Well I have now been in school and with my family for 2 weeks and thought I´d share a few stories and experiences of what I’ve been up to!
This is a typical sign in every chicken bus ´Jesus Guide my Path’
My School – Proyecto Linguistico Quetzalteco de Español
The school I’m at is unique in that it is the only school that I’ve heard of that combines the Spanish learning experience with an understanding of Guatemalan history and issues still existing today, as well as providing a diverse range of activities for students to participate in when school´s out!!
Each week we have a minimum of 2 speakers come to the school to give lectures on various issues, for example this week we had an ex-guerilla come to speak about his experiences in fighting for the rights of the people during the civil war in the 80s and early 90s where thousands of indigenous people were killed by the army under control of the then Government.
Each day i have 5 hours of study from 8am until 1pm and then in the afternoon there´s activities to participate in which is awesome and keeping me really really busy!! The teachers here are fantastic and class passes with lots of laughing and talking and currently I’m reading Harry Potter in Spanish as well!!
Here is the website of my school which i really recommend if you want to study spanish at some point! http://www.plqe.org/
Waiting to catch a pick up truck up to the baths in a little village.
Quetzaltenango or Xela (pronounce Shay-La) – The city where I’m living!
Well the first thing I have to mention is that the weather in Xela is crazy, because the city is at an altitude of 2,333 m it is absolutely freezing at night but unbelievably hot during the day, in the 30 degree mark. Whereas at night it’s been below zero – sooooo cold!! And none of the houses have heating of course, one night I had on all my thermals, 2 pairs of socks, a beanie, all my jumpers, as well as 3 blankets and I was still so crazy cold! So the next night i asked the mother in my house ¿Hay otra chamara para Tamara? – so i now have another ultra thick blanket … so the cold is more bearable.
The city is great, very colonial but plenty of great places to go out and also sit and have a coffee without a big city feel. Everything is within walking distance which is great.
The House of the Maldonados – I have the upstairs area
My Family – The Maldenados
I have a truly fabulous family that loves muchas bromas (many jokes) and so our meal times are always spent laughing and joking and so hopefully my ´Spanish personality´is also developing ! In the beginning I was finding it really hard to feel like me when speaking Spanish because it is difficult to express your true personality in a new language, but with the help of the Maldenados I think i’m well on the way!!
My family comprises 5 people plus a dog (Pulga!) who I haven´t seen move further than 5 steps at once and spends her day lying on the couch mostly! The father (Fausto) is the main joker of the house, along with Gladis (the mother), their 2 daughters (Tahina and Susie) and Susie´s 4 year old daughter Nereida! So meal times are quite boisterous as your can imagine.
The family is determined to find me a boyfriend during my time in Guatemala and are quite keen for me to apply to go on a puerta rican TV show called ‘Doce Corazónes’ (12 hearts) that is a bit of a perfect match type show that Fausto watches every day at midday. They think my name on the show should be ‘La Cangura'(the kangaroo!). Everyone in Guatemala is fascinated with Kangaroos and it is always the first question I get asked when i meet someone, ´do you have a kangaroo?´ So … they are currently in search of future options and are always quizzing me about the new guapo chicos at the school each week – if nothing else, it makes for highly amusing meal times!
My House and the Water/Electricity Dilemna!
The Maldonados have a great house and I luckily have an upstairs granny flat that is a really large bedroom with my own bathroom, desk, couch etc!! I definitely living in a hotel compared to some of the other students at the school. Every day I spend 10 minutes in the morning trying to make my bed perfectly as Gladis always tries to remake it while i´m school each day, she always manages to perfect my attempt much to my embarrassment! I also have the best decorated bathroom i have every seen – refer to the picture below!!
Demonstrating the lethal combination of electricity and water!
The most interesting and quirky item in a Guatemalan house is definitely the shower. Guatemalans have developed a unique showering apparatus whereby the water is heated for a shower only in the actual shower head itself (refer to picture). So above your head in the shower is a tonne of wires (some of them seemingly live wires hanging around) and the water is only heated as it goes through the shower head. Even not being a very scientific person, I am well aware that water and electricity is a lethal combination. One of the girls at school always wears rubber shoes in the shower just in case she gets a shock! Luckily i haven´t had a shock yet but every day I shower with trepidation!!
Living with a family is great but also quite rigid as meal times are lunch at 1pm (lunch is the main meal of the day) and then dinner is at 7pm – but i’m getting used to it! The food is fantastic, lots of beans, chicken, salad and fruit, definitely a much healthier diet than I had in London!
School Exercusions
The school has an excursion almost every day which is great. The highlights have been Fuente Georginas (natural hot spring baths high up in the mountains that were divine), Fiesta in Chicilaja (every town has a fiesta once a year, and this town has this traditional where people dress up in masks – see the photos below- and dance around with beers while everyone looks on!), Walking the path of the guerrilla (there was a civil war in Guatemala for many years and with an ex-guerrillero, we walked the paths they walked in the mountains and heard all about life as a guerrillero for his years fighting the army), El Baul and the huge slippery slides (crazy slides at the top of the hill overlooking Xela which we played on until I thought I might put a hole in my only pair of trousers!) and The Largest Mayan markets in Central America (here you could buy anything and everything. I was tempted by the 5 pigs all strung up together but not sure my host mum would want them. The name “Chicken Bus” certainly holds true on market day where you could see any animal riding the bus into or out of town!)
At the biggest market in Latin America – the pigs I bought!
Anyway, there is so much more I could say, but will give more of an update on other activities next time. Am off to salsa class and then am climbing the highest volcano in Central America!
Playing on these massive slides on one of the school trips. The slides are at the top of the mountain behind the city ‘El Baul’
Amazingly hot natural pools that we bathed in!
Doing the walk of the Guerillas – with Maggie taking a break during the walk.
A fiesta in Chichilaja – all the people wear masks and dance around with beer!
The amount of american things in Guatemala is incredible. This photo captures a Mayan woman in traditional dress with a USA towel on her arm!
A typical sight in the villages is corn drying by hanging outside the houses
Tamara's Travel Blog 