Antigua
Thankfully for me we left Semuc after 1 day and headed to Antigua, an 8 hour journey of 3 buses changing in Guatemala City, really not a nice place, I was glad to only be there for about 30 minutes.
Antigua is as beautiful as all the books say. It´s incredibly cute, colonial buildings, cobbled streets, fantastic shops and restaurants and all with a backdrop of mountains and volcanoes.
From here I will break off from the others slightly, I´ve just booked 3 weeks in one of the Spanish schools and I´m sure the other guys will only stay for a few days. That´s fine though, my hostel is great and I´ve already met some good people there, one of which is also doing 3 weeks in the same Spanish school, we both start tomorrow morning. I´m hoping to stay with a Guatemalan family while I learn but I have to put some feelers out for that first.
So for the next 3 weeks I´ll be at school for 6 hours starting at 9am, then dancing salsa at night in the clubs. I can´t wait to get into the salsa, I´ve already bought some shoes for it!
My Spanish school offers loads of other activities such as learning to make traditional Guatemalan food, trips to nearby indigenous villages etc, I think I´ll be kept busy.
Tomorrow is day of the dead here, although it´s my first day at school I think I´ll do an hour then head off on an excursion to Santiago where the locals decorate the cemeteries and hold a massive kite flying festival, apparently to stop the evil spirits from descending, this can´t be missed.
Forgive the absolute mess that is my photo page, once I get some more time I shall tidy it up into proper catagories and some kind of chronoligical order.
Right, off to a halloween party!
Tags: Guatemala
November 1st, 2005 at 1:54 pm
Hiya
Great update, glad to hear you are not resting on your laurels!!!
Is your eye ok?, that sounds quite uncomfortable, hope all the others are ok.
So you are having 3 weeks in one place, you probably need that after the amount of miles you’ve put under your belt so far.
Hope that you enjoy your school, that sounds really interesting, wonder what characters you will bump into.
Look forward to seeing some photos of your dancing in your new shoes -
Hope your halloween party was fun, i took the kids to one held in our village last night it was great, i was in charge of apple bobbing and suffice to say the apple’s soon lost their appeal when the young boys realised they could dunk each other, so there was greasy face paint and goodness knows what else in the water when i tipped it away!!!
Hope that you end up with a nice family for the next few weeks,
take care
Love Jo
x
November 1st, 2005 at 2:31 pm
Great to hear from you Shar, I was thinking things as it had been so long, but reading your blog you have been very busy which is what I kept telling myself.
You are going to come home feeling like you have had the most amazing experience.It is an amazing thing to do.
look after your health as best you can, I hope your ankle is better.see you didn’t hold the tarantula.It’s the best thing when I log on and you are ok.good one Shar.
LOVE YOU LOTS.MUMXXX
November 1st, 2005 at 3:34 pm
Hey Sharleen, remember that sceptical debate about Machu Picchu?
Went at dawn a couple of days ago, no tourists, we were the first there. It was AMAZING.
GO!
Best of luck with ankle.
November 2nd, 2005 at 1:28 pm
I knew it wouldn’t take you long before you got yourself some heels. Enjoy the salsa honey.
I must say, I’m very jealous. It all sounds absolutely wonderful!! And it’s brilliant you’re having such a fantastic adventure, after all that planning and saving.
By the way, I don’t fit into any of my clothes any more already. I went to have a look at maternity clothes and cried. A-line denim with elasticated triangles for chrissakes!!! I’d rather do a Demi Moore quite frankly.
Sara x
November 3rd, 2005 at 9:43 pm
Hi Jo, great to hear from you. Certainly not resting on my laurels but haven´t sorted out the homestay thing yet. Hope you and the family are all well.
Tish - the ankle is fine thanks, now proudly sporting a new set of bites, Guatemalan bugs seem to like me just as much as Belizean ones! Still not sure about machu I´m afraid, won´t everything seem insignificant after the galapagos? Hope the travels all go well.
Starbuck - if I come back to find you in any denim with elasticated sections we´ll be having words. Take care and let that bump show Demi style!