Week 16: Antigua and the volcano

Day 106 November 21
Nothing like starting off the day with potatoes, sweet bread, and eggs scrambled with milk, onions, garlic, and peppers. I took a relaxing day and stayed around the house, cleaning, organizing, putting up my latest artwork from my kids, and watching Galaxy Quest. Carolina came by with money I’m borrowing for our trip to Antigua (we are probably going to be paid two days after we leave and while I almost have enough, we thought it’d be easier to take a loan in advance than to try borrowing from folks on the trip.) And later, Jesse came by to get his drums.
After I finished the movie and was sufficiently bored, I headed over to Jesse’s store to hang out for a bit. Carolina arrived just a few minutes later and we sat around talking. After a while, Christopher called me, from my roof, and asked what I was up to. I headed home and made a small dinner before we went out for street baleadas and ice cream. I got lime flavored. It was delicious.
My baleada hit me kind of rough, and though I had told people I would meet up with them at ViaVia, I decided not to go. I still met up with Luise at my house to trade music. The stomach becoming an increasingly pressing issue, I went to bed early and slept it off for 11 hours, full of several strange dreams.

Day 107 November 22
After sleeping in, I got up an lounged for a bit. I felt much better than the night before, but still felt a bit off. It was weird having the house to myself, but also kind of nice. I had a baleada at Picame, which hit me much better (I had to make sure baleadas and I are still friends!)
A little after noon I headed to Tammi’s to get some work done and chat. It was nice for a while, but just when the internet actually became important, it wouldn’t work for more than 5 seconds. I got really frustrated and went to Casa Villamil. Tammi was getting ready to shower and leave soon anyway.
At Casa Villamil, I ran into my friend Richard and we caught up a bit. I was able to Skype with David, and because I have Sierra’s Camera while she’s gone, I got to video chat with him. I tried calling a few other people, but they were gone (I lost mom between having internet at Tammi’s, losing it, and migrating to Casa Villamil.)
I left Casa Villamil and went to dinner at Vicki’s which was attempting to be a regular worship session, since that’s what she wanted, but it was also a mournful time as her sister had died that afternoon. That’s the greatest fear about coming here.
When I got home, I went to bed early again and set my alarm to half an hour later, planning to just take the bus with Abby.

Day 108 November 23
I felt really good when I woke up, but I was sure I was forgetting something, as waking up and leaving half an hour late can tend to do. I took the bus with Abby, who was feeling sick. It’s amazing how much brighter the morning is at 6:05 as opposed to 5:45. There were also a lot more people in the streets.
I was pleased to remember that I had set up my board on Friday. The day went pretty smoothly, except, as always, the last period. We did have a nice lesson at the pond that included seeing 3 frogs, water striders, pink and blue dragonflies, algae, other water plants, and my personal favorite, several shed casings from dragonflies emerging from their larval form. Some of my kids did not care, but some ate it up. I was just excited to be able to give my advanced students something new. Also, it felt like teaching at camp (except for the bored kids. I mean, come on, it was a cool lesson.) On a very different note, we decorated our classroom door with our hand/foot turkeys.
After school (and this is where my feeling of leaving something behind comes in) I had agreed to hike The Elephant with Chris. I was in my work shoes and a long flowing skirt. But, I am me, and decided to go anyway. He had an extra pair of shorts that I wore, but the shoes just had to stay. We headed down the road and cut down a hill between houses to get to the football field that’s under the mountain.
It was like a maze of trails…except instead of having only one right answer, most of them were right answers it was just a matter of choosing trails with the least brush and the least sun. We landed on the back of the elephant and surveyed the valley below. It was beautiful and we could see all of the town. Looking down the other way, we could see two of the ruins (which is the most I’ve seen so far.)
There were other folks on the back of the elephant, some were sitting and talking, others were flying plastic-bag kites. It was fun. We then went for the head, which was small but steep. From the top of the head, we plotted our inevitably brushy course and headed down the rather steep ‘trunk’ but quickly worked our way to what I would say is an ‘ear’ of the mountain.
