Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Carnival
Today we celebrated Carnival at the school. This is the last day before Lent or as they call it in New Orleans "Fat Tuesday". All the kids dressed up and it was absolutely hysterical. I went as a baby with a passifier and a bottle, Sabine went as a soccer player and my friend Reinder went as an American tourist. (The American tourist is very easy to spot, they always have a baseball cap, sunglasses, white socks with flip flops, a Gallo shirt and shorts, he's Dutch so this actually looked hysterical.) At 12 we started to celebrate with the kids. Everyone brought these eggs filled with confetti. We all ran around cracking eggs on each others heads and blowing confetti in faces. It was the most fun I have ever had at school. By the time I left my head was pink, blue, purple and green from all the confetti.
So, for Lent I have decided to give up drinking minus wine (only 1 glass though). I was going to give up meat, but I lose weight too quickly down here and so that seemed out of the question. Then I thought about Chocolate, but that would be suicide, so alcohol was my only option. So no drinking until Easter...Yikes!
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Today we celebrated Carnival at the school. This is the last day before Lent or as they call it in New Orleans "Fat Tuesday". All the kids dressed up and it was absolutely hysterical. I went as a baby with a passifier and a bottle, Sabine went as a soccer player and my friend Reinder went as an American tourist. (The American tourist is very easy to spot, they always have a baseball cap, sunglasses, white socks with flip flops, a Gallo shirt and shorts, he's Dutch so this actually looked hysterical.) At 12 we started to celebrate with the kids. Everyone brought these eggs filled with confetti. We all ran around cracking eggs on each others heads and blowing confetti in faces. It was the most fun I have ever had at school. By the time I left my head was pink, blue, purple and green from all the confetti.
So, for Lent I have decided to give up drinking minus wine (only 1 glass though). I was going to give up meat, but I lose weight too quickly down here and so that seemed out of the question. Then I thought about Chocolate, but that would be suicide, so alcohol was my only option. So no drinking until Easter...Yikes!
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Sunday, February 22, 2004
The Lake
I did not realize how long it has been since I have last blogged. Time seems to be flying by with no time to do anything. I have started tutoring kids in the afternoon which leaves very little time to go to the internet or do anything during the school week besides work. However, this weekend I went to Lago de Atitlan to relax and pull myself back together.
Lago de Atitlan is a huge lake that was formed by volcanoes. It is the most beautiful lake I have ever been to. We went to celebrate Sabine's 24th birthday. She had been out sick most of the week with a terrible cold and sinus infection type thing, but she is surviving. So we left in a shuttle friday afternoon at 4pm. Our drier was absolutely insane (which is the norm here). We were in the van with an Italian couple. The woman didn't speak any English nor spanish, however, I was really amazed, because when she spoke slowly I could understand her Italian. I didn't realize how similar they are. I was so amazed. So I spoke in spanish and she spoke in Italian and it was really cool.
We got to Panajachel (a town on the lake) at 7 just in time to catch a very over to San Pedro (Hippieville) where we were going to stay for the weekend. It too us a half hour to get to the town by boat going about 45 mph. We arrived without hotel reservations which almost turned out disasterous. We wanted to stay at this place on the lake that Reinder knew, but it was booked full with this teenage mission group. So we back tracked to the dock going from hostel to hostel finding nothing. Finally we get back to the main area and go to a place that looks really expensive but we figure we have nothing to lose at this point (it is now 8:30 and I have not eaten since 12, you all know how I get when I don't eat). So we get this really awesome room with four beds 2 doubles and 2 singles for Q30 a piece which is less than 4 bucks, and to top it off we get a private bathroom with hotwater shower. I was like "Hell Yeah". Next priority was food. We went to a place called Freedom Cafe. We had these awesome fajitas and nachos, a few drinks and we were all good to go. (We've gotten smarter though, we brought our own bottle of rum, it's a little cheeper that way). This restaurant is really cool though because they have a bon fire by the lake and so you sit around by the fire and drink your drinks and look at the stars. It has such a great atmosphere. Unfortunately we were all exhausted and so we were in bed by 10pm.
