BootsnAll Travel Network



Edwin's Blog, how's that for a title!

Quit my job and roadtripped across the US, traveled in Central America, cycled the Pacific Coast, got a new job (and worked for 10 months), now I'm back roadtripping up to Alaska!

I Finally Went to McDonald’s Ha Ha Ha

February 15th, 2006

>
> So, a quick post for this Thursday night…
>
> Been very very busy, on top of school and
> homework, there have been daily activities that I
> have joined in such as spending yesterday afternoon
> at Las Cumbres, a small developed hotel about 45
> minutes outside of Xela with natural steam baths.
> For 50 Quetzales (about $7) per person, we had round
> trip transportation and about an hour and a half in
> the private steam rooms before returning back to
> town. Later that evening I joined some fellow
> students to Koko Loko’s to watch more Salsa dancing
> action. At any rate, my weekend plans are a bit
> unsettled at this point so we’ll just see what turns
> up.
>
>
>
> IMG_4162.JPG
>
> Las Cumbres restaurant overlooking the distant
> mountainside
>
>
> IMG_4163.JPG
>
> Las Cumbres grounds
>
>
> IMG_4164.JPG
>
> A room like this with 2 double beds, private bath,
> fireplace, TV and private steam room go for just
> under $30 for the evening for 2 people.
>
>
> IMG_4165.JPG
>
> All nightly rooms offer an outdoor bench to take
> in the scenery.
>
>
> IMG_4166.JPG
>
> The steam room that me and the guy from Japan
> shared. It has a private changing area, toilet,
> shower, sink and a little area with 2 lounge chairs.
> The steam room is in the background.
>
>
> IMG_4174.JPG
>
> Hanging out afterwards with Megan (from Wisconsin)
> and Sophia (from British Columbia)
>
>
>
>
> – My host family has a refrigerator, albeit very
> small and not really used that much. We have normal
> electricity plug-ins, as do most households.
> However, most households do not have a fridge simply
> because they don’t need it. Food down here in
> Guatemala is purchased to be consumed within a day
> or two, so that’s why there’s not much use for a
> refrigerator. Meals are cooked to be eaten all at
> once, and if not, then the leftovers are eaten
> pretty immediately. There’s no Costco or anything
> resembling bulk food quanities, except perhaps for
> buying toilet paper. All the blocks in my barrior
> and in the city have at least 2 or 3 tiendas, which
> are like little convenience stores will all the
> necessecities–breads, meats, milks, drinks,
> toiletries, snacks, etc. Thus, when people want to
> cook, they’ll just walk across the calle or over 2
> “houses” to the tienda to buy fresh food to cook.
>
> – The food at home wasn’t quite cutting it this
> week (this morning was my third straight with a bowl
> of warm milk and corn flakes!!! and of course by
> the time I sat down to eat it, all the flakes had
> turned to mush mush mush. but I’m getting used to
> it), so for the last 2 days I have blown my budget
> by eating out. And it has been a delightful
> experience! In the Parque Central are a bunch of
> little food stands with vendors selling everything
> from popcorn to corn on the cob (but smeared with
> ketchup and mayo) to fried bananas with sugar and
> cream. Yesterday I relented and bought a small
> plate of papas frites (french fries) and devoured
> them in all their greasy glory. However, there was
> some really hot type of sauce she put on them, and
> my tongue burned and longed for something cold. Ice
> cream! Mitzy got a cone at a local ice cream shop,
> but I tasted her cookies and cream and decided that
> it was waaay too sweet. I needed something a little
> less dramatic, maybe soft
> serve….but who would have soft serve that isn’t
> too sweet??? Ha ha ha, McDonald’s!!!! Yep, I did
> it! I went to McDonald’s and got my fifty cent soft
> serve ice cream cone and LOVED it! Finally, some
> food I could really melt into! And that’s not
> all…well, I’m not going to say that I got a Big
> Mac and fries and all of that because I didn’t. But
> what I did do is eat eat eat for the past 2
> days….fresh mixed fruits of watermelon, papaya,
> pineapple, strawberries and mango. Had 2 big
> burritos at the local Blue Video cafe (after Las
> Cumbres, we were hungry!). 2 greasy empanadas
> filled with chicken and onions from a little Taiwan
> food stand, 2 other chicken empanadas made by a
> local woman who visits our school daily during our
> break to sell her homemade treats, as well as bite
> sized waffle pieces, muffins, breads and more.
>
> IMG_4108.JPG
>
> The papas frites stand
>
>
> IMG_4160.JPG
>
> Ahh, fresh fries!!!
>
> – There are a bunch of things that I still can’t
> get used to that you probably wouldn’t see often in
> the U.S.
>
> – A guy stopping his car, opening the driver
> side, and taking a leak in the middle of the road.
> No, not by some bush or in the country. In the
> city, in the middle of the street, in broad
> daylight. Women do it too. They’ll just crouch
> down by a wall and pee. And when certain sections
> of the city have their water turned off for a few
> days, you can imagine that the incidence of folks
> just taking a piss in the street or on the wall
> increases.
>
> – Food stands in Parque Central and other places.
> Sure, maybe not so uncommon in the U.S. But in the
> states, there are strict regulations for food
> handlers cards, permits and other rules. Here, if
> you have somekind of food to sell, you just find
> yourself a spot and cook it and sell it. A lot of
> food stands have buckets of water where they’ll do
> their own “cleaning” of food.
>
> – People riding scooters and motorcycles with no
> helmets. With little 5 year old kids riding on the
> lap of the driver. And in cars too. Don’t worry
> about seatbelts. Just climb aboard. Oh yeah, and
> on my bike ride Sunday, a lady had her infant son
> wrapped in one of those slings around her body, just
> riding along in her motorcycle.
>
> – Pedestrian laws. Forget about it. No power to
> the common pedestrian here. One of my school mates
> recounted an incident last week when she was in a
> microbus and the driver hit a cyclist. The cyclist
> was clearly hurt and the driver just continued on
> like the cyclist was a speedbump. No stopping to
> see if he was okay, it was just business as usual.
> So I have to be extra extra careful when walking to
> and from school and trying to stay on the miniscule
> sidewalks as much as possible.
>
> – The dogs. Everywhere. Snooping around, laying
> around, fighting, barking, begging. Some pics…
>
>
> IMG_4051.JPG
>
> IMG_4089.JPG
>
> #img#
>
>
>
> – People smaller than me. Strange that I’m a
> “big” person. Yes Monica, you would be a goddess if
> you were here.
>
> – These Spanish keyboards! Things aren’t where
> I’m used to them being when I type. So there’s ñ,
> ç, € and more.
>
>
> One more quick note. Yesterday when I returned
> from the Blue Video Cafe, I noticed a bunch of
> backpacks in the living room. Seems that my
> household just gained 4 new people. They are 2
> female students from I forget where, and 2 of their
> Spanish language teachers. From Antigua. Guess
> they made a special trip to Xela and will only be
> here for a few days. I hope. Because this morning
> was crazy trying to use the single bathroom with 4
> women. Actually, I never had the opportunity to use
> it. Just a few more days, I hope, otherwise I’m
> switching families next week. Oh, and you’d think
> that with more people the food might improve. Not.
> Last night was another skimpy serving of scrambled
> eggs and refried beans for dinner. and one corn
> tortilla. Yeah, I’m so glad I splurged on those
> burritos and other snacks earlier in the day. And I
> will tomorrow.
>
> One more final final note. Spanish is still
> pretty up and down, but I am getting restless. I
> have 2 more weeks signed up, and it’s looking like I
> might not go on much after that. But things can
> always change. I think I’m making progress, but
> that learning curve up and over the mountain has so
> many switchbacks that it seems like it will never
> end. It was pretty interesting trying to
> communicate with a new student from Japan who
> started 2 days ago. We tried to communicate in
> Spanish and it was pretty hard, but funny. Okay,
> that’s all for now, gotta run to dinner and be
> surprised with another serving of eggs and refried
> beans! YES!!!
>