The brush got really thick, but I haven’t been bush-whacking in forever, so it was a blast. We crossed a few barbed wire fences and many burrs and thorny plants. I learned of a new plant that has pods specifically for ants to live in and if you shake the branches, the ants swarm out at you for messing with their plant. What a relationship! I took a picture.
There was a while when all we could see was brush, but once we capped out second hill (not part of the elephant) we could see town, and the roof of my house. We still had to weave through a variety of trails and fences with no real idea of where we were going, but we landed in the mayor’s backyard, popped under the fence to the river, found a rock-hopable spot, followed the wall to the door beside the bridge and were a block from my house.
Chris and I got a juice from Picame and traded pictures before he went home so we could both shower (we both felt like things were crawling on us, which is possible, though I found no ticks.)
After my shower, I had 10 minutes to get to Cruz Bueso to buy my contribution to dinner at the guy’s house and got over there and home with no trouble. When I arrived, I found Nash and Tammi getting ready to leave, as apparently our location had been moved, without me knowing, to Beth’s house. So we walked together, late, up to Beth’s house. We had a very short dinner, booked a hotel for our first night (we usually play it by ear, but we’ll be arriving at about 11pm.) Then Tammi, Nash, and I hurried off to a movie at ViaVia we were now late to.
Tammi and Nash had promised them a group of 5 if they moved “The Life of Brian” to Monday night, and so they talked me into going, we tried talking Kelvin into going on our way there, and we managed to talk Luis into going. I felt bad because there are usually Spanish subtitles for the movies, but this one we just had to use English subtitles to help clarify. British wit-humor without even subtitles has got to be rough. I think there was enough for him to enjoy the movie, though.
Day 109 November 24
I rode the bus again, and enjoyed a morning of carol singing to practice for our Christmas march in December. And, after recess I was observed by the boss for the first time. I really wish I could get some heavy constructive criticism, but an ego boost was nice too. Maybe I should fly some of my creative writing buddies down to critique my teaching style like it was a story. I don’t think it would work out all too well, but I would be criticized.
My kids did impressively well. I was really pleased. All in all, my kids were great all day. My new system is having them keep each other in check and they do. Even at the end of the day, when they’re usually out of control, they were much better. Not great, but much better. They had already lost 4 minutes of tomorrow’s recess and I gave them the option to serve part of that time now (the time is served in complete silence) or to try to work to earn it all back tomorrow. They unanimously decided to serve the two minutes now, for which I took 3 minutes off of their sentence.
I’ve spent about a week complaining about my hair being too long, and with the formal Thanksgiving dinner tonight, and discovering that Vicky and Megan were going to get their haircut, I decided to tag along with them. I stayed after school to work on my “Thanksgiving Tree” and then walked home with them with plans to meet up in about half an hour.
Vicky went first, and her hair looked beautiful. We were in Marla’s in-home salon and I went second since I was just getting a cut and Megan was getting a wash, a cut, a blow drying, and a straightening. I told Megan what I wanted and she translated, to which Marla said, “no.” And no it was. We agreed on a different style, but when I felt her start cutting, it was shorter than we had agreed (sorry Daddy!) This is certainly the shortest my hair has ever been and for the first 10 minutes I was a little panicked, but it grew on me (and will continue to grow on me!) Having shorter hair in CA is an interesting experience.
I went home, showered, and rushed to Casa Villamil to finally buy my plane tickets for Visa renewal over ‘winter’ break. Ta-da! Gladice gave me tres leches cake, and she didn’t even know how much some comfort food would do me good right then, but it really hit the spot. I got a lot of comments on the hair, but couldn’t stay long as we were having out Thanksgiving feast, a formal event, hosted by Dona Nora.
I rushed home, got Abby to help me with the zipper of my one nice dress and headed out, feeling pretty good to have brand new hair and wearing my one really nice outfit for the first time since arriving.
