Guatemala - 2011

Day 2 - July 13 - First Day

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I am in different room this year because they have four boarders right now (they are full up). I think they room they have me in is actually one of the daughter's rooms because there are two armoires that are locked and some of the stickers seem teenager-ish. Maria decorated the room with two hand made posters and balloons for my birthday. Very fun.

 

As I type I am sitting on the second floor balcony and listening to the sound of Antigua. I say this because just now I heard a young boy yelling something. I immediately recognized it. It sounds like “Amanda! Aqui!” I'm sure that is incorrect. It must be a vendor or something. Amazing how places have their signature smells, feels, and sounds.

 

Just as with Maria Elsa, the first sight of Hugo was great. He's such a good teacher and good person!

We started in Maria Elsa's living room for a while and it is obvious that my Spanish has slipped. Hugo says that when I left I was around a 8 or 9 out of 10 and now I'm at a 6 or 7. I didn't sleep well last night because my brain was switching over to Spanish, remembering and translating words located somewhere deep within.

Here we are at a permanent store at the side of the Mercado (the market [which is NOT permanent]). Last year there were only a few times that I needed a cell phone, but they were pretty important. So, I decided that I should have one. These two happy chaps helped me buy a cell phone mas barato (cheap). It was about $25 and came with 55 minutes. The number is on the door to the battery.

Here is Maria (Concita), my morning teacher from last year. She is now working 8 to 8 every day at a hostel. She says it is a good job (Hugo agrees). The price for a room? 50Q (Quetzales [also the name of the elaborate national bird], which is about $6 or $7 per night!

 

 

 Here is Yoli, who works for a travel agency. She arranges my travel to and from the airport and any other trips I should desire around Guatemala. She is the biggest surprise this year. She is much more mature and professional and in command of her work. And her outfits show the same. I also didn't remember that her Spanish is VERY easy to understand. The three of us spent a couple of hours talking about Guatemala, travel ideas, the US, computers, etc. I think that her level of English is very similar to my level of Spanish. She knows the words, but still translates word by word (instead of by phrases) and has an issue with confidence.

Loros.

Conchita came to the house after work to talk with me and Maria Elsa. Turns out that Conchita has been so busy that she hasn't seen Elsa in almost a year. The two loros (parrots) talked for about an hour as I seemed to be at a tennis match, moving my head back and forth trying desperately to comprehend. They talk SO FAST!!, though I am catching more than last year in these situations. I have had several occassions where I'v tried to follow conversations. It is a good challenge for my ears and I actually am enjoying it.

After Conchita left, I went to my old haunt, Pollo Campero, for fast Internet. Trying to lose weight, I bought only a bottle of water. I used Skype and downloaded a program I needed for my computer.
I forgot to load the program I need to make webpages.
I have the image of the CD on my harddrive but I can't read it. I was surprised that it took only a few seconds.

One other funny story. I was talking about Mt. Rainier with Elsa and she didn't know the words glacier, geyser, and iceberg. (Geyser because she thought that was what a glacier was.) I was able to find pictures on the Internet.

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