Martarew
Marta McLaughlin Joined: December 6th 2006
Logged in: February 12th 2011
Logged in: February 12th 2011
Travel Blog Posts
Around the plaza
The fourth city on my Argentine tour was Salta. I did a lot of walking, a lot of touring through the mountains. A lot of ice cream eating. And I almost brought a dog home with me. ... read more
At the end of the rainbow
This past July, 2008, I went to Argentina for 22 days. I went to Buenas Aires, La Plata, Mendoza, Salta, Cordoba, and Colonia, Uraguay, and some of the towns surrounding those areas. In Mendoza, I rented an apartment for a week. It was really nice. I went grocery shopping in the evening for our dinner of empanadas or pizza and for my breakfast of coffee, bread, cheese, and ham. I would eat around our table and watch the news, and there was quite a bit of news. My apartment had maid service as well- a pleasant surprise- so I did not have to do our dishes or make the bed the entire week. Outside of the apartment, I spent time wandering around the plazas, walking through the park, eating ice cream and drinking coffee and wine, ... read more
The group of us
One of our afternoon activities was taking some of the ninas from the shelter to the zoo. After looking at the animals, we played on the many playgrounds in the zoo.... read more
lining up
About an hour and a half out along windy and bumpy roads is a community La Florida, an abandoned finca run by the community to produce coffee, honey, and other products. We took some school supplies for the children in the community and took a tour. ... read more
Wish You Were Here
The word for boat is lancha, for iron is plancha. . . it was an easy mistake to make. I was talking to one of the guides at our hotel about our journey and he laughed hard and long before trying to explain why what I said was funny. I wasn't sure exactly what I'd said till I checked a dictionary later, but I learned the word for boat pretty well and I don't think I'll make that mistake again. Unlike our trip to Lake Atitlan, we were not able to take a bus directly to the beach at Monterrico. No, we had to take four buses and a boat to get there. Remarkably, we were able to find our connections despite the lack of bus terminals or any discernable organization. Apparently there is some method ... read more
Heading to San Pedro
Over shots of tequilla at La Paranda on Wednesday night, we each vowed to go to Lake Atitlan for the weekend. So on Friday after lunch, Alida and I loaded our packs onto our backs and headed to Parque Central to meet Katrin, Sara, Brandon, and Petra. The first adventure was getting to Terminal Minerva, what people loosley refer to as a bus station. It is not so much a station as it is a wide street that serves as the meeting grounds for the large brightly painted, former yellow school bus, chicken buses and their prospective passengers. And it is located at one end of a densely packed market, one which we had to push our way through to get to the bus because the microbus had dropped us off on the other side of ... read more
Classes My second week of classes, I somehow felt like I was understanding less Spanish than the first week, but I was still speaking or listening to Spanish five to eight hours a day and conversing with my teacher on such topics as the current state of education in Guatemala, the impact of import and export and cultural differences in worldview of time and personal interdependance and the banking situation. Pretty complex ideas to discuss and convey if I was really not understanding more. Maybe I'm just to the point where I know enough to realize how much I don't understand. Still learning irregular verbs in the present tense. I suddenly have more empathy for people learning English who speak in the present tense all the time or who get the tenses incorrect. Not that I ... read more
Eco Saunas1
Classes The first week here, I took my first dance class at my school. Very basic salsa. I have also listened to lectures on the history of Guatemala, the Mayan cosmovision, natural medicine, and the government's refusal to respect the people's decision to refuse a mining operation that will deprive them of what little water they have to grow their crops, will poison them, and will give very little benefit in return. Crepes My first Friday night in Xela, Alida and I went to a restaurant called Paris Royal and had some wonderful chocolate-banana-coconut crepes with a hint of orange zest while we listened to a live band playing Cuban music. The lead guitarist is also a guitar teacher, so I got his number so I can contact him when I know a bit more Spanish. ... read more
As I understand it, during the winter holiday season, the government of Guatemala decided that there was alot of worn out money in circulation, so they took it out of circulation and destroyed it. Imagine the scene in the government office when it was realized that there was no new money to replace the worn out money and it became painfully obvious in the market place that this was indeed going to be a problem. Yes, there was a run on the banks, long lines at the banks, caps on how much could be withdrawn on any one day, as the government hurried to print more money in the way governments hurry to do anything. I think two banks closed, one that had been corrupt in some way or did not keep good records so that ... read more
My Guatemalan Home
My flight was not delayed nor cancelled due to the ice storm in north Texas, so I got to Guatemala City as planned on Sunday January 14. My farewell at home did not go as smoothly since my mother broke her wrist the Thursday before and was incapacitated and in pain, the forecasted worst ice storm in history shifted our schedule forward so that Heather and Dylan could get back to Denton safely, Cameron, my nephew, got sick, I spent the night at Kelsey's since mom couldn't drive me to the airport. I spent all night wondering whether my flight would be delayed or cancelled and how I would communicate with those in Guatemala city if it were. We left Kelsey's house at three in the morning to make sure we'd get to the airport on ... read more
