As Guatemala City, the capital of Guatemala, is supposed to be one of the most dangerous cities in the world, we didn't hang around for long, but we did have to stay one night there as we flew in after dark. Our guesthouse was fortified like an Iraqi police station, which made us think all the hype might just be true! In the morning we hastily sped off for the beautiful old town of Antigua. Antigua is a UNESCO World Heritage site and hears how they describe it "Antigua, the capital of the Captaincy-General of Guatemala, was founded in the early [View Full Entry]

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Antigua is a small town surrounded by volcanoes (one of them Guate's only active one!) and mountains scattered witn Maya villages. Life goes on slowly in Antigua, Maya women come down from the hills early in the morning to say a quick prayer in the yellow church by the plaza before heading for a long day at the market, and we creep out of our room (that's the one with the huge mouldy patch on the roof) and head to one of Antiguas many laid back cafes to start the day with a traditional breakfast: eggs, fried platains, black beans and [View Full Entry]

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Trying to get some photos from the last few days... Got out of Quetzaltenango after more wrong turns...if there's a one-way street, I'll always find it...and head down the wrong way!...endless bumper to bumper, trucks, cars, bikes, down narrow, dusty, bumpy, crowded little thoroughfare, sudden turns for a few blocks, back on the straight, cutting along the inside to pass, trucks trying to run me into the gutter, cars pushing at the back wheel, pedestrians dodging out of the way, dirty, dusty, shop fronts or whatever covered in dust, no signs at all, just hope we're on the right road!..get a [View Full Entry]

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Rugged up for the first time in a while...v strange after sweating it for so long. So, where were we? back to the 22/7 looking for Barra de Cruz, the famous point break...only 100 something ks from that last beach...can't remember, stayed there for 3 days tho'...Tony at his new bar El Burro Barracho was good host, dinky little hotel...surf scene..right on the beach..oh yeah Puerto Escondido, yI think I,ve written it up, tres pretty and in the early stages of development, sure to be unrecognisable in another few years, sorta close for americanos and canadians to fly in......so, on the [View Full Entry]

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Spanish Language Schools Guide Today I'll write about La Madrastra from business point of view. What they keep saying is "Don't miss the final episodes... Don't miss the final week of La Madrastra..." for past 3 weeks I think. After investing more than one month of time watching it, I do want to watch the conclusion of the program. And the another thing that they do is to start the new show before finishing the old one. For example, the running time of La Madrastra is from 8pm t [View Full Entry]

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Spanish Language Schools Guide I like watching soap operas. It's something that I acquired about a month ago when I was staying at my friend's apartment. He had the cable and even though he didn't speak Spanish, the cable came with programs in Spanish since there is a big Spanish speaking population in the US. And when I was changing channels, I heard a song by Laura Pausini and the soapopera with that song was La Madrastra(stepmother). It was bit difficult for me to und [View Full Entry]

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Spanish Language Schools Guide Today I have my Telefónica cell phone on top of my desk. It's not the tiniest model in the market, but it still does makes me feel the speed of technology. This little gadget that I bought yesterday has dimension of about 2.5 inches x 1 inch x 1/3 inch. If I remember correctly, a cellphone like this had price over $300 5 years ago. Now I just paid about $45 and came with 80 free minutes for the first month and 40 free minutes for 12 months. I d [View Full Entry]

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Spanish Language Schools Guide Yesterday I visited Doña Esperanza (Doña is commonly used substitution for Señora or Mrs. here in Guatemala) with Mario who is one of the teachers of ConeXion Xela. Mario was helping me shop around for a cellphone. We were a bit tired walking around so much and since we were around her house, we decided to pay her a visit. Doña Esperanza welcomed us warmly as usual and we talked about her neighbor and other students in her place. She always has [View Full Entry]

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Ah yes, back to Guate, after two months away. I am now in Todos Santos. It is a mountain town, and very cold! The people are mostly Mayan and all wear traditional dress. Red trousers with white and grey stripes are the most striking. The countryside is very beautiful around here, but unfortunately i have not been well the last few days and it rains by early afternoon so will have to give hiking a miss. In fact the countryside i have seen in the last week has been remarkable. Mountains and valleys covered in Pine trees, i will remember the [View Full Entry]

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Spanish Language Schools Guide Hi my dear reader! In order to get to know host families for ConeXion Xela, I'm living with one family after another every week. This is the way I've gotten to know many Spanish teachers last year and I'm doing the same with host families now. It's been 5 days living with Morales family and I'm satisfied here. No, they don't have experience of welcoming a foreign student. Actually, I'm their first one. But, what I'd like to see in a host fam [View Full Entry]

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