Happy 21st Luke!
On the last Thursday, which was my last full day in Argentina, I had decided to do some thank-you’s and so I got up fairly early to head first to the hospital. Unfortunately, when I arrived, the doctors had not and so after waiting for about half an hour I decided to just write Dr. Mazia, Dra. Santoro, Dra. Salutto, and Dr. Vega a little letter saying how much I enjoyed the experience and thanking them for letting me observe the classes. I left the note with one of the neurology nurses who I had met a couple of times.
I hopped on the subway and rode it all the way into the center. I got off at the penultimate stop a good half-hour later. I walked up the familiar streets of Florida, Paraguay, and Reconquista to the Spanish school. I stopped and bought a few facturas, pastries, as a little gift for the teachers. I arrived a little later than I would have preferred, after the 10.00 o’clock break period, but I was able to sit with Paula for a while and talk. It was nice to be able to see my teachers again, only Marta was not there.
After the school, I returned home to finish up my packing with the laundry that I had just had done so that I would go to Guatemala with minimal dirty clothing. It was very strange to finish packing and have ‘my’ room so bare and impersonalized; ready for the new French student who was to arrive later that day. I had ñoquis for lunch with Betty and Ana (the housecleaner) as it was the 29th of the month, ñoquis day. I had eaten ñoquis before at Paula’s house, I described them as little grubs made of potato. They were homemade, with a good sauce, and I put 10 pesos under my plate to ensure good luck in the month to come.
I had a bit of a disaster with Martin, who was planning on visiting me in the afternoon since he could not make it to the dinner that night due to classes. We had some communication issues, and I waited for literally hours, but never heard a word. That was the only downside to the night, so I will move past it quickly. More importantly:
Flor and Paula arrived between 7.30 and 8.00p and we sat down with Betty for a fantastic final dinner of empanadas. We had four different types: ham and cheese, caprese (mozzarella, tomato and basil), chicken, and beef. They were so yummy, and we all stuffed ourselves. To top the dinner off was the famous chocolate tort that Betty and I had made the day before. So much good food.
Me, Flor, and Paula
Betty and Flor with the cake
Paula and Flor gave me as a farewell gift the book that Paula had mentioned to me when I first arrived called El libro de los abrazos, The Book of the Hugs, by Eduardo Galeano, and both wrote really sweet messages inside. We had a very sad farewell in the subway station that they took to go to their respective homes. It was so bizarre to say goodbye to them after spending more or less the entirety of the 3 months there with one, the other, or both of them. I miss them both a lot right now.
Paula signing the book
Crazy folks in the elevator
Friday was the traveling day. I hopped into the taxi at 09.00 and got to the airport about an hour later. Saying goodbye to Betty was also very strange. She was a fantastic host and pseudo-mother, and my experience in Buenos Aires would have been very different without her. The airport is located inconveniently on the other side of the city from the center, making it very expensive for anyone living in more busy areas of the city to leave.
I had no problems with my boarding passes or luggage, I and made it through security and to the gate easily and relatively quickly. I sat next to two women from Havana, Cuba on the plane, both of whom were returning home after vacationing in Argentina. The flight was just a touch over 8 hours and passed without incident. I was able to sleep, I started reading El libro de los abrazos and listened to a bit of music on the plane radio. The plane was ‘old-fashioned’ in that it had the fold-down screens every few rows and they showed ‘Young Victoria’ as well as an episode apiece of ‘Two and a Half Men’ and ‘Friends.’ I was not terrible enthused about the selection, and the provided headphones only provided sound to my right ear, so I opted to read. The book is really good. It is a collection of short pieces, some no more than a paragraph, on all sorts of topics and all written in a witty, creative, and somewhat lyrical manner.
Last view of Buenos Aires from the window
When I arrived in Panama, my connection could not have been easier. The airport has terminals that end in bulbous spaces with gates all around. I walked out of gate 18 and my connection was gate 14 just a 20-foot walk across the room. So I had plenty of time even though the layover was only an hour and a bit. We boarded little plane for the 2 hour, 20 minute flight to Guatemala City, where I arrived at the local time of 8.30p.
I was picked up, after clearing customs and getting my bags (again, thankfully, without a hitch), by a taxi/friend of my host-to-be Carmen’s since Santiago, her 4-year-old sone was being put to bed. The airport is somewhat awkwardly located in the middle of the city, so the car-ride was short. I met Carmen and her parents, as it is her parents’ house in Guatemala City, she lives in Antigua about 45 minutes away. After chatting for a bit, I went to bed in the guest room that was gigantic after my cute little capsule in Buenos Aires.
