estomago (stomach)… not until I drank nearly 1 ltr of water did I feel better. There went half of my day’s water! I hope I don’t need any more to climb this beast! The volcano was dressed with a jungle of plants, bugs, snakes, and other fun mysterious things! I never have wanted a machete more than during that hike... After climbing up and over, and under and through different looking plants, and bamboo trees, and what looked like a perfect setting for the Blare Witch Project I was ready to start hacking a way!! There were times that I was so soaked from the dew on the plants that I thought I might have actually gone swimming. I was really confused. Ah, the adventure!
Entonces, 4.5 hours later we made it to the top to find fog… Yep. All that work for no view. I suppose I was glad there were a few stops along the way that allowed us to peek out to see the view of Guatemala, and also the other volcanos in the area – but it was quite disappointing how fast the clouds moved in! We actually got quite nervous that the black storm clouds were going to rain on our nice dry and clear trail – ha! Yeah right it was already muddy, the last thing we needed was to have more water running through the little trail that existed!
Shout out to DAD for making me learn how to navigate through mountains without a trail, and still find the way home! I think that you taught me more than any survival class could have. I do have one question thought – which of these fungi could I have consumed if it became a dire situation??
Well… until the next adventure… stay tuned.
THE EARTH QUAKED AND THE MOUNTAINS TREMBLED
Well there has been some exciting things going on here in Xela, Guatemala. On my way to school today, the earth quaked. You may think “An Earthquake!” Please do not be alarmed, or worried – it was more like a large truck driving by you on Market Street and making the ground shake ever so slightly. So – I would hardly consider the earthquake news… I suppose the earthquate in AK a couple summers ago with Zeke (while laying under some mirrors in the spare bedroom) would be considered more dangerous (pelegroso).
And the mountains trembled… Yes, my first experience watching an active volcano blow steam. I suppose he was upset (It was El Volcan San Tiagito). Mi Maestra (teacher) stopped class when the volcano blew so that we could see it, and then my lesson was on active volcanos and the history of Guatemala and Xela. I suppose it was a good day. I was only able to see a giant cloud of grey smoke, but it got me excited about the active volcano I’ll be hiking near Antigua in the near future… I’ll be taking marshmellos on that hike FOR SURE!
And the mountains trembled… Yes, my first experience watching an active volcano blow steam. I suppose he was upset (It was El Volcan San Tiagito). Mi Maestra (teacher) stopped class when the volcano blew so that we could see it, and then my lesson was on active volcanos and the history of Guatemala and Xela. I suppose it was a good day. I was only able to see a giant cloud of grey smoke, but it got me excited about the active volcano I’ll be hiking near Antigua in the near future… I’ll be taking marshmellos on that hike FOR SURE!
THE EARTH QUAKED AND THE MOUNTAINS TREMBLED
Well there has been some exciting things going on here in Xela, Guatemala. On my way to school today, the earth quaked. You may think “An Earthquake!” Please do not be alarmed, or worried – it was more like a large truck driving by you on Market Street and making the ground shake ever so slightly. So – I would hardly consider the earthquake news… I suppose the earthquate in AK a couple summers ago with Zeke (while laying under some mirrors in the spare bedroom) would be considered more dangerous (pelegroso).
And the mountains trembled… Yes, my first experience watching an active volcano blow steam. I suppose he was upset (It was El Volcan San Tiagito). Mi Maestra (teacher) stopped class when the volcano blew so that we could see it, and then my lesson was on active volcanos and the history of Guatemala and Xela. I suppose it was a good day. I was only able to see a giant cloud of grey smoke, but it got me excited about the active volcano I’ll be hiking near Antigua in the near future… I’ll be taking marshmellos on that hike FOR SURE!
And the mountains trembled… Yes, my first experience watching an active volcano blow steam. I suppose he was upset (It was El Volcan San Tiagito). Mi Maestra (teacher) stopped class when the volcano blew so that we could see it, and then my lesson was on active volcanos and the history of Guatemala and Xela. I suppose it was a good day. I was only able to see a giant cloud of grey smoke, but it got me excited about the active volcano I’ll be hiking near Antigua in the near future… I’ll be taking marshmellos on that hike FOR SURE!
TRIPOD
I want you to meet Tripod. I have adopted him as my pet. He doesn’t go home with me, nor does he even follow me anywhere – some kind of pet , huh!? However, I do see him on my way to school everyday, does that count? I have to apologize for the misleading name of my perro, but he can only use three legs; therefore, I call him TRIPOD.
