Thursday 29 October 2009

Dos boot camps

After spending a relaxing weekend in the mountains, I ventured into Antigua.

I thought daily classes of four hours, one to one tuition at a Spanish language school would be a breeze. No such luck! The sessions are intensive and there's no respite. Have I just been beaten up by Mike Tyson? My head hurts. Thankfully my teacher, Amabilia,  is very, very patient. In order to stay afloat, I have to put in about four hours homework on average per night, so sadly I didn't make it to the salsa club last night. Oh well, maybe next week.



Sandwiched in between all this is one to one salsa dance classes with Nancy. Once again, the classes  are high tempo. Who said Guatemalans choose a slower pace of life? I'm really enjoying the movement and working on stringing consecutive moves together. Something I never mastered back home.

The language programme also offers homestay with a Guatemalan family. It's a opportunity to understand local people better and to practise Spanish too. My home for the next wo weeks is tucked away from the bustle of town. My wee bedroom looks out into a courtyard loaded with plants. Both Delia and Aurturo, my hosts are elderly and so is the maid Gloria who has been with the family for 25 years. Delia, prides herself on her apperance and is always keen to help me with my pronunciation and ettiquette. Sadly, Aurturo is a Man Utd fan, but on the plus side he drinks hot water (albeit with a heap of sugar!). Gloria (the maid) cooks delicious food which is usually meat and four boiled veg (I could be in England!), she's a chirpy character and easy to chat to.

After two weeks of this. I up the pace again as I ship out to the countryside (San Juan) for more intensive language studies. Not sure I'll be able to cope after the twin boot camps here in Antigua.

2 comments:

  1. Hi,

    I'd love to hear more about the places you visited. I am in Guatemala now and on a similar trip it seems. It'd be great to see a list of the places you went with some contact info. I hope you are still loving and living the permacultura dream!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi,

    I'd love to hear more about the places you visited. I am in Guatemala now and on a similar trip it seems. It'd be great to see a list of the places you went with some contact info. I hope you are still loving and living the permacultura dream!

    ReplyDelete