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IMG_4090.JPG

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The Mystery of the Missing Posts

February 14th, 2006

Happy V Day to all, though for me not really a great day to remember. The great revenge of Montezuma (yeah, so I’m in the wrong country) afflicted me again last night and today. It was a repeat of my first 3 days here, whereby my body decides that the food I’m putting in it doesn’t quite meet approval. I woke up this morning at 4am with a horrible stomach ache, which continued well into the afternoon. Only now am I feeling better, which is good, but I was hoping to do the full moon hike to Volcan Santa Maria this evening (leave at 11pm, hike up for 5 hours, come back by 12 noon tomorrow).

Still having some troubles with my posts, the adminstrator got back to me and said that things should be okay now, so you may find some posts suddenly reappear that you may have already read, or some completely new ones, so this will all be new to me when that occurs.

Español update…I switched teachers yesterday, as they rotate every week. I liked my last maestra, Rosario, and would have liked to stay with her, but Sakribal insists that switching teachers every 2 weeks is the best way to learn. And I can agree with that, as my new teacher has a different teaching method and I have to readjust to hearing a different accent and must listen closely to try and understand exactly what she is trying to say.

Okay, movie recommendation, BIG THUMBS UP! Saw it last night at the CinemaPariso Cafe. “A Day Without a Mexican.” Never heard of it until last night, came out 2 years ago and can be described as a satire mockumentary that is just so off the wall and hilarious but has a lot of serious and relavent undertones to the story. Quick synopsis:

Mary Jo Quintana wakes up one morning to discover that her husband Roberto has vanished along with their young son. She soon learns that they are among the 14 million Latinos from across the state who have disappeared seemingly overnight.”

You might need to be in a different frame of mind or be with people that “get” the movie, but we loved it, maybe because we’re down here in Guatemala studying Spanish and learning about these types of issues. Don’t know if you can find it at the Blockbuster or Netflix, but Í’d say that it’s worth a viewing.