Saturday we all woke up at 6:30 am. This was a bit frustrating. We are used to getting up at 5:30 and so it is impossible to sleep in. I now understand why my dad gets up at 6:30 on Saturday morning and he tells me that that is sleeping in. Anyway, we got up and went to this place to eat breakfast. We had these huge omlets, hash browns and bread for Q22 (less than $3). At breakfast we decided we should go to San Marcus for a picnic and to swim around on the rocks. As we are sitting there talking, this women passes us selling bread. This bread is the best stuff ever. They sell it hot and it's great for all the hippie kids who have the munchies. They sell bread of pineapple, banana, carrot, cinamon...and more. It's awesome.
After breakfast we decided to switch hotels to one that had a view. We went to a hotel called The Mansion of the Lake. They gave us a room on the third floor overlooking the lake in a room called the Monterrico room. Now if everyone recalls Monterrico is my favorite place here at the beach, so this was obviously a sign that this was where we were supposed to stay.
Anway, Sabine and I decided to go to the market to buy stuff or our picnic after we got situated in the hotel. We went and bought regular bread, tomatoes, avocado and some cheese (not like craft cheese, this is fresh cheese made here, it's really good). Sabine and Matt had brought a bottle of wine that was left over from a party they had had last weekend. The wine was a Gato Negro Merlot.
So we took a boat over to San Marcus. It has all these rocks that you can jump off of into the water. So we walked along the shore until we found a spot. We threw off our clothes and jumped in the water. Holy Cow! It was freezing. I tried swimming around, but I could never catch my breath. It was so cold. The only thing I can compare it to is the water in Canada at my grandparents cabin, it is seriously cold. So after we went for a refreshing swim we at our sandwhiches and passed around the bottle of wine. The water was absolutely crystal clear and it was that green blue color of the ocean. We just sat there for an hour looking around. It is so cool because you have all these volcano craters around you. It is one of the most amazing places I have ever been. Words really can't describe it.
We went back to San Pedro around 2 and took a serious nap. Then we sat out on the porch for a few hours just looking at the view. We talked about how lucky all of us felt to be able to have the life we do and how it is such a cool like. Who else goes and takes a weekend on a lake, after working all week, surrounded by volcanos eating awesome food and staying in phat hotels for cheap. This is so cool!
We went in search of food again and found this awesome pizza place. This was real Italian pizza owned by an Italian guy. This was honestly the best pizza I have ever had (Still did not quench my thirst for some Papa Johns, but that is a completely different kind of pizza). We also had a huge salad. It was so much food and the pizza was so awesome. After that we went back to freedom cafe for a drink and to relax by the lake.
This morning we all slept in until 7:30 (way exciting) we got some fresh cinamon and pineapple bread and headed out. When Matt went to pay for the hotel, the guy only charged him Q100 for all for of us. So it ended up being $3 a piece which was really awesome.
All in all it was a great weekend, we all really needed to get away for awhile and relax. We have decided that we are going to go to either the lake or the beach at least once a month.
On a different note, I miss everone a lot and hope you all are doing well. Email me anytime. Lots of love!
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I did not realize how long it has been since I have last blogged. Time seems to be flying by with no time to do anything. I have started tutoring kids in the afternoon which leaves very little time to go to the internet or do anything during the school week besides work. However, this weekend I went to Lago de Atitlan to relax and pull myself back together.
Lago de Atitlan is a huge lake that was formed by volcanoes. It is the most beautiful lake I have ever been to. We went to celebrate Sabine's 24th birthday. She had been out sick most of the week with a terrible cold and sinus infection type thing, but she is surviving. So we left in a shuttle friday afternoon at 4pm. Our drier was absolutely insane (which is the norm here). We were in the van with an Italian couple. The woman didn't speak any English nor spanish, however, I was really amazed, because when she spoke slowly I could understand her Italian. I didn't realize how similar they are. I was so amazed. So I spoke in spanish and she spoke in Italian and it was really cool.
