Hola from Antigua, Guatemala!
After a nerveracking evening and morning in airports, i was greeted by a warm and smiling Doreen (the brainchild of the school project here in Antigua), and another volunteer, Leigh, from NYC. Their hugs and smiles comforted me immediately...we then rode through Guatemala City and down the road to Antigua in Doreen´s little, exhaust-puffing car...everything is so colorful here...there were stray dogs running along the sides of the roads and huge, colorful "chicken buses" carrying loads of people. When we reached Antigua around 4:30, the afternoon lighting made all of the bright, pastel colors of the city rich and brilliant. The city is completely cobblestone streets filled with couples on motorcycles, women in indigenous dress standing on corners holding their babies, carts with loads of fresh tropical fruits, all lined by stores and homes, each with terracotta roofs and each a different cheerful color. The city is spotted with old, greying and crumbling ruins, and has a central park with a big fountain, lots of greenery and lots of couples kissing on benches. Surrounding are volcanos in every direction, their summits peaking through a hat of fog. Absolutely gorgeous.
Our first afternoon, Doreen took us to our hotel for the night, an adorable little place with an open air hallway lined with plants and candles. Then we went to the GVI volunteers´hangout-- an outdoors coffee stand under a terrace with little round tables and comfy seats. Everybody knows the "coffee men", Mario and Alejandro. We ordered delicious (and cheap!) cappaccinos. Later, we walked from our hotel to Cafe Sky, and sat on the rooftop under a full moon, listening to fireworks (Guatemalan´s apparently love fireworks), learning more about our project from Doreen and Ross (the project coordinator), and telling them about how nervous we were to come here and how happy we are with what we´ve experienced so far. We ate quesadillas and drank red wine (vino tinto), basking in the surreal fact that we are now actually in Guatemala!
Yesterday I met my host family...My mom is Aracely, and my new little sister is Gabi. She is ten and sooo adorable, I already love her. We have a cute, puffy, white little dog (perro) named Ravito (i think!). He was a good ice breaker with Gabi, as I could ask about him in the little Spanish that I know! There is another volunteer in my house too, Margo, she is 18 and from Chicago. My room is very small but clean and cozy, and to my great relief there are no tarantulas or geckos around!! We have running warm water, a shower and I even have a TV in my room. Aracely is a chef, so apparently the breakfasts and dinners that she cooks for us each day are sure to be delicious. The melt-in-your-mouth pancakes and huge array of freshly cut fruit (bananas, papayas, melons, grapes, watermelon) were a good start to this morning! All of the other volunteers´host families live on my street-- it feels like Wisteria Lane...except close-together, colorful little houses with flower gardens and high front gates. Looking toward the west down our street is a volcano.
So far, other than Leigh and Margo, I´ve been exploring the city with Alana and Kate, both from Australia and super sweet. We are all here for the same reason and this makes friendships easy.
My 40 hours of one-on-one Spanish lessons began this morning at 8:00. My teacher is Silvia. She was very patient with me all day, and we actually got a lot done! I feel a lot less timid speaking in my broken Spanish, and have even spoken to store clerks and street vendors in the past few days! I hope to soak in as much as possible this week, as we go to our school next Monday and our Spanish lessons become only one hour per day.
Doreen, Leigh, Alana, Kate, Irene and I will be working beginning next week in our school, Santa Maria de Jesus...it sits in a village half way up one of the volcanos outside of Antigua (don´t worry, it´s a dormant one!). Our kids are from ages 5 to 10 and have never ever been to school before! They are indigenous Mayan children and they do not speak Spanish! We will be their first ever teachers, and will have to teach them to say "Buenos dias!", how to hold a pencil, wash their hands, and how to speak Spanish. Doreen says that they are adorable and that they come from big families with lots of kids, often without a father or with an alcoholic father, and they need all the attention and love we can give them. We are so excited and cannot wait to meet them!