View of not-so-distant volcanos from porch
The next morning I slept in until close to 10.00 and while breakfasting, I met Santiago. His father is English, so he is blessed and debatably cursed with adorably cute blonde hair and blue eyes. As the day progressed, I also met the neighbors, who were Carmen’s family. Carmen’s two sisters live in the two houses next-door, with their families. Carmen, Santiago, her father and I went for a little car-tour of the city, down the main street that has little plazas each dedicated to a different country. We also made a stop in a grocery store for a couple of items.
When we returned, we (being all the families) had a big lunch together of soup and tacos. There were two of the kids (the eldest being 14) who were working on their English homework, they were writing a summary of a book they had read, and I was very impressed at the skill level they had, made me a little ashamed of my Spanish skills.
The family was wonderfully nice, and interestingly, all of the adults spoke English, most of them, with a startling degree of fluency. Our conversations were, therefore, quite colorfully ‘Spanglished’ due to their desire to talk in English. Our luncheon was very relaxed and we talked for quite a while. It started to rain part way through, but although we were sitting outside, the overhead terrace kept us dry.
I got a chance to use internet briefly at one of the sisters’ houses after we ate, just to reassure the family that I was indeed alive and had arrive in Guatemala in one piece. And also to get the chance to tell everyone in Buenos Aires how much I missed them already.
This morning, we got up nice and early to make the trip to Antigua where I will be staying for a good part of my time here. Antigua, and the adjoining town of Santa Ana where Carmen lives, is very antiquated (hence the oh-so-obscure name), full of one-story houses with no space between them all painted different colors and set in a grid pattern. Guatemalan culture, as I have been told a few times now, is quite closed, private and introverted and therefore the houses are not open to the streets, in the areas with space between houses, every property has its own wall around the perimeter.
Stopping to visit Carmen’s house, which is gorgeous, full of plants with a great garden for Santiago to play in, and very nicely decorated, I met Nick, Carmen’s husband for the first time since my family left England almost 5 years ago (Carmen and Nick are friends made during that period of my life). Together we went to the house where I am going to be staying, which is in Antigua and about a 20-minute walk from Carmen’s house. I got to drop all my bags off, and then we left right away to do some touring of the city. Although the town is not very big, the problem that I foresee is that navigation will be made difficult due to the lack of differences between buildings.
We went out for a brunch, and then to the central park where, around a fountain, the masses congregate during the weekends. Antigua is quite touristy, especially during the weekends when a lot of city-folk come down for a couple of days. During the week it is supposed to be quite tranquil and enjoyable, although I did not mind the hustle-bustle of the people today. I definitely did see more gringos than I was used to in Buenos Aires. I had done a pretty good job of isolating myself amongst natives, so it was strange to see other freakishly pale humans touring over the petite Guatemalan people. We met up with one of Carmen’s friends who has a young daughter, and we walked around with them during the afternoon. We stopped and had a kebab lunch followed by some cake at a different location. Although it had rained the day before, today was quite hot and the altitude helped give me a pleasantly pink hue; I think I escaped a true burn. I will have a good time walking through the streets here, looking into the crafts stores, into the churches that literally tower over the surrounding buildings, and exploring some of the ruins that have been preserved of the old convents.
I am currently in my room on one of my two (!!) twin beds having unpacked my clothing and personalized the room with my clock and goofy-daily-phrase-in-Spanish calendar that I received from my Grandma. I have been granted Internet access, there is wireless in the room, for the price of 10Q a day. The current exchange rate between the Guatemalan Quetzal and US Dollars is 8:1, so it is a pretty awesome deal. Tomorrow, I will post this blog and see if the connection is strong enough to support photo uploads and possibly Skype calls to friends and family.
My new room
Guatemala is quite different from Argentina, much more rural, less European, and the accent has been throwing me every-so-slightly, but I think I am going to have a great time here. My interpretation of the Spanish here is that it is a mix of Mexican Spanish (including the use of the pronoun ‘tú’ and the pronunciation of the double ‘l’ as a ‘yuh’ sound) and the Argentine Spanish (with the conjugation of the pronoun ‘vos’ and the pronunciation of the double ‘l’ as ‘shh’). They have the uniqute combination linguistically of ‘tú’ and ‘vos’ as in tú querés or tú pensés. It is a little strange, but not hard to understand. I have attracted a few smiles with my Argentinean accent, but now to me everyone else sounds foreign.
Alright, if you managed to read all of this, congratulations, you officially need more to do in your life. It looks like I will be able to resume daily blogging of my Antigüeño adventures.
Chao.
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