Wish I had pics to post but the computer I’m currently using doesn’t support my USB card. That’s how things using these internet cafes, can be hit or miss…

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A Lazy Sunday Afternoon

February 12th, 2006

I’ve written some posts that for some reason, just haven’t posted.  I’ve emailed the Bootsnall helpdesk, so hopefully this matter will be resolved in the next few days, so check back on Tuesday for my latest updates and photos from my previous entries that didn’t post.

Today I’m spending some time on line to catch up on news and figure out what’s going on with my blog, and will spend the afternoon at school studying and checking out what other materials that they might have to help me understand this language stuff a little better.  The German gals left yesterday so it’s back to me and the house to myself.  And yesterday I treated myself to an ice cream cone from a park vendor.  It’s a pretty cool process that takes about 2-3 minutes.  He basically has this big vat / pot set in water and ice inside a little cart.  He pours some liquid into the pot and swirls it around for a couple of minutes with his spatula before it softens / hardens into a creamy like thickness that he will then scoop into a cone.  It’s a bit sweet for my taste, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen something like this!  Always something new to discover in Xela….

 

 

 

 

 

 

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It’s called Apophis. It’s 390m wide. And it could hit Earth in 31 years time

February 10th, 2006

Thanks for the news Ezzie!  Read it here and make your plans NOW!!! 

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/space/article/0,,1660485,00.html

 Still don’t know what’s going on with the posts I’ve been emailing to my blog, so I’m having to do this one the old fashioned way.  Last night I had ANOTHER great serving of 2 eggs over hard with pureed black beans!  Just like I called.  And the two German girls staying til these weekend commented that the food they got from their homestay in Antigua was soo much better.  Last night one of the girls found a dead fly *in* her corn tortilla.  I’m glad she took that one cause I probably wouldn’t have noticed and would have eaten it.  I know that’s not my mom’s fault, but still it was funny to hear the Germans and their teachers comment about the food that they were served.  Today for lunch we each had a bowl of instant cup o noodles.  And corn tortillas.  Of course!  I’m going to attempt to attach one pic of the girls.  One is Suzanne, the other I forgot her name but they were hanging out in the tienda last night when I walked by and they got me a Gallo beer.  And you all know how much I can’t pass up any type of food for FREE, but the cerveza sure did make me want to pee all night!

The two German girls staying at mi casa til this weekend

Finally, for those that can read/speak Spanish, here is my first unedited story that I did as part of my homework for Thursday….

Paul y Sergio llegan en Guatemala despues vente seis horas a dos vacas.  Ellos son de Noruega y viven alla por ochenta y tres anos.  Ellos estan consados y sus ropas estan sucio, asi Paul y Sergio buscan para el rio.  Ellos suben las montañas y caminan para el aduar.  Paul pregunta una personna para ayudar, pero una personna esta bandido!  El bandido roba Paul y toma su vaca.  Paul estan mucho triste.  Sergio corre rapido para el bandido y el cambia sus calcetines.  ¿Quien cambia sus calcetines?  El oso cambia sus calcetines!  El nombre del oso es “Justpetas.”  Justpetas baila con sus amigos Julio el Sapo, Carlos la Roca, y Angelita la Mona.  Estos animales son locos y sus nombre es “El Solo Pamdilla.”  La pamdilla halla el bandido y ellos comen el bandido y la vaca.  Ahora, los calcetines de Sergio tienen muchos los ojales.  Paul y Sergio regresan para Noruega y ellose dormiden.  Fin!

 Have a nice weekend all!

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Something’s up with my posts…

February 10th, 2006

Don’t know what happened to my post from last night Thursday, but here it is without the pictures.  Hopefully it will post over the weekend, kinda sucks if you read stuff that’s days old!!!

 

