Via Byway, My Way.

>
> Superbowl Sunday. Seahawks vs. Steelers. I was not
> going to miss this one and Sunday would be a great
> day! Actually, it was for a while.
>
> The Friday before I went to the Vrisa bookstore to
> inquire about renting a bike for Sunday. The owner,
> an American who has lived her for probably I don’t
> know how long, provided me with a map outlining a
> nice 35 mile round trip ride around Xela. Since I
> wanted to rent it for Sunday and they would be
> closed, he said to come back on Saturday around 5pm
> to rent it and then return it during my school’s
> morning break on Monday. I also asked him where he
> might know where I could catch the Sunday Superbowl.
> He pointed across the street and said Kokoloko’s
> would be playing in on their big screen. Perfect!
>
> Saturday comes around and I get the bike from
> Alice, who also specializes in massage therapy. A
> one hour session is 70 Quetzeles — or the
> equivalent of $10. Since I haven’t been too
> faithful to my budget, I’ll have to “splurge” some
> other time. At any rate, the bike wasn’t that
> great. Basically a hybrid 12-speed bike with no
> suspension whatsoever and tires just slightly
> smaller than what you’d find on a mountain bike.
> But for riding the roads around here, it would have
> to suffice.
>
> Sunday morning I arose at 7am, and after my
> traditional bowl of hot milk with soggy corn flakes,
> I was on the road by 7:30. I was misdirected a few
> times but finally found my way on the map. And thus
> I spent the next 8 hours riding along dusty roads
> with little traffic visiting small villages and even
> smaller pueblos such as Chiquilaja, San Felipe
> Xejuyup, San Andreas Xecul, Olintepeque (where I
> later found out my maestra lives), Santa Rita,
> Cajola and La Esperanza….
>
>
>
> Chiquilaja. A one lane bridge crosses the small
> river. As you can see, some of the buildings didn’t
> quite make it when the river flooded back in
> October.
>
>
>
>
> The main drag of Chiquilaja. Someone was having a
> party or fiesta, hence the decorations.
>
>
>
>
> On the way to San Felipe.
>
>
>
>
> From San Felipe to San Andreas Xecul. Volcan
> Santa Maria is in the background.
>
>
>
>
> The road for cars to San Andreas Xecul comes to an
> abrupt end as piping work is being done for about a
> 1/4 mile through the only road in town. I walk my
> bike along the sides passing small homes and
> farmland.
>
>
>
>
> San Andreas Xecul, about 11km northwest of Xela.
> From Lonely Planet: “Surrounded by fertile hills,
> this small town boasts a bizarre church.
> Technicolor saints, angels, flowers and climbing
> vines share space with whimsical tigers and monkeys
> on its shocking-yellow facade.”
>
>
>
>
> A closer look.
>
>
>
>
> A competitive futbol game just outside the town.
> People young and old gather around the outskirts of
> the dusty field to watch early morning action.
>
>
>
>
> Back on the road.
>
>
>
>
> I took a wrong turn and walked my bike up a Giant
> hill, only to be turned back at the top when the
> road ended into a walkway to some homes. At least I
> was able to get a nice shot of the valley with
> Volcan Santa Maria.
>
>
>
>
> The road to Cajola. I had biked 2 hours from
> Olintepeque to Santa Rita and now to Cajola. My
> water was running low, I ate all my food, I was
> getting weak and it was hot. It didn’t help that
> there were two major hills I had to climb (well,
> walk).
>
> And just a few minutes before taking this shot, I
> had the biggest scare. I was cycling along minding
> my own business and enjoying the scenery. I see
> some kids and they start yelling. The next thing I
> know there’s one dog running towards me barking.
