Studying Spanish in Guatemala & Copan

Note (Nov, 2010): I am presently updating this blog, with additional entries for the other schools at which I have studied during May 2009, and Dec 2009- Feb 2010. In the meantime, if you have questions, feel free to email me at timtower1@yahoo.com

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How to read this blog
Like most blogs, the most recent entry is shown first. So it can be a little confusing. To start at the beginning, click the "Table of Contents" link in the right pane. Then select the bottom entry- "The blogging begins - Nov2008".

If you wish to read only about the schools at which I studied, first click on the blog chapter near the top, ("Comparison..."). (Chapter under revision). For comments on and photos of each school, see the individual chapters with the titles of each school.

To enlarge a photo, double click it.

About Me
I am a 60 year old electrical engineer (born 1950), who did not study Spanish at school. I was raised in South Africa, and have lived since 1980 in Seattle WA. My wife and I have been married since 1988, and we have a daughter who has just started college. I decided to learn Spanish in 2007, after joining a Habitat for Humanity trip to Honduras. Durante ese viaje, me di cuenta que es necesario hablar español si yo desearía aprender la cultura y las costumbres y conocer a la gente en Centroamérica, y quizás haga trabajo voluntario en el futuro. (During this trip, I realized that it is necessary to speak Spanish if I would like to learn the culture and customs, and meet the people of Central America, and perhaps do voluntary work in the future).

That's what I thought when Jessie, the leader of our Habitat for Humanity Group loaned me a beginner's Spanish book and CDs during a group meeting in Jan 2007. I had never studied Spanish before. But no one else wanted the book and CDs. We were heading out to Honduras for 2 weeks, so I thought, heck, what have I got to lose?

I started the Spanish course at home, and learnt some basic words, like necesitar and poder, and how to conjugate them. When we got to Honduras, I found that I could understand a little (but not much). I realized that learning a language takes work. So when we got back, I borrowed the Pimsleur Spanish CDs from the library and started listening to them while commuting to work, and while going for walks. These CDs start with the basics, and help you along. They are easy to listen to. Suddenly, learning Spanish became fun - a game.

Several months later, my wife Rita and I were discussing how to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary, in December that year. We thought of Hawaii, or a cruise in the Caribbean. Then Rita said, why not spend our money in a poor country, where they really need the tourist dollars, and learn some more Spanish in the process? So we took a 3 week trip to Nicaragua, and had a wonderful time. Great people, few tourists, and what fun getting around using Pimsleur Spanish!

This blog details the next phase of my journey in Spanish - 7 schools and homestays in Guatemala and 1 in Copan, Honduras. The trips have been fun, easy to organize, and inexpensive. I have met a lot of nice people, both foreigners and locals.

Along the way, I met a number of single women ages 19 to 63, who were doing the same thing as I. They all said they felt safe traveling alone in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Some young men would whistle at them but nothing more. So I think anyone, male or female, can do this on his or her own. Perhaps one third of the students were over 50. Why not give it a go - even if only for 2 weeks? If you go in Nov/Dec, you can just show up and choose a school. There are so few students that the schools will make you feel like a VIP. I have heard that the summer months can be busy, in which case, you should consider a reservation. Contact the school directly, or book through websites such as Guatemala365.com. Go for it! It may be your best experience in a long while. And it will feel good helping poor Central Americans do something at which they excel - teaching and hosting visitors.

I found these reviews useful:

123teachme - http://www.123teachme.com/language_schools/. This covers schools throughout Central America.

Survey of Spanish Schools in Guatemala - http://www.guatemala365.com/ (I reserved my stay at Probigua through this website. The web manager later emailed me for feedback on my experience there.

The Spanish Schools of Antigua Guatemala, by McCormick - http://www.geocities.com/guatemalanspanishschools/spanishschoolsantigua.html

Guatemala Spanish Schools - http://www.guatemalaweb.com/SpanishSchools.htm

Top 10 Spanish Schools for Waves, Wilderness and Buena Onda - http://thetravelersnotebook.com/top-10-lists/top-10-spanish-schools-for-waves-wilderness-and-buena-onda

Also look at the reviews in guidebooks, such as Lonely Planet (Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua & El Salvador).

