1. On Saturday, we invited a few of our amigos (the same couple we met in Alegría and Juayua) up to our terrace to have some adult beverages before they left the next morning for their upcoming destination. They arrived with two other people, and we sat on our rooftop, drank wine and rum and had some interesting and albeit entertaining conversation. Around 11:30pm we vamos-ed to a bar. Once we arrived to said bar, the three chicas and Micah headed in to scope it out. We made our way towards the second floor, and when we were near the top of the spiral stairs, commotion began. The four Guatemalan guys that were walking down the stairs turned abruptly back up and began yelling at some guys on the second floor... which left us trapped between the two parties. The guys below grabbed a full bottle of beer and threw it towards the guys above, which shattered and grazed us. Micah practically pushed me and one of the other girls down the stairs to get us out of the way, since the guy had a bucket full of beers that he likely intended to throw also. It wasn't until we got outside that we realized I had streaks of blood on my legs, from where small segments of glass lodged. It didn't hurt, although the little pieces of glass in my flip flops made the walk home uncomfortable. I'm hoping one of the bigger cuts leaves a scar; I believe the line "I got this during a bar fight in Guatemala" may be better than Micah's surfing wound story.
2. During Lent, the entire country celebrates. And they like to decorate with fruits and vegetables. We visited a church on Friday that, for that day only, converted the altar area and front of the church into a sea-like religious scene, including a cut-out horse and cart swimming in the cardboard waves and sea creatures made from pineapple. It was interesting and obviously very important as part of their traditional cultural celebration. On Sunday, there was a procession through the town that lasted 10+ hours. Men dressed in long purple robes carried wooden platforms with religious statues, and they marched through streets drowned in flowers and colored sand to look like carpet. There was also an obscene amount of amazing food; on Sunday, we ate (combined) a taco-like item, tortilla with beets, carne sandwich, more deep fried goodness, plantains, two chalupas, another sandwich with cut up hot dog chunks in it, churros and strawberries covered in chocolate. We have officially gained any weight lost in the past month.
3. While walking around a mercado (local market), we found a stand selling empañadas. Micah bought two, one filled with leche, which is milk but really wasn't milk and was more like pudding, and one filled with pineapple which was muy delicioso. His empañada count is now up to an astounding 59 for this trip. (For those that don't know, Micah kept track of how many empañadas he ate while traveling South America. He impressively met his goal of 200 in 7 months).
Which one is not entirely true? Winner can buy a plane ticket and come visit us.
With the exception of the above, the week has consisted of hearing, speaking and living español. We moved in to our house on Thursday after our first day of class. We opted to do a home stay for the week, to immerse ourselves in more spanish, to eat homemade, local food and because the price was good ($160 for both of us, room and 3 meals a day included for the week; 20 hours of class for each of us added $185 more). Our house is a bit different than the others; we live in a detached student home, as compared to others that actually live with a family and sit down to eat each meal together. We eat with two other students, one from Greece and another from France, both whose spanish greatly exceeds our abilities. I have never in my life felt shy until I ate dinner with people who speak a different language. Maria, the lady that comes to cook and clean, sits down and converses with us for dinner also. I've gotten slightly better in the week, because now when someone asks me a question, I don't look frantically at Micah with big, scared eyes. I actually try to answer. Which usually no one understands and the conversation awkwardly moves on. The food has been fantastic, ranging from eggplant to salads to fresh squeezed juice. I've been able to finish maybe half the meals because of the generous, American-like portions that Maria serves.
Class is in the morning at a large garden, from 8 until noon with a 30 minute break in the middle. It is one on one, and there is minimal English spoken; Micah doesn't even know if his maestra speaks English. After about 3.5 hours, my brain hurts and I want to climb under the table. It has been very beneficial for me, building my confidence in attempting to speak a language I have no experience with, and I can understand it much better. Micah is much more advanced and is now learning to speak in past tense. I am still learning words and how to put a sentence together. I learned that the Spanish word for excited is "emocionada" and not "excite" like I guessed when I told my teacher "yo estoy excite para la comida" to her question of what I was looking forward to about my home stay. I thought I was saying "I am excited about the food." She laughed as she told me "excite" means aroused.
Our last day of class is today, we're partaking in salsa dancing lessons tonight, then we have some birthday celebrating to do on Wednesday. There are a few volcanoes close to here that we're hoping to climb later this week, after we get kicked out of our house on Thursday. And then eventually, we'll head out of this cute, happening little town and make our way towards a lake for some relaxation.
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Feliz cumpleaños a mi hermano!
ReplyDeleteReally, really enjoy your blogs and pictures. Can't imagine having you gone for a year and not knowing anything about what you are doing. Both of you write so well. Forgot to tell you Happy Birthday Micah. Love you both. Mom
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