Xela

We arrived in Xela (Mayan name for the town Quetzaltenango) on Friday evening after two wonderful nights at the Marriott. We thought we´d splurge for a first class bus ($2 more than the chicken bus) since it was a 5 hour ride and this way we wouldn´t have to change buses. We stayed in hostals for the first two nights and walked around a lot over the weekend. Xela has 4 major markets, we visited 2 of them on Saturday. One of them reminded me a lot of the markets in India (like in Santa Cruz West) becuase they´re selling fruits and veggies in stalls and on the ground, as well as clothes, plates, socks, toothpaste and all sorts of stuff. At the other market, we tried a drink, called Ponche, that was hot water with pieces of fruit and a little liquor, not great, but not bad.

Xela is the 2nd largest city in Guatemala, but it is relatively easy to walk around. (The only major problem being the pollution! Black clouds going into nostrils has got to be bad news.) We started classes at ICA on Monday. Both our teachers are young, still in university, a lot different from the school in Antigua. So far, we are enjoying these teacher and the teaching style more.

We are staying with an awesome family, super friendly and super talkative, which is great for practicing our Spanish. Oh ya, and it helps that they think we´re good, gives us a boost. We´re living with a mother and daughter. Her other 3 children are married and live close by so they come around often with the kids as well. The kids are all adorable, very talkative and so funny! His eyes are cross-eyed on purpose in the picture.

On Sunday, the whole family gets together. That was our first day there and they all made us feel so welcome. The food is good, more basic than in Antigua - huevos, frijoles, tortillas, plantains, fresh juices everyday as well as pastas and soups. We even tried Pepian - a traditional or typical meal from Guatemala. It is based on recado, a tomato, chillies and spices sauce, and some vegetables like potatoes and güisquil (chayote is the Mexican name and most people recognize by this name) along with either beef or chicken, but you can also eat it without meat. We even sit around the table for a while after lunch and dinner to just chat.

Yesterday, we went to a nearby town called Salcaja. It is famous for 3 things, 1. its traditional fabric. We saw the intricate process necessary to make the fabric, 2. for its ¨Caldo de frutas¨ which is a liquor made there (similar to sangria but the fruit is fermented for 4 months so it´s really strong) and 3. for the oldest church in Central America which is now only open for special occassions.

More to come on Xela as our visit continues.

Chicken Buses

What appears to be the most popular method of transportation in Guatemala is the Chicken Bus. They are old school buses from the states, probably sent down after they didn´t pass the emission standards anymore. They let out huge clouds of exhaust as they go by!

The drivers are also somewhat reckless. They turn corners like they are driving a sports car. Which means you can´t really ever get comfortable. Some of the drivers drive as if they are playing Mario Kart. We were sitting in the back seats of one Chicken Bus, going a cool 70 MPH on the winding roads of Guatemala and another Chicken Bus is tailgating us, honking it´s horn trying to pass us.

The seats are also uncomfortable, but are even less comfortable for someone 5´9¨or taller. I have had a tough time sitting straight for too long. And, because the buses are old, Ami and I watched a seat collapse two rows in front of us, while the two passengers sitting on the bench held on for dear life since seats are hard to come by once the bus fills up. When the bus does fill up, people just squeeze themselves in as a third person in the row. And when that fills up, someone else will sit in the gap between the two benches in the same row.

Having said all of the above, the chicken bus system is very efficient. We have transferred a number of times, and everyone knows which bag belongs to whom. Oh yeah, bigger bags are tied to the roof. So a local will climb the rear ladder and pass your bag down to you and simultaneously tell you where to go to catch your next bus. And when you turn around, there is usually a bus headed where you need to go. So, you just hop onto the next bus.

It's a backpacker's way to travel!

Ricky Martin

We went to Guatemala City from Panajachel to meet Reshma (childhood and family friend) and see her rock the show with Ricky Martin! We stayed at the Marriott with Reshma and pampered ourselves in the pool, jacuzzi, and eucalyptus steam room...fantastic!

The whole experience was first class all the way. Reshma is one of eight dancers in the show, we met a bunch of the dancers and band members, all really cool people. (We didn´t meet Ricky before anyone asks. It wasn´t important).