There are numerous other websites and blogs. Your research will be limited only by your available time!

The school is called Corazon Maya, which means "Mayan Heart". I studied here for 2 weeks in December 2009 and for another 5 weeks in Jan 2010. For me, it is the nicest of the 8 schools at which I have studied so far in Guatemala and Honduras.

0029 - The front entrance to Corazon Maya Spanish School.

The property is narrow and long (about 50 ft by 600 ft), and stretches from the main (dirt) road down to the lake shore. The upper half is fenced and has the kitchen, outdoor communal area, office, PC/TV room and a main classroom (30x 12 ft, open on 2 sides). The latter is where we volunteers teach, where communal meals and meetings are held, and where we play table tennis.

Lower down, toward the lake, there are a family bedroom, the communal bathrooms and "pila" (for washing dishes and clothes), and 4 small cabanas or standalone bedrooms, one with 2 levels and a kitchen and two with private bathrooms. These rent for about $35 - $40 per week. Nearer the lake are 4 tiled pergolas, each 6 x 6 ft, with 3 windows and a small table, where each student sits with his/her teacher during Spanish Lessons. Here it is peaceful and relaxing, and one is not disturbed by other students. Classes are usually held from 0800 - 1200 or 1300 - 1700, with a half hour break. Students can also study alongside the lake, which is scenic and usually quiet. However, I prefer having a table and chairs while studying, and it is a little far to lug these to the lake (100 yards), so my teacher and I study inside the school grounds

0499- Two of the private pergolas, for studying. Very peaceful.

0507- View of the lake from just below the school, looking SE.

0485- Another lake view in front of the school. The women wash their clothes on the stone blocks in the lake.

0454- I am staying in this Cabana on the school property, which is peaceful and has many pretty flowers and shrubs. It has a private bathroom, nice hot shower and a beautiful tiled floor.

0455 - View of 10,000 ft high Volcan San Pedro, from my Cabana. The lake is at 5,000 ft. The climb takes 4 hrs or so and is tough.

0460- Here I have a table and laptop set up in front of my cabana, ready for my Spanish class.

0464- Here I am studying in front on my cabana with Mildred, one of my 4 teachers at the school.

0598- Recently, since the school acquired wifi, my teacher (Micaela) and I have relocated to the main classroom, where I can use my laptop and wifi.

0468- Marta busy in her kitchen

0691- Mealtime in the kitchen, with fellow students Jim and Lauren (medical students from New England), and Sheryl (missionary from Missouri). Norm, her husband is also studying here.

0502 - This is the school's Pila, for washing dishes. We sometimes voulunteered to do this.

0462 - Marta and Josefa shucking corn. I tried this, and soon retired with a blistered hand. It is harder than it looks. The corn was from their own "milpa".

0458- Another view of the lake from in front of Corazon Maya, looking N.

Dec 2008 (my first of two visits there to study Spanish). See end of this chapter for my second visit (Jan 2010)

Guacamaya Spanish School, Copan

1460- Maestras Yarely, Dunia, Nelly and Julia

1466- Daisy, who takes care of all our food and drink needs, holding the house kitten. She has a great attitude.

The school has several study areas inside and about 4 out back, which are quiet and relaxing, with flowers and shrubs. I have been studying there for 3 weeks, for 4 hours each morning (including a 30 min break). Many afternoons I have returned to do my homework and enjoy a quiet cup of tea out back. Often a dove shows up to add charm. There is also a puppy, with sharp teeth.

1438- My teacher Yarelli

1440- Yarelli has got me started on the Spanish Subjunctive

1456- Another morning activity was to prepare a traditional Honduran lunch

1459- Dunia supervising the cooking

Several teachers invited their family members to the feast. They cooked special vegetables for me, a vegetarian. My teacher says that I am the only vegetarian she knows. They all seem rather impressed that I have enough energy to go on an hour long walk every morning before breakfast. Who knows, maybe my example will spawn a whole new vegetarian craze in Copan. (I am not holding my breath).

