Yeah the place you've been the last two weeks

Been in Guatemala, Central America for the last week, after a lazily productive and ideally snow-filled week-and-a-half-long Cantabrigian vacation. Still have a foot in both worlds mentally but I'm adjusting to the cloudless 70-degree days and it's not so hard. So here's some background on my situation. WITH PICTURES.

I arrived in Guatemala City last Saturday and took a bus with the other students in my program to Antigua, a UNESCO World Heritage spot and site of over 20 Spanish schools.

arco amarillo
Originally uploaded by endtimes

We checked into our hotel, which happened to be right inside Antigua's famous "arco amarillo" (yellow arc). Not pictured due to clouds is the monstrous Volcan de Agua which looms large to the south and has already proven a navigational beacon during early lost walks through town. I'll post up a flick of him later. Not pictured due to not being visible are the church bells that are ringing at this very moment near the hotel, one of the many reminders of Guatemala's pervasive Catholic culture and the small size of the town.

turtle drum
Originally uploaded by endtimes

I myself started Spanish classes last Monday, which will last for a month. I'm living with a host family, but with two other Americans and three Dutch so it's more like a host hostel. I have a lot of free time during which I've been roaming around the city. On the weekends wealthy domestic Guatemalan tourists come to Antigua because of its high elevation and subsequent coolness, and general charm. Last Sunday there was a small band of Mayan musicians playing a traditional marimba and turtle shell drum, recordings forthcoming.

sand temple
Originally uploaded by endtimes

On Thursday we had our first "field trip," which wasn't as much educational as sea-soaked. We headed to the Pacific coast of southern Guatemala to a resort area called Monterrico. Since the region is volcanic the sand is black, I'd never seen anything like it. The beach had pretty fierce waves, which crested in thin sheets of curling clear water that resembled obsidian blades as they pulled the arena negra from the sand floor.

So I got beat up by the 5-foot waves, napped in hammocks, read with my feet buried in the burning sand, burned in the sun but not too badly, just enough to coax some complexion to the fore of my pollution- and winter-paled skin. Now I'm ready to go back to class?

More about Spanish and Maya murals later, signing off, just saying

shout out
Originally uploaded by endtimes