> Then two. Then three. And four. Fuck! It’s now
> EIGHT Dogs, and their barking is not friendly. I am
> surrounded. Behind me, both my sides, and one big
> ass vicious looking dog in front of my, his stride
> matching my bike speed. I didn’t slow down, I
> didn’t speed up, and didn’t look at them I just
> tried to ride one, look ahead and ignore them. But
> the whole time I was so freakin’ scared witless. In
> my mind I kept saying “Please don’t bite me, please
> don’t bite me!” I heard that dogs smell fear. Well
> I was definitely giving out that odor during those
> moments. They ran with me for a good 80 seconds.
> Doesn’t seem like much, but man those seconds went
> by soo slowly and I my mind just races. What if I
> did get a bite? Would I
> fall and then all the dogs hoover around me and
> attack? These dogs, for all I know, have no owners
> and are starving, rabid creatures! Where’s the
> medical facility? Will I find a place to get shots?
> How do I get there if I’m hurt? Will I need to fly
> back to the U.S.? Man this totally sucked, all
> these What If questions. I had no first aid kit and
> didn’t bring my ID. Did those kids tell them to
> come `sic`me? Terrifying! What should I have done?
> Stopped? Kick em? Throw out my emergency energy
> bar to distract them? Finally, finally, they
> relented and left me to continue on with my passage.
>
> My heart was racing and I haven’t been so scared
> in so long! You just don’t know about these dogs.
> The ones in Xela seem docile, but the ones outside
> in these other villages and in the middle of nowhere
> are another story. Totally sucks. Unfortunately, I
> had to come back the same way. I tried to find an
> alternative route, but there was none indicated on
> the map. So on my way back, I tried to bike slow in
> hopes that another person cycling was going the same
> direction and I could use him. But no to avail. So
> when I came upon the Billy Gruff section of the
> road, I just pedaled as fast and as hard as I could.
> Strangely enough, this time I had no encounter with
> any of the dogs. Perhaps the leader of the pack
> found something elsewhere. I was just so relieved.
> Thinking about those few moments of terror still
> gives me the chills.
>
>
>
>
> Cajola. The Sunday market at the main plaza just
> ended, and all the leftover debris and garbage
> drifts into the street.
>
>
>
>
> Riding back to Xela.
>
>
> I arrived back to Xela at 3:30 and treated myself
> to those fries and meandered through the market. At
> 5pm I cycled to Kokoloko’s for the Superbowl.
> Couldn’t really find a bike rack to lock my bike at,
> so I locked it to the gate in front of the Vrisa
> bookstore. I met Elliot, a 19 year old from Vermont
> who will start college at the University of Puget
> Sound this fall in Tacoma. It was just us two
> gringos and two other guys from Xela watching the
> game, all in Spanish. Forget about watching the
> famous commercials. All I got was local commercials
> for cars and telephone service. By halftime 3 more
> people from the states joined us, and Elliot shared
> a glass of Gallo beer with me while we ate chicken
> quesadillas. By 9pm the game had ended with a loss
> for the Hawks. Kinda boring, but it was fun to
> watch the big game on the big screen with some
> football fans. Time to go home and call it the
> night.
>
> I went out to retrieve my bike and head home.
> Just one problem. My bike was gone. Disappeared.
> Vanished.
>
> I walked home alone in the dark in mild shock and
> grief. To compound matters, I stepped in a pile of
> dog shit on the way home. And thus a fitting ended
> for a Not So Super Sunday. To be continued….

