Guatemala

We are here! The trip so far has been full of activities and adventures so this is the first time I have been able to sit down in an internet shop (which are all over... think Starbucks in Seattle). The language school has a computer lab but more than half of the computers do not work and the ones that do are very slow with strange keyboards... Anyway I hope to give people an idea of what I have been doing but also some of my impression with this post.

After being dropped off at SEATAC around 8pm I met up with the group and we flew to Houston en route to Guatemala City. We then took a bus to Xela (the nickname for Quatzeltenango), the bus ride was exciting because it was great to look out the window and see my first glimpses of Guatemala. Initially I was simply struck by similarities between Guatemala City and Nairobi... burning trash, buses driving crazy, little shops all over etc... Throughout the trip thus far I have also noticed a large amount of foreign businesses, unlike in Kenya there are so many chains and other things here... there are Mcdonalds, Burger Kings, Pizza Hut, stores owned by Walmart, and many more. It is interesting to me... this probably represents a large amount of foreign capital that is coming into Guatemala from the States but I wonder how it is impacting local businesses. My host mom said that the Walmart store she goes to has driven some stores out of business... it is interesting that this is also occuring in guatemala. This kind of global phenomenon are certainly a result of globalization and will probably continue.

Anyway it was hard to sleep on the 5 or 6 hour (that is another thing I have less concept of time becuase I always used my cell phone to tell the time but now I do not have it...I think I will need to buy a watch, but it has been interesting to just not know the time sometimes.) bus ride because of the winding roads that we climbed into the hills. Once we arrived in Xela all of the host parents were waiting for us and we searched for our host mama, once Jordon and I found her we went to get our luggage. When we turned around we could not find her! Suddenly we saw her get in the car with two other students Tommy and Ryan, they had inadvertently stolen our mama! In the end we are staying with the lady who was originally there mama which has worked out great. We are a 15 or 20 minute walk from the school and the house we are staying at is wonderful. Our host family is well educated and relatively well to do. We each have our own room and a bathroom just for the two of us! In addition to our host mama her husband, (who during the week teaches psychology at a university on the coast) her son, (teaches engineering at a few universities here in Xela and is 30)and her daughter, (is a nurse here in Xela and works long days and is in her late 20´s)live in the house. There are all very nice, I have connected and talked to Mama Flor the most though.

Sunday we did not have classes but explored the city, I prefer exploring when I am not with the whole group but just a few guys... of course I stick out no matter what but something about 30 gringos is a little alarming (Gringos is the word used in latin america for white americans... my Spanish teacher told me that during the Mexican American war the american soldiers wore green hence "green go" became Gringo). Anyway i do stick out, I realized this the first day when a few of us attended a church service in the main cathedral by Parque Central. We were in the very back with hundreds of people in front of us, but I had no trouble seeing, in fact I believe I am at least a head and shoulders taller than most Guatemalans. This has lead to me hitting my head numerous times on various doors but also to the conclusion that right now I am probably the tallest person in this whole city.

I will now lay out a daily routine:
-We eat cornflakes con leche
- walk to class which starts at 8am- my teacher is named Luis and is very good natured. I feel like even after two days it has been helpful. The classes go by fast because in between grammar exercises we just talk about things (in Spanish of course!)
-After class finishes at 12 30 pm we return to our casa and eat lunch (the meals are delicious, don´t worry Ariella I am taking pictures of food! She makes soup, tamals con pescado, salads, chicken)
-then around 230pm we meet up with our group and have some sort of activity... for example today we learned how to make chocolate. It was incredible! we went to a ladies house and she showed us how she takes cocoa beans and peels them and mixes them with sugar. She then bakes them into cake-like things. Then we helped her hand-pound slices of the ´cakes´ into bars for eating our making hot chocolate. It was so good! very rich and natural!
- Whenever our afternoon activity finishes we have free time for exploring and homework. For example last night a small group of us went with Jaime (a young teacher at the language school= and took a bus to play soccer. Taking the bus was an adventure of its own! Rocketing down narrow streets in a minibus with a guy hanging out the side and the driver flirting with a lady in the front seat. Once we got there we played futbol with Jaime and his friends... So much fun!


Anyway I have many other stories to tell already but I want to save some for when I come back!