More Food For Thought: I Finally Went to McDonald’s Ha Ha Ha

So, a quick post for this Thursday night…
Been very very busy, on top of school and homework, there have been daily activities that I have joined in such as spending yesterday afternoon at Las Cumbres, a small developed hotel about 45 minutes outside of Xela with natural steam baths.  For 50 Quetzales (about $7) per person, we had round trip transportation and about an hour and a half in the private steam rooms before returning back to town.  Later that evening I joined some fellow students to Koko Loko’s to watch more Salsa dancing action.  At any rate, my weekend plans are a bit unsettled at this point so we’ll just see what turns up.
#img4#
Las Cumbres restaurant overlooking the distant mountainside
#img5#
Las Cumbres grounds
#img6#
A room like this with 2 double beds, private bath, fireplace, TV and private steam room go for just under $30 for the evening for 2 people.
#img7#
All nightly rooms offer an outdoor bench to take in the scenery.
#img8#
The steam room that me and the guy from Japan shared.  It has a private changing area, toilet, shower, sink and a little area with 2 lounge chairs.  The steam room is in the background.
#img9#
Hanging out afterwards with Megan (from Wisconsin) and Sophia (from British Columbia)
– My host family has a refrigerator, albeit very small and not really used that much.  We have normal electricity plug-ins, as do most households.  However, most households do not have a fridge simply because they don’t need it.  Food down here in Guatemala is purchased to be consumed within a day or two, so that’s why there’s not much use for a refrigerator.  Meals are cooked to be eaten all at once, and if not, then the leftovers are eaten pretty immediately.  There’s no Costco or anything resembling bulk food quanities, except perhaps for buying toilet paper.  All the blocks in my barrior and in the city have at least 2 or 3 tiendas, which are like little convenience stores will all the necessecities–breads, meats, milks, drinks, toiletries, snacks, etc.  Thus, when people want to cook, they’ll just walk across the calle or over 2 “houses” to the tienda to buy fresh food to cook.
– The food at home wasn’t quite cutting it this week (this morning was my third straight with a bowl of warm milk and corn flakes!!!  and of course by the time I sat down to eat it, all the flakes had turned to mush mush mush.  but I’m getting used to it), so for the last 2 days I have blown my budget by eating out.  And it has been a delightful experience!  In the Parque Central are a bunch of little food stands with vendors selling everything from popcorn to corn on the cob (but smeared with ketchup and mayo) to fried bananas with sugar and cream.  Yesterday I relented and bought a small plate of papas frites (french fries) and devoured them in all their greasy glory.  However, there was some really hot type of sauce she put on them, and my tongue burned and longed for something cold.  Ice cream!  Mitzy got a cone at a local ice cream shop, but I tasted her cookies and cream and decided that it was waaay too sweet.  I needed something a little less dramatic, maybe soft serve….but who would have soft serve that isn’t too sweet???  Ha ha ha, McDonald’s!!!!  Yep, I did it!  I went to McDonald’s and got my fifty cent soft serve ice cream cone and LOVED it!  Finally, some food I could really melt into!  And that’s not all…well, I’m not going to say that I got a Big Mac and fries and all of that because I didn’t.  But what I did do is eat eat eat for the past 2 days….fresh mixed fruits of watermelon, papaya, pineapple, strawberries and mango.  Had 2 big burritos at the local Blue Video cafe (after Las Cumbres, we were hungry!).  2 greasy empanadas filled with chicken and onions from a little Taiwan food stand, 2 other chicken empanadas made by a local woman who visits our school daily during our break to sell her homemade treats, as well as bite sized waffle pieces, muffins, breads and more.
#img10#
The papas frites stand
#img11#
Ahh, fresh fries!!!
– There are a bunch of things that I still can’t get used to that you probably wouldn’t see often in the U.S.
 – A guy stopping his car, opening the driver side, and taking a leak in the middle of the road.  No, not by some bush or in the country.  In the city, in the middle of the street, in broad daylight.  Women do it too.  They’ll just crouch down by a wall and pee.  And when certain sections of the city have their water turned off for a few days, you can imagine that the incidence of folks just taking a piss in the street or on the wall increases.
 – Food stands in Parque Central and other places.  Sure, maybe not so uncommon in the U.S.  But in the states, there are strict regulations for food handlers cards, permits and other rules.  Here, if you have somekind of food to sell, you just find yourself a spot and cook it and sell it.  A lot of food stands have buckets of water where they’ll do their own “cleaning” of food.
 – People riding scooters and motorcycles with no helmets.  With little 5 year old kids riding on the lap of the driver.  And in cars too.  Don’t worry about seatbelts.  Just climb aboard.  Oh yeah, and on my bike ride Sunday, a lady had her infant son wrapped in one of those slings around her body, just riding along in her motorcycle.
 – Pedestrian laws.  Forget about it.  No power to the common pedestrian here.  One of my school mates recounted an incident last week when she was in a microbus and the driver hit a cyclist.  The cyclist was clearly hurt and the driver just continued on like the cyclist was a speedbump.  No stopping to see if he was okay, it was just business as usual.  So I have to be extra extra careful when walking to and from school and trying to stay on the miniscule sidewalks as much as possible.
 – The dogs.  Everywhere.  Snooping around, laying around, fighting, barking, begging.  Some pics…
#img1#
#img2#
#img3#
 – People smaller than me.  Strange that I’m a “big” person.  Yes Monica, you would be a goddess if you were here.
 – These Spanish keyboards!  Things aren’t where I’m used to them being when I type.  So there’s ñ, ç, € and more. 
One more quick note.  Yesterday when I returned from the Blue Video Cafe, I noticed a bunch of backpacks in the living room.  Seems that my household just gained 4 new people.  They are 2 female students from I forget where, and 2 of their Spanish language teachers.  From Antigua.  Guess they made a special trip to Xela and will only be here for a few days.  I hope.  Because this morning was crazy trying to use the single bathroom with 4 women.  Actually, I never had the opportunity to use it.  Just a few more days, I hope, otherwise I’m switching families next week.  Oh, and you’d think that with more people the food might improve.  Not.  Last night was another skimpy serving of scrambled eggs and refried beans for dinner.  and one corn tortilla.  Yeah, I’m so glad I splurged on those burritos and other snacks earlier in the day.  And I will tomorrow.
One more final final note.  Spanish is still pretty up and down, but I am getting restless.  I have 2 more weeks signed up, and it’s looking like I might not go on much after that.  But things can always change.  I think I’m making progress, but that learning curve up and over the mountain has so many switchbacks that it seems like it will never end.  It was pretty interesting trying to communicate with a new student from Japan who started 2 days ago.  We tried to communicate in Spanish and it was pretty hard, but funny.  Okay, that’s all for now, gotta run to dinner and be surprised with another serving of eggs and refried beans!  YES!!!
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Finally, the Food Post!

