Learning the Spanish alphabet

Two weeks ago we completes a week of Spanish school in Xela (pronounced Shela). The family we stayed with was so friendly and insisted on only speaking Spanish...all the time. I wasn't convinced that learning the alphabet with my maestra was the way to practice conversational Spanish but I was truly surprised at my improvement after I mastered the abc's. Our school was only a 10 minute walk and close to the central park, a perfect route to discover the city during the day.

Our madre Blanca cooked 3 meals a day for us, her husband Alejandro and her grand daughter Andrea. Oatmeal for breakfast, large portions of traditional Guatemalan dishes for lunch and light dinners. We saved the money we would otherwise spend on going out, food and drinks. Win, win!

Xela is a beautiful somewhat happening city. Much more is available here. I attended a yoga class, we got pedicures, went out for drinks and nice dinners with friends like Nick, Lindsay, Maya and Kris. There's even a man with a trolley filled with candy walking around central park. The pistachios never fail my tastebuds.

As someone told me "Guatemala is the land of close calls" with parts of the mountainous highways destroyed from deforestation, mudslides, bribing military and security officers, overpacked shuttle buses driving 100km/hour and much more. I've been impressed with what Guatemalans can do with so little though. From food to clothes to money. We saw a little boy tie a string in the handles of a plastic bag and run with it. A kite of some sorts. No G.I Joe. No toys. And he's perfectly happy.

So here's to living simply. May we all remember to enjoy the small things that bring us joy. And here's to Guatemala, for opening my eyes to new food, people, culture and beautiful landscapes.

See you in Mexico!