Our First Week

This is Mira here. We have spent so long anticipating and planning for this time that it’s hard to believe that it’s finally here! Especially in our last days in Maryland, I found myself very sad and a little anxious about the year ahead. But once we said all the good-byes and actually got going, I felt more of a sense of anticipation and excitement.

We are getting settled in our new house and town! First the house, which we all love! We live in the southern part of Antigua, right off Avenida 5 Sur, although it’s within walking distance of pretty much all of Antigua. Most striking about the house is that it has an interior garden and the rooms open directly into it. We also have another garden with a table where we have eaten all our meals so far. It’s all covered so we can even be outside when it rains. We also have a spiral staircase that goes up to the roof where we have a great view of Volcán Agua and an okay view of the other 2 volcanos: Fuego and Acatenango.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Our first week consisted of a lot of walking (and we will continue to walk a lot since we don’t have a car) and grocery shopping. I was actually sore the first few days–from the walking. Antigua streets are all a very uneven cobblestone. Sidewalks are narrow and uneven.

• 

• 

• 

For groceries, we went to the Bodegona (grocery store here in Antigua) every day for 4 days in a row! Also we went to El Mercado Central (the big market), although Brett will have to write more about that because he and Sadie have spent the most time there (Willa didn’t care for it too much.) After getting groceries, the girls and I rode home in a tuk-tuk, a motorcycle with a bench in the back for passengers. It is a very bouncy ride across the cobblestone.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

And this is where Brett has spent most of his time in the first week: withdrawing cash for rent and Spanish class. Since the limit is $260 each time, it takes multiple visits to multiple ATMs on multiple days to get enough.

Spanish class has been great. We are studying a La Union and each of us has an individual teacher. We sit at small tables in a lovely interior garden with a small fountain covered with tiger lilies. There are also several small citrus trees. On the first morning at the break, while the girls and I had very basic conversations with our teachers, Brett and his teacher covered all kinds of topics from a protest in Switzerland to remodeling the basement and building a workshop to video as illustrated by the words he wrote in his notebook: strike, sewer and drains, basement, wood shop, wide-angle lens. We were all pretty impressed.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We are getting used to greeting people on the street by “buenos dias” or “buenos tardes.” It was hilarious to the girls once when Brett said “buenos dias” to someone in the afternoon. I like being in a place again where people greet each other on the street.

There’s so much more to tell, so stay tuned for the next installment!