San Pedro, Guatemala (Part 1)

Back to school amigos!

I concede, english can't cut the mustard in every country we visit so let's give this spanish a crack.

Guatemaya Language School is located in the tiny town of San Pedro (popn 14,000) by lake Atitlán in the south of Guatemala. We're here for one week (20hrs) of spanish school and as many cultral experiences as we can get our hands on. We're staying with two seperate homestay families. Cat and I are with Char's teacher, Javier, his lovely wife Lola and their six year old handful of a daughter, Magda. Mike and Char are nearby with Chema and Conchita, their two young kids and a baby. There is one other guest room in each house; ours occupied by Jack, and elderly Canadian and Mike and Char's is occupied by Ana, and american lady. Speaking on behalf of everyone - we're loving this experience!

We get our own rooms in the casas and spend time with the family during meals and in the afternoons/evenings. Guatemalans don't do 9-5s like us gringos and the children's schools only do half days so there are always people about. Days revolve around mealtimes (a family affair) and accordingly a lot of time is spent sourcing and preparing food. Perfect.

The school itself is nestled into the steep hillside overlooking the lake. It is tiny. There are four teachers and there are rarely more than four students at a time. It has one indoor classroom with a lean-to common area and three very much outdoor "classshacks". The air is fresh, the view is impressive and the teachers are excellent. We're in the morning slot from 8-12 where Mike and I share a teacher and the girls are taught one-on-one. There is unlimited, free, locally grown coffee which we heartily consume at break along with a tasty new local treat each day. Not far from a perfect learning environment.

Our spanish is progressing quite rapidly and we are all throughly enjoying the learning. We also enjoy using our spanish with the families and friendly locals, especially the children with whom we trade patience; them with our language and us with their relentless games and energy.

Outside of school, we're making the most of our live-in experience. We've dabbled in homemade tortillas, briefly, as it's extremely difficult and we can only handle so much embarrassment in one day. We've cooked the barbie and made the salsa. We've spun (or tried to spin) cotton. We've witnessed weaving. We've participated in shopping for ingredients and various aspects of cooking and I've played more "shop" with Magda than I have in real life. We've toured Javier's coffee farm and corn fields, and learnt a lot about both comodities (or more accurately in this instance - staples). We even watched Chema's team play football at the most lavish artificial turf I've seen since UCLA. We've ridden in tuk tuks and in the boot of a taxi and dodged both on the street many many times per day. We've learnt that jeans are appropriate attire for farming, running, teaching, dancing and football. We've eaten corn or corn derivatives in every meal, and given up sugar almost completely (not by choice). Almost. Mike even worked a day on Chema's farm. On top of this we also have our daily homework and study to complete, and a run if we have time - who said holidays were relaxing?

The best part of this experience is that we have been given the opportunity (at last!) to understand the culture. We understand the duties of each family member, where they go and what they do each day. We've learnt how they make money, where they spend money and where they can't afford to spend money. We've been shown the garden and the farm and understand the farm to table processes, and the relative values of their staple foods. We've been told of difficulties we didn't know existed financially, physically and mentally and also learnt of corruption and misdemeanor.

Live-in spanish school is an activity I can most definitely recommend! The best part is that this week of the trip is costing me less than $35NZD per day, including treats. Ka-ching!

...continued in Part 2...Read more