Well all is going well in Antigua. I´ve quickly managed to fill my days up. I spend the mornings in spanish school, or better put banging my head against the wall trying to figure out and remember spanish grammar.
I managed to catch the second half of Barak´s (I like that for the first time I feel comfortable refering to the president on a a first name basis. He just kinda feels like one of the boys you know) inaguration speach, and partly because of the inspiration from this I decided to try to do my part and signed up to volunteer at an after school program for disadvantaged children.
The name of the program is ¨Los Patojos,¨ which is Guatemalan slang for ¨The Children.¨ The program is located in Jocotenango, which is Antigua´s neighboring city, and apparently has become a bit of a distribution center for drug trafficing in Central America and Mexico. For this reason there are alot of kids that are neglected by their families.
As for the program itself, I couldn´t be in suport of it more. The director is a young guy, couldn´t be more than 30, named Juan Pablo. He´s the absolute perfect person to run a program like this. He´s full of energy and loves to play with the kids. He knows how to relate to all the ages, as there are kids from about the age of 4 all the way to high schoolers, and you can tell they all have a strong affinity for him. However, when neccesacry he knows how to be serious with them in a way to get them to respond and not alienate them.
His focus in the program seems to be not just to help the kids in their studies but also to instill a strong sense of morality, community, and dignity in the children. As many of the kids are the children of drug dealers and people otherwise involved in that world a big focus of the program is to educate the kids about all the other possibilites that exist. The best part is that the program is completely free and is funded entirely by donations.
In the first few days I haven´t had any specific responsibilities other than just playing with the kids. You quickly see that kids the world over are the same. Full of energy and love to play. They´re constantly wanting to jump on my back, or sit on my lap. The other day I seriously rope burned my hand trying to take on about ten of them in tug-o-war.
Juan Pablo asked me to teach a daily English class to the group of kids from 9-12 years old. I´m excited to start but at the same time a bit nervous as I´ve never really taught anything to anyone. But I figure no matter what I do the kids are bound to learn something. Keeping their interest will probably be the hardest part, So I´ve just got to go in their confident and wanting to have a good time. That being said if anyone´s got ideas for games and the such my ears are open.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Antigua, Guatemala - My First Re-Impressions
So I´m on the road again. Or to paraphrase one of my favorite guys, ¨Once again I feel under my heels the ribs of Rocinante.¨ I´ve created a blog for the first time to keep those of you who are intrested on how the travels go. Feel free to post questions or comments via the comments link at the bottom of each article. You can also sign up to get an e-mail each time a post a new article via the ¨follow this blog¨link on the right hand side of the page.
My travels once again start in Antigua, Guatemala. My plan for this trip is to spend a month or so here in Antigua studying Spanish before heading up to Mexico to visit a couple of friends and then hopefully make my way to Cuba. The plans as always are tentative and I won´t even guess at how many times they may change before it´s all said and done.
One of my first trips on my own started in Antigua as well. In 2003 I did largely the same thing. Spent about a month here learning Spanish but then rather than going north to Mexico I spent the next five months working my south to Panama before heading home.
It´s interesting being back after having been away for five years. I can perceive some small differences but it´s largely the same place I was before. Cobblestone streets lined with old Spanish colonial architecture. Everything in varying states of repair. You can judge the success of a home owner or business by the appearance of the house or storefront. Even and brightly painted walls, with bougainvillea draping over the top and a sturdy wooden door will be juxtaposed next to a bland white wall full of cracks with bricks showing through where the mortar has fallen off. Every so often you may stumble across the remnants of an old church crumbling to the ground, some of which you´re allowed to wander through the ruble while others are boarded and barred to keep out the public.
The town is bustling with tourists of all shapes and sizes. You may see two girls walking down the street with backpacks that would appear to weigh more than they do. Or it may be a group of middle-aged to elderly tourists, who must be European (no explanation needed) being lead by a short Guatemalan guide. The women wearing something obviously Guatemalan and the men with cameras hanging from straps around their necks and wearing the classic ¨safari¨ style vest with the pockets stuffed full of who knows what.
There´s plenty of locals shuffling around as well in the daily hustle of life. Taxi drivers in their three wheeled ¨tuk-tuk¨style taxi´s, colorfully dressed Mayan women (who come up to about my waist) selling even brighter colored crafts and fabrics, or folks just relaxing in the parque central on a sunny Sunday afternoon while some guy preaches his bible to anyone who will listen, and everyone who won´t.
Despite Guatemala´s reputation and history of the opposite the town has a quite peaceful and tranquil vibe to it. However, at least the fear of crime is clearly evident in the shot gun bearing bank guards and AK-47 wielding police officers.
On the whole I think I like Antigua just as much as the first time. It´s got it´s ups and downs (loads of tourists) but it´s a city that´s alive, and I like that.
My travels once again start in Antigua, Guatemala. My plan for this trip is to spend a month or so here in Antigua studying Spanish before heading up to Mexico to visit a couple of friends and then hopefully make my way to Cuba. The plans as always are tentative and I won´t even guess at how many times they may change before it´s all said and done.
One of my first trips on my own started in Antigua as well. In 2003 I did largely the same thing. Spent about a month here learning Spanish but then rather than going north to Mexico I spent the next five months working my south to Panama before heading home.
