Atitlan & Chichi

Over the weekend, we went on a far-too-short trip to Lake Atitlan and Chichicastenengo. ¨Chichi¨ is well known for its market, and now I know why. It´s incredible! There were tons of people and tons of cool things to buy (or just look at). Some of it, like the batteries that didn´t work, was trash. But much of it was really cool crafts, dresses, housewares (Guatemalan style) and various clothes. We spent 3 or so hours just strolling through the endless isles of goods... bartering and making ¨deals¨ for stuff. I used to be the king of market trading (in Korea), but I seem to have lost some of my magic touch. It think part of it comes with language skills though. Also, I must admit, I do better when I´m not being shadowed by other english speakers (especially those who speak the native tongue better than me... I seem to get self conscious about my speaking). Towards the end of the market time, I went off on my own and had a lot of fun practicing my spanish while leaving several vendors dejected at their lost sale (I´ll admit it, I was using their desire to sell stuff to my advantage - to practice Spanish).

Anhow, in addition to going on a road trip to shop in a market, we also spent a day in Lake Atitlan. (For those who care... some people think this could be ¨The Waters of Mormon.¨ But like everything else related to Book of Mormon geography, that´s just a possiblilty - not a certainty.) It´s beautiful and certainly a place I would willingly hide myself from a murderous king, but it´s a bit water than I would have expected.

Anyhow, point is - we came here and its a great place to be. We didn´t get to stay nearly long enough, but at least I got to see it. We spent the afternoon visiting various pueblos that surround the lake. And oh are they poor. Like many other places in Guatemala, they have things to sell and they really want to sell them. More than that though, they just want money. It was amazing to see
how and what they make, but sad to see how anxious they were to sell it or rather 'beg people' to buy it. It gave me more opportunities to practice my Spanish, but it was still kinda sad to see how they spend their days accosting tourists.

And lastly, one night in Panajachal (at the Lake) we went dancing. Here´s a photo of Ana and Julio. Ana was giddy to be out dancing and we ended up having a fun time. I know I stayed out too late, but it was great to see everyone having such a fun time. Salsa, Regaeton, Marimba, etc...

My favorite memory from the evening (though, sadly, not a photo) is of a boy (12'ish)¨leading¨ both his mother and his sister in a dance. HE´s THE man! Now just think how cool it´ll be in a few years when he can dance with both his girlfriends at the same time (oh wait, do girlfriends mind it when guys aren´t exclsive - expecially on the dance floor?)!

Go Speed Racer

Mom - you would not enjoying driving (or riding) here!

There are at least 3 typos of streets here...
1) la calle - your average city street (in Guatemala their cobble stones and narrow)

2) el camino (easy to remember because of the car) - a two, maybe three, lane road through the country

3) la autopista - a freeway with all the luxuries of passing lanes and high-speeds

It´s the same everywhere, I presume. But, wow - I think a few more autopistas would serve Guatemala well. The road from Antiga to both cities is a camino...

Wow - I´m long-winded... Now for the fun part...

The road is up through the mountains and it´s one lane in both direction (with a very rare passing lane). Luckily though, the line in the middle of the street is only a single yellow line (occasionally dotted), but let´s be honest. No one cares about the line. The one lane road handles busses, cars, 18 wheelers, and motorcycles... as well as pickup trucks with 7 people in the bed of the truck. Basically, everyone one and everything going anywhere is on this road.

Now, who wants to be stuck behind a beatup pickup or especially a slow truck hauling tons of food/materials? No one...

So, let´s pass! Sounds simple enough, but passing here is a TEAM sport. You have to punch it at just the right time and hope that your team-mate (the truck you´re passing) will let you in before the truck coming at you (from the öther team¨) gets to you. I mean, sure - it would be nice to have an open road void of oncoming traffic to assuage any fears of a head-on collision, but where´s the fun in that?

Occasionally, that´s an option. But, often people are waving each other buy or waving them off. My favorite is the School-Bus type people trasports (called a ¨Chicken Bus¨) with a ¨co-pilot¨ riding shotgun. His main ¨job¨ is to invite people to ride the rus, but once enroute - he waves at the drivers of the vehicles the bus is passing to get them to back up and let the bus back into the ¨right¨ lane of traffic (in time)! Very cool.

I can´t really describe it atequately, but it´s an adventure for the faint of heart. I just found it amusing and took lots of pictures that don´t really do it justice!

High School Girls

A group of high school students from Little Rock Arkansas joined our shool on Wednesday. They´re here for 10 days and 3 of the girls have joined Juanita and me at the casa! The trio are an interesting group. Amelia is energetic and anxious to practice her Spanish. Nicole is a German exchange student to the US who speaks little to no Spanish. And Kendra isn´t as anxious to speak but she can if she has to.

All three of them are sooooo lost. It´s kinda funnt to listen to them talk/converse. Honestly, Amelia knows more vocabulary than me and they probably all know more about Spanish grammar tenses than me (I learned the past tense today - thank you), but they struggle to understand. It´s really interesting. i can understand so much more than I can say, and I think they (well... Amelia) is the other way around. But, I give her props for trying. She´s much more outspoken than I am.

Also, on this topic - I´m glad I´m not here as part of an organized tour or especially a highschool trip. I can tell they (and their fellow students) have varrying degrees of interest in learning or studying. I find myself thinking back to what I would have been like in highschool and how much I really didn´t enjoy studying or learning (and how much I thought I could/coudn´t learn some things). Anyhow, I don´t think I´ll take the time to detail all my thoughts exactly, but I feel like I didn´t really start ¨learning¨ or ¨liking learning¨ until after high school.

Now, although I get tired from the effort, I´m completely enjoying the experience. I keep wondering if they (the students) realize what/how much they can get out of their 10 days here!!

Marisa´s Goodbye

Cafe Sky is a bar near the school I attend. It´s a nice litte place with a rooftop overlook of the city (and the sunset - if you´re there at the right time). A fellow student left on Saturday so we got together on Thursday (and again on Friday - don´t ask me why) to say goodbye. Oh sure, I´ve only been here 2 weeks, but people come and go pretty quick so it´s a notable occasion worthy of a gathering.

So, we gathered.

I´ll get a few pictures up this afternoon, but...

The view was soo cool as the sut set throught the clouds, and behind the volcanos. Marisa is heading back to the states to move from Philadelphia to New Hamsshire (did I get that right Marisa?). It´s really amazing the varied sorts of people that choose to come down here to study. Many of us know know Spanish before arrival, and others know plenty. At my school, Americans are a minority. OK, maybe everyone is a minority, but it seems like we´re outnumbered by French-Canadians and people from the Netherlands (Hollandais?) - oh and Koreans.

Anyhow, I´ve learned tons about Canada and Quebec in the last few days. It turns out it´s not just another state afterall (kidding!).

But yeah, I just gotta say... sitting on the roof sipping hot chocalate and watching the sun dissapear on a rather fantastic week was very nice (since I spent most of last week either)
1) in class
2) on tours
3) studying

I needed a rest.