JJ's Travelogue

A few observations as I wait for the barber shop to open up..

Make sure you read the comment from Clair under “First day at language school” – he writes about this town 20 years ago. Wow, how it must have changed! I asked my teacher about La Ultima Cena restaurante, and he said he thinks it’s still there, but wouldn’t necessarily recommend eating there (as one would guess from the name!)

The temperature fluctuates at least 20 degrees throughout the day, which is a real p.i.t.a. I’m constantly wishing i had either more or less clothes on, or with me.

My request to change teachers for next week went over well. My current teacher agreed – I suspect he was as frustrated as I was! In the end, I was pretty sick of his impatient attitude. I already feel better. I chose a woman (by nature more patient? Terrible generalization, I know) who a fellow student recommended. She said they just talk, and occasionally even go on outings in the town.

I’ve signed up for a hike up the volcano tomorrow, leaving at 6 am! However, it’s not sure to go – it needs a minimum of 5 people, and currently there are only 3 of us signed up. Rain, too, could cancel the hike.

I’ve learned that the kids go to school in two shifts: the younger ones in the morning, and the older ones in the afternoon. So my 11-year old sister has breakfast when I do, around 7:15 each day, while her 13-year old sister sleeps in. Around mid-day, it’s like the shifts changing in a factory town – you see all the kids out in the streets, trading places. It also means that the older ones are walking home at night with no streetlights, which feels odd but I guess it’s normal for them. [It gets dark at about 6:30 or 7:00p each day]. I assume the shifts are because they only have so much room and/or teachers at the school. The older one got in trouble last night because she got a really bad grade on an important test in natural sciences. Mom was pretty bummed out.

A typical day for me: It gets light around 5:30 or 6, and by that time things are going – construction, cooking, cleaning. Crazy people. I get up about 6:45, wash up, go downstairs for breakfast. So far it’s been: granola w/ yogurt, pancakes, cereal, or cream of wheat. They don’t have much in their cupboards or refrigerator. Not many fresh things, either (milk, for example, is powdered. so i’ve learned to take my coffee black with sugar), except there are always bananas and avocados around. I have bananas cut up into every breakfast meal. They’re much smaller than the ones in the States. We also cut up avocado into most lunch and dinner meals – yum! I never knew how good avocados could be in soup, for example. Mom also puts lime into a lot of things, which really adds a great flavor – to soup, salad, etc. The family doesn’t have a dining table, and never eats all together (even dinner), which surprised me.

Around 7:45, I head to school. A pleasant 10 minute walk. Grab a cup of joe (which is generally strong and good everywhere), and meet my teacher down by the lake for our lessons. Bang my head against some grammar for two hours, then we take a short break. Chat with other students, buy a snack from a local woman, then head back to learning. At 12 noon we knock off, and I head home for lunch. Lunch seems to be the biggest meal of the day. Today mom made a wonderful soup w/ rice and chicken in a tomato and chile base. Other days it’s been fried potatoes with salad (mostly iceberg, with some tomatoes and cukes), some kind of pasta with red sauce, etc. Generally hearty but simple.

At this point, I walk around town, go to a internet cafe, run errands, etc. Generally try my best to avoid doing my homework. Tuesday thru Thursdays, there is an optional “conversation club” at the school, which consists of a few of us sitting around with a teacher, chatting in Spanish. Or failing miserably, in my case. This has been helpful to me, although I’m sure painful to the other, more advanced students. Then at 6 pm on those days, there is a different activity at the school. On Tuesday we saw a quasi-documentary film (“Las Cruces”, with English subtitles) about a town during the so-called civil war in the 80′s. I say so-called because it was really the U.S. government, under the direction of the United Fruit Company that started, and financed, the atrocities. The Guatemalans would not have turned on each other if the U.S. hadn’t pressured them to, just as in Nicaragua and the rest of Centro America.

Anyway.. Wednesday was salsa lessons, which i did not partake in. I thought i might build up the courage, but in the end chickened out. It was pretty busy, just about all the students (15 or 20) were packed in there. Last night was a talk by one of the survivors of the war – he was kidnapped and took two bullets. Witnessed a lot of hell, I think a couple of his family members were “disappeared”. Unfortunately I didn’t understand a word he said, so I left at a certain point.

After the activities, I head home for supper. Again, it’s usually just me sitting at the kitchen counter with mom and maybe one of the girls. Haven’t seen much of dad, and I finally asked why – he drives a tourist bus like the one I took here, so he’s often gone for long stretches between cities.

After dinner, I retire to the patio outside my room and dig into my homework. Last night it took me three hours to write about 50 sentences, and I don’t think I retained much – as witnessed by the verbal test I got this morning. Thus my need to change teachers.

I usually crash around 10pm, maybe watch a bit of a movie on the iPhone first, or read a bit. As you can imagine from my schedule, it’s been fairly lonely.. so I’m looking forward to this weekend. I’ll try to hit up some of the local bars and actually interact with people.

Here are a couple more photos of this town.

I have no idea

On my way to school

Girl with mom´s weavings