Spanish school in Xela - Week 1

The first week in Xela has been great. Spanish is coming along great guns!! Katié´s teacher is very serious (but very nice) so she has lots of grammer and the boring stuff. James, however, appears to spend most of his lessons talking to Jorge (his v cute Guatemalan teacher with lovely big brown eyes... K) about boobs, beer and football and arranging the next night out!! Not sure how the Spanish is coming on but James has some 'different' vocab.

There are 10 of us studying at the school at the moment, six (yes, SIX) Swedish and 2 Canadians. There are lots of voluntary projects going on out here so we will probably start something in the afternoons next week.

They do activities at the school every afternoon so we have been making chocolate, having salsa lessons (except James stormed out after 10 mins in a sulk so Katie had to dance with Irwin, one of the Guatemalans. It was great, learnt Salsa disco spins and everything!) and visiting local towns. James had already decided that the activities are gay so he´s joining the local gym on Monday instead (perhaps more gay??).

Jorge, Katie, James & Lucky

Katie studying while getting sunburnt...

Xela is lovely (see main square below). There are lots of nice cafes and restaurants, a big market and lots of bars. We went to bar Bari on Thursday night to see a live Guatemalan singer doing U2 and Crowded House numbers in Spanish.

The family we are staying with are very friendly and we´re managing to communicate a bit more now. James decided that he wasn´t getting enough protein (although the food is generally very nice - tortillas, pasta, fresh soùp, fresh fruit juices), so he has taken to cooking his own 3 poached eggs for breakfast every morning. The Guatemalans have never seen a poached egg cooked before but the sniggers are lessening every morning. They think he´s mad...

There is Edna the mother, grandma and two kids, Fernandito (below, the brown one) and Titi.

Books read: The Backpacker, The Full Montezuma