We got to Panajachel (a town on the lake) at 7 just in time to catch a very over to San Pedro (Hippieville) where we were going to stay for the weekend. It too us a half hour to get to the town by boat going about 45 mph. We arrived without hotel reservations which almost turned out disasterous. We wanted to stay at this place on the lake that Reinder knew, but it was booked full with this teenage mission group. So we back tracked to the dock going from hostel to hostel finding nothing. Finally we get back to the main area and go to a place that looks really expensive but we figure we have nothing to lose at this point (it is now 8:30 and I have not eaten since 12, you all know how I get when I don't eat). So we get this really awesome room with four beds 2 doubles and 2 singles for Q30 a piece which is less than 4 bucks, and to top it off we get a private bathroom with hotwater shower. I was like "Hell Yeah". Next priority was food. We went to a place called Freedom Cafe. We had these awesome fajitas and nachos, a few drinks and we were all good to go. (We've gotten smarter though, we brought our own bottle of rum, it's a little cheeper that way). This restaurant is really cool though because they have a bon fire by the lake and so you sit around by the fire and drink your drinks and look at the stars. It has such a great atmosphere. Unfortunately we were all exhausted and so we were in bed by 10pm.
Saturday we all woke up at 6:30 am. This was a bit frustrating. We are used to getting up at 5:30 and so it is impossible to sleep in. I now understand why my dad gets up at 6:30 on Saturday morning and he tells me that that is sleeping in. Anyway, we got up and went to this place to eat breakfast. We had these huge omlets, hash browns and bread for Q22 (less than $3). At breakfast we decided we should go to San Marcus for a picnic and to swim around on the rocks. As we are sitting there talking, this women passes us selling bread. This bread is the best stuff ever. They sell it hot and it's great for all the hippie kids who have the munchies. They sell bread of pineapple, banana, carrot, cinamon...and more. It's awesome.
After breakfast we decided to switch hotels to one that had a view. We went to a hotel called The Mansion of the Lake. They gave us a room on the third floor overlooking the lake in a room called the Monterrico room. Now if everyone recalls Monterrico is my favorite place here at the beach, so this was obviously a sign that this was where we were supposed to stay.
Anway, Sabine and I decided to go to the market to buy stuff or our picnic after we got situated in the hotel. We went and bought regular bread, tomatoes, avocado and some cheese (not like craft cheese, this is fresh cheese made here, it's really good). Sabine and Matt had brought a bottle of wine that was left over from a party they had had last weekend. The wine was a Gato Negro Merlot.
So we took a boat over to San Marcus. It has all these rocks that you can jump off of into the water. So we walked along the shore until we found a spot. We threw off our clothes and jumped in the water. Holy Cow! It was freezing. I tried swimming around, but I could never catch my breath. It was so cold. The only thing I can compare it to is the water in Canada at my grandparents cabin, it is seriously cold. So after we went for a refreshing swim we at our sandwhiches and passed around the bottle of wine. The water was absolutely crystal clear and it was that green blue color of the ocean. We just sat there for an hour looking around. It is so cool because you have all these volcano craters around you. It is one of the most amazing places I have ever been. Words really can't describe it.
We went back to San Pedro around 2 and took a serious nap. Then we sat out on the porch for a few hours just looking at the view. We talked about how lucky all of us felt to be able to have the life we do and how it is such a cool like. Who else goes and takes a weekend on a lake, after working all week, surrounded by volcanos eating awesome food and staying in phat hotels for cheap. This is so cool!
We went in search of food again and found this awesome pizza place. This was real Italian pizza owned by an Italian guy. This was honestly the best pizza I have ever had (Still did not quench my thirst for some Papa Johns, but that is a completely different kind of pizza). We also had a huge salad. It was so much food and the pizza was so awesome. After that we went back to freedom cafe for a drink and to relax by the lake.
This morning we all slept in until 7:30 (way exciting) we got some fresh cinamon and pineapple bread and headed out. When Matt went to pay for the hotel, the guy only charged him Q100 for all for of us. So it ended up being $3 a piece which was really awesome.
All in all it was a great weekend, we all really needed to get away for awhile and relax. We have decided that we are going to go to either the lake or the beach at least once a month.
On a different note, I miss everone a lot and hope you all are doing well. Email me anytime. Lots of love!
