In the highlands, it is back to school!

Sunday, July 23rd

In the end we really did go out Saturday night and it was lots of fun. After interneting for a little while we migrated to the bar next door in the same MonoLoco establishment. In this bar, we met with Jeff who is an American taking Spanish classes in Antigua. After a couple of beers, he found enough courage to talk to the girls next to him, and therefore, next to us. Hola this, and hola that.

All in all Jeff convinced them to show us another (more happening) bar. So there we went to a bar around the corner. In all honesty it was pretty good live music and we drank until our 1AM curfew (our hotel would not respond to door bells after this time).

In the morning, we woke up pretty late. Needless to say, mass was not even an option by this time. But Antigua was undergoing a festival for the patron saint Santiago so we got ready and went outside to eat something and absorb the festivities. Most local males wore suits and some hats. Females wore their typical wares. Everyone seem to be in a good mood. I manage to buy an old used book in Spanish from a street vendor while Todd got cheated out of 10Quetzales ($1.xx dollars) when buying a table cloth piece. Alexey and Greg walked around the posh side of town.

Around 2PM we decided to leave for Xela (realname: Quetzaltenango, second largest city in Guatemala). We had a meeting at 5PM with the Spanish school administrator there for registration purposes. Classes are supposed to start on Monday already. The drive was actually quite scenic as it has been a pattern in Guatemala. The mountains are so green and full of corn and other plantations. Natives from the mountains here also exhibit a particularity that I had not seen before. The males also wear traditional skirts! We spotted quite a few older gentlement in their skirts walking around the road.

As we arrived into Xela, we came down from high in the mountains to a vast valley rather quickly. Reached the school and the guys registered for three full days of Spanish classes. The lady there, Maria Antonieta from the Inepas school, called a few places and recommended a hotel closeby. It will only be 2 blocks commute to school!

The temperature in this city is much colder and rainy than we have seen so far. Perhaps due to this or due to the fact that he drove all of these curvy roads, Greg started feeling a bit feverish. He stayed in the hotel while the rest of us walked in the rain (dedicated friends that we are) to get him some medicine. The pharmacist said that these pills would take care of his fever but we did not know if it was a stomach related illness or a cold. In any case, after this he tried to go to sleep and the rest of the gang left to have something to eat. And that was our day! The guys go to the first day of school tomorrow so stay tuned for more details.

As a sidenote, I must say that I am in love with the Pollo Campero (The country chicken) fast food chain in Guatemala. They all have free wireless Internet!!! So that is where we are doing some logistics work now a days.