A week now in Antigua

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Hey everyone!

So Mitch and I have been here a week now!

Spanish is going pretty well, we are learning a lot. A few days ago, we
took salsa lessons and ate lunch at the school which was ribs
with tortillas and guac! sooo much guac.
In the school, there is a big court yard with a massive garden
which includes avodaco tree, orange tree, lima *citrus fruit
like lime but sweeter. tree, soo many colourful flowers and
ferns and old brick walls and floors it's verrry pretty. i keep
getting bitten by mosquitos though!

The house is cool too you can sit and do homework on the roof
overlooking the city with a perfect view of the massive yellow
cathedral. Unfortunately it is always very noisy in the house
with such a big family living there and musicians. The food has
been great so far with lots of beans and rice and soups and
always big breakfasts with fresh fruit. Desert was plantains two
nights ago with cinnamon and last night it was sweet potato
which I'm not too fond of. They seem to really love cinnamon!
The family has several servants and is fairly well off. We get
lots of coffee too, with breakfast and then a cute girl serves
us coffee and a cookie while we work with our teachers. My
teacher is super nice and sweet. Last night we went out to
OREILLYS irish bar with the other students living in the house
who are from Norway. One they are done, they will be teaching
music in a remote village for a year.

Friday, we went on a chicken bus to a Macademia plantation which was gorgeous. A guy from San Fran. owns it and gives tours and also sells organic products including chocolates and face cream made from the oil. Chicken buses are crazy! Filled with sweaty people, not enough seating and the bus driver hardly lets you step on before hes steps on the gas... pretty hectic!

Yesterday, we took a shuttle to Moneterrico which is about 2 hours from Antigua. Monterrico is a beach community that is soooo beautiful. It has black sand which burns your feet in the sun and the waves were huge, making swimming more than a little scary. We had pina coloadas and lunch overlooking the ocean and then met up with a guy that works on a turtle conservation project. He showed us tons of baby turtles that will be let out at night. Apparently they are in danger because the locals like to eat their eggs so this project tries to give the turtles a better chance at survival. They also had alligators and iguanas.

The same guy then took us on a boat ride through the rivers near by on a boat that was pushed just with a pole through some crazy thick mangroves. There were massive ant nests and big spiders and four eyed fish that when scared, skip across the water. After that, we realised how burnt we were an tried to stay in the shade for the rest of the day.

This week, more spanish school! We are learning a lot here and the family we stay with constantly converses with us so we get lots of practice. Hope everyone had fun at Halloween last night!
Loves
Linds

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