1462- Enjoying the lunch which we prepared

1397- One afternoon activity was a 4 hour outing to the hot springs

1467- Another afternoon outing was to the local butterfly and orchid houses

1470- I loved the plants and butterflies and the serenity of the place

1471- The butterfly house has a good collection of butterflies, both living and mounted

1468- Looking for butterflies

1584- Our last outing was a 3hr afternoon hike into the mountains with a local Mayan guide, Albert, and my buddy Helen from Seattle

Albert was fun to talk to, and he kept us entertained along the way, perhaps to keep our minds off the steepness of the trail.

1580- After about 2 hrs we came to a small school in a clearing

I enjoyed my stay at Guacamaya School, and would recommend it to others. Likewise with the family of Elena Gonzalez. Copan is a quaint little town. It is different from Antigua. The Ruins and Mayan culture are the main attraction. Overall is is probably safer, but there is a lot less to do, and several of us became a little bored after 2 weeks. Also, I did not find it as peaceful as Antigua, and the weather was not as good. I will be posting a detailed comparison of the 3 schools and families later. I believe there are plenty of volunteer opportunities, and for those who prefer a small town, it could be the ticket.

Update - Jan 2010 (3 week stay in Copan, including 1 week of study at Guacamaya)

When I first studied at Guacamaya, in Dec 2008 (for 3 weeks), it was my third school. I rated it better then the two at which I had studied in Antigua, even though it was more expensive.

My second visit, in Jan 2010, was not as impressive. By then, I had studied at 5 other schools (in Panajachel, Xela, and San Pedro Lake Atitlan). I now rate Guacamaya in the middle. I consider my other 5 schools to be better value, and more enjoyable.

This time, I felt that Enrique, the director, wasn’t putting in as much effort as before. Perhaps he finds that enough students attend his schools these days so he doesn’t need to. Unlike most other schools, he didn’t provide tea (only coffee), and no snacks. His hot water dispenser no longer worked. I complained and he had this fixed. He also bought some tea bags, but these were used up by mid week, and although I asked, he couldn’t be bothered to replenish these. I ended up by bringing my own tea. Small things perhaps, but one might expect these at such an expensive school.

Last year he added an extension behind his school. This has perhaps 8 cubicles, open at the top, inside an enclosed courtyard. Due to the poor acoustics, which do not muffle the echoes very well, I did not find it peaceful when when other groups were present. The wooden tables and chairs are poorly made, and rock back and forth – I wasn’t able to find one chair or table that sat squarely. The chairs are straight backed and uncomfortable. Why he didn’t simply buy the common plastic chairs beats me – these are quite comfortable and sit squarely on 4 legs. There are 3 other quieter study areas, in the back yard. Go for one of these if you can. These are peaceful. I studies in one of these during my first visit.

The cost of 1 week’s study (5 x 4hrs) at this school is $140, more than twice that at Corazon Maya, San Pedro ($65). The level of Spanish instruction is no better than at my other 7 schools, although I do like my old teacher Yarely, and the other teachers are fun. She doesn’t benefit much from the extra cost – he pockets nearly $100/ week for each student. He appears to be well off. For further discussion of costs, see my separate blog entry entitled Costs.

Enrique’s activities are inferior to those at the other 5 other schools, and there were no educational movies or communal dinners, which were such fun at Corazon Maya, PLQE and Jardin De America. He wanted to charge me $20 for a 3- 4 hr walk to visit nearby villages. Compare this with $6 for 2/3 day personal guided hike to a sacred lake near Xela (with EM school, part of PLQE).

On the other hand, my stay with Elena in Casa Dona Elena was once again great. I rate her guest house among the 2 top places at which I have stayed in Central America. She is dedicated to her guests, and cooks well. The only disadvantage of he place (and of most places in Copan, I suspect), is that the dogs bark. For me, earplugs were essential. After a week or so, one starts to get used to the dogs at night, although they can be quite aggressive if one goes exploring. Maybe it was my brightly colored bike shirt - who knows.

Overall, I found Copan once again to be a cute town, with nice people, if somewhat less peaceful than Antigua or San Pedro. There are noisy rude drivers, and lots of barking dogs. One can find peace, but one has to work for it. One idea is to climb up to the cross on the hill above the microwave towers. In the early morning this is usually very peaceful. The towers of the museum on top of the hill are another good spot - one can climb up there and view the sunsets, before the museum closes. Copan is located in a pretty valley, and the excellent Mayan ruins make it a worthwhile destination, as do the butterfly house, bird park (very well done), and the hot springs.

