Hola,
Well, we managed to not go up the volcano again last Saturday...for the second time the bus just didn't show up. Its nothing personal - our new friends Karen and John from Miami had arranged to go the following morning, at 6am, and they got stood up as well. We're speculating that maybe there is no volcano, just a lot of fraudulent travel agents and gullible tourists....

In fact we seem to be jinxed on activities lately. Last Thursday our hill walk was rained off. On Friday we just arrived at the 5-a-side football match when the heavens opened and we all got soaked to the bone. Ironically, there was a river running down our street when we got home, but no water in our apartment for most of the weekend. This level of rainfall is unusual for Antigua, something to do with deforestation.

We have had some interesting cultural experiences, though. Every Saturday afternoon a Charismatic Catholic group hold a 2-hour service in our building - there's a lot of singing, laying on of hands, public confessions, that sort of thing. We were also invited to a Baptism 'fiesta' last weekend (it would be rude not to after they installed a sound system loud enough to shake the whole building outside our bedroom door). These family parties are big (40 or more friends and relatives) and loud but not in any way wild. There's no alcohol for a start, and everyone over 18 has at least one 'nino' (small child) in tow. It is not unusual for girls to get married at 15 or even younger, and they start breeding immedietely. One local couple have 18 children! Needless to say, the fact that Richard and I are practically middle aged and childless is a topic of much incredulous discussion.

Anyway, back to our verb conjugations, until next week,
Jakki

Buenas noches,
Well, we didn't get to go up the volcano as there was a bit of a mix-up... we'd arranged to be picked up at 1pm on Sunday(we thought) but the minibus arrived at 6am. Needless to say we weren't ready to face the day, let alone a 5 hour mountain hike, so we hid under the duvet until they gave up banging on the door and went away. We'll try again on Saturday.

In fact its been a bad week for excursions - everything has been rained off. We found out today that it is actually Winter in Guatemala, does that mean we are south of the Equator? Shameful to be so ignorant of a country we have lived in for 3 weeks. Does explain the damp, musty, chilliness though. We've used up 2 whole bottles of Fabreze on our apartment already. Meanwhile, England is sweltering in a tropical heatwave. Typical!

Spanish is going well. There are many similarities with English and French but also some strange anomalies. For example, Spain has 2 verbs for 'to be', one for so-called permanent states and one for temporary conditions. Interestingly, your job is considered permanent, but death is temporary...I'm not sure which is more disturbing.

Spanish is also full of peculiar idioms and 'false friends', words or phrases that sound like something in English but mean something entirely different. What do you think 'estoy embarazada' means? 'I'm embarassed', perhaps? Nooooo, it means 'I am pregnant'. Obviously.

So although there are aspects of this language which makes it a pleasure to learn, it is also clear that even if we study 10 hours a day for the next 6 weeks we will still be a long, long way from being fluent. Advanced beginners at best. But we remain positive, our plans have not changed - I applied for 8 teaching jobs in Spain this week and although I am still waiting for a response from any of them, I am hopeful. Please keep your fingers and toes crossed for me!
Adios, hasta manana,
Jakki

Buenas tardes!
End of our second week at the Centro Linguistico Internacional in Antigua. Our language skills are definetely improving. We can now converse in Spanish in most simple situations - albeit slowly. 'Mas despacio, por favor' (more slowly, please) is our most useful phrase.

Unfortunately we have found ouselves in some complicated situations this week e.g. 'we seem to have a nest of biting termites living in our bedroom window frame, please can you exterminate them?'

Also, yesterday we went on an activity which we thought was a visit to the hot springs, but turned out to be a demonstration of Mayan traditional handicrafts. It was OK but lasted 2 hours, narrated in Spanish. It wasn't the most interesting afternoon we've had - but marginally better than the visit to the jade factory which we thought was going to be a modern art museum. No more activities until we have enough Spanish to find out exactly what these activities involve.

We did have our first experience of a chicken bus, though. These are decommissioned US school buses, painted bright colours and fitted out with speakers. They are called chicken buses because you can bring anything on them as long as it fits - backpacks, food, animals, mattresses etc. They're suprisingly comfortable but desembarking from the back door requires assistance if you are over 25.

Its our first wedding anniversary today, so to celebrate, we're going out to a Lebanese restaurant tonight (providing we can find it again). Whenever we've walked past, we've seen customers inside smoking these big hookahs and looking very relaxed. I'm sure they aren't smoking anything remotely narcotic...but there's always hope.

Volcano climbing on Sunday, although I'm considering pony assistance on the way up, at least.
Have a great weekend,
J XX

Hola again,
This language business is getting a bit harder now. Had new teacher, Karina, yesterday. Could understand about 10% of what she said. Know we've only been here a week but frustrating as, if anything we seem to be going backwards. We managed to get here from Mexico with just a trusty phrasebook, but when cook asked us today what we wanted for lunch we couldn't figure out what the hell she was talking about.

