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Published: February 13th 2009
Windows along the streets
All the windows are filled with an assortment of flowers....Be careful though - they can hurt when you walk into them!!! It’s back to school for me. My first two weeks in Antigua
This blog is taking me ages to compose! Call it Writers block or Call it "OMG! - My head is going to explode with too much information" block - but nonetheless I have been staring at this for the last few days. So to bite the bullet here goes...
Yes! I know that I started the Antigua part of my blog talking about another town (ie Monterrico), so now here is a little story to keep you all amused about what I have been doing with myself for the last two weeks whilst I have been at school.....
Antigua adventures - Week 1 My first week in school and I couldn’t remember a time I had ever been this excited about going to class.....(except for maybe kindergarten!)
Antigua is renown for their Spanish Language courses. Unlike most of the other Central American language schools - Antigua is pretty much geared towards teaching Spanish, with literally dozens of language schools scattered around the city offering one-on-one ‘Total Immersion’ packages. I had originally reserved a placement in two different schools to give me a choice
My maestra y yo..
Angelica my teacher & me... when I arrived in Antigua but soon found out that the important thing in any school is the teacher you are given. You could be in the best school in Antigua, with the most activities and in the most tranquil of settings - but if you have the worst teacher, then your experience will not be a good one.
Luckily for me - I loved my teacher so I was off to a good start already.
Prior to my first week of school, my Spanish was limited to “Como se llama?”. I knew about 50 words all which was nowhere near enough to string a coherent sentence together. So on my first day - I was a bit aprehensive as to how much I could actually learn in the 5 weeks that I had signed up for.
To get me started, I opted for the most common package of 4 x hours a day, 5 x days a week (8am - 12pm). When I met my teacher, Angelica I had initially expected to start with some English to see me through - but realised quickly that this was not going to happen. I sat there dumbfounded for
a few seconds before finally getting an understanding of what she was saying to me. Surprisingly I eventually understood her through a mixture of sign language, a dictionary & her speaking to me very very slowly. (My teacher is actually fluent in English but refuses to let me speak to her in English and also refuses to answer in English - unless I am absolutely desperate).
By the end of the week - I felt as if my head was going to explode. I was starting from scratch in terms of understanding verb tenses, grammatical sentence structures and the conjugation of verbs in Spanish. As it stands I currently only have a bare bones understanding of English Grammatical sentence structures (ie what is a noun, what is an adverb) let alone when to use the present tense versus the present perfect tense! OMG! So having to try and understand this for Spanish was not going to be a very easy task. I still didn’t feel confident enough to do more than order a cup of coffee & ask for the bill but it came as a complete shock when for the first time ever I was able to listen
A coffee finca
My very first excursion with my teacher. It was here that for the first time - I was able to understand the guide who spoke in Spanish. Yeay! to a guided tour (in complete Spanish) of a history of the Mayans through out Guatemala in a local museum and was able to understand almost 90%!o(MISSING)f what the guide was explaining. (As part of an afternoon field trip with my teacher) Granted - It did help that she spoke very slowly, pronounced every word and paused after each sentence to make sure that all of there understood what she was trying to explain.
My host family When I first arrived at the home of my host family, albeit somewhat groggy from my flight and totally unaware of what time zone I was in, I did notice that it was in a very nice street and seemed significantly bigger than I had anticipated. It was set on two levels with many different rooms radiating from the main entrance hall. I was shown to my room, a rather nice big double room with a desk for me to do my homework and set far enough away from the rest of the family for me to have some privacy.
With my limited Spanish, this is what I have discovered about my new family so far…. My host mother also
The streets of Antigua
Cobblestone streets & different coloured houses. works as a Spanish teacher but works in a dfferent school from the one I am attending. Her husband Marco works in a finca (plantation) near Antigua. They all live in the house together with her husband, two children & grandson.
My food As part of my homestay - I get 3 x meals a day during the week & two meals on the weekends. As I had expected they do not eat as much meat (or as much food) as they do in Western Countries, nor do they have a wide assortment of sweets, cakes and stuff. This of course is doing wonders for watching my weight - so I am not complaining at all. Just because I know you are all dying to know what I eat throughout the day. Here is a brief overview of my typical meals throughout the day.
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Breakfast: Pancakes, maple syrup, freshly cut pineapple & an assortment of fresh juices. (They are very big on fresh juices & fresh fruit here) or eggs with bread or cereal. There is always a fresh pot of Guatemalan coffee from the finca that Miriam’s husband works in…Yummo. Milk is not easily available here and
La mercado
A little girl in the local market wearing the local dress. These are an example of the wonderfully colourfull weavings that are everywhere in Guatemala usually comes in the powdered format or in a long life carton (No - There is no skim milk for anyone thinking about it)
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Lunch: Breakfast & Lunch are the main meal of the day so I usually get the largest portion of my meal at this time. They generally always have black beans & soft corn tortillas at the table with your meal but otherwise it usually varies from stuff like chicken stew with rice, rolled & fried tacos with salsa, guacamole & black beans - no meat (my personal favourite) to tamales with salsa & black beans (my least favourite).
