So last weekend was a very good reminder that I still have a long way to go with Spanish.

There are a few things that one must know before I tell the story.   There are 2 families involved in this story:  (1) Ana Lucia`s family and (2) Otto`s family.  Ana Lucia is the daughter of a friend of Marti`s.   She`s offered to show me around a bit.  The other important thing to know here is that my Spanish is exponentially worse when I`m on the phone (especially because there`s always a car or a motorcycle driving right next to your ear)…

So that being said…  Last weekend I was taking some site construction photos in Tono`s house.  I recieved a call from an unrecognized number, answered the call, and was told “Hola, soy Lucia”.  I said hi and said I was sorry for not calling her back during the week, I had been very busy with work in Guatemala City.  “I`m here with my family (followed by a few unrecognizable sentences in Spanish)  Do you want to meet for lunch? (more cryptic Spanish) ok, see you in 20 minutes, Adios”.  I was basically done with what I had to do so I figured it`d be good to meet for lunch.  After a little walking, I realized that I didn`t know exactly where the restaurant was so I called back Lucia.  Her mother answered.  I began talking to her and then randomly saw Daniel, a kid from the office.  I told Lucia`s mother that I`d just met my friend and that I`d call her back in a minute.  I talked to Daniel for a minute, said goodbye, and then called back Lucia`s mother.  After alot of repeating and talking really slowly, her mother was able to communicate what the name of the restaurant was, what it looked like, and what street it was on.  She said that they would meet me at the front door.

I went to the restaurant and waited outside.  While I was waiting, I saw some of Otto`s family walking down the street.  It was Robert, his parents, his wife Chinita, and their daughter Silvia Lucia.  I waved and they came over to talk.   I was really suprised to see them and asked them what they were doing in Antigua.  They said that they had just seen a show and asked if I was hungry.  I said thank you but I had just spoken to a friend of mine and was waiting for her, we were going to eat lunch.  They said “ok, next weekend then”.  I said ok and that it was good to see them.  I then got back to waiting.  After waiting for a good 20 – 30 minutes, I called back Lucia`s mother.  I wanted to make sure that I was waiting in the right place.  “We`re on our way back to Guatemala (followed by lots of Spanish) your friend (Spanish) lunch (Spanish) party at Marti`s next weekend (Spanish).  Completely confused, I said “ok, well sorry we couldn´t meet up this time, next time”.  “Ok” Lucia`s mother said “Adios”.

So at this point I was totally confused and a bit annoyed that Lucia`s family had taken off without giving me a call.  After wandering around and thinking really hard for about 20 minutes I came to the conclusion that maybe there weren`t two families involved, maybe there was only one…