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Saturday, February 07, 2004
Sunday BBQ
Last Sunday I went to my boss's house and we watched the Super Bowl. It was a mix between American and Guatemalan food. We had tamales, potato salad, nachos with guacamole, hotdogs, chile and more. As I sat and watched the Panthers loose while eating my hotdog, I realized how much I missed American food. Never have I enjoyed the mustard on my hotdog so much. For some reason it just tasted like America. Which brings me to what we are doing tomorrow. Tomorrow, my friends and I are going to grill chicken (with BBQ sauce of course), I'm making real mac and cheese and we are making a salad with Ranch dressing. We were laughing yesterday because that is almost the epitamy of american food. It's funny the stuff you crave at 2am in the morning. For example, we were sitting around last night, drinking beer when I looked at Sabine and said "I could really go for some Papa Johns right now" Of course everyone moans because now they all have a craving for it. Unfortunately Papa John's hasn't started a chain down here, too bad because Domino's is here... Maybe I should email them and suggest it. I've been craving everything from homemade egg rolls, to my mom's chocolate bunt cake, to chicken and noodles (one of my least favorite meals as a kid, but somehow I have a taste for it). So I think once a week were are going to try cooking like from home, that way we can all get rid of these urges.
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Last Sunday I went to my boss's house and we watched the Super Bowl. It was a mix between American and Guatemalan food. We had tamales, potato salad, nachos with guacamole, hotdogs, chile and more. As I sat and watched the Panthers loose while eating my hotdog, I realized how much I missed American food. Never have I enjoyed the mustard on my hotdog so much. For some reason it just tasted like America. Which brings me to what we are doing tomorrow. Tomorrow, my friends and I are going to grill chicken (with BBQ sauce of course), I'm making real mac and cheese and we are making a salad with Ranch dressing. We were laughing yesterday because that is almost the epitamy of american food. It's funny the stuff you crave at 2am in the morning. For example, we were sitting around last night, drinking beer when I looked at Sabine and said "I could really go for some Papa Johns right now" Of course everyone moans because now they all have a craving for it. Unfortunately Papa John's hasn't started a chain down here, too bad because Domino's is here... Maybe I should email them and suggest it. I've been craving everything from homemade egg rolls, to my mom's chocolate bunt cake, to chicken and noodles (one of my least favorite meals as a kid, but somehow I have a taste for it). So I think once a week were are going to try cooking like from home, that way we can all get rid of these urges.
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Sunday, February 01, 2004
Vamos a la Playa
The first week that I started working, we decided that we were going to go to the beach the last weekend in January. So we (me, Reinder, Sabine, Matt, Berry, and Claudio) set out for monterrico yesterday at 8am. I so needed a break and to get out of Antigua for a bit. I love my job, but it is really hard and getting a bit stressful. Anyway...so we have to go from Antigua to Esquintla then from Esquintla to Puerto San Jose and then from there to Monterrico. You can go another way from Esquintla to Taxisco and then from Taxisco to La Avellana and then a 30 minute boat ride to the beach. I have always gone the first way and never the second way.
The bus from Antigua to Esquintla was packed, seriously. It was so crowded that the guy who takes the money had to walk on the seats to collect money from everyone. It was hot and people were carrying all kinds of crap (fruits vegetables and meats) that the trip was really unpleasant.
So when we got to Esquintla, we got off the bus and started walking for the bus that would eventually take us to Puerto San Jose, but this guy came up to us and was like get on this shuttle to Monterrico for Q10. After being crammed in the chicken bus, we thought mayb this would be better. So we cram into this minivan that now has 14 people in. About 10 minutes into the trip the guy tells us that we are going to have to pay Q12 and that they are only going to Taxisco, which is the way I had never gone before. Talk about being angry. So about the time I was to tell the guy what I think, the police wave us over. They said about two words and then we started again. Well the van was so crowded that the money taker (two guys, driver and then money taker) gets back in but doesn't shut the door and he is hanging on by the rubber part around the sliding door. All of a sudden he starts to fall out because the rubber thing comes off the door and we almost run over him. It was hysterical because we are all pissed about getting ripped off and then this guy almost gets run over. Anyway. Long story short we make it to the beach at like 12:30. We ate lunch at the ladies restaraunt who cooked the rice for me last time. While we were waiting I went and bought a Chocobanano (frozen, chocolate covered banana, my absolute favorite thing in the whole world) and then we went onto the beach. It was so awesome. We passed the day swimming in the ocean.