I shall return to Copan again, since I like the people, and love staying at Casa Dona Elena's. Also, I have some good friends there. But I doubt that I shall study there again. If your travel plans permit, you can have a better learning experience at less cost in other schools.

137- This is my group of seven Tsu- tujil Mayan girls, to whom I taught math for 1 hr each afternoon, for 8 days.

Olga 12 (right) was the youngest, and was in Primaria 5 (5th grade). She was one of the quietest, and just sat quietly until I came around to assign her more problems or to help her when she got stuck. She was also one of the brightest. Rosayda, 15 (above and to her right) was in Basico 3 (9th grade). She was struggling to understand quadratic equations and their roots. Next to her is Magdalena (13), in Basico 1 (7th grade), then Lesli (14) in Basico 2, Karina (17) in Basico 3, Doloris (13) and Karen (13), both in Basico 1.

205- Teaching Math to the Mayan girls

206-My friends Kathy (Canada) and Miguel (Sweden), from my previous school, came to visit me several times. Here we got a group photo.

238- Party for the Moms and their daughters in the scholarship program

239- Handing out Christmas gifts

My outfit must have seemed rather strange to the guests. I was wearing my red shorts because my one pair of long pants was drying on the line at my family's house.

240- The Christmas baskets were received with gratitude

241- We two tutors got to make a small speech in Spanish.

The blue cable on the wall to the left of my head is for connecting up one’s laptop to the internet. (No charge). Internet access was iffy – working only some of the time. Nevertheless I was able to use it twice to talk to my Wife Rita in Seattle, over Skype. (Update (Feb 2010): the school now has wireless, which works well and is a lot faster than before).

One of the activities at San Pedro Spanish School was a talk given by Felipe, a middle aged man living in San Pedro. He visited the school one afternoon and spent about an hour recounting a rather disturbing personal story.

First, let me give a little background. Guatemala experienced a civil war from 1960 to Dec 1996, when the peace accord was signed by the warring parties. This war was the longest and possibly the bloodiest of the many wars in Central America. There were various causes, but a major one was the CIA- sponsored coup in 1954 against the popularly elected socialist President Arbenz Guzman, prompted largely by his efforts to redistribute unused land of wealthy landowners such as the US- controlled United Fruit Company (UFco). At the time, UFco owned huge tracts of land in Guatemala, much of which was unused. (Even today, the richest 2% of Guatemala’s landowning population owns more than 65% of all of the arable land). UFco was was known as the Octopus (“el Pulpo”) since it controlled large parts of the economy including the ports. It had shareholders and friends in high places in the Eisenhower government, who objected to the purchase and redistribution of their land to the peasants by the Guatemalan government. This they viewed as communism. Allen Dulles, the Director of the CIA in 1954, was at one time a board member of UFco. His brother, John Foster Dulles, was the current Secretary of State, and had previously acted as one of the lawyers of the UFco. They persuaded Eisenhower to authorize a coup. Arbenz was forced to flee the country.

After the coup, Guatemalans lost many of their democratic rights, and were ruled for perhaps 30 years by military strongmen. In 1960, one of several guerrilla groups rose up against the government and the civil war began.

Much of the conflict took place in the highland areas occupied by the indigenous Mayan people, who make up about half of Guatemala’s population. Studies reveal that perhaps 200,000 people died during the war, the overwhelming majority indigenous Mayans, and perhaps 90% at the hands of the military. (A few percent were killed by the guerrillas). Toward the end of the 1970’s, the civil war grew in intensity. Presidents Lucas Garcia and Rios Montt are considered the two most barbaric Presidents. Both practiced what was tantamount to genocide in an attempt to deprive the guerrillas of their traditional support in Mayan villages. It is estimated that 600 villages were raised to the ground and their inhabitants murdered by the Guatemalan military.

Much of the weaponry was supplied by the Reagan Administration, which at the time was also funding another bloody war, against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua (remember Iran- Contra?).

One estimate is that during Rios Montt’s short 16 month reign (1982-83), perhaps 50,000 people were murdered, either by the military of by vigilante groups (with the President turning a blind eye). It appears that Garcia’s reign (1978-1982) was almost as bad.

