Gene's Girls!

Gene with Chiqui and Sara - our teachers
Last Day of School in Antigua

This is one of the photos that I was so upset about loosing back in Antigua when I deleted all 998 of my photos fooling around with my camera! Que suerte! Afortunadamente I had also saved it on Gene's PDA because it was so cute!

Last Day of School - Again

Our last day of school in Panajachel was sad. We've only been here a month, but have had a great time - and hopefully have learned a little! If we haven't, it's certainly not the fault of our teachers! Both Gene's teacher, Veronica and my teacher, Zoila, are just great. We will miss them.

Lazy in Panajachel

It's true that I haven't been posting lately. We are still in Panajachel on Lake Atitlan. We are in our third week of school here, and so have been busy studying. Two days ago the rains finally came. Fortunately for us, it generally doesn't start until afternoon, so we usually make it back to the hotel to study - or check email - before the rains start. Just like Costa Rica! We know some other people who have classes in the afternoon - and have to get back to their homestays by pickup truck (a common mode of travel in the smaller villages). Life hasn't been as easy for them the last few days.We have also visited a couple of the wonderfully colorful market days in different villages. I could people-watch all day at these things! We haven't heard from any of our friends and family lately and are hoping that all is going well back home and that we will soon get some news. We have great teachers here and, little by little, our Spanish improves.

Solola-First Day of School

We like our new school. Gene's teacher is Veronica and mine is Zoila - another law student! She's very interesting and, like my teacher in Antigua, has many of the same interests as I have - politics, culture, history, women's rights and such. She wears traditional dress (traje) and is beautiful. I think we are going to have some interesting classes.

Back to School

So we registered for school again - to start on Monday. Hard to know anything about a school until you've tried it, but we both had a better "feel" about this school than the other one here in Panajachel. After our brief visit to San Pedro on Thursday, we decided to stay here in Pana instead of spending time over there. This town, which seemed big at first, is pretty nice. Nice waterfront, lots of good restaurants, a great hotel, and it's very clean. We liked the two people we talked to at the school. More later. Will try to remember to take some pictures, too.

Last Day of School...

well, for a while anyhow. School was never this fun in the old days.
We were late getting around to breakfast again so we took our teachers out for donuts and coffee at the donut shop. Had some great conversation over coffees and decided to go tour La Iglesia y Convento de Las Capuchinas. This is a fascinating place, which I will try to tell you more about later on. The 4 of us spent over an hour touring Las Capuchinas and then decided we needed a refreshment break.
We walked down the street to our favorite Pupuso place and spent an hour or two in uproarious laughter over my Spanish, Chiqui's English, and everything else we could think of. It was just one of those days when everything was funny. I got Saira to teach me how to do that crossing yourself thing that all Catholics do all the time. I've always been intrigued by the people who cross themselves when passing a church or a cemetary, before and after eating, and on any other occasion which might seem like a good time for it. But I've never been able to quite catch how it all works. Saira is a devout Catholic and crosses herself all the time, so I knew she could teach me the technique, but I was afraid she would be offended by the whole thing. NOT! She was practically rolling on the floor as I practiced trying to get it straight, whether to cross to the left or right breast first (it's the left) and how close to the navel to come for the bottom part. The man at the next table was watching and listening in and I was afraid he might not like it that we were having so much fun. Saira had explained about saying "en el nombre del Padre, el Hijo y el Espirito Santo." When I asked her what happened to la Madre Maria, I thought the poor man was going to wet his pants! And when we discussed that Maria must be the most important part of the thing because every single Catholic girl gets Maria as part of her names, he was laughing so hard that I feared for his health. He left shortly thereafter, still laughing, so hopefully he wasn't too offended.
I think I got a great picture of Gene, Saira and Chiqui sharing a banana licuado (that's refresco for you folks in C.R; smoothie for you guys in the U.S.)! If it turns out any good, I will post the photo with this.

La Iglesia de San Francisco

We did our class all day today because we're going to take Friday off because of all the festivities. We took our teachers to lunch around the corner at Fernando's. Then in the afternoon we all took a break and walked down to la Iglesia de San Francisco.
The original San Francisco church was badly damaged in the 1565 earthquake. Work on the current location comenced in 1579, and it became a cultural and learning center for the region. The school taught theology, canonical law, philosophy, physics and mathematics. Ultimately there was a library, music and art rooms, and a printing press as well as a beautiful chapel. The massive 3 story hospital was damaged in the 1689 earthquake. Reconstruction began immediately and the complex ultimately covered 4 city blocks. In 1717, another earthquake hit. This time the complex sustained massive damage. All of the church arches were cracked, the bell tower was partially destroyed. Engineering mistakes made in the reconstruction this time resulted in even more destruction in the 1773 earthquake. Most of the church lay in ruins until the 1960's when another renovation project was undertaken. Walking through the ruins, it is hard to take in just how massive this place originally was. It is said that the current church is very simple compared to what it used to be. It still appears very beautiful and elaborate to me. It receives massive numbers of visitors each year, many of them to pray to Hermano Pedro de San José de Bethancourt, whose remains lie here, and who is credited with miraculous powers of healing.
The church also houses the remains of Fray Augusto Ramírez, who was declared a martyr by Pope John Paul II during his visit to Guatemala in 1992 for his efforts and death at the hands of the national police in 1983.
In many ways this beautiful church seems to represent so much of the history of this amazing country. Earthquakes and rebuilding and earthquakes again. Prayers for miracles. Martyrs at the hands of the police. But always beauty and an attitude of endurance.
After a really busy day, we spent some time studying and then went up to the church plaza for some munchies. We had some surprisingly good pizza and then brought some churros home with us to eat with hot chocolate. We're in heaven. They actually make churros like the ones we loved in Spain. If I eat these as often as I want to, I will gain another 20 pounds.

1st Day of Class

We started our classes today. My teacher is Chiqui. Gene's is Saira. Both seem pretty good, but it's hard to say after only 1 day. Our classes are from 9 to 1 this week so we'll have time for all the holy week activities in the afternoons. Since the school is really crowded this week, Julio asked if we would like to have our classes in our apartment, where we'd have a much quieter place to study. He brought us over an extra table and 2 more chairs. Gene has set up his classroom in the living/dining/kitchen room. Mine is in the "patio," entrance, which is really just the pila. So far, it works great, and we're both happy to not be in the noisy environment of the school, which or course is right next door if we need anything.
During a break we walked up the la Iglesia de Merced on the corner to see the alfombra with our teachers. These things are amazingly beautiful. We found out that they create a new one each week during lent.
One day while we were wandering around, we came across a little shop where 2 men make the "formas," or stensils, for the alfombras. They are very intricate designs and made of heavy cardboard. Every one of the hundreds of alfombras that are made in the churches and in the streets for Good Friday is different from all the others. And every one is a brand new design each year. The artists invited us in and let us watch for a while. We were fascinated by the intricate designs and their creative abilities. It's even more fascinating when you see what the people create using these formas and many colors of sawdust and other materials.