Saturday, July 01, 2006

Hola,
After 3 days in Antigua, I am adjusting to life here and have regained my bearings (somewhat). I still don´t dare leave mi casa without a map of the town. Antigua is basically a grid with Avenidas going one way and Calles going the other. However, only the Avenidas are labeled and not on every block. So, you basically have to navigate through the town by landmarks. It helps that the magnificant Volcon Agua lies directly south of the town. You can see great pics of the town by clicking on the link to the left of the screen.

I am studying Spanish at Tecun Uman, one of Antigua´s numerous Spanish Schools. Like most students I work with my teacher for 4 hours daily including a 30 minute repasa. Class is one on one and my teacher is a Mayan woman named Olga. Olga speaks very little English which can be frustrating at times, but it forces me to be creative while attempting to communicate with her. Usually students work on grammar for about two hours and practice speaking for the rest of the time. At the moment my Spanish skills include a very limited vocabulary, use of the present tense and just enough of the past and future tenses to get by. Yesterday i was attempting to tell Olga about the day I got lost in Antigua´s huge (flea) market last year. I got so turned around in the maze of venders that i missed lunch and was incredibly hungry. However, instead of telling Olga that I became very hungry (hambre), i accedentally said that i became a man (hombre). We had a good laugh about my sex change operation in the market.

When i arrived on Wednesday I was under the impression that I would be staying with a host family associated with the Spanish school. Apparently, I was not the only gringo to whom this occurred. My house is actually the school director´s guesthouse. Despite the fact that this high maintenance gringa was forced to deal without running water on my first morning in Guatemala (recent heavy rains caused problems with the water pressure), i am beginning to really like my accomodations. I was the only student at breakfast this morning and spent about 30 minutes talking in Spanish to Francesca, the live-in housekeeper about her mother who was recently diagnosed with diabetes. Despite the fact that Francesca and i got off to a rough start because i slept through 7am breakfast the past two days, we are quickly becoming amigas.

The nutritionist in me feels compelled to discuss the Guatemalan diet, or at least what i have experienced of it so far. Unlike their Mexcian neighbors, Guatemalans have a rather bland diet. Staples include black beans, hand made corn tortillas, rice, white bread, chicken, pork, white (farmer´s) cheese and many common and indigenous fruits and vegetables. In the past couple of days I have been served black beans (whole and refried), white rice and bread (lots and lots of white bread), chicken with a bland red sauce and more cooked zucchini and a zucchini-like vege called Guipay? than anyone could hope for. From my experience last year and so far this visit, i can say that Guatemalans do some funky things with food. For lunch (the main meal of the day) on Thursday we had some type of white lasagna with broccoli in it. It may have contained some cheese, but i am not positive. There was also a dish made of chopped beats and some other vegetable. Last night we started la cena (dinner) with a bowl of soup made of pureed carrots and guipay followed by rice mixed with bits of ham, a side of cooked zucchini and of course white bread. Unfortunately, the fresh corn tortillas are typically served only at lunch. This morning Francesca provided me with white toast, and mush as well as some weak coffee. Eggs are commonly served for breakfast as well as fresh fruit. Unless I want to keep putting coffeemate in my coffee, i am going to have to buy my own milk as it is apparently not a Guatemalan staple. That´s okay, navigating the local supermercado is always an adventure. Purified water is provided at the house and at school as the tap water is not safe to drink. A juice of pureed fresh fruit is commonly served at lunch. Yesterday we had jugo de sandia (watermelon). I basically cross my fingers and hope that any raw produce i am served has been properly washed... Antiguans are used to tourists and food borne illness does not seem to be a huge issue here.

I am off to the market to find some jeans typico de Guatemala. The rainy evenings are quite cool, and i packed for summer. Hasta!

Julie

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your descriptions are great. Almost feel that I am there with you. IEM

Anonymous said...

Very interesting! I didn't know the evenings can be cool. At what altitude is Antigua? Eva

Julie said...

Hola eva,

Pienso que la altituda de Antigua es casi 5000 feet. julie

Anonymous said...

I am so excited for you! It is really great you're back in Guat!
Thanks for sending the blog,
Carrie

YourMomCalled said...

Hey Julie!

Love being there with you in Guatemala!! Keep writing and telling us what's up.

Miss ya,
Lisa

YourMomCalled said...

btw - why can't we comment to your newest blog?