Antigua 1/25/9

At some point the boys realized communication in a native language was a superior quality. Woods used to speak Spanish increasingly well as he upped his tequila levels. Since motorcycles prohibit the consumption of alcohol, we all wondered how he'd get by. Wisely they met up with some local instructors to hone the skills they would need in the coming weeks and months. In the course of their travels, they have been reminded of home in the characters they meet.

"we met some minnesotans today. they are from st. paul, and he (the son) lives right near wm. mitchell. small world. we are going to go meet them for a beer later tonight. talking with them, i realized that i have completely forgotten that it is winter in the northland. he (matt) will actually be in grand marais in two weeks. crazy. we´ve been in antigua, guatemala for the past two nights, and plan on staying here for another week. we signed up for spanish language school today, beginning tomorrow and running until friday. 4 hours of school a day, one-on-one instruction. plus we will be living with a family. Total immersion. my spanish has already gotten much better, and i am hoping that this boost will help a lot. in total, it will cost 160 U.S. dollars for the school and the in-house, including 3 meals a day. it´s cheap. earlier this afternoon we headed out of antigua for a place called ´earth lodge´, which is only 20 minutes away, up the slope. 12 or so years ago an american and a canadian, brianna and drew, moved here and started this place. sounded pretty cool--treehouses, cabanas, camping, little restaurant....we checked it out, but decided against it. too many white people. last night we met dora. she owns(?) a little restaurant a few doors down from where we have been staying, with great, cheap food. tonight will be our third meal there--anyway, we had an hour long conversation/language lesson with her. excellent people, these guatemalans. our time here has far surpassed our time in mexico. many factors, of course, but it is wonderful here nonetheless."

-- luludilly