The concert was Thursday night at the Estadio Mateo Flores. When we arrived at the stadium, and we saw a HUGE V.I.P. sign. We looked at the sign, looked at our tckets, looked at each other and said, ´That´s us!´ We kept showing our tickets to the ushers and they kept pointing forward to the next usher. We were in virtually the front row. We met Reshma before the show started and she got us into the V.I.P. party (to the right of the stage). We ate sushi and drank good Guatemalan rum (18 year old and 12 year old Ron Butron) for 2 hours before the concert started.

The concert was a lot of fun. Ricky Martin is a fantastic entertainer, making up his dance moves as he goes along. Although I have to say, anytime Reshma was on stage, I was watching her.

Most of songs he sang were in Spanish and during the two songs in English, interestingly the crowd was quiet. He spoke in Spanish between songs, which was beautiful, although we didn´t understand a lot. We also got the exit cue from Reshma to beat the crowds. As the whole crowd shouted ¨Otra, Otra! (Encore)¨, we ran (literally because it was so fun to run at that point for some reason) out the stadium to catch a taxi. We got back a little before the dancers and band folks and hung out with some of them downstairs for a bit before going to bed (and waking up to another morning in the jacuzzi and eucalyptus steam room!)

MuJER

We met two amazing girls, Ana and Tania, in Guatemala City who started an organization called MuJER. They were introduced to us through a friend that met them at Manav Sadhna in India where they were all volunteering.

Sidenote - We took the bus from the Marriott to meet them. I (tried) to tell the bus driver to let us know when we got to Palacio Nacional (National Palace) where we were meeting them. We got off the bus when he told us to, walked the two blocks he told us to and found ourselves in front of the Policia Nacional (National Police) building. Umm..not exactly where we wanted to go, but we got lucky and the Palace was within walking distance. Gotta practice pronunciation!

Ana and Tania studied abroad in India and volunteered once a week at Manav Sadhna. After they graduated college, they wanted to do something meaningful. They had heard some news about these women in Guatemala on NPR and decided to come down and see if they could do something. So for two years, they have been working with women of ¨La Linea¨(the railrood tracks) in Guatemala City. The women there are marginalized sex workers, they charge among the lowest rates in Guatemala. Ana and Tania are teaching a group of 25-30 of these women how to read and write so they can empower themselves. Their motive is not to get these women out of their line of work, becuase for many of them it is their means of survival, but to educate, empower, and increase their self-esteem. If they do get out of the work, it is a bonus. They educated us on the grotesque murders of over 2,800 women in Guatemala since 2001. None of these stories make the news. They are organizing a conference on the Guatemalan Femicide in Los Angeles in March.

They were also nice enough to show us around a little. We took a tour of the National Palace. We saw the room where President Bush will be sitting with other delegates when he comes to visit Guatemala on March 10th. We walked around the central market, which is a maze of shops selling textiles, paintings, hammocks, clothes, etc., as well as fruits, veggies, spices, all types of food. Extremely colorful. Before we parted, they wanted to show us ¨La Linea¨. It is comprised of three blocks along the railroad tracks and they work with just one block (since it is only the two of them, they don´t have the resources to meet all of the women). We walked by one of the other blocks, so the women they work with would not feel like they were being exploited. It was a very unexpected site for us. Basically, it´s continuous one-story buildings on both sides of the tracks with open doors at every 5-6 meters that lead into rooms which these women work and sometimes live in.

We wish Ana and Tania all the best in their work. They are very inspiring and spirited young women.

Lago de Atitlan

After the Earth Lodge, we took the chicken buses to Panajachal, the main city in Lago de Atitlan (Lake). Panajachel reminds me a little of Goa. The main areas being touristy, but fun with shops selling clothes, jewelery, and other trinkets, cute restuarants, hotels and hostals and then at the end of it all is a beautiful body of water, in this case, a lake that was formed because of a collapsed volcano. The lake is absolutely gorgeous, turquoise blue waters with 3 volcanos surrounding it.

