guatemala is beautiful. i could stop there. the people, the land, the crafts, the buildings... antigua is a small colonial town that used to be the capital of guatemala and behind the uniformity of its walls there are hidden treasures of gardens, hotels, restaurants, shops, homes, cafes.... wonderfully quaint and delightful.
i wake each day in the home of mario and miriam. they have a large home about 3 blocks from my school. mario works on a finqua (coffee farm) and we have coffee from his farm cada dia (every day) and it is like nothing the US offers. amazing! miriam is a spanish teacher at another school and is about 4 foot 8 inches and twice as sweet and gracious. their 3 children (Mario III, Pamela and Angela) live with them on the 2nd floor along with pamela's nino, Jose. jose is learning to walk and is nearly one. Mario Sr. and his wife Victoria live in a part of the 1st floor and we live in the other area. i share a room with Philly, a PA student from UNMC who goes to Core Comm. Church with her husband. the other 2 girls from our group share a room nearby mine. we are fed 3 meals each day by miriam's hand and they are wonderful.... fresh vegetables, beans, tortillas, eggs, some pasta and chicken... and of course the coffee each morning.
i walk to school down stone streets past buildings all connected with walls of different colors, and say "buenos dias" to all i pass. my school (www.sanjoseelviejo.com) is just barely different from what Eden must have looked like. birds chirp all day long and sometimes sing so loud you have to pay attention, the water in the fountain is the constant undertone, and my teacher Flori and i sit under a roof in a little open air room all day, talking. she is about 50 with 9 children (36 to 25 years old), kind eyes and deliberate, carefulthatiunderstandwhatshesays words. her heart is precious and 'we' have already talked (aka: she talks and talks and i listen really hard and ask questions a lot) about matters of faith, politics and government, the need for education to prevent teen pregnancy and STD's, how her son's cat died after eating the neighbor's bird... and we laugh and laugh and laugh.
i love learning here, living here, soaking up here.
all for now...
3 comments:
kate, thanks for the breath-taking description of your new 'home'. i spent some time down in south 'o' today (for school) and was thinking about you as i was surrounded by all of the hispanic people...some from guatemala, i'm sure!! i so excited that you have this opportunity to learn, live, and soak it up. looking forward to hearing more from you!! much love to you, sister.
Kate! I am so glad to be able to keep up on your travels and experiences through this strange, yet helpful, medium. Blogging is weird, huh? I was bummed that we didn't get to talk before you left, but I understand how hectic it was to get prepared for the next 3 MONTHS! I loved getting your letter (thank you, J) and will continue to pray for your time down south and your decisions for future--don't give way to fear. Beautiful post on the sights and sounds of Guatemala. I love you!
hey you...how was church in guatemala today?
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