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Dinner: Has been anything from an omelete with black beans & soft corn tortillas to ham & cheese sandwichs with black beans & guacamole……I have been known to need additional feeding after dinner but here’s hoping my stomach adjusts to the food quantities…..Go that diet!!!
Of course - I don’t always have to eat with the family. In Antigua there are hundreds (okay - slight exaggeration, maybe dozens) of restaurants & small eateries where I could eat. They range from the ever present McDonalds & Burger King monstrosities to five star restuarants & sushi bars to
Fresh fruit in the markets
When buying fresh fruit it is generally served with freshly squeezed lime juice, powdered corriander & chilli....It gives the fruit a fantastic zing! the smallest little food stalls in the local markets. However I haven’t yet been in a position to try any of them out as yet. So right now I can’t really recommend any. Give me a few more weeks for that.
Is there life after school?? Have I done anything else other than go to school & eat? Of course! This is what I have discovered so far….
The town of Antigua is not very big. In essence it is 13 streets wide & 11 streets long, is set out in a grid format and is relatively easy to walk around in. Everything is centered around the main park (Parque Central) with the most expensive shops & restuarants clustered around the main square fanning out to smaller, cheaper shops & restaurants further & further out from there. If you know where to look, there is everything from an electric guitar shop to a tyre shop scattered around the town.
The streets are lined with cobblestones and bouganvillia while the houses & shops are painted in an assortment of different colours. My guide book says that Antigua is akin to a mini Scandinavian country while the rest of
I had to show it.
At least it is not in a big neon sign!! the real Guatemala stands around it - In other words, a place where everything works, a place where the rubbish is picked up off the street & stray dogs disappear, where power lines run underground and where everything seems to be in order. How true this is in comparison to the rest of the country I have yet to find out - However Antigua is very much a tourist town, full of affluence & grand houses. It has its share of expensive hotels, spas & international restuarants but it also has its beggars & street kids peddaling their wares for a few coins from any tourist along the way.
I spent my first week here getting to know my housemates & seeing a small part of the town. It has the vibe of a university town (Not that I have actually lived in a University town mind you!) - There are dozens of bars catering to the student market, with a different day offering an assortment of cheap drinks & 2-for-1 specials. My first bar experience was a place called ‘Monolocos” just off the main square. The Tuesday ‘Ladies Night’ special was sure to draw in a crowd, not
The streets of Antigua
One of the main streets in Antigua. It is along this street where you will find an assortment of bars, restaurants & shops..... (expensive!! is the key) to mention the Q3 (approx 40 cents) drinks. I didn’t last there too long. I couldn’t hear myself think - Let alone find anywhere to stand (No! I’m not getting old - it’s just that everyone else is getting younger!), so instead my housemates & I went in search of something more sedate - The Irish bar perhaps? Of course there is an Irish bar in town, isn’t there one in every town?. This was a bit more to more liking, a little less crowded, a lot more by way of available seating and unfortunately - far more expensive drinks. We sat around enjoying a few more Cuba Libres before calling it a night - We all had school the next day to worry about!!
Antigua adventures - Week 2 By the end of my second week - I had increased my vocubulary threefold and was starting to move away from the present tense (where I could do nothing but say things like….”I eat, please!” Or “Yesterday, I eat!”) to the ‘future simple tense’ allowing me to say things like…”I’m going to go here”. I still didn’t have enough confidence to do more than ask simple questions and
provide simple answers to responses given - but I was finding that my understanding of what was being said was increasing to a point where I was now able to start picking up various sentences in the Spanish movies that I was watching.
It was the last week for both of my housemates so we decided to have a mini celebration in honour of their leaving. The three of us started our night at a club called ‘La Sala’ with some other classmates (free entry for the ladies & free drinks till 11pm - was there any other option?) and practiced some of the salsa moves that we had all learned in our previous afternoon salsa lesson. We continued the night in another club called ‘La Kasbah’ for some more music & extra strong drinks where my salsa lessons improved significantly with the help of my new friend Jorge.
It didn’t take us long to find out that if you are not ready to end the night at 1am there are an assortment of ‘after parties’ that are readily available - If you know where to look. Hmmm! I don’t know if ‘party’ is how I would describe
Reilly's Bar
An Irish Bar in Antigua - Of course! it - but open space with pit fire and strange people does fit the bill a lot better. The morning disintegrated to one of dancing around the pit fire whilst singing Bob Marley songs at the top of our voices. (Thankfully - there are no photos to document this event!).
I have heard stories about Antigua being unsafe - but on this night as the three of us stumbled home (still singing Bob Marley) we had three police cars drive past every few minutes asking us if we were okay and patrolling the streets….
It was a very enjoyable night for all & a great start to my first few weeks in Antigua…
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