Dinner was a lot of fun. The food was delicious, I got to practice my Spanish, and several of the women had gotten the hair cut/done for the event. “Formal” had a variety of meanings, but no one minded, it was all fun.

Day 110 November 25
Somehow, my alarm got turned off. Lucky, I had a really hard time sleeping, so I woke up at 4:30, an hour before I thought my alarm was set to go off. I tried to go back to sleep, and managed to, waking up at 5:40. Late. I rushed ready and headed up the hill.
I was really glad I had decided to work on my tree the day before, but I finished cutting it out and wrote up Thanksgiving sentences for my kids to correct.
My kids have very mixed feelings about the hair. The first comment was “That’s a silly haircut, Miss.” Some of the girls like it, some think my hair was “more beautiful before.” One girl said, “I don’t like you with your hair like this.” Not only does she not like my hair, she doesn’t like me anymore. Ah well. Almost all the women I know here have long hair. Short hair is for boys.
Today was a off day for behavior, but we made it through. We had a math test, sand carols, made a “Thanksgiving Tree,” and tried to have a pretty easy day. When it was over, I rushed home so I could take care of everything that had to be done before leaving for Guatemala.
I went to the bank first, then picked up my clothes from Rena (an article missing and two articles extra…) and then came home to pack up quickly. I decided to just change my money at the border, since we were low on time a took a breather.
Also, as I had finished A Monk Swimming by Malachy McCourt the day before (another book I can’t recommend for everyone, but I thought it was very well written and funny, when it wasn’t sad) I picked up another book, another nonfiction, from the teacher’s lounge and packed it away, hoping it will be good enough for the trip.
A bit before 4, I headed out to catch the bus. I waiting with Caroline and Jesse (who was just working near by, not coming with us.) We started out our 6 hour drive a bit late, but not much of a surprise. I bought bread at the border and tried to sleep most of the way.
We drove through Guatemala City, but not for long, and saw some back street as our driver stopped off to give something to his family. About 45 minutes later we arrived at our hostel, which we thought we had reservations for. Luckily, they had rooms anyway.
We grabbed a quick dinner at a convince store and went to bed after started a few pages of my new book.

Day 111 November 26
I woke up shortly after 6 and went shopping with Caroline in the huge market. It makes me really wish Copan had a market like this. Our market is nice, but it’s enclosed and this open air market was so nice to shop in. I got a new hat, some Guatemalan chocolate, and a notebook.
After deciding I would stay with Carline while the others went to Lago Atitlan, I knew I’d have to go shoe shopping. Volcano hiking was in the queue and I only had flip flops.
Foods in Antigua were amazing. We helped ourselves to chocolates, cakes, sandwiches, and other wonderfulness. The only thing is that in a deserts store I was teased by what I thought was strawberry rhubarb pie, but it was not. I felt a little betrayed.
Carolina and I went out to find a new place to stay and found one…two doors down at the Yellow House. The rooms were small, but the roof had tables and chairs, and of course many hammocks. We moved in and went to lunch.
My lunch was nothing special, but I did experience my first ever earthquake (which was apparently much stronger at Lago Atitlan.) It was strong for a good 15 seconds, but I could continue to feel the small tremors for minutes. Nothing fell from the walls, but it was close. It made me a bit uneasy about the volcano.
We went sight seeing around Antigua, which is beautiful, clean, and full of English speakers. I just started practicing my Spanish with Caroline since almost everywhere they went they spoke to us in English. I was happy to see how happy the street dogs were. Ours always have tucked tails, but here there a) weren’t many and b) they seemed healthy. There were also children working as shoe shiners all over the city park. One amusing thing I saw while we were walking was a car covered in lime-green post it notes that all had hearts or declarations of love on them. Covered.
We went back to the hotel to relax for a bit and we all got dinner at a Thai restaurant. On the way back we saw a procession of the Host by the priest of the church. We were told that this happens the last Thursday of every month, but I don’t know more than that.
