Back to School

I felt that my Spanish was stagnant and that I needed to do something to take it to the next level, por eso, I flew to Antigua, Guatemala last week where I am attending (intensive) Spanish classes M-F from 8 to 3 and staying with a local Guatmalan family.
First, the family. I am staying in the front of their house with the grandparents, Alicia and Raphael. They are in their 80’s, but their health still appears to be good (a rarity here). I share a bathroom with them and at least 2 other family members (quite frankly, I'm not sure how many people live in the house or that I share a bathroom with). The house is typical of houses in Latin America in that at least three generations of the family are living in a sprawling house that was built a room at a time as needed. My bedroom is just that, a bed in a room. There is a single bare foco (bulb) dangling from the ceiling which offers just enough light to read at night. I feed the mosquitoes throughout the night since the room lacks a mosquitero (mosquito net) and is too hot to keep the windows closed. One of the daughters, Maria, cooks me my meals. So far, they have been simple, but good. There is a pet loro (parrot) named Pancho (of course), who starts talking to himself about six in the morning. He asks himself questions and answers them himself. I think I might be joining him soon. The good news is that he speaks Spanish, and since he says the same thing over and over again, I'm able to understand him. Spanish here is somewhat different, the accent, the rhythm, the vocabulary, but I’m already getting used to it. They are having more problems with my accent then the folks did in Mexico, I figure my accent is a cross between gringo and Mexican. I’m sure it will morph soon into a mezcla of all three, gringo, Mexican, and Guatemalan, and then no one will be able to understand me. Should be fun. Actually, folks here are much more accustomed to gringos and Europeos who don't speak Spanish well, so they know how to slow things down a bit without talking to you like you were 5 years old. This was not the case in Campeche, folks there weren't used to non-Spanish speakers, and since none of them spoke a second language, they weren't sure how to deal with me. They tended to either talk way to fast, or dumb it down too much.
The school, Sevilla de Antigua, is simple, but thankfully they have wireless internet, so I can communicate with my family. My cell phone, of course, doesn’t work here. The school is only a few blocks away from my house, so it is an easy Trek.
Antigua is still a pueblo. Deb and came here some 23 years ago, the summer before we got married. It has easy access to several big volcanoes to climb. I remember when Deb and I climbed Acatenango (13,045 feet), we got to the top of the mountain, it was freezing cold and raining hard. We crowded into a cinderblock shack (about the size of an average bathroom) with at least 20 other people to spend the night. The sardine analogy was perfect because, since the floor had 2 inches of standing water in it and the roof leaked, we were packed in water. All the while we were being asphyxiated by the gases coming from the crater not 200 yards away. Good times. Thinking back on that night makes me feel a little better about my accommodations here.
Antigua is still beautiful, suprisingly, it hasn't changed that much in 23 years. It is Spanish colonial with a smatering of ruins left standing after a devastating earthquake in 1773. The center plaza is filled with people all day and into the night, it is the center of the social scene, not unlike Campeche, and, doubtless, the vast majority of Hispanic towns. The place is crawling with anglos, mostly Europeos, who are either here to go to one of the dozens of Spanish schools, or simply traveling the area. The locals seem to take it all in stride, so far I haven't noticed the resentment in their eyes one often sees in touristy areas. In general, Guatemaltecos are friendly and laid back. The town itself is pretty safe, in sharp contrast to its bigger, dangerous neighbor 30 miles to the north, Guatemala City.
I have enclosed a picture of the Inglesia San Francisco de Asis with Volcán de Agua in the background (12, 356 feet).
Maria's brother, Freddy also lives with us, he is quite the artist, he took me on a tour of his works, which are hanging in the local churches and museums. He is sordo (deaf), (so is Maria), and he told me that he is able to paint well because his mind isn't constantly cluttered with noise. He can simply immerse himself in his work. I have enclosed a picture of him at the Inglesia San Francisco de Asis with one of his nicer pieces behind him. He has pieces all over the world, he paints religious themes, which he says are easier to sell, but he also does modern art.

When he first told me he was an artist and that he wanted to show me his work, I was afraid I would be put in that awkward position we have all been in where we have to pretend we like something we don't, but, fortunately, his work was excellent. In fact, a good bit of the artesania here is nice, I have a picture of a small artesania mercado with a ruin on the right, and of course, Volcán de Aqua in the background.
Yesterday was Friday, I finished my first week of classes and decided I needed to get out and do something other than study, so I went with a local excursion troupe on an overnight backpacking trip to Pacaya, an incredibly active volcano. It just recently started acting up, with dozens of new flows developing just in the last couple of days. The tour included a hike up in the afternoon where we sat on a ridge line watching the spews of lava erupt from the crater while sipping wine. They then fed us dinner, after which we went right to bed because the next morning they woke us up at 3:30 for a hike to the lava fields. Watching the lava flow down the side of the mountain in the dark was one of the coolest thing I've done in a long time. The picture below was taken as the sun was rising over Pacaya. It is a bit dark, but if you look closely you can see the flows on the lower right.I got within 10 feet of a flow that opened up right before our eyes. When we hiked down to the lava field, the flow you see to my right was just a glow under the rocks. While we watched, the pressure from the lava underneath pushed a large rock out of the way (which was obviously acting as a plug) and lava started flowing out, creeping slowly down the hill. It was so hot where I was standing that I had to move after about a minute. Besides, if I hadn't moved, there is a good chance I wouldn't be here to write this. Two people were killed and another injured on this very lava field not 3 weeks ago. Evidently, a lava flow triggered a land slide that buried them. Anyway, I have to go study for my Spanish class next week, my teacher is quite the task master (all classes are one on one). Class usually consist of 2-3 hours of grammer followed by 2-3 hours of conversation. You would think that I would be near fluent by now, but alas..... however, I guess I can call myself conversant, and if I keep this up for the rest of my time here (9 weeks), I might even make the distinction of bilingual. Anyway, ouch, my brain hurts after class each day. My daughter Kyra will be joining me for classes at the end of next week, and three weeks later, the rest of my family will join us. I will keep you up on the details and let you all know about future adventures as soon as they happen, Hasta luego!