That night we decided to go out to dinner. We went with my friend Pablo, his girlfriend and Mario who we saw when we first got down there. Four of us ordered hamburgers for some reason. When the guy brought them out we were all like "Where's the beef" They were on these huge buns, but the patties were smaller than a kids meal at McD's and thinner too. I was like, you are kidding. Luckily it was only Q15 which is not a huge amount. As soon as I was done eating though I looked at Mario and said "Do you want a snickers?" I was still starving, so I walked to the store and got two Q8 snickers bar that really hit the spot.
So after the failed attempt at dinner we decided to go get a bottle of rum and sit out on the beach. It was such a beautiful night. You could see every star. The sound of the ways, the reflection on the moon on the ocean, I was in heaven.
This morning we all got up at 7, went for a swim and packed our stuff up. We ate some breakfast and set back out for Antigua at 9:30. We decided that we would go back the way I knew and so we started hitch hiking because the bus asn0t going to come until around 11. We walked for maybe 30 minutes when an empty tour van came back. He asked if we wanted to go all the way to Antigua and we were like of course. So for Q20 each (same price as by Chicken bus) he took us back to Antigua and we got here in less than 2 hours. It was so awesome.
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The first week that I started working, we decided that we were going to go to the beach the last weekend in January. So we (me, Reinder, Sabine, Matt, Berry, and Claudio) set out for monterrico yesterday at 8am. I so needed a break and to get out of Antigua for a bit. I love my job, but it is really hard and getting a bit stressful. Anyway...so we have to go from Antigua to Esquintla then from Esquintla to Puerto San Jose and then from there to Monterrico. You can go another way from Esquintla to Taxisco and then from Taxisco to La Avellana and then a 30 minute boat ride to the beach. I have always gone the first way and never the second way.
The bus from Antigua to Esquintla was packed, seriously. It was so crowded that the guy who takes the money had to walk on the seats to collect money from everyone. It was hot and people were carrying all kinds of crap (fruits vegetables and meats) that the trip was really unpleasant.
So when we got to Esquintla, we got off the bus and started walking for the bus that would eventually take us to Puerto San Jose, but this guy came up to us and was like get on this shuttle to Monterrico for Q10. After being crammed in the chicken bus, we thought mayb this would be better. So we cram into this minivan that now has 14 people in. About 10 minutes into the trip the guy tells us that we are going to have to pay Q12 and that they are only going to Taxisco, which is the way I had never gone before. Talk about being angry. So about the time I was to tell the guy what I think, the police wave us over. They said about two words and then we started again. Well the van was so crowded that the money taker (two guys, driver and then money taker) gets back in but doesn't shut the door and he is hanging on by the rubber part around the sliding door. All of a sudden he starts to fall out because the rubber thing comes off the door and we almost run over him. It was hysterical because we are all pissed about getting ripped off and then this guy almost gets run over. Anyway. Long story short we make it to the beach at like 12:30. We ate lunch at the ladies restaraunt who cooked the rice for me last time. While we were waiting I went and bought a Chocobanano (frozen, chocolate covered banana, my absolute favorite thing in the whole world) and then we went onto the beach. It was so awesome. We passed the day swimming in the ocean.
That night we decided to go out to dinner. We went with my friend Pablo, his girlfriend and Mario who we saw when we first got down there. Four of us ordered hamburgers for some reason. When the guy brought them out we were all like "Where's the beef" They were on these huge buns, but the patties were smaller than a kids meal at McD's and thinner too. I was like, you are kidding. Luckily it was only Q15 which is not a huge amount. As soon as I was done eating though I looked at Mario and said "Do you want a snickers?" I was still starving, so I walked to the store and got two Q8 snickers bar that really hit the spot.
So after the failed attempt at dinner we decided to go get a bottle of rum and sit out on the beach. It was such a beautiful night. You could see every star. The sound of the ways, the reflection on the moon on the ocean, I was in heaven.
This morning we all got up at 7, went for a swim and packed our stuff up. We ate some breakfast and set back out for Antigua at 9:30. We decided that we would go back the way I knew and so we started hitch hiking because the bus asn0t going to come until around 11. We walked for maybe 30 minutes when an empty tour van came back. He asked if we wanted to go all the way to Antigua and we were like of course. So for Q20 each (same price as by Chicken bus) he took us back to Antigua and we got here in less than 2 hours. It was so awesome.
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