__________________________________________________
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Last night I ended up at the Royal Paris Cafe Restaurant, as part of a final outing with Kjersten and some of our friends.  I was still full from the pizza, but somehow still managed to pile an empty plate with samples from everyone elses’ entrees!  They had great music playing and aftewards we hung out playing Scrabble (in English!) and Uno.  It was quite satisfying since an hour earlier I went home and mom had only begun to prepare my dinner — the famous blackbean shaped turd and a serving of bananas left over from breakfast.  Okay, and I was supposed to eat this for dinner?

Alas, some news.  I suppose it could be good.  I just saved a BUNCH of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico!  Yeah!!  Well, that and the fact that mom and Tonito will be heading out of town until Wednesday.  So that means that I’ll have the whole place to myself.  Which means there won’t be anyone to cook meals for me except….me.  I am now the master of the kitchen and the stove and the microwave.  She left me with white bread, some bananas, and black beans and eggs.  So now it will be up to my creative genius magic to whip some edible food for myself, which will definitely require a trip to the supermarket.  I don’t mind spending my own money, as long as I am in control in what and how the food is prepared! 

And today I woke up quite early to meet with another student and a teacher to go to Chichi and the famous market.  The only problem is that they didn’t show up.  So I decided to go there by myself.  Lucky for me, as I walked towards the bus station, I ran into another school heading out to the same place for the day.  They rented a chicken bus to take them directly there and back.  So I stowed away and pretended to be one of the students.  Got a free ride — or so it appears.  I’m supposed to meet up with some of them less than 10 minutes from now at that pizza place, and the school’s group leader will be there and I’m sure at that time he’ll collect the fee.  Which is fine, I’d rather pay more and go on that hired chicken bus that the one that takes 3 hours and takes multiple stops at wherever.  And I was able to make some new friends, including a Bostonian who quit her graphic design job four weeks ago to travel in Central America and learn Spanish.  She’d been planning this for a year now, and one of her good friends just finished with the Peace Corps to travel with her.  It’s quite a diversity of folks that I come to meet, but it is a bit skewed to the “younger” generation.  Sometimes at 32 I feel old because there are so many travelers in their early 20’s just starting out their adulthood and having made the decision to hold off on careers or school or the perceived way of living to do their own thing down here.  Makes me wonder what took me so long to do this again after a 12 year hiatus.  Ah, to be young again!

A fine Saturday, took a hike up to the lookout point above the city atop a hill about an hour’s walk away from the school with 3 other students.  At the top they have these slides made out of concrete that go down a hill a good hundred feet to a little clearing.  You can sit on your ass and make holes in your pants with all the friction and heat that you generate, or you do as the locals do and ride down on little plastic soda pop bottles…hard to explain, I have pics but will have to upload them when I get my replacement usb device.  Also took out my frisbee for the first time to toss it around, it is very hard in Xela to find any kind of clearing or space in which to throw a frisbee around, so this was indeed a great morning for a little exercise.

 Of course our 3 hour excursion made us all hungry, so we went out for real PIZZA and I almost ate a whole pie, soo ecstatic!  I have come to the decision that my time studying Spanish is like being on the game show survivor.  I’ll lose some weight with the limited food rations I get at home, but when I win the Rewards Challenge, then I’m going to town!  I even ordered a soda pop to go with the pizza, it was like heaven!  So I’m still quite full as I write this, and I will relish this feeling because tomorrow I’m heading 3 hours on a chicken bus to the BIG market in Chichistenango and I know I’ll be starving again…but just another Survivor test (in my mind).  I think it will be good to lose some weight, or so I’ve managed to convince myself.

Almost time for “dinner”, so I’ll leave you with this.  Kathy, working for the past 8 years for Habitat for Humanity in Georgia, gave us this account this afternoon at our pizza lunch.  In Africa, guess what animal kills more people than any other?  Perhaps a logical choice is a crocodile.  Maybe a beast like the rhino or a lion?  Nope.  Actually, it’s the hippo.  She took a “hippo cruise” during a visit in South Africa, and please make note.  When doing a hippo cruise, TAKE THE BIGGEST BOAT.  Don’t go cheap and go with a local on a wooden boat raft.  Umm, no.  And when you hear a sound in the water like “the wicked witch of the east cackeling (according to Kathy, that’s how it sounds like)”, LOOK OUT!  It means the hippo is about to charge something.  And on this particular day, it happened to be the little wooden raft thingy that some tourists decided to use.  The hippo charged the flimsy toothpick and flipped it over.  Fortunately her boat was nearby to rescue those in the water, no casualties fortunately. 

