I’ve been here 2 weeks already!
Last week, we went to a jade factory and a macadamia nut farm with the Spanish school and there was a Christmas party. Unfortunately, there were only 6 students…but still a nice party!
Last Thursday, a posada came to the house of my host family – every night (untill Christmas) there is a small procession from one house to another with a Josef and Maria statue; A group of people walks along the street with lanterns and music instruments. When they get to the new house, they sing Christmas songs and bless the statue. After: fiesta with ponche (warm fruit drink) and tamales (a traditional meal with patatoes).
After some bar hopping Friday night, we got up early on Saturday to catch the bus to the Lago de Atitlan, specifically to Panajachel – a small town with lots of people trying to sell you stuff (and succeeding too…0.10 Euro for a bracelet, 0.50 for a necklace –qué buena). We found a language school here too for this week: where we’re studying every morning for 4 hours – muy bien! For christmas, we'll be around here somewhere and after, we'll go back to Antigua for more español and (hopefully) some volunteering.
Sunday, we went to Chichicastenango, since it was market day. Because we were a little scared of the chicken busses that way (lots of accidents), we decided to take a shuttle. We were all happy when the shuttle turned up (yeah, no scam!) and when there was no huge sign with Turismo on it (yeah – less chance of getting robbed!). However, then the driver kept saying the car had problems and we smelled something weird. Luckily, all went well and I guess he was able to fix his gear something during our stay in chichi…hurrah! The market was interesting, but there were so many people that walking was kind of difficult. Next to a hug market, there was a nice church with a mix of Catholicism and Maya religion, which made for an interesting altar with lots of colored lights.
Staying with a host family is definitely a good experience! Lots of conversations in slow Spanish with the host mom and lost of trying to understand her children speaking super fast (argh). The food in Guatemala is really good –lost of vegetables and all kinds of fruits (once again, that I don’t know the name of). I’m staying with a different host family now in Panajachel. Very interesting too: we don’t have any water from 4 pm!! Well, at least there are some electrical wires (argh) attached to the showerhead, so we can have a warm showers in the morning.
I hope everything is well in Olanda!!!
Merry Christmas everybody!!!!
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