Learning to speak Spanish in Guatemala

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Wylie makes it through Guatemala and El Salvador



Can you believe I’ve officially been gone for over a year now? After going to Mexico and Belize, we crossed the border by taking a local bus into Guatemala. It’s definitely very different here, and lots of the women still wear their traditional Mayan dresses that their ancestors used to wear. Our first stop was in Flores which is a tiny island in the middle of a lake. We actually spent Christmas here, too. The people here light LOTS of fireworks to celebrate. At first I really liked it, but then it made it hard to sleep on Christmas Eve. Poor Amelia still isn’t quite used to all the noise you hear when you’re traveling, so I had Jessie give her a pair of ear plugs so it didn’t bother her too much. At least we got to see Santa that night! He was making his way down the street with his friends in front of a truck that had really big speakers playing Christmas music. “Santa! We’ve been good monkeys, we promise! Can we have some extra bananas this year? Pretty please?”



We had to get up bright and early the next morning to hike the famous ruins of Tikal, and ancient Mayan city. Our van left at about 5:00 in the morning, which meant I had to shake Amelia by the tail to wake her up! I’m sure she’ll get the hang of traveling soon. It takes some getting used to. Our guide that we had was really well known and had even been on National Geographic before because he knows so much about the Mayan people. I don’t know if many of you had heard about this or not, but many people were talking about 2012 being the end of the world according to the Mayan calendar. However, our guide (Cesar) made sure to explain to us that the calendar doesn’t end entirely, it just starts over every 50 years. One thing we weren’t expecting was for the steps in Tikal to be so slippery and steep. On the way down one of the ruins, Jessie fell right on her butt. Before Nate could even ask if she was ok, he did the same thing! Way to go guys! Amelia and I almost fell off the rest of the steps just because we were laughing so hard. It was almost like a funny cartoon. When we got to the next ruin to hike up, Cesar brought out a little surprise…a real live tarantula! Nate has already taken care of one of these before, but Jessie is really scared of spiders. I can’t even believe she held it! I just HAD to get a picture of that!



Once Christmas was over, we made our way to a little place called Semuc Champey where we had a great adventure. We went walking through a cave that was half full of water while holding candles to light our way. Nate and Jessie even had to swim while holding them up above the water. That definitely took some effort and we were glad we could just ride along on their heads. Besides, that water was freezing! Just a tap of my tail on the water was enough to make me almost jump onto the wall of the cave to get away from it. We wish we had pictures from inside of the cave, but there was no way we could keep the camera completely dry, so we didn’t bring it. When we got out of the cave, everyone grabbed tubes to float down the river with. There was a waterfall where you could jump off into the water below, but you had to make sure you were a strong swimmer to do it. Nate’s not very good at swimming, but Jessie went for it. She jumped from about 2 stories above the water! I think I held my breath until my face turned blue and Amelia crossed all of her fingers and toes for good luck…we even crossed tails for EXTRA luck. It worked! She made it back to shore just fine and we all floated down the chilly river in our tubes towards the next spot. The natural pools were really neat to see and the view point was great! Sure it was a big hike up the mountain, but when you’re hitching a ride instead of being the one walking you don’t really mind too much, haha!



Now it was time to get to Antigua where we would celebrate New Year’s! We met a group of girls who were really fun to hang out with and we all went hiking up the most well known volcano in the country, Pacaya. Now THAT was a long hike! We were pretty much climbing straight up the volcano by about 6 AM. If you get too tired to walk, there are plenty of locals willing to help you out...for a small fee of course. Lots of people were riding horses and you could pay for a ride up to the top if you needed to. The part we thought was especially funny was the way they referred to their horses. One guys said, “Taxi? You need taxi?” We couldn’t help it…we just burst out laughing right there! Hey buddy, I’m pretty sure taxis don’t have a tail and leave horse apples all over the trails, haha! Everyone was sweating from hiking and freezing at the same time because when you’re up that high, it’s a lot cooler due to the elevation and the chilly breeze. The view from the top was amazing, and Jessie was smart enough to bring some marshmellows that she roasted inside one of the little chambers in the volcano. I’m sure you can guess who pigged out…yep, Amelia and I. That was one time I kind of wish we had napkins because our faces looked like we were babies eating gooey marshmellows for the very first time. Even one of the dogs up at the top wanted to clean off our faces. The only bad part is that we’re so small his tongue would’ve covered our entire faces in one lick!



Hiking the volcano was a great way to finish off 2011, but we were in serious need of a nap when we got back. How else would we be able to stay awake to celebrate New Year’s? We had a really fun time that night, but not until after we had a delicious home cooked meal that the girl’s made. Everyone had to make something that was popular in their own country. We had a Russian salad, pasta from a Swiss girl, some kabobs for South Africa and Australia, and Jessie made a taco dip. Oh boy were we full after all that food! I almost fell asleep right at the table before midnight because I was so packed. It felt like I just ate a big Thanksgiving feast and it was time for a nap again. Don’t worry, we all stayed awake and had fun welcoming the new year. Although we had a lot of fun in Antigua, we were really excited to get to Lake Atitlan where we were all going to go to Spanish school for a few weeks. Jessie has a pretty good idea of how to speak Spanish, but Nate isn’t so good, kind of like Amelia and I.



One thing we didn’t expect from the lake is that it actually got pretty chilly, especially at night. Part of us was already missing the hot weather we got so used to in Asia, but our biggest goal for Central and South America is learning Spanish and this was a cheap place to do it at. I tell you what, we sure got our exercise here! It seemed like every turn we took let to a monster hill we had to hike up. The good thing was, we were so excited (Amelia and I) that we had PLENTY of energy to go flying up the hills before Nate and Jessie were even half way. “Come on guys! You can do it!” We were all pretty tired at the end of the day after being in school for 4 hours and studying all afternoon. You have to remember, Nate and Jessie haven’t been in school for YEARS. We were really glad we got to meet Jessie’s teacher and even got to go out to dinner at her house one night. She was a great cook too! We especially like getting to meet her family.



When school was over, we were ready to head to the beach and get some hot sunny weather again. We decided we should cross into El Salvador and go to a beach called El Tunco. It sure is a small town, but Amelia and I really like it there. If we were big enough to surf, we would’ve tried for sure! Though I think the waves would’ve completely washed us away every time. After all, neither one of us even weigh a pound! I guess we’re not meant to be surfing then. We got to eat some great food here, including something we had never tried before…pupusas. They’re really popular in El Salvador and only cost $.60 a piece. They resemble a pancake, but are made from corn flour and stuffed with either beans or chicken and cheese. The 2 of us opted for the chicken, and we were SO glad we did. It was yummy! That’s one more thing on the list that we’ll be missing when we get home I can tell you that.



Well, that’s everything for now, but we’ll be sure to let you know how Nicaragua is…that’s the NEXT place on the list!



Wylie and Amelia

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