It never rains but it pours...

---

And so...

I have now been studying Spanish at the school for 2 days, it is one-to-one tuition and I am probably improving a little bit as I go along, at least that´s what I tell myself when I am asleep. I´ve only booked a week in the school so far so we´ll see how it progresses. The teacher I have been allocated for the week is a good laugh - well, in Spanish anyway- she´s about 40-something, quite *fruity and dresses more like a Westerner with short skirts, lots of make-up and risque blouses. I probably will book another week afterall.

* you can take ´fruity´ to mean whatever you want.

The school put me with a ´family´ aswell, now I say ´family´ in the loosest sense of the term. When they said ´family´ I naturally (call me old-fashioned) expected 2 parents, a couple of kids running around the garden and maybe a dog thrown in for fun to keep me awake in the afternoon. What I got was a brother and sister in their late sixties and sod-all else! Although it has to be said they are nice enough and making me feel at home. And, I am getting use to the food gradually and hearing less and less grotesque noises from my swollen stomach when showering.

The only thing which is a bit of a downer is the torrential downpours in the middle of the afternoon. They are accompanied with some of the loudest thunderstorms I have ever heard, one of which on Sunday evening made me jump out my skin like a 17 month-old baby. I did expect them though, afterall it is rainy season in Central America. But they make Swansea look like the Costa Del Sol in August... I thought we had it bad but, trust me, we don´t.

The Guatemalans are great, just your average kind of amiable and friendly Latin Americans who just get on with things. The best sight by far is when you see an old idigenous Mayan woman, colourful clothes battered by years of toil and the past strife of civil war on her old face, sitting contemplating at the local plaza and then... her brand new Nokia mobile phone goes off with a funky ring tone and her kids want to know when dinner´s going to be ready.

That´s about it for now. Speak soon.

Jamie,
Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.

p.s. I still haven´t seen or heard of the existence of another Welshman here in Central America. I have asked around but no-one´s come across one just yet. I will keep you posted.

---