February 7th, 2006

I wrote the following post over the weekend but just now have the opportunity to post it. Things have been very busy the last few days and I hope I have some time on Friday for a new post, “The NOT-so Super Sunday, and “The Case of the Mondays.” Thanks again for your comments, and yes Carlos, you’re right, maybe I’ll go to California when I get back and learn the real street lingo español! Enjoy (unedited, but not rated R or anything)…and by the way, my breakfast this morning was a yummy bowl of corn flakes all soaked up with hot milk to make it mushy and slimy. Yum! And yesterday was a bowl of black bean soup with rice, which was pretty tasteless and not really filling. But on to the post!

So, where do I begin with the food? As most of you know, I LOVE to eat, and will eat just about anything. I’m not particulary fussy or finicky when it comes to food, although I will try to stay away from mushrooms, sushi and anything that is still moving.

As it turned out, my body took a full 3 days to get used to the new types of bacteria that entered my body through the food I ate. My first official taste of what would become a staple occurred while waiting for my bus from Guatemala City to Xela. A little restuarant tienda was at the nearby corner and I watched as a gentleman seemed to enjoy his little meal on his little styrofoam plate. With no Spanish, I just pointed to his plate and nodded my head. What I got was a fried egg overhard, refried black beans in a liquidy kind of form, and a piece of bread. All for about $1.50.

Later that day, my host mom had a delicious bowl of soup in chicken broth and a piece of chicken, accompanied by a delecable tomato salad. Things looked pretty good.

But then the night came, and the next day, and the next day, and my stomach was just torn to pieces. I should have started on my pepto bismol the moment I stepped off of the plane, but didn’t have my first one until Friday. By then, I was severely dehydrated and feeling pretty weak.

We have it good in the US, with our high standards of sanitation and keeping things clean. Here, it is a different story. Cutting boards to chop up meat are then used to slice vegetables. Tap water should be boiled for 20 minutes before consumption, but often times it is the same water used to clean the dishes. Although my mom has a fridge, sometimes I’ll wander into the kitchen and have to look the other way because things that we would typically store in the fridge are just out in the open. Meats, soups and other foods are left out overnight on the counter. I haven’t seen many flies in the house, but I avoid thinking about where my food comes from and for how long it has been there. I just hope that what I don’t know doesn’t hurt me and call it good cause my body will take care of the rest.

A lot of food is fried. Meats, bananas, beans, pastries, potatoes, eggs, and more. Mitzy mentioned that during one breakfast, she picked up her “omlette” and it was just dripping with oil. She hid it in a napkin and took it out to dispose of later.

I’m tired of eggs. Seems like I have eggs twice a day. Mostly it is eggs over hard with some ranchero sauce. I’ve taken to not eating the yolk anymore. Eggs over hard with refried beans and a tortilla or a piece of bread is a standard breakfast. But I’ve also had it for lunch and for dinner.

The following are pics from the food I have been served and have eaten at home. It may look pretty good in the pictures, but read the captions for more information.

IMG_3801.JPG

My first meal! Chicken soup with fresh sliced tomatoes and a pretty good dressing.

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Pasta salad slathered with mayo, grated carrots with a lime marinade, plain sliced tomatoes, and a bowl of liquid soup (instant lipton packet stuff you’d find in the grocery isle)

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2 corn tortillas, one “omlette” with sliced hot dogs, and a soupy serving of refried black beans.

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A trio of 3 corn tortillas with avocado and sliced hot dogs, plus a cauliflower and carrot salad with some kind of dressing.

IMG_3878.JPG

I don’t know what you call these. Both a wrapped in a corn husk. One is made of rice and some a piece of pork (really, it’s a piece of pork) and the other is made of mushed potatoes. Actually one of the better tasting meals I’ve had.

IMG_3884.JPG

Breakfast. A fried “omlette” with tomatoes, and a not-so-appealing shaped serving of refried black beans.

IMG_3891.JPG

The famous sardines, rice and cabbage slaw with mayo.

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My favorite meal! Simple comfort food. A piece of fried chicken, sliced cucumbers, and some rice. Unfortunately when I took my plate back to the sink I saw the piece of chicken skin next to the sliced cucumber skins.

IMG_3958.JPG

A crisp corn tortilla with avocado (it�s NOT guacamole) and that instant soup stuff.