If you want me to be brutally honest, all the street dogs probably could adopt the name Tripod. You know we should not be too fast to judge these scrawny looking felines, because they have more stamina than anyone of us. They rarely get any food, and if it is it’s usually what has been picked through three or four times from the street, most likely some sort of cardboard, or the like. We may call them pathetic, but if these muts can make it – I suppose they may be the stronger than most people. Perhaps instead of our critque and occassional kick, we should praise these animals for their ability to survive.
You may be wondering why I would write such praises about such disgusting animals; howvever, one must be take caution (tenia cuidad) because they can often be ferocious too! Don’t make one of these crazy guys mad or you may be running for your life. So don’t be fooled by their puppy eyes, begging that you would even consider dropping an ounce of food for them to gobble up.
Moral of the story – everyone has a street dog, and everyone’s street dog is named Tripod.
If you want me to be brutally honest, all the street dogs probably could adopt the name Tripod. You know we should not be too fast to judge these scrawny looking felines, because they have more stamina than anyone of us. They rarely get any food, and if it is it’s usually what has been picked through three or four times from the street, most likely some sort of cardboard, or the like. We may call them pathetic, but if these muts can make it – I suppose they may be the stronger than most people. Perhaps instead of our critque and occassional kick, we should praise these animals for their ability to survive.
You may be wondering why I would write such praises about such disgusting animals; howvever, one must be take caution (tenia cuidad) because they can often be ferocious too! Don’t make one of these crazy guys mad or you may be running for your life. So don’t be fooled by their puppy eyes, begging that you would even consider dropping an ounce of food for them to gobble up.
Moral of the story – everyone has a street dog, and everyone’s street dog is named Tripod.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Speech Impediment
I'm pretty sure that in Spanish I have a speech impediment... yep there are words I just can't say right no matter how hard I try. Do you think they have linguists here???
Monday, October 12, 2009
Are there Penguins in Guatemala?
You know I never thought living the dream was really something that American´s did other than the white pickett fence and 2.5 kids and a dog. Well my friends, my dream is a bit different. As many of you know I left the country to come to Guatemala to learn spanish, and the travel down into Central and South America! Well that dream is finally here and coming true!
Let´s see. I don´t have much time, so I´ll try to summarize the eventual things that happened since I´ve left.
Portland '- came and went extremely quickly. However, 3 weeks in PacNW was hard just because I wanted to get to Guatemala. But I was able to do some really fun things like see downtown portland, meet Chris´family, ride the train solo, and hike S. Sister (third tallest peak in OR). Other than that it was pretty low key, and actually quite nice to relax.
Travel - The airport was an adventure. Portland was just normal, nothing exciting or unusual. I was able to experience Chi town on our 7 hour layover. Now that was an adventure. The subway system there is ANCIENT, I would suggest a few updates for a city so large! Anyway it took 40 minutes to get to a part of the city where we thought would have good deep dish chicago style pizza. Once we arrived and got off at the Clark\Lake stop we found out (after getting lost twice) that we were in the financial district and that the pizza place Giodano´s (I think that´s the name) was closed. So we caught a cab to another one about 2 miles away. The pizza was declicious, but the service was sub-par. Oh well, it was still yummy. We got back to the airport to find out that most security gates are not open at 2am, and that we had to figure out how to get to the international wing when the train only ran every 20-30 minutes and that the doors were stubborn and may or may not open. YES - I was so excited to know that it was going to be so reliable! Anyway we got to the gate, and Chris set his cell phone down, and some kid stole it... later to be returned by the child´s mom on the airplane.
We arrived at Guatemala City, Guatemala and had to go through customs, which is not like all the other customs that I´ve been through. It was much quicker, and if you blinked you might have missed it! They actually check your baggage claim tickets in Guatmala at the airport... so don´t lose those, they are important! We tried to use a pay phone, but it didn´t work! So once we grabbed a taxi I used the little spanish I knew to ask him if I could use his cell phone. He must have understood me because he handed me a phone, and said I could call who I wanted. I should have just called home - ha! Nah, we had to call the familia to let the know when we were going to be there! The taxi ride was long to the bus station, longer than I expected but it was okay. I think the taxi driver took us the long way because I swear there had to be a more direct route, but nonetheless it was cool to see the city that way.
The bus station was small, and just like a hole in the wall where you hand some lady a few bucks for a ticket (that you better not lose), to hand to another guy that gives you a different ticket (which you better not lose that one either), to wait, and wait, and wait, and wait... then you get on the bus and drive like crazy people through the mountains on curvey roads. (Zeke '- you wuld have been so car sick!)
We arrived at the familia de Guatemala´s house by noon thirty and ate lunch with them about 30 minutes later. Then we were able to take a nap, and just relax until dinner time. It had been a long 24 hours of travel. (Oct 10 @ 11a PST to Oct 11@ 1230p MST).
