On Saturday, September 3rd, we actually had cereal for breakfast (Yes, Cereal!). We hung out with Justin all day, updating the website a very Americanized caf� called the Bagel Barn, got some ice cream, did some shopping, and then had lunch with our family. After lunch we went on a short hike up to the cross on the hill (Cerro de la Cruz) and took some pictures of the city:
Here we are with Justin at Cerro de la Cruz with Antigua in the background
Unfortunately it was cloudy so we couldn�t see the tops of the volcanoes, but if it is clear you can see many volcanoes that surround the city. We hoped to be able to see our house but we couldn�t because trees were in the way. We did take a picture of it from the street though:
Our House
It was neat to see the city from above because otherwise you can�t see what is inside the walls as you walk along the city streets unless the doors are open. The city has a unique set up because almost everywhere in the city there are the cobblestone streets, about 3 feet of sidewalk, and then walls. Even the parks are inside walls! Here is a picture of the el arco de Santa Catarina, which is one of the few structures that withstood the big 1773 earthquake, and is a famous landmark You can see the cobblestone streets and the walls:
El Arco de Santa Catarina
For dinner, our host family had a big party. There were about 12 guests at the house, and we had barbequed steak. It was a very fun conversation over dinner because all the other guests had a few drinks and was letting loose. After dinner Justin, Alyssa, and I went and walked the city for a bit before we went to the Sky Caf�. Of course, Alyssa couldn�t pass up the opportunity to order a drunken monkey�s lunch (banana liquor, kaluha, vodka, & milk). We hung out there for a bit, and then we were entertained by 3 girls from the U.S. at the table next to us. One of the girls was hysterically drunk. She was falling off her chair and being excessively noisy and had to be moved to a shorter table so she wouldn�t hurt herself. They were all in the Peace Corps and had been there a year, and they still had another year to go.
On Sunday, we went to church service at Vida Y Fe (Life and Faith). The service started at 9:30 and was still going at noon when we left! They started by singing praise songs for a little over an hour at a sound level equivalent to being right in front of a speaker at a rock concert. We were starving when we left because all we�d had for breakfast was a granola bar. Sundays are days off for the host families so we are on our own for food. We got lunch at Frieda�s, which was an amazingly good restaurant. We watched the news while we ate, and all they seemed to be covering was the New Orleans flood. We are so far away from the U.S. plus we generally don�t see/read the news so it was shocking to see what is going on there. On the walk back home there was a parade going on because their independence day is September 15th and they celebrate for a few weeks leading up to that day. All the schools� marching bands were playing and streets were lined with people.
That afternoon Justin got a call from his brother saying that there was a family emergency and he should come home, so we hung out him because it was his last night. For dinner we decided to get Chinese food because there was a place recommended in our guidebook. We wandered around the town looking for �Su Chow� (great name, eh?) but it took a while to find. We passed a different Chinese restaurant but we decided not to eat there because it looked awfully sketchy, and we were very thankful that we decided to keep looking because later we saw a cockroach in there. After finding Su Chow, we ordered drinks: Justin & I had a Gallo (the beer that has a monopoly in Guatemala and you see advertised everywhere) for Justin�s last night, and Alyssa ordered an amaretto sour, but they didn�t have sweet & sour so they ended up giving her straight amaretto on the rocks. As soon as we got there they switched the music to hard core rap (with cussing and all) and even had the first song on repeat for a while. We were the only ones in the restaurant and apparently they made the assumption that all Americans must listen to rap! When the food came, it was the strangest Chinese food ever. The chicken came on the bones, and the food looked like nothing we�d ever seen before. We decided to tell them we had somewhere to go at 8:00 (it was about 7:55) and asked for boxes and the bill. Needless to say, it was a very strange restaurant. We gave the leftovers away to some poor people on the street. Ironically, the first person Alyssa offered hers to said that she had already eaten that day and asked if Alyssa might come back a different day with some food. So Alyssa ended up giving her food to someone else. Afterwards Justin went to an internet caf� and looked to see what flights were available the next day. While he did that, Alyssa and I went to Burger King (yes, there is a Burger King here) and grabbed some real food. Unfortunately we had to say good-bye to our closest friend here in Antigua because he was going to leave before we got up the next morning. We promised to mail him his clothes that still hadn�t been delivered from the Laundromat (here you drop off your clothes, and they wash them for you and deliver them to your house).
On Monday, Alyssa started volunteering at what will probably be her permanent position as a teacher�s aid for the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade girls. Pat started his first day of Spanish class. On Sunday we decided that it might do me some good to take 2 weeks of classes before starting volunteering, so that is the plan for now. We didn�t know this before we came, but it is very popular for foreigners to take Spanish classes in Antigua. There are about 60 schools to choose from! I decided to just go to the Spanish school that Justin had been going to (CSA, the Christian Spanish Academy). I signed up Monday morning and they were able to start me that day because coincidentally they had a teacher that didn�t have a student. (Okay, it wasn�t a coincident. It was Carlos, Justin�s old teacher :-P).
Strangely, we got a new housemate Monday! He arrived at like 2:00 in the afternoon and moved his stuff in Justin�s room. Apparently our host family was not expecting anyone else to be coming so they were as shocked as we were! His name is Jeremy and he is from London. He just finished his master�s degree and he has 8 weeks to kill before he moves to Switzerland to start working so decided to take Spanish classes. We haven�t had much of an opportunity to get to know him yet because he had been traveling for 24 hours and went to bed super early.
We forgot to tell you about our family�s pets! We have 2 dogs: The mom �Nieve� (�Snow�) and her 2 month old puppy �Tripod� (�Tripod�). Tripod was named by the English speaking guest before Alyssa and I came, and the family liked it so the name stuck, even though they don�t speak English. Tripod got the name because he is missing one of his front legs. Here�s a picture:
The Pets
Last Updated: 06 SEPTEMBER 2005
We'll be trying to update this weekly, so come on back and check it soon.
