One of the frequent questions people ask is where we lived in Guatemala and what our daily life was like while learning Spanish. This entry tries to answer some of the questions. We were lucky to have such a wonderful time in Guatemala.
Lake Atitlan is a volcanic crater ringed by several several hills, volcanoes, cities and villages. We lived for more than two months in San Pedro La Laguna in the Guatemala highlands. Here is a link to the location on google maps: http://goo.gl/maps/g4CnI
It is a quiet town of around 15,000 people, and all the places in town were within a kilometer from our house. We were studying Spanish at a Spanish language school called Casa Rosario.
(link to the website of the school: http://www.casarosario.com/ ). It was founded by the brothers Vicente and Samuel Cumes Pop. It is now run by Vicente.
We lived with Samuel's family in an airy and spacious concrete house, a stone's throw from the lake.
Samuel's family lived on the ground floor. There were 4-5 identical rooms along the corridor. One room served as a the TV room, another as the place which stored Samuel's art supplies, while the rest served as bedrooms. The kitchen was 20 feet away, and so were the bathrooms and the two toilets. The storey floor above had an identical floor plan. The third storey had two rooms, and an open terrace to hang clothes.
The family kept the house clean, and cleaned the students' toilets and living area regularly. They replaced the toilet paper as needed, and we had a change of bedsheets and pillow covers on a weekly basis at no extra cost. They collected the trash from the dustbins daily- all we had to do was to separate the organic from the inorganic. The organic waste was composted across the street in a piece of land owned by the family. When I first arrived, I did not realize that the ring of banana trees was there for a purpose- it was the prescribed method of composting around the lake- the banana trees would extract minerals from the compost thus preventing the water which would seep through the compost from eutrophying the lake. Among other plants on that piece of land were coffee bushes, with green berries of coffee that are harvested annually in November.The inorganic waste was trucked by city employees to an open air dump 5-6 km away from the city, on the windy road that connected San Pedro to Santiago.
The rooms were simple: a bed, a dresser, a table and a chair. In addition to the door, there were big glass windows in the room on the side facing the corridor. On the opposite wall, there were big glass windows that looked into the neighbour's yard. One could see kids playing hide and seek through the sieve of the jocote tree full of unripe fruit. A family in the neighbourhood with four cats had two houses that were separated by our house. It was not uncommon to see their cats skimpering across the corridor to go from one house to another. To our disappointment, these cats were never interested in us. We wanted to pet them like we had pet the pregnant house cat "Sasha" in San Marcos, where we had stayed for two days before coming to San Pedro.
Because it was the off-season, we never had more than 2-3 other students living with us. Many of the students ate in restaurants and so we did not have trouble sharing the kitchen. Even then, one had four gas burners.
Elevation played a big role during our stay in San Pedro- the house was at nearly the level of the lake, and so was the school. Thus there was no elevation loss/gain in going to and fro from the school. However, the market was situated only half a km away, but more significantly it was uphill from us; not much in terms of elevation gain but it had some steep sections where when I was new in town, I would clutch my quadriceps near the knee and bow my head down with the strain of the climb.
Our daily routine revolved around going to the classes everyday at 8:00 AM. On some days Sonya would go for a run along the road that goes to the coffee plantation. On others we would go for an early morning stroll, and climb the steep road to the market and walk around town. At 7:40 AM, we would have had breakfast, which could consist of leftovers, bread and omelette, or simply a drink of atol- a drink made with with bean flour added to warm water- not unlike the chaatu drink favoured by rickshawwallahs in India.
Vicente, the director of the school would make a daily trek to the market, and bring fresh watermelons, pineapples, bananas and chuchitos for us. The teachers would cut the fruit, and all of us ate the food whilst sunning ourselves. Chuchitos are a local speciality with a chunk of spiced chicken surrounded by corn dough wrapped in milpa leaves. We had steaming fresh chuchitos from the market, and it was a delight to untie the slender string cord, and bite into the dough. You could get chuchitos in the market which had a piece of jalapeno or chili sauce in it- an extra kick which I love- but Vicente only bought the non-hot ones as not everyone liked them. After we were done eating we would toss the all organic leftovers, be they milpa wrappings from the eaten chuchito, banana peels or watermon rinds into a big pile at the designated area in the garden- they would simply decompose in the open in an eco-friendly manner. I quite enjoyed the tossing.