Check out Leigh´s blog too at http://theroamingvolunteer.blogspot.com/
After a nerveracking evening and morning in airports, i was greeted by a warm and smiling Doreen (the brainchild of the school project here in Antigua), and another volunteer, Leigh, from NYC. Their hugs and smiles comforted me immediately...we then rode through Guatemala City and down the road to Antigua in Doreen´s little, exhaust-puffing car...everything is so colorful here...there were stray dogs running along the sides of the roads and huge, colorful "chicken buses" carrying loads of people. When we reached Antigua around 4:30, the afternoon lighting made all of the bright, pastel colors of the city rich and brilliant. The city is completely cobblestone streets filled with couples on motorcycles, women in indigenous dress standing on corners holding their babies, carts with loads of fresh tropical fruits, all lined by stores and homes, each with terracotta roofs and each a different cheerful color. The city is spotted with old, greying and crumbling ruins, and has a central park with a big fountain, lots of greenery and lots of couples kissing on benches. Surrounding are volcanos in every direction, their summits peaking through a hat of fog. Absolutely gorgeous.
Our first afternoon, Doreen took us to our hotel for the night, an adorable little place with an open air hallway lined with plants and candles. Then we went to the GVI volunteers´hangout-- an outdoors coffee stand under a terrace with little round tables and comfy seats. Everybody knows the "coffee men", Mario and Alejandro. We ordered delicious (and cheap!) cappaccinos. Later, we walked from our hotel to Cafe Sky, and sat on the rooftop under a full moon, listening to fireworks (Guatemalan´s apparently love fireworks), learning more about our project from Doreen and Ross (the project coordinator), and telling them about how nervous we were to come here and how happy we are with what we´ve experienced so far. We ate quesadillas and drank red wine (vino tinto), basking in the surreal fact that we are now actually in Guatemala!
Yesterday I met my host family...My mom is Aracely, and my new little sister is Gabi. She is ten and sooo adorable, I already love her. We have a cute, puffy, white little dog (perro) named Ravito (i think!). He was a good ice breaker with Gabi, as I could ask about him in the little Spanish that I know! There is another volunteer in my house too, Margo, she is 18 and from Chicago. My room is very small but clean and cozy, and to my great relief there are no tarantulas or geckos around!! We have running warm water, a shower and I even have a TV in my room. Aracely is a chef, so apparently the breakfasts and dinners that she cooks for us each day are sure to be delicious. The melt-in-your-mouth pancakes and huge array of freshly cut fruit (bananas, papayas, melons, grapes, watermelon) were a good start to this morning! All of the other volunteers´host families live on my street-- it feels like Wisteria Lane...except close-together, colorful little houses with flower gardens and high front gates. Looking toward the west down our street is a volcano.
So far, other than Leigh and Margo, I´ve been exploring the city with Alana and Kate, both from Australia and super sweet. We are all here for the same reason and this makes friendships easy.
My 40 hours of one-on-one Spanish lessons began this morning at 8:00. My teacher is Silvia. She was very patient with me all day, and we actually got a lot done! I feel a lot less timid speaking in my broken Spanish, and have even spoken to store clerks and street vendors in the past few days! I hope to soak in as much as possible this week, as we go to our school next Monday and our Spanish lessons become only one hour per day.
Doreen, Leigh, Alana, Kate, Irene and I will be working beginning next week in our school, Santa Maria de Jesus...it sits in a village half way up one of the volcanos outside of Antigua (don´t worry, it´s a dormant one!). Our kids are from ages 5 to 10 and have never ever been to school before! They are indigenous Mayan children and they do not speak Spanish! We will be their first ever teachers, and will have to teach them to say "Buenos dias!", how to hold a pencil, wash their hands, and how to speak Spanish. Doreen says that they are adorable and that they come from big families with lots of kids, often without a father or with an alcoholic father, and they need all the attention and love we can give them. We are so excited and cannot wait to meet them!
Check out Leigh´s blog too at http://theroamingvolunteer.blogspot.com/
Wow! It sounds so great. So I'd love to know now: jumping out of a plane or volunteer trip to Guatemala?
ReplyDeleteThis is great Karla! Thanks for sharing! I'll keep checking up on your adventures
ReplyDelete