This sets the scene for Felipe’s story, which took place under Garcia’s reign. In March 1980, Felipe was living at a boarding school near Chichicastenango, in the highlands. He was about 17 years old. The boys (about 11 to 18 years of age) lived in dormitories which were separated from their classrooms by a sports field. The girls lived on the other side of the property. One morning, the boys were walking across the sports field when they ware shocked to encounter 3-5 bodies. All were Mayan men, and were naked, with their hands tied behind their backs. All had had their throats slashed. The boys sounded the alarm, but the police seemed unsurprised. There was no investigation. The bodies were simply taken away. Much shaken, the boys continued with the studies. Many were tormented by what they had seen and some found it difficult to sleep at night. Some time later (perhaps months), they stumbled across more Mayan bodies in the sports field. This time the total included two women. All were naked, with hands tied, and this time each had been shot in the side of the head. The two women had both their breasts amputated. Once again, the police seemed unsurprised. This second occurrence added to the discomfort and terror amongst the boys. Later, it dawned on Felipe that these bodies had been intended as warnings by the military, to dissuade the boys from joining the guerrillas.

In October, the school year ended, and the kids were relieved to return home. Felipe returned to San Pedro, which is on the southern side of Lake Atitlan, about 2 hours from the school, and was therefore relatively far away from the main theater of the civil war. However, it seemed that the government wasn’t taking any chances of it’s spreading to San Pedro. Shortly after his return, the military showed up in force, and summoned everyone to a meeting at the local sports field. The office in charge said that the terrorists were everyone’s enemies, and that in order to defend the town, they wanted 50 volunteers to be trained as guards. The required number of male residents stepped forward, and the army led them away for some training. Shortly after, the 50 returned, each with an automatic rifle. The military announced martial law and disbanded the police. Henceforth, they said, the guards would be in charge.

Then commenced a reign of terror by the guards. The military remained in the background. The guards would bang at people’s doors at night, and extort money. If the person refused, he would be taken away, often never to be seen again. Many of the residents had to pay substantial bribes to these guards to be left alone. Often, these guards would simply “disappear” persons against whom they held a grudge.

Felipe told us that at no time did any guerrillas come to San Pedro.

About a month later, the guards, this time with military support, banged at the doors of 5 houses late at night, in order to abduct 5 young males for “questioning”. Felipe was one of this group. The guards barged into his house. He tried to escape and was shot in the thigh and arm. (We saw the scars). He and the others were taken away to a building perhaps 2 hours walk away, along the lake. He said this had been owned by wealthy foreigners and had been commandeered by the army. There the captives were tortured.

Felipe had been severely wounded, and had lost much blood, so a military medic arrived to give him some basic treatment and bandage his wounds. But all were kept with hands tied, which caused much discomfort. Felipe was the only one of the 5 who could speak Spanish, so he became the spokesperson.

During the next few days, the military would burn them with cigarettes and beat them with gun butts. Felipe says the guns were Galils, supplied by Israel. Each time, the military would offer to release them if they revealed the names of their guerrilla leaders and the locations of their arms caches. Since neither existed, the boys could not satisfy their torturers. After a few days, one of the boys was released. After he had walked perhaps 10 yards, and guard shot him in the back. This terrified the remaining four boys.

A day or so later, the guards took each boy, still with hands tied, and tied a second rope to each one’s body. They took the 4 boys down to the lake. They weighed each one down with rocks. One at a time, they threw each boy into the lake where he was kept submerged for a minute or so and then retrieved, each time he was asked the two questions. The periods of submersion became longer. The torture was stopped when one boy drowned. This left three.

A day later (day 5), all the boys were taken outside and their pants removed. A cord was tied to the testicles of the other two (Felipe was spared), and passed over the branch of a tree overhead. The two boys stood there with hands tied while the guards exerted increasing force on the cord, stretching their testicles upward. They yelled with pain. After a while the torture stopped and the boys collapsed. Later the three were taken back to their prison.

The next day (day 6), their captors announced that they were to be released. At first the boys refused to leave, remembering the fate of the first boy. However, their captors forced them out. They were left to find their own way home. They started walking. They were very weak and had to stop often. Eventually some locals found them and took them back to the village. Everyone was amazed to see them as they had been given up for dead. Felipe returned home, to the joy of his parents. He later recovered and was able to lead a normal life. The other did not fare as well. One died shortly after, perhaps due to suicide, and the other tuned to drink.