IMG_3972.JPG

Ah, what is this? Vegetables and pasta! Yesss!! Only, it was very very salted. Like very salted. Plus there is that salty instant soup stuff again. Boy, I was sad after having such initial excitement.

IMG_3983.JPG

My plain fried “omlette” egg with fried plantains and a side of bread.

IMG_3986.JPG

Lunch. Instant cup o’ noodles, sliced tomatoes and some kind of fried meat. It was tasty, though.

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Fried plantains, a heap of mixed rice and refried black beans, and sliced hard boiled egg.

IMG_3993.JPG

Breakfast. Hamburgers? Yep. 2 small hamburger buns with hamburger meat with ketchup and some other secret sauce. It was pretty good.

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Rice, brocolli, and cauliflower fried in some kind of batter with ranchero sauce. It would have been pretty good had it not been so lukewarm.

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My lunch today, Saturday. My first real “meat” aside from the fried chicken and chicken soup. It wasn’t chewy and fatty, but it was pretty tasteless. Kind of odd since next to it was that really really really salty pasta with mayo and the grated carrots with lime.

So there you have it, a photo tour of what I’ve been eating. I’ve become accustomed to not expected too much, and I am very thankful that I have food to even eat at all. I hope I don’t sound too picky, it has honestly just been an adjustment for my body to take in reduced portions and calories, which is good, but I think I am lacking a few essential daily vitamins and nutrients. So it’s good that I have my generic Fred Flinstones vitamins to supplement my days with, although I doubt their dosage really makes much of an impact. I hope this will be able to post with the amount of pictures I have up!

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Walking Around Xela

February 4th, 2006

Most of my fellow students took off to the beach for the weekend. Despite my being cold at night, I wasn’t really in the mood for hanging out in the hot 95 degree beach sun all day after taking what amounts to a 3 hour bus ride from Xela. 2 other students went to a retreat at a coffee plantation co-op (which I’ll sign up for on a future weekend), and another one signed up for a 2 day hike (which I will definitely do sometime before my studies are over). Me, I just wanted to take it easy, and so ended up walking around the town for 4 hours. Actually, I had 2 goals today. One, to find a public park where there are basketball hoops and players. And two, to locate some churros to buy where I can dip them into hot chocolate.

After a lot of walking, I found the place to play. 3 outdoor basketball courts, with no nets. People in Guatemala and not tall at all, I’d guess that the average height of a male is less than 5 foot 4, and that of a woman less than 5 foot 2. The game played here consists of a lot of driving to the basket and then dishing off. Not many players I saw went up for a jumper. Fouls are called, and balls are inbounded almost immediately from anywhere at the out of bounds. One guy had a #8 Kobe jersey, and another a #91 Rodman jersey. Maybe next week, when I have some basketball-related words in Spanish under my belt, will I join a game or two. But I’ll leave my trash talking back in the states.

I ended up at the local market for my churros, and actually didn’t find them until the tail end of my journey. Unfortunately the stand or any other nearby stands had no hot chocolate, so I had to eat my churros alone with some azucar (sugar).

Imagine the Saturday market, and then imagine it 10 times bigger with rows and rows of tarped and open stalls of everything imaginable. CDs, DVDs, shoes, socks, underwear, handicrafts, watches, vegetables, fruits, housewares, school supplies, kitchen tools, nuts, used electronics, etc. etc. etc. Stalls also sell meat, and outside the uncovered areas, little stands sell french fries, tortillas filled with meat and onions, fresh sliced fruit, empanadas, ice cream, and other fried items. It’s kinda like a flea market, but goes well beyond that. People walk around with a few items to sell to whoever crosses their path, while buses at the main terminal Minerva clog up the street with vendors selling their wares on the buses and people climbing aboard and off the buses. It is literally an intoxicating environment with all the sights, sounds and smells.

In addition to all the people, the goods, the buses and the activity, there’s garbage everywhere, and even more sad, is that the one main garbage area for the market where a lot of the debris is taken, has a bunch of people digging through it for food or to salvage things to sell. One of the students I hung out with last night, Lauren, just returned from a volunteer project in Guatemala City where her organization helps in construction projects for the poor. Her stories about witnessing and learning about the crime and poverty in the capital and the numbers of people at the garbage dump are gut-wrenching.

Got a little sidetracked there, but the subject of the current problems that plague Guatemalan society are worth a future post. Most of the foreigners I have met are here for one of 3 things: To learn Spanish, to volunteer, or to do a combination of both. I have not yet met one person who is here just to travel.

I leave you now with pics from visiting the 2 local markets here in Xela. Also, if you’d like to view a bigger image of the pictures, just click on one and a new window should open up with a larger version of the thumbnail. Tomorrow I’ll spend all day on a mountain bike, and my next post will be the Food post!

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Quick Weekend Thoughts

February 3rd, 2006

I now close my 10th day here in Xela, and here are some weekend thoughts to chew on:

– Superbowl Sunday. Go Seahawks! I’ll be spending my day on a rented mountain bike touring the valley, then getting back in time for the 5pm Xela-time start for the big game.