We took a small boat to another city on the lake, called San Marcos. San Marcos is a small lakeside town known for yoga, meditation, reiki, and massages. San Pedro is another town nearby known for its drugs and parties, but we´ve heard they have a pretty good Spanish school there. We found a really nice hostal in San Marcos and stayed there for two nights. We´re thinking about going back to do a massage course, in case you don´t know, I´ve been told I´m not very good at massages (I think my hands just aren´t strong enough) but I´m hoping they´ll have some techniques to show me.

We really just read, studied, and relaxed in San Marcos. Took in the beautiful views, put our feet in the water (a little too cold to swim in, but definitely next time), exercised and semi-meditated in the beautiful gardens in the mornings, and explored the small town and the restaurants in the evenings. It was a good relaxing couple of days before we thought it was going to get hectic...

Earth Lodge

The afternoon that we hiked the volcano, we went to the Earth Lodge for one night. The Earth Lodge is a quiet, peaceful, eco-friendly (you have to pay 5 Q for a hot shower) lodge outside of Antigua. It's about a 20 minute ride from Antigua, which we got to do in true Guatemalan style - in the back of an open pick-up truck. And you have to stand the whole time, because I think if you sit, your butt would have bruises. After the adventurous drive up the mountain, we had to walk down on a pathway further into the mountain where Earth Lodge is. (It was a very difficult hike back up to the road from Earth Lodge with our backpacks and at the high altitude - Phew!). They have a beautiful treehouse, but it was taken that night, so we stayed in the dorm-type cabin. The views are spectacular from this place! The cities seems so far away and the volcanos just make for gorgeous scenery.

We hung out in hammocks, read and studied a little, chilled out, watched Da Vinci Code, ate dinner with the owners and the other visitors. The owners are from the Bay Area and Canada and just wanted a change in lifestyle. The only complaint is the spiders, we saw two big ones, that we would have been just fine not seeing.

Volcan Pacaya

Last Sunday, we climbed up an active volcano. Three of the 33 volcanos in Guatemala are active. We left at 6am and got back around 1pm. The hike wasn't so bad, but that's probably because we had some kids with us and were taking lots of breaks, a blessing since we were at such high altitude. Our guide told us that there were red hot rocks falling from the mountain that day, so we wouldn't be able to go all the way to the crater. It's really interesting, the mountain is lush and green and beautiful until you get closer to the top of the volcano where it's all been burned and is black rock and ash. The most beautiful part for me was the stark contrast between the green and black of the mountain. We did see the black rocks falling with lots of red sparks, we saw a couple of areas that were pure red with lava, and we were able to see lava between the rocks that we were actually climbing and walking on.

It got really hot and humid as we got into the black ash area of the mountain. The guidebooks tell you many stories of robberies in the area, but it seems to be pretty safe. Could be another story at night.

Common Hope

We visited an NGO called Common Hope on Thursday afternoon. As part of the tour we visited San Pedro, one of the 14 towns. We visited a Common Hope school, a participating family's home, and the clinic and office of Common Hope. The organization just celebrated its 20th anniversary. It was started by a couple from Minnesota. They work with poor children and families in 14 different pueblos and towns surrounding Antigua in the fields of education, health care, and housing. They have certain requirements that classify a family as being "poor". Primary and secondary education in Guatemala is "free", but some families cannot even afford the uniforms and books that are required, so Common Hope pays for those. They also build homes for people and use a sweat-equity form of payment. A typical home would be paid off after about 200 or so hours of work for the organization. Since many of these people do not own the land under them, the homes are constructed to be easily mobile. They also have a clinic where families that are part of the program can be treated for a very small cost. They get their funds from large donations and a child sponsorship program.

Week 1 of Spanish

Hola!
A quick additional fact: The majority of towns and cities in Guatemala have a Central Park serving as the center of town. The Church is always on the east side of the Park.

