Zapotes, english lessons and vulcanoes

ey hey everybody! I've been a bit sick these last few days, so I haven't been able to update my blog - untill now that is.

I'm still going to school every day, but I've discovered that I'm not as proficient in Spanish as I thought I was when I wrote my previous post. It's true that I understand more or less everything my teachers say, but they speak really slowly and with simple language. The locals are a bit harder to understand, unfortunately. But I'm making progress, so I'm guessing that I'll know sufficient to travel in a couple of weeks. The same thing goes for my salsa, by the way. I know a couple of spins and stuff, so I hope that I'll be able to dance without making a complete fool of myself in a week or two. Yay!


The first part of last week was pretty much business as usual. There was the weekly lunch and a visit to a local macadamia nut farm. The farm was founded by a Swedish guy, so it was actually called "Valhalla", the old Norse word for heaven. We didn't get to see too much of the plantation itself, but we got a free facial massage with macadamia nut oil. Not too bad.

On Friday I had to have a presentation about the Zapote, a local fruit. I had never heard of it before, but I had ample time to prepare myself, so the presentation went fine, even though it was in Spanish. What didnt go quite as smoothly was something that happened later that afternoon.

As I might have said earlier, the school got this program for local kids. The lady in charge of the program asked me if I'd care to help out on the fridays, and I thought "why not". What I didn't know was that I was going to be in charge of the whole thing. Needless to say, I got a bit surprised when all the kids asked me " what are we going to do, what are we going to do?" After a few moments of utter confusion, we decided to play soccer in the park. So far so good, right? Well, when we were done, they wanted to learn some English. Therefore I had to improvise an English lesson - in Spanish. The first fifteen minutes or so went fine, but I only know so many animals and furniture in spanish, so after fifteen minutes, the kids grew a bit restless. Right after that, the teacher left, so we just ended up playing hangman. Probably not the most pedagogic class seen by this world, but I think I did well, considering the cirumstances. Gold star for me!

On Sunday Terry and I went on a trip to Pacaya, one of the nearby vulcanoes. The first thing we learned was that some of the local travel agencies lie - a lot. We were told that the price we paid included all costs, a private shuttle, a bottle of water and security. "private shuttle" meant a minibus ride to the bus that took us up to the vulcano. The bus was one of the local chicken buses, old school buses from the US, and they are not too comfortable really. The price we paid included the guide, but not the entrance fee to the natural park. And the water we didnt get, but we could buy it for more or less twice the price as in Antigua. The security was non existent as well, but we didnt need it. Despite this, the trip was very nice. There were approximately 30 other people in our group, and we spent probably 90 minutes or so walking upwards. We couldnt get to the crater itself, but a ledge a bit below. The view was amazing, AND we got to roast marshmallows on the hot rocks. That was kinda cool. Another cool thing was that there were som other norwegians on the tour as well, three guys from Bergen and two girls from Trondheim. There also was this swedish guy who lives in Oslo, so we had a little Scandinavian club going on. What was not so cool was that the trail was so incredibly dusty, so when we got back I brought with me half of the vulcano in my shoes, in my hair, and in my lungs. Walking that trail everyday is probably worse than smoking a 20-pack a day. Anyways, the trip was good, and I'm now able to say that I've been on a live volcano. Yes, you may touch my hand.


Monday afternoon the school went to a local jade factory and museum. They had a lot of cool stuff, and we learnt a lot, for example why a tiny jade necklace could be worth US$ 9.3million. I also discovered that I'm born in the sign of Aq'ab'al. That means that my guardian spirit, according to mayan mythology, is a bat. The bat signifies darkness and the night, but also sunrise and sunset. Since my guardian is the bat, my house will forever be a safe place to spend the night ( Girls - pay attention). We bats are also strong and noble, merciless with our enemies and suitable occupations for us are physio therapists, economists and leaders. As I'm going to study economics and leadership, this seems to fit as well. What I didnt like is that those born in that sign are more likely than others to be robbed and assaulted, and that we must watch our health closely. Especially the health thing worries me a bit, since I've gotten a bit sick (again). Last time I got this I was sick for almost five months, but I hope that won't be the case this time... For some odd reason the mayans also thought the bat was the guardian for couples in love, and some other stuff with love. I actually think the mayans did a good job with this one, the batman-description isn't too far off. However,I feel like my spirit got some catching up to do on the love-part - but Im sure he'll get around to that as soon as he's finished messing with my health.

Anyways, that's all for now. See you soon!

-Magnus

Terry enjoying a macadamia oil- face massage

Hangman - Guatemalan style

Lupe

On our way to Pacaya

Roasting marshmallows on hot rocks

Marshmallows are awesome!