Antugua, Guatemala

 From Semuce Champey Rachel and I headed south, past Guatemala City to the town of Antugua.  This ride was far more comfortable due to a slight mix-up on our part.  While in Semuc Chapey Rachel and I ran out of money, not in the sense that our bank accounts were dry, but we were unable to withdraw money.  Semuc Champey is located deep in the Guatemalan mountains just east of Copan, and to our supprise, it is without electricity, telephones, internet, and obviously no ATM machines.  We thought that we had plenty of money for the next few days because we had about 250 Qetsales (the currency of Guatemala).  This may seem like a lot of money, but it is actually about 33 US$.  To make a long story short, we were able to borrow 300 Questales from a wonderful fellow traveler from Israel.  The only catch was that we had to take the more expensive bus to Antigua with her, so we would be able to pay her back. In all the bus trip was probably the best way to have gotten to Antigua.






Antigua is a beautifully rustic town just out side of Guatemala City and it is obvious why the city is so popular with tourists.  The small central park is the nucleus of Antigua (which literary means Antique) and is surrounded by historic churches, some restored and some still crumbling. There are cobble stone streets for 30+ square blocks where the occasional horse and buddy can be seen.  So far this city has the most tourists that we have seen and its littered with hotels, restaurants, bars, y othas tiendas (other stores). One of the most picturesque parts of Antigua are the two Volcanos that tower above the city.




We were hoping to tent camp in Antugua, and it is actually free to camp at the Tourist Police Headquarters, but Antugua is higher in elevation and gets quite cold at night.  We decided that we should stay in a hostel (Im sure this makes our families very happy) because we don't have many warm clothes or warm sleeping bags.    The first few night we stayed at the hostel Gato Negro (Black Cat).  The dorms in the hostel were OK. There was a bathroom in our dorm room and normally that's a good thing.  Not this bathroom.  The bathroom smelled, maybe from the pluming or the green fuzzy mold on the wall near the shower... maybe both!  Either way we were not impressed, but we knew that we only had a few days before we left to Lago Aticlan- Panjachel.  Luckily we are never in our rooms or tent, only while sleeping.


Our first few days in Antigua were spent walking around the streets and going from shop to shop.  Like I said, there are plenty of tourists in this town, and where there are tourists.... there are shops!  I guess by now Rachel and I looking grungy enough to not be constantly hustled by street vendors. Joking! There is a wide range of accommodations here, mainly ranging from cheap to very expensive. Apparently Antigua gets a lot of rich business folk from Guatemala City too.


The second reason we wanted to come to Antigua was for its well known language schools. There are probably 20+ language schools in this small town, but after some research we were able to find the most fitting for us... the cheapest one! Not only did we want schooling instruction, but we wanted the full language emersion porgram. For this, we would have to  live with a local Guatemalan family. We paid 170$ US for one week of instruction and 7 night with a host family, which included all 3 meals of the day.  This come out to less than 25$ US a day.  Our classes were from 8am until noon, Monday through Friday. Rachel and I loved our teachers.  My teach Gustavo was an absolute trip! He would start everyday off by telling me a dirty joke in Spanish. Oooh Gustavo! The family that we stayed with was very nice tambien (also).  The family was quite large and all under one roof.  There were two married couples, four children, two grandparents, and three Spanish students, including ourselves.  Oh yea, and part of the down stairs was a restaurant.  The food was great and their hospitality was even better.  Rachel´s Spanish was very good to begin with, but the program was able to help her touch up on some shaky areas.  I on the other hand, had much more room for improvement. I noticed my Spanish became much better after the week, and I am much more confident when speaking in public. There are many rules that just need to be drilled into my head, poco a poco (little by little).   We even participated in a traditional Guatemalan cooking class, a salsa class, and took a trip into the near mountains for some strange Spanish class party. The program was wonderful and we both feel that we benefited greatly.



On the last day of class I had a new teacher from Spain who was amazing and has lived the most interesting life.  He is a nurse for UNICEF and has been all over the world. Him and his girlfriend are traveling central America for a year, and they are just finding odd jobs where ever they go. Anyways...Rachel, Juan Carlos (my teacher), and I went out for a night on the town on Friday. Unfortunately his girlfriend wasn't feeling very well and had work the next day, so she was unable to join us. It was definitely a great night though! Rachel and I practiced our salsa dancing, Juan Carlos showed off his Spanish moves on the dance floor. At one bar bar Juan Carlos suprised me by pushing me onstage with the live band and told me with the thickest Spanish accent, ´´Darren, today is a good day... It is your birthday!´´ So there I was, on stage, dancing with the live band as they wished me happy birthday and gave me a shot of flaming tequila.  It was the best fake birthday yet!