– I’ve timed the church bells that go off every morning at 6am–it’s closer to 2 minutes than a full minute.

– At night, all the neighborhood dogs like to howl and bark and make a mockery of people trying to sleep. Plus the added benefit of car alarms, music and kids playing the streets into the late hours into the night always makes for an interesting time to try to get some sleep. I usually sleep around 11:30.

– There is pretty good, reliable internet service here in town, bolstered by a number of internet cafes and the like. Speed can vary quite a bit. I found a really cheap place and was all gung-ho excited, but left after only 10 minutes when loading up the Yahoo homepage took an excruciating 2 minutes. You get what you pay for.

– I’m surprised at how relatively inexpensive it is to call the states. It’s about 25 cents per minute, or about the same rate if you are on one of the those limited cell phone packages in the states.

– You are not allowed to place anything into the toilets. Only the body’s, natural things. Everything else goes into a waste basket. That goes for public restarants, hotels, in my home. It helps if there is a lid to the waste basket, if you can catch my drift, no pun intended.

– The salsa dancing is amazing down here. There is no cover to go to the local club, Coco Loco’s, and watch all the fantastic dancers on the dance floor. Dancing with the Stars would find some credible challengers here.

– Weather has generally been pretty good. Aside from cold nights (around 35 degrees), the days warm up by the afternoon and there has only been 2 days of light rain. Still, I wish I had packed warmer clothing and a full body towel, instead of my little REI packtowel.

– Spanish is still a struggle, and I wanted to avoid talking English to the gringos, but I just can’t help it. There’s a small group of students that I hang out and we try to speak in Spanish, but we usually resume back to our native tongue. I’ve gone the route of creating flash cards for myself and have found them to be really useful. But it was a little difficult in trying to request a local shoe repair fellow to try and fix my hiking boots.

– I am very very excited for the possibilities of traveling through Guatemala. There are plenty of Mayan ruins to see, the primary destination being Tikal. I’d also like to do the 5-day hike to El Mirador in Mexico. I’m getting waaay ahead of myself, and it could either motivate me to really hunker down and learn Spanish, or might hinder my progress because of my travel bug. Some students take classes for 4 weeks, leave for 2 to travel, and come back for another stint. I might have to do this as I am getting quite restless. Or I’ll just do it all in 4-10 weeks and then go. We’ll have to see about that, but if anyone out there has the opportunity to visit this country, GO!

– Still haven’t gone into Micky D’s. But many students did a couple of weeks ago when the water was out for 4 days. I managed to survive my 3 days of no water earlier this week.

Here are a few more pics for the weekend:

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My school is on this busy street where the sidewalk can barely squeeze two people abreast and you have to take your chances with stepping foot into the street.

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Last Sunday I spent an hour strolling through Xela’s cemetary, where rows and rows of tombs and gravestones are festooned with fresh flowers and other adornments. Many families spend a portion of Sunday to pay respects to their departed loved ones.

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Another area of the cemetary.

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Just one of the many dogs that roam the streets, alone and sometimes in packs.

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Construction workers tear up the street in order to do necessary repairs and upgrades to the local water supply. This is why sections of Xela do not have water for upwards of 4 days.

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Parque Central. This is the main outdoor hangout for Xela, about a 3 minute walk from school and many students from other programs meet here to study or pass the afternoon away. This Sunday, the parque will be transformed by the local handicraft market, held on the first Sunday of each month.

Have a nice weekend all.

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Welcome inside

February 2nd, 2006

All students in my school have the option of having a homestay arranged with a local family. I think it’s an extra $35 per week for this, which includes meals 3 times a day, 7 days a week. You are supposed to have your own private room, and you’re also supposed to be the only student living in the home. With about 20 different language schools and programs in Xela, there are a number of families that offer up their home to students to gain a little extra money.

You’ve met Tonito, now meet mom, Claudia.

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27 years old, she’s lived in Xela for the last 3 years. Papa is in the “distillery” business, so I don’t see him much and actually haven’t even met him! Claudia aspires to open up a small restaurant in the next 4-5 months, which will specialize in simple, vegetarian plates that cater to students and other locals looking for cheap and wholesome food. She says she’ll have a small place close to Central Parque, with pictures of the plates posted up in the window with numbers to make it easier for ordering. Cool, I’m all for it. I just hope I can be the tester for her dishes…my next post will definitely have to be about the food.

As I mentioned in my previous post, it’s about a 12-15 minute walk to and from school, depending on how much traffic, dust and diesel fumes I have to dodge.

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The street leading up to my homestay.

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The same street with the usual dust from cars driving by and the wind blowing it around.

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Exterior of my home. I enter through the black door on the lower right.

Homes in Xela are 50/50 constructed by: concrete, and others in tierra fire-hearth bricks. My home is concrete construction, which makes it cool inside during the summer….but freaking COLD during the invierno (winter) months. Xela has only two seasons–summer and winter. Guess which one I’m in.