And one more thing.  Hippos will kill you, but they won’t eat you.  They’re vegeterians.  Kathy said that if she were to die from an animal, at least have the audacity to eat her!  What a poor way to die, to get killed by a hippo and just rot away at the bottom of the river…

One of the greatest joys I get from traveling is all the tales and stories I hear from my fellow vagabonders.  Since I can’t post pics for the next few weeks (and my previous posts with pics are still being worked on by the blog administrators), I’ll just have to entertain you with tales from other people since mine are pretty much about learning spanish (yawn) and my daily variety (or lack thereof) of food (boring).  It is amazing to learn about how many people have quit their jobs to either volunteer, learn spanish, or just travel.  And after hearing about some cut backs at my old job, I am pretty satisfied with my decision to do what I’m doing and am inspired by others through which what the world offers if one just steps out of the comfort zone to experience a different way of living.  Not so different from our own if you think about it, but just enough to notice subtle and marked differences.  Okay, I’m talking in circles now, must be the shock from all the food in my stomach.  3 weeks down and 15 more to go, now I feel like I don’t have enough time to do and see all that I want while I’m down here.  Okay, I’m over my interent limit, Ciao! 

Not feeling particularly creative this afternoon, my brain is fried from trying to cram in more vocab and verbs like “to resemble” and “to translate”, important words for sure.  I just learned that after someone sneezes, you say “Salud”, if they do it a second time, you say “Dinero”, and a third time you say “Amor.” 

 It is a bittersweet end to the weekend, as some of the friends I have made are leaving to continue with their plans.  After a while you get to know fellow students in the school as family and I always look forward to hanging out during our morning break and after class to sip hot chocolate at La Luna, try new street vendor food, or go in search of a new dessert place to study in.  Megan is going back home to Wisconsin — she, like me, quit her job to do some traveling and some learning of Español.  Kevin, from the UK, is also heading out, while Kjerste from Norway is off on her hike to the Lake and other points down south.  Next weekend will be another blow, as the Portland couple Preston and Judy return to the City of Roses and Chelsia from DC heads out.  I wonder if that will be a good time to leave as well?  Tales of great adventures in Mexico have made me change my initial travel plans, as I have received guidance and tips for where I should go and what I should do.  Mark and his girlfriend Lisa are currently in the 14th month of their worldly travels, and they will stay here in Xela for 3 months to learn Spanish and lead hikes for a local trekking company.  I really wish I had the capability to upload my pictures to the site, but I’ve made arrangements for a replacement device to be sent to me from the States and hope by then my missing posts will reappear.

As far as my addiction goes, today I walked to the Mennonite bakery (only open on Friday and Tuesdays) and treated myself to a real donut.  A twist with glaze, which I quickly scarfed down and immediately felt the ill side effects of too much, too fast.  And that bag of glazed donut holes was mighty tempting, but I had the control to resist–perhaps it was from feeling too sick to imagine eating any more sweet stuff that helped convince me to buy them on another day.  Well, at least my one donut made up for my dinner last night, eggs over hard, 1 tortilla, and instant soup.  I guess the good thing about eating so little calories over the last 3 weeks is that I’ve lost some weight and my body is now getting used to the smaller portion sizes and I’ll be able to travel “light” once I start my travels.  Okay, I’m starving right now as I write this so this is a good point to stop and go hunting for more street vendor food.  Buen fin de semana!

So this is a good forum as any to finally divulge a major secret I have been hiding in my life…okay, well for that past week.  I have an addiction.  And I don’t know if I’ll be able to confront this head on or be “cured” once I get back to the U.S.  I haven’t seen any support group posted down here, and I don’t have enough dineros to do spend time on the internet with one of those online support groups.  And even if I could find a treatment center or group down here, I doubt I would be able to understand or communicate my problem.  At least the first step is admitting that I have a problem.  But will I seek help?  Nah, and here’s why.

It’s because I love my addiction!  You all know how I haven’t exactly had the most glorious reviews of the food I have been eating.  And since last week, I’ve been spending more of my budget on eating out.  And you’d think that eating out means hunting down good, healthy food.  But the opposite is true.  My addiction is azucar, aka Sugar. 