We began our Spanish classes on Monday. We had 4 hours of class Monday thru Friday, from 8am to 12pm daily. In addition to the time in class, we probably studied atleast a few hours each day. We learned a lot of verbs, a lot of basic conversation tools, some verb tenses, and lots of vocabulary. Our teachers, Carmen and Olga were both really friendly, fun women with lots of interesting stories to share. The majority of the teachers only speak Spanish, and your classes are one on one. Therefore, you have no choice but to speak Spanish. It was the first week of classes, so the conversations were semi basic. To give you an example, I (Amir) was able to describe the Golden Temple to my teacher, Carmen. She was very appreciative of the knowledge, as she did not know anything about India. I (Ami) had a really funny moment with Olga. She was teaching me a word, hay, and she was saying what I swear sounded like "Hay, terir, terrar"-ok, something like that. So I asked her to repeat it probably 3 times and I tried to say it back to her to understand what she meant. All of a sudden, she started laughing hysterically and pulled out a piece of paper to write, "Hay - There is. There are." We had a good laugh over that. Overall, the instruction approach was thorough, but not overwhelming.

Several students, mostly from the US, come to Antigua to study Spanish. We were able to meet several fellow students. Some had been studying for several weeks straight and were pretty good. A few of them had no background in Spanish, so we were impressed and excited about our potential to learn during the course of our travels and classes.

We also learned our first salsa moves on Wednesday. The school organized for salsa lessons to be provided, so a salsa instructor came and taught us the basics. We practiced the moves for an hour and a half! It was really fun, but it will be so much fun once we're good at it! But we have to start somewhere!

We hiked up to la Cruz, the Cross, with our friends at another school. The views of Antigua and Volcano Agua were beautiful. In years past, they had a lot of robberies against foreigners in that area, so since then, they have police up there all the time, and haven't had any problems since. We were also escorted by the town's tourist police.

As for accomodations, we stayed with a family for the entire week, which was great. The madre de la casa was Dona Dora, a cute, elderly lady who made us feel right at home. She would laugh with us at our mistakes, but was patient and fun to talk to. We ate all our meals there for the week - breakfast at 7 am, lunch at 12:15 and dinner at 6 pm. Some mornings we would have just fruit, which although may be good for you, is not filling on its own. Lunch and Dinner was traditional home cooked Guatemalan food. The portions were healthy (more on that later), and overall, the comida was great. It also was great to be able to unpack for a while and settle in.

My favorite food story with the host family was with meal portions. Trust me, she knew who could eat! One evening she made sandwiches...sounds plain, but they were really good. She had just finished making them as 4 of us, including Ami and myself, walked into the dining room. She was bringing the plates for Ami and another student into the dining room while I was walking towards the kitchen to wash my hands. As she was giving Ami and our housemate their plates (one sandwich per plate), I saw a plate with two sandwiches. I smiled ear to ear and grabbed the plate and walked with it back into the dining room. She pointed at me and said "Si". I knew it was for me and said "Muchas Gracias", still maintaining the big smile. Everyone shared a laugh. I was just happy to have enough food. Thank you Senora!

Pictures to come soon with the above text. Before having a picture taken, they yell out Whisky! My kind of country. Sounds much better than cheese.

Antigua

As you can probably tell, we have some down time on our hands, thus two entries in one day! Don´t worry, the pace will slow. We thought we would describe some of the local Antigua scene. Antigua is very touristy. Many foreigners come here to study Spanish, thus a whole scene has developed that caters to people like ourselves. There are many restaurants, bars and great places to shop. But, many things are extremely affordable when compared to the states.

The Guatemalan currency is called the Quetzal (Q). The conversion is approximately 7.6 Q to $1 U.S. To give you an idea of cost, our average nightly stay has been about 90Q, roughly $11-$12, for both of us. Our average dinner has been around 60Q, or $8, for both. Keep in mind we are being budget conscious, but nothing crazy, so we could find cheaper. There have recently been a run on the banks, so cash was hard to come by. Since we have arrived we have not had any problem withdrawing cash. And, most places, well actually no places have taken credit cards yet.
As for the food, tostadas and tortillas are a local delicacy. If you purchase from street vendors, it costs 6-9Q for one. They are extremely filling and come with all the trimmings (cheese baked within the tortilla, salsa, guacamole, beans, lettuce, onions) and they are cooked fresh in front of you. You can also pick up 3 tacos (with all the trimmings) for 10Q. Here is a sample of what we ate. The drink is a hot drink made of corn.

