I arrived here in Antigua yesterday, and checked straight into a Spanish classes/homestay kind of deal that's very popular with foreigners.

Regina drove me to Antigua, the lovely old capital of Spain's Central American colonies, after I spent the morning checking out the Palacio Nacional in Guatemala City with Ricardo, and looking at a couple of museums.

Now I'm staying with a woman named Mireille, who lives 15 minutes from the town square. I got her name from my dear friend Anna Burlow, who stayed with her in April.

Mireille's house is a typical Antiguan house - a flat-roofed, flat-fronted house with an iron gate, which sits right on the narrow footpath that's raised above the cobbled street. Immediately inside is the dining table, in an alcove that's open onto the little courtyard. Around the courtyard are the bedrooms and the kitchen. Mireille works at home with her four little kids (she and her husband are separated) and she lets three rooms to tourists, and she cooks three meals a day for them as well. Right now there are two Dutchmen staying - they are very pleasant but they speak hopeless Spanish and they don't go much on the food - they especially don't like tortillas and beans, which is a pity because both items feature quite heavily. Of course I like all the food.

Last night I had my first Spanish lesson from Anna and Diana, who are seven and six years old respectively. They are Mireille's daughters, and they're extremely cute, with gorgeous long black hair, long eyelashes and big brown eyes. They're very friendly and both of them like to crack jokes. They sat up with me after dinner and I pointed and asked for words, and they tried to spell them correctly, so it was very educative for all of us.

Today I had my first proper lesson at the school. It was very hard work. My teacher is about my age, I think, and lives just outside town with her sisters and her mother. Her name in Miriam.

I was surprised at how much I can speak when I really try. It hurts your brain after a while, but it's quite fun. We had lots of conversations, punctuated by grammer lessons and exercises. The conversations weren't so boring - we had the typical ones about how many brothers and sisters everyone had, but then we started talking about the upcoming presidential election in Guatemala (there is an ex-general running, but he has only 3.3 percent in the opinion polls, much to Miriam's relief), and the discrimination faced by indigenous people who want jobs in restaurants and bars around town (the managers won't let the Indians keep their traditional clothes, which upsets the Indians a lot - they want to go on wearing the very beautiful woven garments that Mayan women have been making and wearing for centuries, and who can blame them?) We also discussed the problem with Guatemalan men. Miriam is dismayed because her father is always bolting with women other than her mother. She blames machismo.

I am supposed to study with Miriam for five hours a day, starting at 8am (not that hard to get up - the roosters, and there must be thousands of them, start going beserk at about 5am). I think I'll be able to speak pretty well after two more weeks of this.

Here's a picture of three of Mireille's kids, Diana, Valentin and Domenic - Ana is missing.
Mireille's kids

And here's their mother, my delightful hostess

Mireille