During the break we would usually split into two groups: students and teachers. The teachers would converse in Tzutuhil, and we would converse in English. Sometimes there were students who were not good in English, because they were from mainland Europe- but we got by. It was a great opportunity to socialize and talk to other travellers in a non-bar setting. Many a time, we would plot our afternoon adventures: kayaking, swimming, visits to nearby towns, meeting in the evening for coffee, while eating fruits and chuchitos.
At 12:00, Vicente walked around the garden, and announced that the classes were over. Sonya and I would walk back home and have lunch. Sometimes, we would trek to the market with our teachers, and replenish our food supplies.
Afternoons were devoted to rest, surfing at an internet cafe at the market or something physical: kayaking in the lake, a swim at a place 3 km from the town, a walk along the lake. The school had a couple of kayaks that the students could borrow for free- but if the group was large some of us would rent kayaks for the afternoon near the Panajachel dock.
In the evening we would spend time in adda- at the house with other students- or at a restaurant or a bar. We would cook dinner in the open balcony, and then go to sleep.
 |
| San Pedro La Laguna in the morning, from the road that goes to the finca during a morning walk. |
Lake Atitlan is a volcanic crater ringed by several several hills, volcanoes, cities and villages. We lived for more than two months in San Pedro La Laguna in the Guatemala highlands. Here is a link to the location on google maps: http://goo.gl/maps/g4CnI
It is a quiet town of around 15,000 people, and all the places in town were within a kilometer from our house. We were studying Spanish at a Spanish language school called Casa Rosario.
(link to the website of the school: http://www.casarosario.com/ ). It was founded by the brothers Vicente and Samuel Cumes Pop. It is now run by Vicente.
We lived with Samuel's family in an airy and spacious concrete house, a stone's throw from the lake.
Samuel's family lived on the ground floor. There were 4-5 identical rooms along the corridor. One room served as a the TV room, another as the place which stored Samuel's art supplies, while the rest served as bedrooms. The kitchen was 20 feet away, and so were the bathrooms and the two toilets. The storey floor above had an identical floor plan. The third storey had two rooms, and an open terrace to hang clothes.
 |
| The place we stayed at in San Pedro. Notice the gas burners at the end of the balcony |
The family kept the house clean, and cleaned the students' toilets and living area regularly. They replaced the toilet paper as needed, and we had a change of bedsheets and pillow covers on a weekly basis at no extra cost. They collected the trash from the dustbins daily- all we had to do was to separate the organic from the inorganic. The organic waste was composted across the street in a piece of land owned by the family. When I first arrived, I did not realize that the ring of banana trees was there for a purpose- it was the prescribed method of composting around the lake- the banana trees would extract minerals from the compost thus preventing the water which would seep through the compost from eutrophying the lake. Among other plants on that piece of land were coffee bushes, with green berries of coffee that are harvested annually in November.The inorganic waste was trucked by city employees to an open air dump 5-6 km away from the city, on the windy road that connected San Pedro to Santiago.
The rooms were simple: a bed, a dresser, a table and a chair. In addition to the door, there were big glass windows in the room on the side facing the corridor. On the opposite wall, there were big glass windows that looked into the neighbour's yard. One could see kids playing hide and seek through the sieve of the jocote tree full of unripe fruit. A family in the neighbourhood with four cats had two houses that were separated by our house. It was not uncommon to see their cats skimpering across the corridor to go from one house to another. To our disappointment, these cats were never interested in us. We wanted to pet them like we had pet the pregnant house cat "Sasha" in San Marcos, where we had stayed for two days before coming to San Pedro.
Because it was the off-season, we never had more than 2-3 other students living with us. Many of the students ate in restaurants and so we did not have trouble sharing the kitchen. Even then, one had four gas burners.
 |
| The sink to the right and the restrooms to the left: all bright and airy. |
Elevation played a big role during our stay in San Pedro- the house was at nearly the level of the lake, and so was the school. Thus there was no elevation loss/gain in going to and fro from the school. However, the market was situated only half a km away, but more significantly it was uphill from us; not much in terms of elevation gain but it had some steep sections where when I was new in town, I would clutch my quadriceps near the knee and bow my head down with the strain of the climb.