My favorite thing is that my familia´s son -David (he´s a year and half) likes to hit and kick and scratch me. Oh yeah! Making friends right away! Sweet! HAHA! Oh well, he likes me he just also likes to do those things, so I had to tell him NO about 10000 times yesterday! I have a scratch to prove it! Ah the abuse I am taking to learn spanish - just kidding!
Spanish school started today. I thought I was going to get lost on my way home after the papa of the familia walked us to school. It was confusing, but low and behold we navigated back to the house successfully at lunch time! Nope I didn´t get lost dad!
My maestra is very nice, and I think I´ll learn a lot. I have a feeling I´ll actually learn more from my host family, but the teacher is nice to learn the grammer and vocabulary!
Well I will try to write more later, but Chris is ready to leave the internet cafe so I don´t have much time! I´ll write down the funny parts because there are MANY of those! I actually can´t stop laughing at some of the things that I´ve said or chris has - like last night chris asked the family if there are penguins in guatemala. Everyone laughed for a long time! It was great!
Alright - until later!
M
Let´s see. I don´t have much time, so I´ll try to summarize the eventual things that happened since I´ve left.
Portland '- came and went extremely quickly. However, 3 weeks in PacNW was hard just because I wanted to get to Guatemala. But I was able to do some really fun things like see downtown portland, meet Chris´family, ride the train solo, and hike S. Sister (third tallest peak in OR). Other than that it was pretty low key, and actually quite nice to relax.
Travel - The airport was an adventure. Portland was just normal, nothing exciting or unusual. I was able to experience Chi town on our 7 hour layover. Now that was an adventure. The subway system there is ANCIENT, I would suggest a few updates for a city so large! Anyway it took 40 minutes to get to a part of the city where we thought would have good deep dish chicago style pizza. Once we arrived and got off at the Clark\Lake stop we found out (after getting lost twice) that we were in the financial district and that the pizza place Giodano´s (I think that´s the name) was closed. So we caught a cab to another one about 2 miles away. The pizza was declicious, but the service was sub-par. Oh well, it was still yummy. We got back to the airport to find out that most security gates are not open at 2am, and that we had to figure out how to get to the international wing when the train only ran every 20-30 minutes and that the doors were stubborn and may or may not open. YES - I was so excited to know that it was going to be so reliable! Anyway we got to the gate, and Chris set his cell phone down, and some kid stole it... later to be returned by the child´s mom on the airplane.
We arrived at Guatemala City, Guatemala and had to go through customs, which is not like all the other customs that I´ve been through. It was much quicker, and if you blinked you might have missed it! They actually check your baggage claim tickets in Guatmala at the airport... so don´t lose those, they are important! We tried to use a pay phone, but it didn´t work! So once we grabbed a taxi I used the little spanish I knew to ask him if I could use his cell phone. He must have understood me because he handed me a phone, and said I could call who I wanted. I should have just called home - ha! Nah, we had to call the familia to let the know when we were going to be there! The taxi ride was long to the bus station, longer than I expected but it was okay. I think the taxi driver took us the long way because I swear there had to be a more direct route, but nonetheless it was cool to see the city that way.
The bus station was small, and just like a hole in the wall where you hand some lady a few bucks for a ticket (that you better not lose), to hand to another guy that gives you a different ticket (which you better not lose that one either), to wait, and wait, and wait, and wait... then you get on the bus and drive like crazy people through the mountains on curvey roads. (Zeke '- you wuld have been so car sick!)
We arrived at the familia de Guatemala´s house by noon thirty and ate lunch with them about 30 minutes later. Then we were able to take a nap, and just relax until dinner time. It had been a long 24 hours of travel. (Oct 10 @ 11a PST to Oct 11@ 1230p MST).
My favorite thing is that my familia´s son -David (he´s a year and half) likes to hit and kick and scratch me. Oh yeah! Making friends right away! Sweet! HAHA! Oh well, he likes me he just also likes to do those things, so I had to tell him NO about 10000 times yesterday! I have a scratch to prove it! Ah the abuse I am taking to learn spanish - just kidding!
Spanish school started today. I thought I was going to get lost on my way home after the papa of the familia walked us to school. It was confusing, but low and behold we navigated back to the house successfully at lunch time! Nope I didn´t get lost dad!
My maestra is very nice, and I think I´ll learn a lot. I have a feeling I´ll actually learn more from my host family, but the teacher is nice to learn the grammer and vocabulary!
Well I will try to write more later, but Chris is ready to leave the internet cafe so I don´t have much time! I´ll write down the funny parts because there are MANY of those! I actually can´t stop laughing at some of the things that I´ve said or chris has - like last night chris asked the family if there are penguins in guatemala. Everyone laughed for a long time! It was great!
Alright - until later!
M
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
