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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Spanish Language Schools Guide Hi my dear reader! There are lots of things that I can write about my daily life in Xela but there is only one real urgent topic: fleas! They've been bugging me a lot and it's getting worse and worse. Now that I counted number of bites on my body, have at least 24 bites. 7 on right hand and arm. 8 on left arm and hand. 3 on neck and face. 6 on legs. They seemed to like me a lot and inviting their friends to try me out. So I'm getting bitten [View Full Entry]

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Staying on course to travel this summer has been tough. My student and I would much rather play than get this house together. We’ve been spending our time going through boxes in the basement, mainly to stay out of the midwest humidity, but also so we have a place to stow our kayaks. There aren’t many boxes left to survey, but there were 2 two that were fun. They were simply labeled “33LPs - Good Stuff”. It was the first time my student ever saw an “album”. Man were there some classics: The Who, Stones, Aerosmith, Heart, Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, [View Full Entry]

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The ten hour bus ride to Tikal only took 6 and 1/2. Fortunately i slept most of the way, cause I can only imagine how much the bus driver was speeding. The ruins are amazing. The Maias were incredicle, building 50 meter structures in the middle of the tropical forest. The place has a lot of positive energy, especially early in the morning before it's packed with turists. I arrived in Flores at 5 am and I took the first van to Tikal at 5:30am. It was supposed to leave at 5, but it was late. Good for me. I also [View Full Entry]

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We drove to Antigua without any problems. The "interamericanica" in Guatemala is much like the mexican pacific highway, but with fewer animals and fewer topes, which are called "tumulos" (tombs) here. There are, however, a huge amount of people and busses and pick-up trucks packed with people on the road. The busses here are very old american school busses painted in all colors one can think of. Some are just yellow. The people are really interesting. Few of the locals seem to speak Spanish as a native language. There are all kinds of mayan dilects. Obviously for me they sound the [View Full Entry]

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geschreven op 19 mei 2005 Hoi allemaal, nou het regenseizoen is hier begonnen hoor. Men wat een regen zeg! Met een beetje geluk begint het in de middag te regenen, maar soms begint het al in de ochtend en gaat het de hele dag door! De straten staan dan totaal blank en zijn moeilijk beloopbaar, doordat er vrij veel water ligt. Heb dus maar een paraplu gekocht en loop nu dagelijks in mijn regenjas. De lucht is de hele dag grijs en het is in een keer een stuk kouder geworden bbbrrrrrrrr! De stroom is al een paar keer uitgevallen, [View Full Entry]

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Tja mijn laatste update van Guatemala, wat zal ik zeggen!!!!!!!! Ik zal mijn hoogtepunten van mijn laatste weken in Xela aanhalen. Afgelopen weken heb ik naast mijn normale werkzaamheden, echt mijn laatste dingen afgerond, kwam nog bijna tijd tekort, maar het is allemaal gelukt. Om te beginnen heb ik 35 goede leesboeken voor de kinderen van CEIPA kunnen kopen. Heeft een tijdje geduurd maar heb ze eindelijk gevonden. De kinderen en leerkrachten waren enorm enthousiast, dus donateuren wederom enorm bedankt voor jullie geld. Naast deze boeken heb ik 12 bakken met Lego gekocht [View Full Entry]

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Well, right now as I write this I am back in Antigua where I started - I didn't do the 3 day trek and I still haven't climbed a bloody volcanoe, not that I think it'll change me as a person. The main reason for this inactivity is that for the last 10 days I've had a stomach bug that just wouldn't let go of me. I thought, like I would back in Britain, that give it a day or two and I could ride it out - but no I certainly couldn't out here... The bugs are a lot [View Full Entry]

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Return to Xela (Quetzaltenango), Guatemala for more studying.... [View Full Entry]

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I really should get more done when I am in these foreign, slightly exotic places. I am in a great town, with ancient buildings, interesting museums, surrounded by giant volcanoes and mountains ripe for being climbed - and as for me? Well, I'd rather get half-cut on the local beer and dream of drunken friday night salsa dancing. What's new pussycat? I have done a couple of 'things' since I got here in Xela, I had a go at teaching local kids English for an hour last Wednesday (although, I got the 3 class clowns who were only interested in [View Full Entry]

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