You enter the black door into a single car garage, and opening the 2nd door reveals the living room. Just beyond that is the dining area with small TV, and beyond is the kitchen. Upstairs holds the master bedroom with it’s own bath, and 3 bedrooms. I have a small private bathroom just off the bedroom hallway. The 3rd floor holds the rooftop piazza, basically where they keep their pila (holding tank for water) and where clotheslines are strung across for laundry to dry. On clear days I can get a pretty good view of the surrounding areas and can watch the street scene unfold below me.

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The living room

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The dining area

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Opposite view into the living room, looking from the dining area. The brown door enters into the garage and out into the street. The stairs on the left go up to the bedrooms.

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My bedroom in all its glory.

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One more shot of my spacious bedroom. Notice there’s no closet, no dresser and lacks anything more than the desk, chair, bed, and window. Could be worse, and it’s livable, so I’m fine with it.

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The view from the rooftop

So there you have it. Mi casa. I might change families in 3 weeks, just to get a different experience and perhaps get an upgrade on my food. But Claudia has been great, I love little Tonito, and overall I’m pretty happy with my homestay. I even caught some of the Portland Trailblazers – San Antonio Spurs basketball game last night on the fuzzy small TV! For some reason, it gets a San Antonio station and with the volume off, I was able to make out the players and the score, they even showed a shot of the Rose Garden and Convention Center! So all in all it was pretty fun for me last night to see Portland in some form or fashion!

I hope that the pics attached don’t end up undersized in the blog, if they do I’ll try to fix em tomorrow night (Friday) so check back for a full size version! And thanks everyone for your comments, yesterday wasn’t my best but today was a lot better! Up and down, up and down. And you are right Jonas, now is the perfect time to grow my dastardly evil beard and big head of hair! Wait til I get back, you probably won’t recognize me and my 20 pounds!

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What the Hell am I doing??

February 1st, 2006

So, WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING?
The food is hardly worth a mention–but oh, you’ll hear about it for sure a little later on. If it’s not black clouds of diesel fumes I inhale, it’s dust. It’s freezing at night, I’m coccooned in my sleeping bag underneath 3 blankets, with my jacket on. And my Spanish lessons just kill me!

Let’s call it a rough Monday. A very rough Monday. Seriously, I couldn’t take it. I just couldn’t get with the program. Couldn’t understand my maestra (teacher), and struggled mightily with simple words from the alphabet. “What am I doing? Maybe I should just pack my bags and hit the trail.” Felt like crap. Felt stupid. Like I was incapable of learning. Yeah, I was ready to quit.

But stuck it out. Spent Monday night studying hard and practicing as much as I could. Other students confided that they, too, had the same “What the hell am I doing?” thoughts. We all go through it. My friend Mitzy came down 5 weeks ago. Her husband is in Colorado, and she said that her first week mirrored mine. We all have our moments of pure frustration, and other days that turn out fabulous. Yesterday, Tuesday, was good. And today, well, it was almost a repeat of Monday. Up and down, up and down.

Perhaps I’m putting too much pressure on myself. It has, after all, been close to 7 years since I was last in school. I have pretty high expectations that I can get this language stuff down. But it has been very hard. My learning curve is slower than what I am accustomed to. My brain tries to formulate all the right word combinations and I try to remember certain words and vocabulary, and it just doesn’t come out of my mouth correctly or quickly enough. And listening to my teacher, I just can’t process. Frustrating.

I’m not quitting. But I have been so itchin’ to hit the trail. I have purposely avoided reading up about surrounding areas and towns and things to do and see. I’ll have plenty of time for that later. For now, I want to get my Spanish down. And I have a LONG ways to go. It’s like my mind is overloaded and can’t take in anymore. Luckily, I have some great student friends that can share in my lows, as well as highs. I’m hoping tomorrow will be much much better. Here are some pics of my school…

My school’s exterior

The downstairs interior. Upstairs we have our classrooms. There are currently about 15 students, all working one on one with teachers.

I’m starting to get a bit of a routine down. Wake up at 7:20. Breakfast at 7:30. Out the door at 7:45, in school at 8am. Private instruction til 10:30, break til 11, then more learning 11-1pm. Lunch back at home at 1:30pm. Back to school around 2:30 for the afternoon activity. Today it was at 3:30. Salsa dancing. My two left feet didn’t help me any. Dinner is usually around 7:30, though it has varied depending on when my mom gets home to prepare dinner. Once it was around 9:30. It’s funny calling her mom. She’s 27, 5 years younger than me. I’ll usually study til about 11:30, then hit the sack. And it’s repeat for the next day. At least I have my morning break fruit to look forward to (less than $1 for a small bag of pineapple, watermelon, coconut, mango, papaya or other fruits she decides to offer for the day).

This is the only fruit I get in my diet. I don’t know how much longer I can sustain on beans, tortillas, eggs, hot dogs, eggs, beans, tortillas, and eggs. I have yet to set foot in Mickie D’s, but oh man…..
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