Last weekend in Antigua
It´s my last weekend in Antigua and I´m starting to wrap things up. Yesterday was actually rather productive. After I had my Spanish class and went to the internet cafe, I went to the market and finished up my souvenir/gift shopping. I have a couple things that are for definite people (my parents, my brother, my grandparents - hi, Nana and Pops!, a couple friends), but I have other stuff that I may either keep or give away. I´d seen a gorgeous scarf once that had shades of bright greens and blue and found that yesterday at the market along with another that was a few shades of bright green. I´ll probably keep one and give the other to my cousin who´s coming to visit me in Denver in September if she wants it, or to my mom. Whoever, really. But it looks good with the Jurewicz blue eyes. :)
Yesterday I also went and talked to the tour company I´ve been considering for my 4 days after my GVI time is up. I´ve decided to go on the "Tikal and More" 3-day tour. It´s rather cost-efficient, considering what it is and what it includes. I have to pay an extra $30 because I´m traveling on my own and won´t be sharing a room, but whatever. $30 isn´t much. It looks like we´ll leave from Antigua at 5am or 8am, the go to Quiriguá, which is a site of Mayan ruins sorta like Copan in Honduras - I think it has the tallest Mayan stellae still in existence. From there it looks like we´ll go to the Caribbean Bay and go to Lívingston via Puerto Barrios and stay in Lívingston. Lívingston´s supposed to be markedly different from any other place in Guatemala - it´s tropical and has a really eclectic group of people living there. Apparently it´s the only place you´re likely to see anyone who´s not white or some variety of Hispanic. Then looks like we´ll cruise along Rio Dulce and its canyon, which is supposed to be amazing and spend the night at the Jungle Lodge, one of the few places you can stay at inside Tikal. Tikal is one of the 3 UNESCO World Heritage sites in Guatemala - Antigua´s another, and the third is on this tour somewhere but I don´t remember if it´s Quiriguá or Lívingston. Quiriguá, I think. Supposedly monkeys are EVERYWHERE in Tikal, which is really exciting to me. Crystal, my roommate, doesn´t care for monkeys and she´s scared of dogs. That´s kind of unfortunate since there are stray dogs everywhere here. She may have come to the wrong country ... anyway, supposedly I´ll get back to Antigua Monday night around 9pm and have Tuesday to do any of the stuff I never got around to doing here, like going into the churches. I figured I had a lot of time, which was true, though now time´s running out and I still haven´t been to the Capuchin church/convent, which was apparently for nuns who were forbidden to have any kind of contact with the outside world and now has some cool ruins or something. I also haven´t been into La Merced (the really pretty yellow church with the white painting/decoration on the outside). I went into San Francisco last weekend and really enjoyed it. It´s interesting how the churches that share the same faith are so different in different parts of the world. San Francisco had a huge painting of Jesus with some of the indigenous Mayans here that was really cool.
Anyway, after I figured out the tour (which I have to book sometime this week), I went back home, finished my book, and figured I´d do a trial run with my packing since I had absolutely nothing else to do. Without my toiletries and sneakers (they´re staying here since I haven´t been able to see what color they´re supposed to be after the lake trip - they´re fine for Itzapa but are not coming back with me) and clothes that are permanently dirty regardless of how many times I wash them, I´ll have TONS of space. Things I bought don´t take up much room at all - scarves and stuff like that. I won´t even have to wear my cowboy boots on the plane. I´ll stuff them with newspaper to keep their shape and put them in the suitcase, no problem. I´m wondering if there´s a place where I can buy a luggage lock in Antigua. Probably, but I´m not sure where.
My goal today is to look up some interesting lesson plans online. I´d like the kids to have fun and learn something during my last week. Hopefully they´ve been doing that for the last 7 weeks, but still. I´m trying to plan out the week today so I can just enjoy it and not have to worry about lesson planning at the last minute. There´s a new volunteer starting in Clase Fuego this week, so I figure I´ll at least plan through Wednesday and she can help with Thursday or something. We´re learning about energy and different energy sources, so I think I´m going to have the kids make windmills on Friday for their craft.
