Another week in Antigua and if it weren't for Easter and the popularity of Semana Santa (Holy Week), I would move on but I must resist. I will be here for another 2 weeks until just after Easter. Cuaresma (lent) is a huge deal here with people visiting from all over the world to see processions in the street, really parades with people dressed in purple robes carrying crosses, etc. on their backs all to music and incense that completely clouds over the volcanoes. So I've decided to stay on plus Ryan has decided to visit for almost a week just after spending Easter with his family in San Antonio!!
So my Spanish is certainly improving, however, not as quickly as I'd like. I'm sure it doesn't help that I ask my teacher not to give me homework!!! In my defense, I'm always participating in the activities and I've taken up yoga here. One class was only in Spanish, a great way to learn new words such as breathe deep!! The deal is there are so many foreigners in Antigua that it's difficult to not speak English. It gets frustrating when you're only able to communicate in basic sentences. Learning another language is very humbling for me as I'm such a communicator. I can understand quite a lot but speaking it is a whole other matter..... I've moved on to other tenses besides the present which is a huge step for me! Another student wants to sell t-shirts saying:
Live life in the present (tense)
Learn Spanish!
You can certainly tell an amateur speaker (like me) when they only speak in the present tense!!
This past weekend I went out of the country: to Honduras!! A country I never thought I'd ever visit.... Really just the border town to visit the Copan Ruins, my first Mayan site. The town was really small and quaint but super friendly people and less English was spoken! It was beautiful to see the vast changes in the landscape traveling through Guatemala through the desert and lush landscapes with palm trees, etc. The shuttle to Honduras was not fun at all though, it picked myself and a friend up at 4 am!! And we were the last ones on the shuttle so got stuck with jump seats for 6 hours through winding roads and crazy drivers!! Not to mention an unfriendly crowd except for a chico from England and a chica from Japan who we ended up splitting the cost of a tour guide and hanging out for meals together! It's amazing how fast you make friends when traveling. In the US, you'd never just meet someone and then hang out all weekend.....
I promise I'll stop writing so much and post pictures next!!
Que tengas buen dia, mis amigos!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Hola Chica! Sounds like you are having an awesome experience. We have neighbors on the corner from Hondorus and Ecador SP? They said they honeymooned around the mayan ruins. We are having dinner with them on Sat. and they are going to share the pics. The wife also lived in france for awhile so she speaks spanish, french and english. It is strange when we are over there she will be talking to us and then switch to spanish, and talk to her husband, Rob and I wonder if they don't want us to know what they are saying about us or is it just easier and faster for them to communicate. Last time we had dinner there they cooked us a very ethnic dinner, I had never had yucko plant before and some other new dishes. Send pic soon, i wil share them with ernesto and anna, maybe they will recognize where you are at! Love, meghan
Post a Comment