As gifts to my family and respective members, my packing included:

1 Hershey’s Chocolate Almond Bar

1 Almond Joy Halloween fun size bar

1 Kit Kat Halloween fun size bar

1 Planters Trail mix 1.25 oz snack pouch

1 Nestle Super 8 chocolate bar (from Chile, thanks Katie!)

1 Jello fruit cherry flavored fruit snack pouch

4 Take Five candy bars

3 Baby Ruths

1 Peppermint Patty

2 Pay Days

1 Hawaiian Punch soft & chewy candy snack pouch

1 Wrigley’s Extra 15 stick hum pack

So how many of these items did I give to anyone?  Zilch.  None.  Nada.  Zippo.  Yes, I have been selfish and have hoarded them all to ME ha ha!  Surely I can’t survive on 4 eggs, purreed black beans and tortillas twice a day?  (I had it for dinner AND breakfast this morning!  except instead of tortillas, I had 2 plain pieces of white bread for breakfast).  At any rate, I’ve been happily munching away on my stash, and it has dwindled down to the very few!  To make up for this discrepancy, I have been making daily pilgrimmages (sp?) to the market, to XelaPan and to other food stands.  I have my daily “freshly” made ice cream cone, my empanada and waffle snacks from the Tawainese stand, and my cookies and sweet bread from Xela Pan.  I’ve had these weird fried donut holes drowned in some sweet sauce, hot chocolate, churros, sweet pineapples & papayas, cake, pastries, cookies and more.  I’ve been bouncing off the walls with energy, which is good, because yesterday we walked for almost an hour to a soccer — oops, excuse me, futbol — gaming area where some of the students and teachers could get a game going.  And walking an hour back to the school.

So there you have it, I admit my addiction.  I will try my best not to stuff myself with candy and other sweetened products.  And I do only have 10 more days with my host family before I make a switch.  I promise to try and give myself a little more variety — say, maybe some more fried papas fritas and I-don’t-know-the-name of the dish but it looks really good at the street side stand. 

– On another note, still no troubleshooting fixes for my previous posts, I’m still hopeful that it will be resolved by the end of the week, because there is quite a bit I previously wrote with a bunch of photos.  And as far as photos go, I might not have many in the next few days since I broke my USB portable memory card device.  And I know how I did it, no one to blame by myself!

– One cool thing about living here is the proximity you have to your neighbors and other people in the city.  People do ALOT of walking, or at least taking a microbus (basically a minivan where you stuff in as many people as you can for less than .25 cents a ride) for part of the way.  So, as you walk and pass by folks, it is common courtesy and just a cultural thing to say “Buenos” or “Buenos Dias, Tardes or Naches.”  You don’t get that much in the states, just walking around and saying “Good afternoon” or “Hello” to a complete stranger.  In general, folks here are pretty friendly, though I haven’t really made any friends with the locals.

Here’s my second “story” I wrote for my homework yesterday, using words that I learned.  I haven’t memorized them and doubt I could think of them off the top of my head, but here it is for purposes of prosperity.  And here’s the unedited, uncorrected version before my maestra got her red pen on it…

 La noche esta obscura y Carlos desiende las gradas cuidadoso.  El siente frio y espantado porque sus amigos no vuelven de caminar la noche antes.  Ellos no encntran a el arbol viejo a las seis la tarde y Carlos quier salir.  Despues un horas caminar, Carlos esta perder.  El tiene hambre y busca para alimentos.  Pero todos las tiendas cierra cuando Carlos esta cerca.  El restaurante cierran tambien.  Carlos no entienda y piensa la gente en la ciudad son locos.  Entonces el eschuchan uno nene llorando y Carlos corre para el sonido.  Done va?  Carlos atraviesa el puente y llama el nene.  Pero eso no es nene!  El es el dinosoro con dientes grande y el esta enojado!  El dinosoro piense Carlos estan platano y quiere comer para cena.  Carlos cierra sus ojos, entonces el siente uno memo a sus hombro.  Carlos abre sus ojos y ella esta sus mama — Carlos despierta porque el esta dormido!

That’s all for tonight!

>
> 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.
>
>
>
>
>
> Las Cumbres restaurant overlooking the distant
> mountainside
>
>
>
>
> Las Cumbres grounds
>
>
>
>
> 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.
>
>
>
>
> All nightly rooms offer an outdoor bench to take
> in the scenery.
>
>
>
>
> 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.
>
>
>
>
> 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.
>
>
>
> The papas frites stand
>
>
>
>
> 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#
>
>
>
> – 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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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…

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….

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!

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!

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