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09.05.2009
Monterico
category: Travel
tags: ,

This past Tuesday, Stella, Karla, Karla`s friend Luzbin, and I went to Monterico.  It`s a beach on the Pacific side of Guatemala.

beach side hotels/whatnot

beachside hotels/whatnot

The beaches in Guatemala are a bit different, they have volcanic black sand…  and the waves are ridiculous.  I went in to swim for a bit.  On about the fourth wave or so, for about 2 seconds I literally thought I was going to drown.  Later that day we saw somebody get rescued by a lifeguard.  Lost his bathing suit in the process, but he ended up being ok.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOu5MHUzpb4[/youtube]

Note: video does not do justice to size of waves or Brian`s wicked tan line.

Hammock time with Gallo in hand. Buenisimo.

Hammock time with Gallo in hand. Buenisimo.

On the way back, the bus was full of borachos.  There was dancing, singing, yelling… a bit of everything.  At one point on the way home, the bus driver pulled over next to a large jocote tree next to somebody`s house.  About 10 people then filed out of the bus and began picking/stealing jocotes off of the tree.

Two jocote theifs. I have chosen to post a blurry photo to protect their identity

Two jocote marigñon (cashew fruit) thieves. Photo has been blurred to protect their identity.

Everybody then filed back into the bus with bags full of jocotes.  We then continued home.

28.03.2009
Adios
category: Fiestas
tags: , , ,

So Friday was Charlie`s last day at Familias de Esperanza.  We met up for drinks later that night.

Drinks

Drinks

And I guess even without the full blown beard I`ve managed to maintain my scrubby bum-like appearance.  While we were walking around, we saw a group of volunteers that had helped at the organization for a week or so.  “Brian, you shaved!”.  And these people had not seen my beard, they were talking about my 5 o`clock shadow that I had let go for a bit too long…

09.02.2009
Weekend in Puerto
categories: Fiestas, Travel
tags: , , , ,

So Rodalfo and his friend Christian invited me to go to Puerto San Jose this past  weekend.

Puerto is a small beach town.  Everybody seems to know eachother.  Christian took me around town on the back of his motorcycle and was waving to pretty much every other person…

There was alot of time spent on the beach (in the shade of course) and hanging around in Rodalfo’s family’s restaurant eating seafood.  We also drove around a four wheeler for a bit on the beach which was really fun.

And unfortunately I somehow lost mi sombrero chilero…

Beach

Beach

View from the Restaurant

View from the Restaurant

Fishing

Fishing

We spent Saturday at Christian’s family’s restaraunt drinking, eating, and listening to mariachi.  Mariachi is no joke here, people get really into it.  Rodalfo enjoys singing (/yelling) along to the music and shouting out to friends that drive by (usually making fun of them).

Saturday night we went to a discoteca in town.  There has been a marked improvement in my dance skills due to the constant need to practice on the weekends.  I got a shoutout from the DJ as being a “buen honda from las estados unidos”.  We stayed up late just talking and hanging out.

Christian and his family at their restaurant (Christian's cousin Erik wanted to be sure that the "Gallo" label on his beer was visible in this photo)

Christian and his family at their restaurant (Christian's cousin Erik wanted to be sure that the "Gallo" label on his beer was visible in this photo)

The weekend was great excercise for both my Spanish and my liver.  Sunday was spent drinking and hanging out in Christian’s restaurant with his family.  Since we all had slight hangovers, I was told that the best way to remedy the situation was to drink more beer (and we’re talking early… like 8:30am  …when in Rome…)  and to eat “levante el morio” (wake the dead).  Levante el morio is a soup with tomatoes, eggs, and other spices… famous for curing hangovers.

Oh and my Spanish is getting better.   Christian’s cousin had me *roughly* translate “November Rain” by Guns n’ Roses and various Bob Marely songs…

26.01.2009
Milton´s Birthday
category: Fiestas
tags: , , ,

So the partying did not end with the wedding.  On Sunday, Marti, Carlos and I, along with the majority (it seems, but I have a feeling this is not the case) of Otto´s family went to Marti´s sisters house for a party.  This included massive amounts of food, fireworks, and alot of questions for the gringo… 

Marti lighting the cake. She is a pro, note her gameface

Marti lighting the cake. She is a pro at this kind of thing, note her gameface

Milton is the one with the camera

Milton is the one with the camera and Olga is the woman to the left of him. She is hilarious.

