Blogs from Central America Caribbean - page 2078

Today was my second day of spanish class in Antigua. I came into this trip with very minimal spanish and I cant really comunicate with anyone but Im trying desperately to learn. Im living with a family that has two younger kids. There is also a girl from Switzerland and another girl from D.C. in my house with me. At 19 years old Im the youngest student in the Probigua school at this moment. Im to be able to communicate with people in spanish in another week or so. Antigua is amazing but there are too many tourists. ... read more

Well, things have been pretty slow since we’ve moved in - school for the kids doesn’t start until Jan 30 or later, depending on what school we choose. So most days have been Dara’s homeschool in the mornings followed by an outing to the playground or errands around town in the afternoon. The kids have really been great. Remember those old family vacations when you were young - a week or two on the road with no one but your sister to play with (or no one but your brother - if you have more than one brother or sister or if you never took a family vacation, try to imagine what it would be like) and having to share a room with her? Well, that is what it has been like for the past month ... read more

Hola (again!) No photos this time, but I´ll try to keep it short! Then again, you know me! 7th Jan 06 Travelled by four chicken buses (one of them really with chickens) to Panajachel (¨Panahashel¨), which is a town right on Lago Atitlan. I am so glad we went the hard way and not by private transport. It was really interesting and fun. Further from Antigua, both the men and women increasingly dress in traditional Mayan dress and not for the tourists either. The indigenous population is generally extremely beautiful and graceful. They also tend to be unbelievably short (often less than 5ft) and I kept mistaking adults for children and then double taking when I noticed wrinkles. The young mothers carry their offspring in makeshift sacks of vivid colours, sometimes while balancing heavy packages on ... read more

Idag, mandag, startet livet mitt her i Antigua paa ordentlig. Siden jeg fortsatt har jeg lag var det aa staa opp halv syv for aa dusje ikke noe problem! La meg litt over ni i gaar kveld (omtrent to i hodet mitt) og klokken fire var jeg vaaken. Da jeg akkurat hadde sovnet igjen begynte hanen (el gallo, det lokale olmerket) aa gale. Saa da var det bare aa putte ipoden i orene og prove aa sove litt til... gikk til slutt! Etter en frokost bestaaende av lyst brod, varm melk med frokostblanding i og kaffe (nam, guatemalakaffe!) kjorte Hugo (uttales Ogo) meg til skolen. Han har en skikkelig fin bil, mye finere enn min kjaere lillebil (som jeg savner veldig!). Jeg bor i det ene hjornet av byen og skolen er i andre hjornet, tar ... read more

Belize city turned out to be a bit of a hell hole, and 1 night there was more than enough. It's dirty, smelly, falling apart and there is someone waiting to hustle you on every corner. The following morning we packed up and set off early for San Ignacio via Belize Zoo. Upon entering the zoo Karen was 'stoked' to discover Steve Irwin and Dolly Parton were previous visitors. We got pretty snap happy and were tempted to pretend we had taken the photos on a jungle trek as the animals were easy to view in their natural surroundings. We collected our bags from the nice lady in the gift shop and continued on our way to San Ignacio. The town turned out to be a nice surprise and we have stayed longer than expected. The ... read more