Our daily routine revolved around going to the classes everyday at 8:00 AM. On some days Sonya would go for a run along the road that goes to the coffee plantation. On others we would go for an early morning stroll, and climb the steep road to the market and walk around town. At 7:40 AM, we would have had breakfast, which could consist of leftovers, bread and omelette, or simply a drink of atol- a drink made with with bean flour added to warm water- not unlike the chaatu drink favoured by rickshawwallahs in India.
 |
| Getting Ready for Class in our room in San Pedro. |
The classes were from 8-12: four hours. We had a break from 10 to 10:30AM, and again from 10:30AM to 11:00AM. All the classes are one to one: one teacher for one student. Thus the level of teaching is adjusted as per the needs of the student-whether they be advanced or a novice.
When I first started, the classes would be quite intense involving a lot of learning, and I would stare at my watch, and be startled to see that it was only 8:40AM; for I was used to the 60min classes from the USA. However, my teacher was intelligent, and could sense my fatigue. Sometimes she would joke and ponder if I had slept well the night before. The classes were fantastic because she was free to be flexible- unlike some other Spanish schools. She mixed things up with grammar drills on the board, notes on verb-usage, conversation, reading articles from the newspaper, writing exercises, homework correction. Conversation topics were myriad; our families, San Pedro, Guatemala, India, prices of things in the market, gossip about students and teachers.
When I first started, the classes would be quite intense involving a lot of learning, and I would stare at my watch, and be startled to see that it was only 8:40AM; for I was used to the 60min classes from the USA. However, my teacher was intelligent, and could sense my fatigue. Sometimes she would joke and ponder if I had slept well the night before. The classes were fantastic because she was free to be flexible- unlike some other Spanish schools. She mixed things up with grammar drills on the board, notes on verb-usage, conversation, reading articles from the newspaper, writing exercises, homework correction. Conversation topics were myriad; our families, San Pedro, Guatemala, India, prices of things in the market, gossip about students and teachers.
 |
| A typical open air class room in Casa Rosario: a dream setting for learning. We did have plastic hairs to sit on; one for the student and one for the teacher- they are moved daily and stored together in one location. |
In the beginning I was relieved to talk in English at 10:00, but later with more Spanish under my belt, I would try to speak in Spanish during the break- but would have to switch to English because some of the others were not so fluent in Spanish.
Vicente, the director of the school would make a daily trek to the market, and bring fresh watermelons, pineapples, bananas and chuchitos for us. The teachers would cut the fruit, and all of us ate the food whilst sunning ourselves. Chuchitos are a local speciality with a chunk of spiced chicken surrounded by corn dough wrapped in milpa leaves. We had steaming fresh chuchitos from the market, and it was a delight to untie the slender string cord, and bite into the dough. You could get chuchitos in the market which had a piece of jalapeno or chili sauce in it- an extra kick which I love- but Vicente only bought the non-hot ones as not everyone liked them. After we were done eating we would toss the all organic leftovers, be they milpa wrappings from the eaten chuchito, banana peels or watermon rinds into a big pile at the designated area in the garden- they would simply decompose in the open in an eco-friendly manner. I quite enjoyed the tossing.
 |
| Fresh Chuchito from the market |
During the break we would usually split into two groups: students and teachers. The teachers would converse in Tzutuhil, and we would converse in English. Sometimes there were students who were not good in English, because they were from mainland Europe- but we got by. It was a great opportunity to socialize and talk to other travellers in a non-bar setting. Many a time, we would plot our afternoon adventures: kayaking, swimming, visits to nearby towns, meeting in the evening for coffee, while eating fruits and chuchitos.
 |
| Group shot at Casa Rosario, San Pedro La Laguna, Guatemala. What a lovely garden setting for our classes |
At 12:00, Vicente walked around the garden, and announced that the classes were over. Sonya and I would walk back home and have lunch. Sometimes, we would trek to the market with our teachers, and replenish our food supplies.
Afternoons were devoted to rest, surfing at an internet cafe at the market or something physical: kayaking in the lake, a swim at a place 3 km from the town, a walk along the lake. The school had a couple of kayaks that the students could borrow for free- but if the group was large some of us would rent kayaks for the afternoon near the Panajachel dock.
In the evening we would spend time in adda- at the house with other students- or at a restaurant or a bar. We would cook dinner in the open balcony, and then go to sleep.
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