We went out dancing for the evening, to several different locations before the bars closed up for the night and we all headed home (Carolina and I could sleep in, but the others were leaving for the lake early in the morning.)

Day 112 November 27
I was up earlier than I wanted to be and it was rather cold, but the breakfast at the Yellow House was just awesome. I met Tim from London, who had been taking Spanish classes and was now traveling about. We talked for a long time and several times throughout the day about traveling and language acquisition.
Carolina and I went back to the market and I got a pair of tennis shoes for about 4 dollars, with lovely hot pink and lime green, and a sweater for about 2 dollars to keep me warm on the volcano (rumor has it that the volcano is very windy and my only jacket is white.)
At the hostel, we kept meeting more people and staying to talk, or going out to eat with them to continue conversations. We talked with Tim more, and met Guido from Germany, as well as Gilad from Israel. Gilad had a small room with two beds and we had a small room with one large bed, so we switched with him. It just didn’t make since to stay put when we knew someone else would be better off with it.
Carolina and I went out for food and coffee before time to catch our bus to hike Pacaya. The town is really dusty, but that’s probably because we’re getting into dry season now. Also, I saw a pacific blue Yaris sedan. It made me miss my baby (there are more Yari in this town than any other car anyway.)
We got back in time for our bus and found we were being joined by Guido, who had just arrived in the hostel that day anyway. Packing it all in as quickly as possible. We also met Dan, from Israel, on the bus who was fun.
After a fair drive, we got to the base of the mountain, and there were tons of little kids with hiking sticks chasing after us, offering all kinds of prices. Less pushy were the men offering horses for rent. I bought a stick just to get the kids to go away (like everyone on the bus, no one had intended to buy one.)
The volcano was large and intimidating. The black sand and steep hills looked much more difficult than they really were, but I was glad to have my stick. I noted spots along the side of the volcano that were releasing sulfur like the top crater was. The whole way up we got to see amazing views. It was simply beautiful.
At the top (not at the crater, just to the top where we were going—near the recent lava flows) it was very windy. I was glad to have my sweater. As we walked, our guide pointed out hardened lava that was 5 years old, 2 years, 1 month, and then we walked on a path that was 3 days old. Shortly after, we came upon the current activity. My feet and legs were rather warm as cracks in the rock I walked on showed lava flowing underneath.
There was one really big flow and folks who brought marshmallows cooked them up over the lava. It was the best marshmallow I’ve ever had just because it was roasted over lava.
The sun began to set and the lava really shone then. It was wonderful. We got to stay for a while and watch the sun begin to set, but before the stars came out, we headed back down the mountain. It was much more difficult going down the sandy slopes in the dark than it was going up. Our shoes filled with sand.
As we descended, I fell in love with the volcano. If you looked behind us, you should see the red glow of the lava reflecting off of the sulfur as well as the colors of the sunset and the wind whipping clouds over the moon and if you looked in front of us you could see the mountains crowned by clouds, the bright lights of Guatemala City, and a lightening storm forming over a pueblo under us. I don’t know that anything has ever been so beautiful.
Once we left the volcano, Guido and I talked and walked, and emptied our shoes of sand and rocks. Linguistics (sparked by the difference in the phrases “Oh my God and oh my gosh) and traveling were the main topics of conversation.
We took a long way back to the bus, where the hungry kids were there to collect back the sticks and any food people were willing to give them. Though, bringing out food meant risk of being bitten by an even hungrier dog.
We rode back to the hostel, never to see Dan again, and all showered before going out to dinner. When I showered, the black sand was so in my windblown hair that washing it created a black ooze. Lovely.
Carolina, who had been freezing the whole trip, was snuggy in bed and asked if it was possible for Guido and I to bring back food for her. Anything warm without meat. We went out and I got a burger, got her a veggie burger and we got them to go.
Gilad was back at the hostel and the four of us stayed up late talking, joking, and eating. I took a pen to color in the hole in the toe of Guido’s sock, which I was amused he let me do.