¡Feliz Cumpleaños Mamá y Feliz el Día del Padre Papá!

It was great to be able to sleep in a little on Saturday! I learned that Ali has done a bit of world traveling herself. She lived in Thailand for a year as a dive master, she’s been to Australia, and she had come to study Spanish at PLFM two years ago. She has returned to refresh her Spanish so that she can incorporate it into her degree of business management in London.

A little while after breakfast Ali and I walked downtown to a place she remembered that had Wifi and a terrace view of parts of the city. I had hoped to wish Mom a happy birthday and make another blog post, but for whatever reason my computer couldn’t connect to their Wifi network. Thankfully, Ali let me quickly borrow her laptop so I could check my e-mail. Carlos (Olga’s esposo) is considering getting Wifi at the house, which would be very convenient, but for now I make do with access at the school.

¡Feliz (Belated) Cumpleaños Mamá! I love you and hope you had a great day!

After lunch on Saturday, Ali and I walked through the calles (streets) of Antigua. There is a large cross on a hill overlooking the city that I would like to visit sometime, but I want to time it when the weather is better; Saturday afternoon was pretty overcast. (We’ve been cautioned that the steps up to the cross are notorious for pick-pocketers, so when I do go up I will try to look and dress as unassuming as possible.)

The loud bombas continued on Saturday, so I finally asked Olga about them. She told me it’s all part of the Corpus Christi festival being celebrated this weekend. On Sunday there was going to be another procession. There has been a procession every weekend I have been here.

Saturday evening was a lot of fun! Ali’s bag finally arrived from the airport, and Carlos said we had to celebrate. He poured us a little glass of rum and coke, being very generous with the rum. Carlos was the chattiest I’ve ever seen him, and he kept trying to explain Spanish puns and idioms to us, not many of which I understood. Carlos knows English fairly well, but there are some things that just don’t translate. Carlos is a teacher at a language school here in Antigua, though I’m not certain if he teaches Spanish or English. He’s also a salsa instructor, and I’ve seen him at PLFM on Wednesdays giving a lesson in the conference room. I may have to go one of these weeks! He’s done a bit of traveling also, to the US 20+ years ago, the Philippines, Hong Kong and China. In Hong Kong he taught salsa to a lot of people from the Philippines who lived there to work. He showed us a bunch of pictures on his computer.

The best part of the evening was when Carlos whipped out his US American impression. He told us when he first visited the States he went to a mall and a lady asked him, “Can I help you?” He replied, “No thank you. Solo look!” He had us all cracking up because he somehow managed to speak English in a Chinese accent. He finds it hilarious that Americans say “absolutely,” though I have a feeling it may be his favorite English word.

Sunday was a lazy day. It was still overcast, but the Corpus Christi festival was in full-swing by mid-morning. There were white and yellow balloons and streamers everywhere. Ali and I walked to La Merced, where there were a substantial amount of people and vendors, but the procession must not have come through until later. I thought Olga had said mid-morning, but being in “Guatemala Standard Time” I wasn’t surprised that it didn’t go through while we were there.

As we were sitting on a park bench, we saw a truck attempt to parallel-park in an impossibly small space between two other cars. Sure enough, the truck driver rammed both of them, setting off the alarm of one. The solution? Drive away and pretend it didn’t happen of course…

A random tidbit: There is no law restricting the degree of dark window tint here, so the windows of many vehicles are illusively black.

For lunch we went to a pizza place called Quesos y Vinos. The pizza was expensive, but delicious. Once again I splurged on a Sunday meal. Thankfully I had leftovers for supper, so I only had to pay for the one meal.

Though I could have hung around and waited for the procession, I opted to return to the house and take a nap. Sunday continued to be overcast, and as I write this I can hear the gentle rhythm of rain on the rooftop. I get the most homesick on Sundays. I think a big part is not being able to go to church with my family. Though I am enjoying my time here, I do miss everyone. Please let me know what’s going on back home!

¡Feliz el Día del Padre Papá!

“O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.”

Psalm 139:1 – 4