Last night I helped my madre make tortillas for dinner. Guatemalans eat tortillas with every dinner, actually almost every meal I think! The last 3 nights we went to a tortilleria around the corner to buy them, but last night Olga made them. it's ar eally long process; you have to buy the maiz (corn) and then make some powder and then some complicated dough. I helped her pat them out - you kind of pass them between your two hands really quickly to spread them and shape them. I made 2 in the time it took her to make about 25!
They taste different from American tortillas, definitely. I like them, but am not crazy about them. Some of their meals aren't very filling though, so to eat a heavier bread with meals is good for keeping you from getting hungry!
Last night we also had a really good dinner...some sort of vegetable soup with pasta in it, and some weird vegetables that I didn't recognize on the side, and also some rice. They have a bunch of fruits and veggies here that I am only learning the Spanish word for ... never seem them in the US!
Friday, May 29, 2009
La Camioneta (Chicken Bus!)
The 'camioneta' is hard to describe in words - it's difficult to convey the full atmosphere! The camioneta is essentially the public transportation in Guatemala (although it is privately owned...). Think a 1980s American school bus, add a crazy paint job, 100 people (capacity 60!), winding roads, and take away any notion of sanitation (did that exist in American school buses anyway?) and you have a chicken bus!
Because drivers want to make the most money, they try to fit as many people as possible. People hang off the sides and sometimes even go on top. Also you don't pay the driver when you come on, you pay an 'ayudante' (helper) in the middle of the ride. The ayudante often has to climb over seats to get to everyone...
Anyway, we have to take the camioneta 2x a day for these 2 weeks! It's crazy but strangely kind of fun! (As long as I have some Purell for when I get off...)
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
La familia de Olga Hernandez
I met my homestay family last night - I am staying with them for 2 weeks while we´re in Antigua, and maybe extra time sometime in the 5th or 6th week. They live in Magdalena, which is a smaller town outside of Antigua, about a 20 minute bus ride away. I think 6 other kids live in the town, so we just travel back and forth together.
The mother´s name is Olga, the father is Carlos, and they have 2 kids named Nancy (20) and Carlos (17). Olga is really really nice to me, she is very very welcoming and they all really go out of their way for me!
My understanding of conversational Spanish is worse than I thought, again. I can definitely communicate with them, but I have to ask ¿como? ¿como? a lot. I can pretty much get across whatever I want to say though. A lot of kids have it a lot worse than I do in terms of Spanish! Its really hard to understand their quick conversation though, and even hard to understand when they´re speaking regularly to me.
The house pretty much has no amenities, haha, except for a ´refe´. I have my own room which I really like, though. The bed is actually pretty comfortable. The toilet doesn´t flush by itself, you have to dump a bucket of water down to make it flush. Also they only have bucket showers! It wasn´t that bad this morning! REally, its a lot more economical than showerhead showers because you use way less water. The roof is tin I think, which might be pretty loud when it rains. There are 4 rooms, whcih all branch off a central outside area.
It is very loud at night - lots of barking dogs (there are tons of stray dogs everywhere), birds, music, and roosters everywhere. Sort of hard to sleep but I think I´ll get used to it!!
I really like my family - they are kind of quiet and not very conversational, but I think thats just cultural. Anyway, I´´m heading out to the bus right now to go back there for the night.
Love!
The mother´s name is Olga, the father is Carlos, and they have 2 kids named Nancy (20) and Carlos (17). Olga is really really nice to me, she is very very welcoming and they all really go out of their way for me!
My understanding of conversational Spanish is worse than I thought, again. I can definitely communicate with them, but I have to ask ¿como? ¿como? a lot. I can pretty much get across whatever I want to say though. A lot of kids have it a lot worse than I do in terms of Spanish! Its really hard to understand their quick conversation though, and even hard to understand when they´re speaking regularly to me.
The house pretty much has no amenities, haha, except for a ´refe´. I have my own room which I really like, though. The bed is actually pretty comfortable. The toilet doesn´t flush by itself, you have to dump a bucket of water down to make it flush. Also they only have bucket showers! It wasn´t that bad this morning! REally, its a lot more economical than showerhead showers because you use way less water. The roof is tin I think, which might be pretty loud when it rains. There are 4 rooms, whcih all branch off a central outside area.
It is very loud at night - lots of barking dogs (there are tons of stray dogs everywhere), birds, music, and roosters everywhere. Sort of hard to sleep but I think I´ll get used to it!!
I really like my family - they are kind of quiet and not very conversational, but I think thats just cultural. Anyway, I´´m heading out to the bus right now to go back there for the night.
Love!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)