Spanish Class

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Hello everyone! I apolgize for the delay in my entries - as you can imagine been super busy and it can be difficult to find time to write.

I´ve been in Antigua since Sunday and have been taking Spanish lessons since Monday. I´m staying in a house with 6 other students from the school. There are 2 guys from Germany, another from the UK, a father/daughter team from Canada, and a girl from the US. They are a really good group and we all get on well. The days fly by here, I have class from 8:00 am to 12:00, we go back to the house for lunch (the food is prepared for us and I don´t think I´ve ever eaten so healthy - a lot of rice and vegetables, apparently vegtables can be good!) some kind of activity until dinner, a little time to study and then out to whatever party we´ve heard about that day. The activity today was a soccer match, supposably against the teachers but once we arrived at the field it looked like all the young players from the town were there. We held our own though, not surprisingly most of the international students are very good... the Guatemalans were just a little bit better!

Anyway I haven´t had much time to explore the city, or take pictures, maybe on Saturday. I was planning to hit the road on Saturday morning but may stay through the weekend as I am really enjoying the group here in Antigua. Hope you are all doing well, I´ll try to update with pictures/information soon!

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Photos

Antigua - Bus Station
The bus station in Antigua was busy and loud. To determine which bus to take you listen to the drivers assistent who yells out the destination... or you just ask someone. There are vendors everywhere selling food, drinks, trinkets - all kinds of things. Just remember to use the bathroom before you get on the bus, they seldom stop.

Catedral de Santiago
The catheral in the Parque Central - construction on the cathedral began in 1558, after which is was destroyed and rebuilt a couple of times due to earthquakes. I was in the park on a Sunday and it was full of tourists, both Guatemalan and international.

Tenqua de la Union
This is the park that I like to relax in rather than Parque Central. It is close to the house I am staying in and much less busy than Parque Central. Plus you can buy great tortillas from the little tieda on the corner. 4 torillas for 1 Quetzal (around 12 cents). The smaller volcano in the back is active and sends up clouds of smoke now and again.

Monestary Ruins at Inglesia de San Francisco
Build in the 16th century this church holds the tomb of Santo Hermano Pedro de San Jose. He started a hospital for the poor of Antigua and was made a saint in 2002 for his efforts. The monastary ruins and museum are interesting, there are hundreds of pictures and plaques in the musem expressing gratitude to San Pedro for healing the presenters illness. There are also crunches and leg braces presumably discarded once healed by San Pedro. I bought a San Pedro medal to wear - I figured if he could heal all these people maybe he can also look after me in my travels! That´s another volcano in the distance.

Playing Futbol
A serious footballer! Actually I think I fell down right after this photo was taken Check ot the shoes, they´re the new hiking boot/soccer shoe you´ve been hearing so much about.

Comments

[Grady]

looks nice
We have had about 6 inches of rain in 48 hours. Flooding everywhere, even our basement a little. I-5 is closed between Seattle and Portland probably until the end of the week. Are you jealous. I should have come with you.... Have fun.