The story has a positive sequel. This was referred to in general terms by Felipe, but the details were supplied by one of my Spanish Teachers, who was about 10 years old at the time.

Apparently, the military left shortly afterward, having decided that the guerilla threat in San Pedro was small and that their proxies, the 50 armed guards, could handle things. At the time there lived in the village two brothers who were prominent citizens. One day, perhaps a year later, the guards decided to do away with them. One they captured in a nearby town. That night they came to abduct the brother. The people heard about this and came out into the streets shouting. However, they were unable to prevent the abduction. The two bodies were discovered the next day in the mountains, hanging from a tree. That night, the people organized into groups and entered the homes of each of the guards. Apparently, no one was killed. All the guards were overwhelmed by the townsfolk, which must have been an amazing act of bravery on their part. My teacher witnessed some of the arrests. The people were for lynching the guards, but wiser heads prevailed, and they were jailed instead. Later they were taken to the town of Sololá, the district center (about an hour away by car), and handed over to be prosecuted. It appears that most, if not all, were jailed for up to 10 years. This seems amazing in view of the fact that the military was still running the country. At the time, world attention had come to be focused on Guatemala’s human rights abuses, and the US Congress had recently stopped the sale of arms to the govt. (Sadly, other countries such as Israel and Italy filled the gap). Perhaps the government had decided to bow to the will of the people of San Pedro and to international pressure, and try the guards.

After a long period, the guards were released, and some tried to return to their previous lives in San Pedro. But the people ostracized them, and the few that live here today do so on the margins of society.

Postscript: None of Guatemala's dictators was ever tried. Today, Rios Montt is still in the government, and may run for president again. He has assumed the role of a born again Christian. As a military man, he was trained in the US.

1203_Early morning street scene in the northern part of Antigua

1238_Last Saturday I invited my teacher Rebeca to lunch and she took me to a Salvadoran restaurant. The little girl belonged to the lady of the house and came over to be sure that all was well.

1235_A street vendor selling small pet fish

1237_A back street in Antigua. The main streets are very busy and there appear to be no traffic lights or stop signs.

1236_These ladies were cooking meat and chicken on the street

1223_La Merced church, about 100 yds from the school.

1224_A couple of guys having fun on the street

1226_Houses in the hills around Antigua

1212_I met these women on one of my early morning walks. This was part way a very steep hill, which gets me out of breath.

I chose Probigua Spanish Academy to be my first school. (www.probigua.org). It was listed in Lonely Planet, and I liked that it promoted literacy and women. I enjoyed the staff and my 2 weeks there.

1219_My first teacher, Rebeca Gonzales, 34, at Probigua. She lives with her mother and several siblings and is in her 4th year studying law. She is smart and fun to talk to. No English is spoken in the school, which is good

She is a good, patient teacher, and we have enjoyed many laughs together. This is our small table where we study. Another student can be seen in the back. The school has probably 10 PCs with high speed internet. I am using one to type this. The Internet connection at Probigua was faster than anywhere else that I tried in Antigua or Copan. The keyboards are Spanish and it takes a while to get used to. The @ symbol, for example, requires ALT and CTL plus the @ key, or one can press the ALT key then 6 and 4. I have yet to find the backslash.

1204_Volcan Agua from near my desk in Probigua School- about 2x zoom. It it blew, we would probably be charcoal.

1213_Teaching at Probigua takes place in a large room with several levels and lots of plants. The walls extend only 75% up so one can see the trees and hear the birds

What is great is that Rebeca has me tell her things in Spanish and gently corrects me as I go. I make notes. It is very important to get lots of practice speaking, even if one gets stuck. She also describes life in Guatemala and I stop her when I don't understand. I have a bunch of homework if my brain can take it. At the end of 5 hours my brain is well exercised! I think 4 hours per day is a better bet - I will reduce my hours to this next week.