The town of Antigua is pretty small, mostly centered around 6 streets, running north to south, and 6 avenues, running east to west. All the streets are cobblestone. There are 3 volcanoes near the town, with one still active.

Transportaton within the town. You can get around very easily on foot and YUP, they have rickshaws! All the streets in Antigua are cobblestoned. Very cute and picturesque, but not quite so fun to walk on.The locals are very nice. The indigenous Mayans, who live in villages set in the mountains, come down often to sell goods at the markets. No one speaks English, so it has been a great way to pick up some Spanish preceding our classes. The culture is very colorful and cheerful.

Fireworks, Hostal Stay & Spanish Classes

During our first day exploring Antigua, we met this very sweet lady, Nancy, while we were wandering the streets. Let me be clear on how we met her. We looked like lost tourists trying to find our way and this lady approached us and said, ´Hablas Ingles.´My response was a big ´Si.´She answered the many questions we threw at her and invited us over to her apartment. She is living in Antigua for a total of 2 plus months, just focusing on improving her Spanish and enjoying life. Well, among the numerous topics we discussed, she warned us of one Guatemalan tradition. Guatemalans celebrate their birthdays at the exact time of birth and with FIREWORKS! So, she warned us not to be surprised when fireworks went off at numerous times of the night. Let´s just say fireworks went off non-stop ALL evening, but luckily we were exhausted from our first day of travel and were able to fall asleep. I imagine the fireworks went on all night.

The next night we decided to stay in a hostal for one night. Again, while wandering the streets, we were referred to this place called El Gato Negro (The Black Cat). We were still somewhat exhausted from the travels and adjusting to sleeping in lumpy beds, so we spent minimal time searching for the next night´s resting spot. The place had great breakfast included, as well as free internet, so we were sold. Our room was a dorm like setting, as we shared the room with 4 others. The hostal was all Gringos. We thought since our Spanish was still basic, it would be good to talk to other travelers and get some input on things to do, places to go, etc.

During our second day exploring the city, we decided on a Spanish school, Francisco Marroquin. The link provides an excellent description of the school and the surrounding setting where we will be studying. We will be moving in with our host family on Sunday and staying with them for the entire week we are studying.

We're Here!

So after two delayed flights, riding the local bus in Guatemala City, walking with our heavy backpacks, taxing to the bus terminal, and riding the camioneta to Antigua, we're finally here! Exhausted, but enjoying every minute. We've checked out a handful of Spanish schools and will decide where to start studying on Monday.

Initial Thoughts

Ami and I are off to Guatemala today! We are beyond excited with the experiences that await us. Our destination is Guatemala City (the capital). We arrive at 5:30 in the morning, and will head out almost immediately to Antigua, home of at least our first week of Spanish immersion classes.

With this entry, I would like to share some initial thoughts before embarking on our latest adventure. We have received numerous questions leading up to this day. We have loved receiving these questions because it has made us think more and more about why we are going on this trip. Here are a sample of the questions:
- Why are you going to Central America?
- What are you going to do down there?
- Where are you going to stay?

All the questions are valid. We are going to Central America because we can. We have decided to enjoy each second of our life to the fullest. We both have always had a strong desire to learn Spanish and to travel, so why not go to a Spanish speaking region of the world to be immersed in the language and to travel and explore at the same time. We also realize that as more time goes by, it will be more challenging to incorporate these desired experiences into our lives. So, why not now!?! As for where we will stay....EVERYWHERE :) We are going to go with the flow, and hopefully explore the seven countries that make up the region. We have realized that our lives have been pretty structured until now, and we felt the need to be as open-ended as possible. We will take one day, one week at a time.

We have also been asked the following question numerous times:
- When are you going to 'South America'? I threw this question in to provide a geography lesson :). Here is a map of Central America, where we will exploring for the next 5 months.

We also wish everyone the best with their endeavors over the next 5 months and look fwd to staying connected while we are down there!