Cenatral America Update
HOLA AMIGOS!
This is Brendan (currently in Antigua, Guatemala) giving everyone an update on my adventure. The trip is going very well. The group of 13 other people that I am traveling with is excellent and I now have lots of new amigos. There are people from places like L.A. and then there are people from remote locations in Canada, but regardless of where we are from we are all sharing an incredible experience together. I have been in Guatemala now for 18 days now, yet it seems like a month or two. For the first 4 or so days we stayed at a really cool farm/hostel located in the Northern part of the country near Tikal (the Mayan ruins-very, very cool!) At Finca Ixobel we had "orientation" (a few meetings and playing frisbee and other fun stuff) and did activities of our choice such as spelunking (that was really fun- especially jumping off a small cliff like thing inside a cave filled with water and lit with candles), day hikes, swimming, getting to know people from our group and other neat people from around the world visiting or volunteering at the Finca (or Farm in English.) Then after that we traveled to San Andres for our first two week language study. San Andres is a really nice (and really hilly!) town located right on the huge/beautiful Lago Petën Itza. We were all paired up with a host family within walking distance from the school. I really liked my host family, and the food was great. At the Eco-Escuela we had 4 hours of Spanish lessons each morning, and in the afternoons we had activities that we all agreed on or do whatever you want. We did things like take the launcha (basically a boat taxi) across the lake to a zoo, a animal rehab center, and Flores (a touristy town where you can get good ice cream and souvenirs. I had a great teacher and definitely have improved my speaking skills, but I still have a lot of work to do. As far as culture shock goes, there has definitely been some of that. For instance: being woken up each morning at about 5:20 by the flour mill across the street from my house, as well as hearing Reggaetone (Latin American Hip Hop) at 6 AM, some afternoons hearing the loud speaker blaring from trucks driving through the streets selling different things, some evenings hearing two different church´s music, and kids lighting off firecrackers that are extremely loud in the middle of the street in the afternoon. There are just so many differences in the culture here (not only regarding noise;) The weather takes some getting used to, but I think its good for me. Lots of new experiences, and lots of neat people along the way. Tomorrow we leave Antigua for Nueva Alinza . There we will be doing volunteer work for a week ( in the mornings.) We will most likely be helping with the harvest of macadamia nuts (should be another interesting experience). Well, gotta run but I will do my best to send out another update when I can.
Chow,
Brendan
This is Brendan (currently in Antigua, Guatemala) giving everyone an update on my adventure. The trip is going very well. The group of 13 other people that I am traveling with is excellent and I now have lots of new amigos. There are people from places like L.A. and then there are people from remote locations in Canada, but regardless of where we are from we are all sharing an incredible experience together. I have been in Guatemala now for 18 days now, yet it seems like a month or two. For the first 4 or so days we stayed at a really cool farm/hostel located in the Northern part of the country near Tikal (the Mayan ruins-very, very cool!) At Finca Ixobel we had "orientation" (a few meetings and playing frisbee and other fun stuff) and did activities of our choice such as spelunking (that was really fun- especially jumping off a small cliff like thing inside a cave filled with water and lit with candles), day hikes, swimming, getting to know people from our group and other neat people from around the world visiting or volunteering at the Finca (or Farm in English.) Then after that we traveled to San Andres for our first two week language study. San Andres is a really nice (and really hilly!) town located right on the huge/beautiful Lago Petën Itza. We were all paired up with a host family within walking distance from the school. I really liked my host family, and the food was great. At the Eco-Escuela we had 4 hours of Spanish lessons each morning, and in the afternoons we had activities that we all agreed on or do whatever you want. We did things like take the launcha (basically a boat taxi) across the lake to a zoo, a animal rehab center, and Flores (a touristy town where you can get good ice cream and souvenirs. I had a great teacher and definitely have improved my speaking skills, but I still have a lot of work to do. As far as culture shock goes, there has definitely been some of that. For instance: being woken up each morning at about 5:20 by the flour mill across the street from my house, as well as hearing Reggaetone (Latin American Hip Hop) at 6 AM, some afternoons hearing the loud speaker blaring from trucks driving through the streets selling different things, some evenings hearing two different church´s music, and kids lighting off firecrackers that are extremely loud in the middle of the street in the afternoon. There are just so many differences in the culture here (not only regarding noise;) The weather takes some getting used to, but I think its good for me. Lots of new experiences, and lots of neat people along the way. Tomorrow we leave Antigua for Nueva Alinza . There we will be doing volunteer work for a week ( in the mornings.) We will most likely be helping with the harvest of macadamia nuts (should be another interesting experience). Well, gotta run but I will do my best to send out another update when I can.
Chow,
Brendan