My first full day in Antigua I began with some emails and fantastic coffee at the Bagel Barn, a very gringo-oriented place adjacent to Parque Central (Central Park). Most amusing of this shop was a poster with a man (with wired eyes and hand with coffee cup) that read: ‘Is the world shaking or is it just me?’. I laughed out loud. Then again. Then one more time. I can easily remember a handful of times when, over my short career thus far, I’ve been in meetings or presentations, shaking the laser pointer as if under control of a Richter 7. In other words, I related quite well.
After some coffee, I was off for a $3.50 haircut (25 quetzales, + 5Q tip), which prepared me for the warm sun to come on Monday. The exchange rate is roughly 8 quetzales to 1 US dollar.
Antigua is quite affordable, as noted above, which probably the least of reasons that make it a prime destination for world-wide travelers (history, pure beauty, culture, Spanish schools, etc.).
From the ‘barberia’ it was off to the market for some worker gloves, glasses, bananas + postcards. The fruit here is shamefully cheap, only $0.37 +/- for 10 bananas. Not only this, it is blissfully fresh and tasty to boot.
In the late morning and afternoon I took some time to begin Spanish studies, using some borrowed books replete with technical terms for construction (thanks to iMaria’s mom).
The study has been painfully slow thus far, as I expected, but I do believe that with hard work + dedication I’ll be ‘speaking the technical’ shortly.
In the evening I celebrated Bruce + Jacob’s final day as volunteers with a group from Constru Casa, at a place called Rumbar. Here I enjoyed an official Guatemalan bock bier called ‘Moza’, but less than the conversation with all the new faces, including Bart, a gentleman from Australia, who has been traveling through Latin America since 11/26. He even went to Cuba! Needless to say, his stories were quite interesting…
Back to the Morales for dinner + early rest.
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