Lovely Antiqua

Well I have been here in Antigua for just over a week now and it really is one of the lovliest of places. It reminds me quite a lot of Arequipa in Peru, though much smaller of course. The old colonial buildings are beautiful but the setting is the real winner, being surrounded by three volcanoes, one of which does puff sometimes, although I have yet to see that particular thing yet!


It does have quite a lot of other travellers/tourists but that means that it feels quite safe, especially for a solo female like myself…there are lots and lots of peopel out here on their own doing the various things that draws them to Guatemala – but it really does have a great vibe to it, I have to say.

I met Julie, a wonderful woman from Canada (though born & raised in Chi Town) and we have been going out and about together….just makes such a difference to have a pal to do stuff with, in fact the last week would have been pretty rough if not for her and her boundless enthusiasm and joi de vie (though maybe I should learn that in Spanish). We will definately be staying in touch and I would love to go and visit her in Nelson, BC which does look an amazing town.

I am learning Spanish one-to-one for four hours a day with the very patient Karla, who is young but an excellent teacher….it is hard for my poor old brain to absorb the amount of information that I am trying to cram into it on a daily basis but I am able to have some conversations now in the shops/restaurants, so something must be sticking and apparently I do have a good accent.

Luckily I am able to talk/communicate with Andrew most days, so although missing him heaps, that alleviates it somewhat!

Well am going to write more later, hasta luego xx

Guatemala 2010 - leaving and arriving...

Well I am typing this from a small internet cafe on a side street near where I am staying in Guatemala City, or Guate as it is known to the locals. Was a bit of a culture shock to leave Andrew and Bogo and the lovely, cosy apartment and be transported 7 hours later to this crazy, dirty, bustling place that is Guate..
It was probably made even more acute by the fact that at 9.25 yesterday morning I was sitting in a plane on the runway at Logan waiting for it to be de-iced as it was in the middle of a snow-storm, flash-forward to 3pm that afternoon to the heat and smog and all around Latin American-ness of my arrival here..
Anyway, was picked up by a young taxi-driver who proceeded to drive as if he was in Roma but I just kept closing my eyes and 20 mins later I was there at the posada.
This is one of those places that looks like just a shabby door in the wall on an unassuming side-street, a bit like the riads that Paul and I used to stay in when in Marrakech, but when you enter there is a small courtyard and a tinkling fountain. It was all lit up with candles in the evening and there are lots of interesting Guatemalan artefacts around. Rene and Francesca are wonderfully helpful but I have to admit that I did feel very far away from home and was missing A like crazy....poor man, he is being very patient with me!
Anyway I have managed to find my way around Zona 1 of the city; it's pretty straight forward to be honest, just being a bit well, non-Hispanic looking I do seem to be getting a bit of attention, but it is not too bad, just disconcerting....there do not seem to be too many other travellers around, well at least not that many with strawberry blond hair!
I even managed to go to a little shop, get my US cell phone unlocked, buy a Guatemalan SIM card and buy some minutes on it with a lot of miming, smiling , 5 words of Spanish and some very patient and accomodating locals....but it's done, which is a good thing.
I am going to head off to Antigua on Friday...sounds liek a gorgeous town ' full of travellers but maybe I need that for a while to acclimatise. I am gogin to study Spanish for a couple of weeks as this is the number one thing that will make this whole experience much more valuable.
Am posting a couple of pictures for those non-Facebook people, mum, for you especially...will write more soon...