26.01.2009
A Beard Trimming and Dance shoes
categories: Fiestas, Travel
tags: , , , ,

So I went back to Guatemala city (via comioneta/”chicken bus”) for the weekend.  To my dismay, upon arriving, Marti informed me that I would be getting a haircut with her son Giovanni on Saturday.  Rather than turning down the offer, I felt that it was maybe necessary to tame the twirlygigs that had begun to form at the base of my future mane.  Although this has seriously set me back with my hopes of attaining the super beard of a beatnik vagabond, I feel it is sometimes necessary to take one step backward to go two steps forward…

Saturday came as a very busy day.  It began with helping Giovanni and Tono assemble a complicated desk (without directions).  This proved to be a good test for newly learned vocabulary (above, on top of, below, etc).   After desk assembly, I drove around town with Marti and Carlos running some errands.  While driving back, Marti and Carlos asked me if I would like to go to a fiesta.  To this I replied, “Si… cuando?”.  “Ahora” they said.  Giovanni and his wife were basically ready to leave back at the house.  They then asked me if I had nice clothes… Of course I did not.  I ended up wearing Carlos´s.  The shoes were a bigger problem since nobody in the entire country of  Guatemala has a size 10 or 11.  I ended up using Giovanni´s father in law´s.  They were a ·tight· fit, but did the trick.  Everything besides the shoes and sportcoat fit well (if I stretched my arms out in front of me, the cuffs of the shirt would pass the sleeve of the sportcoat by about 3 inches).

The fiesta turned out to be a wedding at one of the nicest Hotels in Guatemala.  The driveway for the hotel alone snaked up a mountain next to Antigua for (literally) 2 kilometers.  The road alone was beautiful and the view was accentuated by a guard with a shotgun.

dsc05402

The hotel was nice and the view of Antigua wasn´t too bad either

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There ended up being alot of people at the party

There also ended up being alot of people Dancing and Dancing (click)

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nb1dYwisA9M[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBoUk2Re3Ps[/youtube]

Needless to say, my dance “skills” are pretty weak, even when aided by the powers of alcohol.  The moment the music started, it became very apparent to me that I will need to work on the dance moves.  Learning to dance has now become a priority that is 2nd only to learning spanish (and probably getting a job).  I was also told that a pair of new (dance) shoes is a must since there are so many fiestas in Guatemala.

17.01.2009
Searching for a Spanish school
categories: Fiestas, School, Travel
tags: , , ,

Otto´s uncle Rodolfo and his friend Christian drove Otto and I to Antigua two nights in a row in order to scope out the different Spanish schools. 

I think that looking for spanish schools seemed like a good excuse for Rodolfo and Christian to show us around Antigua.  By this I mean eating massive amounts of food, spending most of the night in a bar, and then heading to a discoteca.  This was basically how it went on both days.  And of course, going to a discoteca isn´t any fun if there isn´t a street fight (about 8  people) to cap the night off.   No need to worry, we were at a safe viewing distance…

All of the bars in Antigua need to close after 1:00, but its common that there is an “afterparty” after this certain discoteca closes.  As soon as you walk out the door, people are handing out flyers.  Rodalfo explained that everybody is in on the afterparty.  Apparently this is true, because after driving for 5 minutes, we had to ask a random guard for directions and he knew exactly what we were talking about.  5 minutes later, we asked a kid who was probably 14, and he not only showed us where the party was, but helped us park…   

Christian, Roldalfo, and a bucket of Gallo

Christian, Roldalfo, and a bucket of Gallo

Despite how they may sound, these two days were definitly productive.  On the afternoon of the 2nd day, after looking at a few other schools, we found one that seemed to be the one.  The school is called ¨Probigua¨ and is a non-profit spanish school.  It includes activities (movies, salsa lessons, field trips, etc) and also offers the ability to volunteer in a small school that is close to Antigua.