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What the Guate'?

So Doug flew to Antigua, Guatemala for two weeks to work on his spanish. INSEAD (Doug's new school), requires three languages and his spanish is pretty weak. He studied for two weeks in a one-on-one class for 6 hours per day. (classes and yard shown above). His spanish improved to the point that he could communicate on most subjects although pretty choppily. He stayed with a homestay in Antigua, (also shown above with some of the family and co-students). The family had excellent food, was very nice and we very inexpensive. Doug would definitely recommend them for anyone wanting to visit Guatemala in the future.

Antigua was a really neat town; its an international historic site and the buildings have all been maintained in the original cobblestone and walled courtyard style of the 1800 spanish. Its impossible to tell what's inside any building until you actually step inside. Also above is a picture of a "chicken bus". These things literally get packed to the gills (I saw a driver hanging out the window and steering through the window because there was no room). The ticket take leans out the door and yells "Guate, Guate, Guate" for buses going to the capital, its quite a sight to see pimped out schoolbuses from Canada with chrome, fancy headlights and groundeffects bouncing down the road.

Doug did manage to do some sightseeing to Lago de Atitlan; shown above, it is surrounded by volcanos and is very beautiful. There are mansions on the lake that are just incredible. Doug also hiked up a volcano and got within about 6 feet of a live lava flow (safety standards are a little looser than Canada).

In general, Guatemala is a fascinating place, there is tons to see, the food is fantastic, the people are friendly; but they have serious problems as well: there is almost no industry and people have almost nothing. Although people are generally well fed, there is absolutely no safety net for people who fall through the cracks. Crime is also a big problem and it is commonplace to see guys riding shotgun on the Coke and Fritolay trucks because they are hot commodities on the black market. People are in general very proud to be Guatemalteco, but they have relatively little hope for the future. Definitely worth a visit, ask us for more detail if you're interested...

posted by Doug and Sarah @ 2:48 AM