First week in Antigua

Hello from Antigua!

So much has happened since I arrived last Friday to Guatemala! I don’t know how I am possibly going to fit it all into one blog post. I’ll try to give you the highlights, but don’t be upset if this post is a long one!

I arrived at my host family’s house late Friday night and was greeted warmly by my host family and the other exchange students. The students living with me are from the States and Canada, and they range from 19 to 50 years old. We had 8 students this past week, though people are always coming and going. I think that the group I will be staying with will be slightly different every week. Most of the students I have met here have graduated from their university, though there are a few of us who are still in school. I have met people from the States, Canada, England, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Brazil. I have loved getting to know every single person here. One friend I made is from Quebec, and she has shown me around Antigua and was my partner in crime when we played with our host brother, Carlo. We went to coffee shops and a macadamia nut farm together, she took me on hikes and to different mercados, and we did cooking and salsa dancing classes together with some of our other friends. Sadly, she left yesterday, but she is going to return next weekend so that we can do the overnight hike up the volcano Acatenango together.

This is my Canadian friend Manu chilling in a hammock at the macadamia nut farm we went to last Sunday.

This is Agua, an extinct volcano south of Antigua. I took this picture atop the lookout Cerro de la Cruz, which is right next to my house. I like to hike this short bluff every morning and watch Antigua wake up.

Speaking of hikes, this morning I hiked up Pacaya, one of the 38 volcanoes in Guatemala. Pacaya is currently dormant but erupted in 2010 and still had lava issuing down its side last year. At least, this is what I picked up from the tour guide today, though these facts really might be wrong since the tour was in Spanish. The hike was beautiful and relatively short. Best of all, we were able to roast marshmallows over the hot spots near the top of the volcano. 

Here we are in front of the summit of Pacaya!

Short video of me roasting my marshmallow:)

View from the top!

There are three active volcanoes in Guatemala, and I am hoping to climb, or at least see up close, one of them. Fun fact about Fuego (the active volcano I want to climb): Fuego erupts three times every hour, and we can hear it all the way in Antigua. What’s more, the ash from the volcano reaches Antigua, so that you can run your hands along a surface outside and collect the ash on your fingers.  

Continuing on the theme of fun facts about Antigua, I’ve learned that you are not allowed to honk your horns in this city because the powers that be want Antigua to maintain a calm atmosphere. To me, Antigua does feel calm; I’ve found it to be very safe and friendly to tourists. Though I and the rest of the young women in the city receive occasional catcalls from random men (due to the machisimo culture here), I never feel uncomfortable when I am walking by myself, especially since there are many gringos just like me out and about. I thought I would stand out more, but no one has noticed me in particular. The only comments I’ve received are that I am tall (most Guatemalan men are shorter than me), and that I have beautiful eyes (probably because they are blue). 

I have also learned that there is a huge procession every Easter that imitates the Via Dolorosa, the path Jesus took on his way to his crucifixion. Thousands of people line the streets to watch actors and several statues make their way from church to church. How do I know this, you may ask? Carlo, who is 7 years old, does his own version of this procession every. Single. Night. He has one video of the procession that he watches constantly, and we will go to bed and sometimes wake up to the somber music that plays in the video. Carlo will march to the music through hiis house, over to his grandparents’ house (the two families’ houses are connected), and back to his living room. 

Carlo is definitely one of my favorite parts of this trip so far. I of course also love his older brother Adriano and his parents, but Carlo is something else. He is super loud and energetic and talkative, and he loves to play with me, sing, or show his Youtube blog to anyone who cares to watch. He is constantly asking to ride on my back or play with me, which looks like him taking a ball and running away screaming as I chase him and try to get the ball back. He talks incredibly fast and doesn’t know much English, so playing with him is honestly a great way for me to practice my Spanish.

My host mom, Wendy, is funny and very kind. Lucky for me, Wendy is also a chef, which means that I get to eat a lot of authentic and delicious dishes for dinner. This blog could easily become solely about the food I have eaten here, so I will try to restrain myself. I’ll give you a few of the best dishes:

Pepian: this is the traditional lunch of Guatemala, and it happened to be the first lunch I ate. It is chicken, potatoes, carrots, and rice in a savory sauce made of tomatoes, several types of chiles, onions, and many other ingredients that I don’t remember. 

Fried Plantains: these are commonly served as a side for breakfast and lunch.

Elotes: this is the first street food that I’ve eaten. It is grilled corn served with either lime and salt or a combination of mayonnaise, chili powder, ketchup, cheese, and mustard. It could be served with other things as well, but these are the options that I’ve seen so far.

Molletes Rellenos: this is a dessert that is similar to a cream puff, but it’s covered in whipped egg whites mixed with their yokes and fried, and is served in a soup of water, cinnamon, sugar, and raisins. I attended a cooking class in which we made molletes rellenos–and when I say “we made,” I mean the teacher made with two other students while the rest of us talked and then ate the fruits of their labor.

Some more fun facts about Guatemalan cuisine: typically, tortillas are served for lunch while bread (pan) is served for dinner. The food here is not spicy at all, and eggs, beans, and rice are also very common. 

As you all probably remember, I have four hours of group class in the morning and one hour of private class in the afternoon. My two other classmates are in their mid to late twenties and are both from the United States. My teacher is a lively Guatemalan who has a great laugh and likes to make fun of us. Her joke for me is that I need to find a Guatemalan novio (boyfriend) so that I can have someone with whom to practice my Spanish and have many kids. I think I had mentioned that I want a family when I am older at some point earlier this week,  and I guess in her mind that translated to, “I want to have a huge Latino family with muchos muchos hijos.” Now, she is constantly reminding me to be on the hunt. I’ll keep you updated on that front, though so far I have yet to meet a potential Guatemalan novio. I also cannot tell you how many people ask me about my Romeo. I’ve gotten this question all my life, but for some reason everyone down here wants to know all about my love life, and specifically if there are any boys named Romeo that I know. (In case you’re wondering, I have only met one Romeo in my life, and it was in fifth grade. We were not friends.) 

I am wondering if I receive this question so often down here simply because of my name, or if it is actually part of the culture to inquire into people’s relationship status. It’s true that my teacher has told us multiple times about the great importance marriage and family have in Guatemala. She says that there can often be a lot of pressure from both parents and society to get married. Besides this, she has told us about how it is expected that the eldest daughter will take on some of the mother’s responsibility and do many of the chores, whereas the sons are never forced to do chores and are instead told to go rest and relax. This household dynamic is partly why the machisimo culture exists.  

I mentioned that I was going to pick up slang while in Guatemala. One word I have learned is va (pronounced “ba”), which I believe is the shortened version of the Spanish (from Spain) word vale. Vale is never used here, but va is used constantly and means “okay.” For example, whenever I thank Wendy for breakfast or dinner, she will invariably respond, “va.” Or again, the tour guide for my Pacaya hike generously sprinkled his sentences with “va” as he told us about the volcano. I have started to incorporate this word in my speech, though I also like to use bueno (another form of “okay”) and claro (which means “of course”). Even though my lack of knowledge of Spanish is sorely exposed here, by using words like va, I am slowly learning to talk more naturally. I have already noticed an improvement in my ear and speech. 

Here are a few more pictures that I wanted to share with you. Wish me luck as I start my second week of classes and hike Acatenango next weekend! I’ll try to post something next weekend, but if I don’t have time, you’ll hear from me again in two weeks!

Hasta luego,

Juliet