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The end of Guatemala!
Its been an amazing, intense, hardworking, diverse and colourful 10 weeks here. Antigua´s become my home and its such a strange concept to be leaving. I have adored learning Spanish, and am now considered ´advanced´ according to a certificate, however this can be very hard to believe when you hear me speak!
So in the last (almost) three months, what have I done? Well...
- I climbed a volcano, which infact was the HARDEST climb around here, a fact the guide forgot to mention when advertising it! A challenge met and completed, but something I would never want to put myslef through again. Unfortunately for me, its top of Nicks list of must do´s in Panama so watch this space for more horrendous tales of volcanos!
- I visited Lake Atitlan, one of the 7 nature wonders of the world. Absolutely stunning!!! Very blue and very big! We stayed in the hippie capital of Guatemala (San Marcos), with one of our friends, Eva opting to stay behind and live the holistic lifestyle she´d always dreamed of!
- Monterrico Monterrico! A beach Ive visited 3 times in the eternal search for sun and heat! Antigua has crazy weather, every morning freezng cold - and yes yes my freezing cold is very different to yours now Im sure, but remeber I have classes outside every day, and only wear flip flops. Plus NO central heating, so every night I forage for more layers. The nights are the same as the mornings, with often an intense few hours of lovely sun in the afternoon as respite. So yes, Montericco was a heat haven, a place that could (almost) always be counted on for topping up the tan and providing a beautiful sunset. See pics!
- Tikal! The huge site of Mayan Ruins. A mad weekend of 10 hour bus rides and little sleep, but as you say here ´vale la pena´ its worth it! I feel my words are inadequate to describe the beauty and grandess of the temples. You cant really believe it until you´re there AND climb them! They tower above the jungle canopy, with Howler Monkeys and strange possums roaming around, at home in this once mighty and bustling city.
- Chichi!! As Nick will verify I LOVE markets! And this one is the biggest of its kind, probably in the whole of Central America. I was in 7th heaven taking photos of everyone, everything, from turkeys carried around in cages, baskets of flower petals, insence surrounding you, illuminous pink and green chickies for sale, every cloth, shoe, food and souvenir imaginable up for grabs. A day of life and colour! you close your eyes after and your mind starts mixing and recreating patterns, colour, styles all on its own!
So you may be wondering when I actually studied?
What a question. Days here are crazy busy, getting up at 6am, school from 8am-2pm, homework, chores, catching up with housemates and meals, the days gone. Weeks have just flown by here. And so many people have come and gone from my life. Its definately been the most intense experience in that sense. Living 24/7 with 6 strangers, some amazing wonderful friends, others well less so. People from all different walks of life, with different ambitions with their Spanish and with life and travel. Different standards. Different nationalities. Different ages. But above it all I´ve made some fantastic friends. And it´ll be hard to leave the ones that are still here.
What else will I miss?
- Volcanos surrounding me - of all the wonderful beautiful things I´ve eventually got habituated to, volcanos have never been one of them. This has been helped with the weekly eruptions, occasional earthquake, and my first Spanish book, about 2 children´s adventure to the time of Pompeii as Vesuvias erupted!
- Walking to school. Always eventful. I love passing by the farmers with their goast on leeds, just walking them like a dog. and crossing through the church grounds as the markets sellers start setting up for the day.
-My teachers. We have so much fun, and esp in the morning with my main teacher - Alejandra (Ali) we gossip for well over an hour each morning, laugh hysetrically to the extent that people studying around us move away - its like we maintain a laughter bubble!
- Secret gardens behind each door. Gosh Antigua is so amazing for that. You never know what youre going to find!
- The BEST bagel EVER! A pizza bagel with pesto, capers, cheese and fresh tomatoes. MY GOD ITS GOOD. Esp after months of pretty bland food. Flavor, taste, a different type of food apart from our weekly set meals! (Yes we all know what we´ll have for brekkie, and the limited 6 or so options Anna choses from for our lunch and dinner!)
- Cafe 2000. An awesome bar cafe cinema. Such a cool place to chill out.
- the bustling market on the other side of town. Every thing and anything is there.
Things I won´t miss quite so much:
- The constant possibility of a black out, with all electricity (and thus water) down. Has happened for half a day and was shocking how limiting it was. Most shops closed, no shower, no internet, no tea!!
- Additionaly the constant worry of finding little (or big) bugs in your room, bathroom, under clothes, in your bed, in the kitchen (not so much a possibility more a certainty!), in your mug! (yes Meika found a little cockroach friend in her mug at breakfast one day!) or in your food (Silvia and fruit).
- missing Nick, as I´ll be seeing him in a matter of hours in Panama!
And thats where my next adventure begins: Panama City 24th March.
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