That´s about it for now! It´s hard to believe that in 1 week I´ll be done with the school at Itzapa and in Tikal/Rio Dulce/Lívingston/Lake Izabal. 10 days from now I´ll be back in DC. Where did the summer go???
Yesterday I also went and talked to the tour company I´ve been considering for my 4 days after my GVI time is up. I´ve decided to go on the "Tikal and More" 3-day tour. It´s rather cost-efficient, considering what it is and what it includes. I have to pay an extra $30 because I´m traveling on my own and won´t be sharing a room, but whatever. $30 isn´t much. It looks like we´ll leave from Antigua at 5am or 8am, the go to Quiriguá, which is a site of Mayan ruins sorta like Copan in Honduras - I think it has the tallest Mayan stellae still in existence. From there it looks like we´ll go to the Caribbean Bay and go to Lívingston via Puerto Barrios and stay in Lívingston. Lívingston´s supposed to be markedly different from any other place in Guatemala - it´s tropical and has a really eclectic group of people living there. Apparently it´s the only place you´re likely to see anyone who´s not white or some variety of Hispanic. Then looks like we´ll cruise along Rio Dulce and its canyon, which is supposed to be amazing and spend the night at the Jungle Lodge, one of the few places you can stay at inside Tikal. Tikal is one of the 3 UNESCO World Heritage sites in Guatemala - Antigua´s another, and the third is on this tour somewhere but I don´t remember if it´s Quiriguá or Lívingston. Quiriguá, I think. Supposedly monkeys are EVERYWHERE in Tikal, which is really exciting to me. Crystal, my roommate, doesn´t care for monkeys and she´s scared of dogs. That´s kind of unfortunate since there are stray dogs everywhere here. She may have come to the wrong country ... anyway, supposedly I´ll get back to Antigua Monday night around 9pm and have Tuesday to do any of the stuff I never got around to doing here, like going into the churches. I figured I had a lot of time, which was true, though now time´s running out and I still haven´t been to the Capuchin church/convent, which was apparently for nuns who were forbidden to have any kind of contact with the outside world and now has some cool ruins or something. I also haven´t been into La Merced (the really pretty yellow church with the white painting/decoration on the outside). I went into San Francisco last weekend and really enjoyed it. It´s interesting how the churches that share the same faith are so different in different parts of the world. San Francisco had a huge painting of Jesus with some of the indigenous Mayans here that was really cool.
Anyway, after I figured out the tour (which I have to book sometime this week), I went back home, finished my book, and figured I´d do a trial run with my packing since I had absolutely nothing else to do. Without my toiletries and sneakers (they´re staying here since I haven´t been able to see what color they´re supposed to be after the lake trip - they´re fine for Itzapa but are not coming back with me) and clothes that are permanently dirty regardless of how many times I wash them, I´ll have TONS of space. Things I bought don´t take up much room at all - scarves and stuff like that. I won´t even have to wear my cowboy boots on the plane. I´ll stuff them with newspaper to keep their shape and put them in the suitcase, no problem. I´m wondering if there´s a place where I can buy a luggage lock in Antigua. Probably, but I´m not sure where.
My goal today is to look up some interesting lesson plans online. I´d like the kids to have fun and learn something during my last week. Hopefully they´ve been doing that for the last 7 weeks, but still. I´m trying to plan out the week today so I can just enjoy it and not have to worry about lesson planning at the last minute. There´s a new volunteer starting in Clase Fuego this week, so I figure I´ll at least plan through Wednesday and she can help with Thursday or something. We´re learning about energy and different energy sources, so I think I´m going to have the kids make windmills on Friday for their craft.
That´s about it for now! It´s hard to believe that in 1 week I´ll be done with the school at Itzapa and in Tikal/Rio Dulce/Lívingston/Lake Izabal. 10 days from now I´ll be back in DC. Where did the summer go???