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Guatemala has not disappointed us at all. We had a early bus ride from Placencia, Belize to the border of Guatemala with 3 bus changes and caught every one (no waiting). The border crossing was typical, unsmiling officials that stamp you and away you go. Oh, and the guard with a rifle handy in case someone tries to do something fishy (not sure what but they always look like they are ready to shoot out a round). We came right to Flores which is a little touristy ‘island’ on the lake of Peten Itza. Had a great evening downing $1 cuba libres and beer and eating delicious food while enjoying the sunset. Our lovely night ended when we realized that our guest room was stinking hot (no fan) and was next to the disco that blared music until 2am. Up by 8am and, since we just sweated off 10 pounds and didn’t want to go through that again, we went to check into a hostel down the road only to have a room that was placed precariously ‘over’ the common area, had half walls of fabric and huge cracks in the floor. Not much of an improvement but it was much cooler!!! The hostel made up for it by serving GREAT food with tons of veggies (not much in the way of veggies in many places). We were really excited for our home-stay and week-long Spanish school in San Jose, just around the lake from Flores.
The Spanish school we went with, from Nic’s recommendation, was Bio-Itza where we had 20 hours of Spanish instruction, extra activities and a chance to live with a family where you sleep and eat all your meals. We have had quite the look into rural Guatemalan life. I am writing this on our last night with the family and the experience has been incredible. The pictures will say it all!!! A small concrete room, no fan and 1 window (we have the door open to try and get a cross-breeze right now), 2 small beds and a little desk. Really, all we need. The toilet and shower were just outside around the corner and were decent. The main house is pretty basic, living room and a couple other rooms and then the kitchen that is built off the house where all the cooking happens on a big wood-fire stove. Most of the activity is in the kitchen or the living room that is open to the front porch. That is where the women cook, look after the kids, read the paper and just sit in the shade (have I mentioned that it is HOT here??!). The men come home and relax, read the paper and hang out.
We stayed with Guillermina and Juan. They have 6 grown children. 1 son, Julio and his wife Maria, live on the premises with their little boys, Danny (6 yrs) and Anderson (1 year). There is always tons going on with the boys and her other children stopping by with their kids (one busy grandma!!). It is fun with kids running around. Danny is our little teacher, he helps us with pronunciation and such.
We ate what the family does, and that really isn’t much. There is ALWAYS a heap of corn tortillas to accompany every meal. The meals were small and basic. Sometimes fruit for breakfast, some bean soup or rice for lunch and maybe eggs and beans for supper. One night we just had 5 potatoes for supper!!! Not complaining, you really see that money is stretched here. It was good for us, we are still trying to lose the last few pounds from the all-inclusive! Plus, San Jose is built on a steep hill and we had to work to get to school and down to the lake for swimming.
We would wake up at 7 and had to be at school for 8. Actually hard to have a schedule for a week, how am I going to be able to go back to work?? Spanish classes lasted until 12 and then we headed home for lunch and then usually down to the lake for a swim before an activity in the afternoon. We made mahogany shampoo (boiled mahogany wood), cooked empanadas, made soap and wove a basket. It was fun to do something otherwise we would have been a bit bored.
The week with our family was fantastic and we are grateful for their contribution of making great memories on this trip. Mucho gusto familia! Off to Flores for a well-deserved cuba-libre drinking session!!!!
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