It´s interesting being back after having been away for five years. I can perceive some small differences but it´s largely the same place I was before. Cobblestone streets lined with old Spanish colonial architecture. Everything in varying states of repair. You can judge the success of a home owner or business by the appearance of the house or storefront. Even and brightly painted walls, with bougainvillea draping over the top and a sturdy wooden door will be juxtaposed next to a bland white wall full of cracks with bricks showing through where the mortar has fallen off. Every so often you may stumble across the remnants of an old church crumbling to the ground, some of which you´re allowed to wander through the ruble while others are boarded and barred to keep out the public.
The town is bustling with tourists of all shapes and sizes. You may see two girls walking down the street with backpacks that would appear to weigh more than they do. Or it may be a group of middle-aged to elderly tourists, who must be European (no explanation needed) being lead by a short Guatemalan guide. The women wearing something obviously Guatemalan and the men with cameras hanging from straps around their necks and wearing the classic ¨safari¨ style vest with the pockets stuffed full of who knows what.
There´s plenty of locals shuffling around as well in the daily hustle of life. Taxi drivers in their three wheeled ¨tuk-tuk¨style taxi´s, colorfully dressed Mayan women (who come up to about my waist) selling even brighter colored crafts and fabrics, or folks just relaxing in the parque central on a sunny Sunday afternoon while some guy preaches his bible to anyone who will listen, and everyone who won´t.
Despite Guatemala´s reputation and history of the opposite the town has a quite peaceful and tranquil vibe to it. However, at least the fear of crime is clearly evident in the shot gun bearing bank guards and AK-47 wielding police officers.
On the whole I think I like Antigua just as much as the first time. It´s got it´s ups and downs (loads of tourists) but it´s a city that´s alive, and I like that.
Guatemalan Christmas Music
Well I just started this blog thing and I feel like I can´t have just one entry on here so here´s a bit I wrote about the family I´m staying with.
As mentioned before I signed up with a Spanish school and they got me placed with a family right away, it´s an interesting situation.
The family seems to be devoutly Christian as is evidenced by a quite large Nativity scene they have set up in the aforementioned living-room-of-sorts. It´s complete with lights, figurines of all shapes and sizes, and just about every Christmas decoration imaginable, it even has one of those plug-in fountains with running water.
Every night around 6:30 or 7:00 guests start showing up and they, along with the family, all go in the ¨Christmas Room¨for Prayers. It´s always right at the same time we´re (the other students and I) are having diner so we can hear all the goings on.
It´s not just prayers but a whole ceremony with tambourines, drums, and signing. We get a good laugh at diner each night because they don´t seem to have any rhythm at all. The comparison has been to when you give grade schoolers musical instruments for the first time. I know, I know, I´m going to hell.
To add to the comedy of the situation they have some device (I´ve yet to locate the thing so I don´t know exactly what it is) that plays ding-dong versions of all the classic Christmas carols. They leave it on all evening so it´s the background music to diner each night.
The carols come from the garden area which is on the opposite side of the dining room as the the Christmas Room, so I don´t think you can hear them (the carols) from the Christmas room. However they are clearly audible from the diner table. So our diner music ¨play list¨is composed of the ongoing ding-donging of Sleigh Bells ringing in the snow intermittently overwhelmed by the un-rhythmic chanting and drumming emanating out of the Christmas Room. If only I had something to record the whole thing.
I was a bit curios as to why they were still celebrating Christmas in the middle of January, so I asked. Apparently it goes until the 2nd of February. So I´ve got another 2 weeks of Guatemalan Christmas Music to look forward to. I guess I have the lord to thank.
As mentioned before I signed up with a Spanish school and they got me placed with a family right away, it´s an interesting situation.
The family seems to be devoutly Christian as is evidenced by a quite large Nativity scene they have set up in the aforementioned living-room-of-sorts. It´s complete with lights, figurines of all shapes and sizes, and just about every Christmas decoration imaginable, it even has one of those plug-in fountains with running water.
Every night around 6:30 or 7:00 guests start showing up and they, along with the family, all go in the ¨Christmas Room¨for Prayers. It´s always right at the same time we´re (the other students and I) are having diner so we can hear all the goings on.
It´s not just prayers but a whole ceremony with tambourines, drums, and signing. We get a good laugh at diner each night because they don´t seem to have any rhythm at all. The comparison has been to when you give grade schoolers musical instruments for the first time. I know, I know, I´m going to hell.
To add to the comedy of the situation they have some device (I´ve yet to locate the thing so I don´t know exactly what it is) that plays ding-dong versions of all the classic Christmas carols. They leave it on all evening so it´s the background music to diner each night.
The carols come from the garden area which is on the opposite side of the dining room as the the Christmas Room, so I don´t think you can hear them (the carols) from the Christmas room. However they are clearly audible from the diner table. So our diner music ¨play list¨is composed of the ongoing ding-donging of Sleigh Bells ringing in the snow intermittently overwhelmed by the un-rhythmic chanting and drumming emanating out of the Christmas Room. If only I had something to record the whole thing.
I was a bit curios as to why they were still celebrating Christmas in the middle of January, so I asked. Apparently it goes until the 2nd of February. So I´ve got another 2 weeks of Guatemalan Christmas Music to look forward to. I guess I have the lord to thank.
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