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Published: November 28th 2008
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Hola Amigos, here it is, finally, the Daz-tastic travelblog you´ve all been waiting for.... well something like that! After few hiccups in this thing called life it seems I have finally started doing a bit of living with my eyes wide open, and it has taken me Antigua, Guatemala. Getting here was a pain in the Rear as American Airlines did their damndest to start me off on the wrong foot. The Trolley dolly was actually rude to me! Anyway I didn´t complain - whats the point, the poor love was obviously texan trailer trash so who am I to get her in trouble. I digress.... So I arrive in Guatemala, why am I here? (no its not for cheaper than mexican prostitution) well I wanted to learn Spanish and see a bit of the world, and Antigua-Guatemala is apparently the best place to get schooled in Spanish in and around central America (possibly the world if your thinking of price), and a good enough starting point to see central and South America. So for the princely sum of $600 or so dollars (for the month) I am being immersed in Gutemalan/Latin American culture - it includes living with a Guatemalan
family, 4 hours one on one spanish tuition 5 days a week, breakfast lunch and dinner 6 days a week and a few excursions thrown in for good measure. IF you look at my snaps the older women pretending to smoke a cigar is Olga my Guatemalteca Madre, she rocks. She´s good for a giggle and the food here is good for a western fed boy like myself - it constitutes mainly of vegetables and a little meat as opposed to the other way round on my home turf. who knows I might lose some weight!! The younger lady I stand beside in one of the snaps is Mollie my Spanish teacher - she´s a winner too. One thing which can definitely be said about Antiguenos (peeps from Antigua) is that they are always laughing and joking.
Anyhoo Antigua is quite the Bonita Ciudad (beautiful city) - small for a city but pretty all the same. its surrounded by 3 inactive volcanos, one of which I think you can make out with a snap from the phone. So far I have managed to go on excursions with school to a Museum/coffee plantation and Macadamia finca - both of which were
really quite interesting (am I getting old or what?). You wouldn´t believe the work that goes into coffee - 1 plant makes forty cups, or 6.5 pounds of coffee cherrys to 40 cups.
Learning Spanish - great fun, the variety of different types of learners at school is quite surprisingly diverse. I have met youngsters on spring break from the states having lessons, retirees learning about Central America and quite a fair few europeans doing the same as myself. My favourites so far have to be the Doc from Minnesota who´s heading to the congo with Doctors without Borders and the Ex pilot Evan who is trying to twist my arm into traversing one of the most dangerous pieces of land in the world between Panama and Colombia (watch this space - I´ll be a narco traffiker yet!).
Antigua is expensive for Guatemala and not so dis-similar in price to America I think, you´ll pay a couple of dollars for a coffee in central places (and you can actually pay in dollars though the currency is quetzal). Antigua is also quite dangerous at night as is the rest of Guatemala, someone from my school was held up a knife point
two days ago after clubbing - luckily they caught the robbers and their possessions were returned, but they had to endure watching the coppers knock 7 shades of it out of the thief.
the thing I think I like most about being here is the music and the dancing - I was unaware of the completely different types of latin music (check out the kids playing the marimba in the video if it works - did you know the marimba comes from Guatemala ..... hmmm!). Music wise its not just salsa - its bachata and meringue too. And they have different styles of dancing, and I confess I am having lessons and am hooked. If I return to Europe I want to have all the styles cracked - I personally think that my London generation have missed out on the whole dancing with someone else thing. it rocks!!
So thats it for now - I´ve been here less than a week. stay tuned for more, for those of you know me I´m sure I´ll sniff out some trouble or fun or both sooner rather than later 😊.
Much Love
Darreno (my new spanish name - self christened, beware though
A coffee roasting machine
one for the cafe afficiandos it might change to Dario!)
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Nic
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Darren in the Darien Gap? Better watch a bit of Bear Grylls before you go! Love the pictures, your Mamalteca looks like a Dude. x