First Weekend

We made it through our first week in Antigua! This week has been a whole whirlwind of surprises, new experiences, delicious food and A LOT of Spanish!

We finished class on Friday and, after my teacher told me that she doesn't assign homework on the weekend (hooray!) the girls and I went to Dunkin' Donuts! I got a Crema Bavaria donut and it was delicious! We returned home for lunch and then a bit of rest and relaxation and then met our friends Mads and Alex to walk up to Cerro de la Cruz! Basically, it's this huge cross on a hill that overlooks Antigua. We had to walk up about 300 stairs through the woods to get there, but it wasn't a bad walk and the view that waited for us was spectacular. Volcan de Aqua is like the background of Antigua as you look out of over the town. If you stand higher up on the hill, you can see the volcano, the town, and the cross all lined up. It is a magnificent view and we were so happy to have visited. We stayed up there for a few hours, just talking and getting to know each other better, and it was a great time. Friday night we came back and just relaxed!

Saturday morning was magnificent because we got to sleep in. Sleeping in for me meant about 8am, but it was really nice not to have to wake up to an alarm. The girls and I ate breakfast and then headed into town to register for our absentee ballots with this program that helps people living abroad vote. There were Americans there who were really helpful with the process and it was fun to do! After this we headed back home to do a bit of homework or studying. After lunch, we decided to go back into town to actually shop at the market. The market in Antigua is enormous. It seems like it stretches endlessly, and is a maze at the same time. People sat in their individual shops, calling out to us and offering us 't-shirts for 5$'. We would tell the vendors 'solo buscando' (only looking) when we didn't know what they were saying, and at one point one of the vendors said 'solo mirando.' It was really nice of her to correct and help us! I found a pair of shorts that I liked and the vendor selling them told me they were 65 Q. I said "okay" and he said, "okay, 55," and I said, "alright," and he said "okay 50." It was the easiest bartering I had ever done! I bought the pair of shorts (50Q is about 7$) and left happy. We found this big warehouse that sold a ton of other things, including pottery, hair accessories, books and furniture, and purchased some items in there as well. It was fun to walk around and see what was being offered for the future when we go shopping again! We also visited the Spanish Embassy, which was super beautiful, and when we left we found a ballet performance happening right outside! It was a super random find, but so fun and beautiful to watch!

Today (Sunday) was really awesome. We woke up around 8am, showered, and then went to the Bagel Barn to get a quick breakfast. We met Mads in the park and then all of us walked to the futbol stadium to watch Antigua play! We were all really excited. We got to the stadium and tons of people were outside, selling soccer shirts, headbands, vuvuzelas and tickets. A few of the girls and I bought some soccer shirts and were really happy with them! We found our seats on concrete benches and were soon surrounded by Guatemalan's waiting to cheer on their teams. A huge band came out and got the crowd excited with a bunch of different songs and dances. The band played their national anthem and we stood up with everyone else. I thought it was awesome to be standing with everyone as they sang the anthem, until someone yelled "Americans! Take off your hats and show some respect!" We had been so focused on the excitement that we never really thought about taking our hats off. We were a little shocked, only because people have been really gracious to us and it was kind of jarring to be yelled at like that, but we shrugged it off. And now we know for next time to definitely take off our hats during the anthem! The game began at 11:30 and we stayed until halftime because it was really hot and we had not come prepared with sunscreen and water!  We got to watch Antigua make the first goal though, and it was really fun to sing the chants along with the rest of the crowd. We stopped at McDonalds on the way home to get smoothies, and then headed home to nap. At 5pm, we met up at Paul's house and all walked to Sobremesa, this super nice restaurant owned by  a published author! The owner was there, helping to take orders and serve. This was something I noticed was common in Antigua...a lot of the restaurants we had been to, the owners were there, talking to people and helping out. It was a nice change from the chain restaurants in America. It gives the restaurants a sort of class and character that is hard to find other places. The owner was a super interesting guy, talking about his books and how he writes fiction but with real life problems, because he realized that no one reads informational non-fiction, so he writes stories with a ton of research put into them to still put out real world events and news. Dinner was delicious. We had appetizers with tomato, mozzarella and garlic bread. For my meal, I chose the Wendy Pizza, which was this huge pizza with white sauce, mozzarella, ham, roasted grapes, mushroom and pesto. It was SO good! For dessert, we got very delicious cheesecake. The whole evening was a lot of fun and I love how much adventuring we do when it comes to the different foods here!

Tomorrow begins my second week of Spanish class! I am excited to go back and continue to learn more!

-Kara

Cerro de la Cruz

Ballet

Spanish Embassy

 Futbol!