Having a cook is not as grand as it sounds - everyone who works has a maid, apparantly, as they have big families but no labour-saving appliances such as washing machines, freezers, food processors etc. The school employs a cook and a cleaner who cater to the teachers, us and the other 5 student residents. We have lunch cooked for us at the school but we either make or buy our own dinner - made Chilli con Carne at the weekend - huge success.

However, we won't be bringing home many Guatamalan receipes. The food is palatable but not very exciting - usually a bit of boiled meat or fish in soup with rice served with tortillas. And beans, of course. However, the world famous avocados here really are to die for - Antiguans eat so many they are sometimes called 'green-bellies' (but presumably not by their friends) . They also make the most refreshing 'licuados', fruit drinks that are so tasty they are almost a viable replacement for cocktails and wine. Almost.

Salsa is....well, lets just say its another steep learning curve. We had a different teacher this week, Paulo. He refused to explain anything in English but was clearly exasperated when eight out of ten students class fell over their own feet on every turn. At least its not just us. We will persevere!
Laters,
J XX

Hola!
End of our first week at Spanish School. We have made considerable progress - today we started level B in the textbook which means we have the conversational skills of a 5 year old. We're enjoying the lessons (despite feeling like brain has been through spin cycle 20 times after class). May have to do more practice if we are to be fluent by the time we go and live in Spain this September.

Have met a few other students, mainly young Americans brushing up on their studies. Also families. A bizarre way to spend a family holiday, but seems popular. There are other things to do here apart from Spanish; salsa dancing, horse-riding, hiking up volcanoes, visiting indigenous tribes, Mayan ruins and coffee plantations, museums, art galleries, voluntary work etc. Needless to say we haven't explored any of these activities yet, apart from salsa. Spare time filled with World Cup and exploring numerous bars and restaurants (in Antigua all roads and buildings look identical, and have random numbering system, so finding same place twice is a challenge, especially when tipsy).

Antigua is very beautiful place though - quaint cobbled streets, beautiful scenery - not used to being surrounded by huge volcanoes. Handicrafts big here. Mayan culture seems similar to hilltribes of Thailand and Tibet. Have already purchased obligatory handwoven bag and purse, so look very ethno, much to Richard's disgust. Will buy him wooden flute and beads for anniversary present next week - hahaha!
Adios for now,
Jakki

Well, salsa lesson was fun, but fair to say we won't be entering any competitions just yet. Very different to usual dancing technique i.e. getting drunk and waving arms in the air. Have to hold hands with partner! Sweaty palms embarassing for all concerned. This is why I never took up salsa classes - plus having 2 left feet. Never mind, we are both looking forward to next week's lesson (and I think teacher Roberto can hardly wait, either...)

Learning Spanish is also suprisingly enjoyable. Only 3 days so far and we can both manage a basic conversation - 'hello, what is your name? what is your job? etc. Still need phrasebook for most common situations - which bars are showing the football? Aren't Germany rubbish? Can I have 2 bottles of Sol beer and a packet of doritos, please?

Got to go and practice me verbs,
Hasta luega! J

Survived childrens birthday party without getting involved in any humiliating party games, including 'smash the stuffed paper donkey with sticks until all the sweets fall out' - suprisingly violent game for both children and adults, culminating in a rather disturbing feeding frenzy. Have instead been adopted by friendly American lady, Jenny, who scared us witless with warnings about live volcanoes, food poisening and bandits. Wonder if conversation revealed more about Jenny than Antigua. Hope so, anway.

First Spanish lesson this morning was, erm, humbling. Luckily, both Richard and I are equally incompetent. We were worried at first about teacher, Anjelica, but lesson became much clearer when she took the chewing gum out of her mouth. Also learned a lot about family structure in Guatemala - they have huge extended families and can remember the names and ages of all their relatives, including offspring of cousins and in-laws. We got stuck on straightfoward cousins, aunts and uncles. Shameful.

Salsa lesson starts in half an hour - sure they will go better.
Laters, J

So, here we are in Antigua, Guatamala. Took 23 hours travelling on various buses from Cancun - only slightly stressful as Richard wanted to be here for the England-Portugal game.

Arrived 7am, 3 hours to spare. No sign of a bar, or anything open for that matter. All buildings look the same - brightly coloured, one-storey concrete blocks with wooden shutters and doors. We wander deserted streets lugging backpacks, looking for signs of life. Finally find cafe-bar with TV. Phew. Order breakfast - bizarrely our omelets turn up with refried beans (suprisingly tasty brown sludge) and fried bananas. Welcome to Guatemala...

Less said about the football the better.

Later we checked into our Spanish school. Secretary v. friendly but bit suprised we have no Spanish whatsoever. How have we survived so far in Central America? I wave trusty phrasebook. She doesn't seem particularly impressed.

We've signed up for 4 hours of tuition per day plus 'activities', which include salsa lessons on Monday evenings. Richard dubious. Potential for embarassment is high, us being English and therefore socially inept. Guatemalans are friendly, gregarious and like to party. We've already been invited to a birthday bash - the school director's son is one years old today and the whole extended family were putting out balloons and bunting at 10pm last night.


Adios for now,
J