August 12, 2007 Sunday
We arranged for a shuttle bus to pick us up at the hotel in Antigua and take us to Xela (short for Quetzeltenango). The highway is under construction so the generally 4 hour trip took 5 to 5 1-2 hours. The bus driver/tour guide was Lucas and he spoke no English. We developed a relationship with him and he was soon pointing out spots of interest and giving micro Spanish lessons. He would pull over so that Don could take pictures. We saw political posters attached to the mountain side because elections will take place here in September. When we reached the ´four corners´we changed buses. They have the drivers take off from both ends of the trip and they meet here and return to the city they started from. We exchanged a whole big group of people heading for a lake and ended up with just thee people on our bus. Several times we had to stop and wait for the construction and they were excellent times to practice Spanish. Once we followed a pick up truck with people loaded in the back. One mother and her young daughter were soon waving and blowing kisses at Don! Both of us were safely separated and mama did not feel threatened. Later we passed Mom and baby again when they had stopped and gotten out of the truck. The baby made a big to-do waving and blowing kisses as we passed. Everyone was grinning about the baby´s interacting with perfect strangers.
Since our school was closed on Sunday we stayed in a hotel called Dona Mercedes. It was a really nice place and our room had a private bath. All of the rooms have kitchen privileges so we were able to make ourselves a cup of tea. It was also mercifully quiet so we got a good nights sleep.
Breakfast at 7 am in Xela took place at-----wait for it-----McDonald´s. There are few places you can count on that the food will be the same. Eggs & sausage at McDonald´s is the same in Guatemala as it is in Iowa. There were no other places open that we new of at that time of day to get something to eat. Classes were to begin at 8 am and we had to be there fed and with our luggage to begin our Spanish lessons.
We arrived at Kie-Balam, our school or escuela and jumped right in with Spanish lessons. We were introduced to our teachers and classes began. My teacher is a young girl of 23 years who is studying to be a physical therapist. Her name is Patty and she is as cute as a bug. We are actually working well together. Towards the end of the first week Patty needed to be at her teaching hospital for a short clinical (I think) and I traveled with her. We took a shuttle bus that should hold about 15 people but actually had 22 people loaded into it to her hospital. I had to wait in the hall while they were in with a patient. I spoke to a women who was crocheting a lacy blouse.
After the hospital we went to a big shopping mall that was within walking distance. They say GUA is a third world country but you can buy anything you might think of. Don and his instructor teased us then and now about doing Spanish female style. We window shopped and named everything we saw and debated about wearing some of the dresses we saw in the window.
Time is up for the evening. This portion will be continued at another time.