One-on-one teaching is a novel experience for me. The huge advantage is that the teacher can adjust the level and pace to suit the student. However, one cannot goof off as one can in a class with many students. Yesterday, for tarea (homework) she suggested that learn the Spanish names for 27 parts of the body. (Truly, I counted them). I figured I could just spout them off. But no, I had to create a sentence with each one. She helped me if I got stuck - like when I had think of a sentence including el codo (elbow). So I tried that it pains me when I knock it on the table. She helped me with the word for knock, but in return, I have an extra word to learn for homework. Of course one doesn't have to do the homework. It all depends on one's motivation...

Some students start school knowing only Hola and Baño. That's OK. The teachers start from there and patiently help you along. There is little doubt in my mind that total immersion is the way to go. No one keeps score. Each student advances at his or her own pace. The schools and families know to speak slowly and be patient. The locals love it when gringos practice their Spanish. It is a big complement to them that we gringos take the trouble to study their language. It is also a nice way to learn more about their culture and history.

Probigua is a school with a good mission. Its name is a contraction of Proyecto Biblioteca de Guatemala (Library Project of Guatemala). The school is a non profit and employs only women. Rebeca told they find the women to be more responsible. Which sounds familiar. Not only does it promote women (and does this fairly, per Rebeca), but it also devotes part of its income to setting up libraries in remote villages which have little access to books.

The school has a mobile library built upon an old bus. It also acts as a conduit for several US and European nonprofits, which donate scholarship money for poor Indigena students. One non profit is Child Aid (Portland OR). The students have to sit exams to qualify. Last Saturday about 40 came to the school for the scholarship awards.

Over 50% of Guatemalans are Indigenas, who are descended from the Mayans and are mostly poor. According to Unicef's State of the World's Children 2008, Guatemala has an adult literacy rate of only 69%, and that of females is only 84% of males. In Nicaragua, thanks largely to the Sandinistas who took over in 1979 and who have promoted literacy and women's rights, the adult literacy rate is 77%, and young women are the same as or better educated than men. These results belie the fact that Guatemala is more than twice are wealthy as Nicaragua - $2640 vs. $1000 GNI per capita.

There are about 10 students here at present which is about 20% of capacity - November and December are slow. Not good for the teachers, as they work only when there are students. Nice for the students, because the facilities aren't crowded and one can relate more to the staff. Rebeca told me that she gets about $2.50 per hour (after deductions) for teaching (of the $5.20 per hour which we pay the school), but that work is slack from Sept to March. So she earns less than $2000 p.a., or about $150 per month on average. She estimates that perhaps 50% of the people are fully employed, 20% partially or sub employed (e.g. graduates doing unskilled work) and 30% unemployed.

Several months ago, a student from Europe gave her laptop to Rebeca. However, it had become infected with viruses, and she could not connect to the Internet. She asked me if I could help her with it. She also wanted to install Skype and then to use the schools video camera and microphone to work with their online Spanish program, called Speak Shop. This program, which was set up by a couple in Oregon, allows students all over the world to connect to a teacher at Probigua, and to have an hour long Spanish lesson online. Teacher and student can see and talk to each other. Cost is $10 per hour- very reasonable. I spent much of yesterday setting up Rebeca´s PC. It was a Spanish lesson (in computer jargon) at the same time - a win-win situation! I was able to install AVG free and to rid her PC of 4 viruses, to update her WXP, and to get her PC talking via Skype and Speak Shop. She was delighted. It is a nice laptop. Such items are beyond the reach of even middle class Guatemaltecos.

1215_Out back at Probigua school

1217_A quiet spot out back at Probigua school. Quite a few birds can be seen here during the day, including hummingbirds.

1216_View out back at Probigua school. Forested hills, flowering trees.

1265_fruit purchased by us. Strange names, some strange fruit! But good to eat. Guatemala is a fruit paradise.

1267_The list of local fruit, which we had been sent out into the market to buy earlier on

1266_Our gang of students and teachers, learning about the local fruit

1268_School Staff member Maria with her young son, who came in one afternoon to help his mother clean up. A good example for the rest of us!

1194_Approaching La Ciudad de Guatemala. What a pretty location!

My First Family

1208_Mom Delcia, Fatima, Andres and Copi (little white guy).

1239_Thomas and Memo, their dog. He was in poor condtion, with many ribs showing. Perhaps he had worms. He also barked a lot, which drove one of our students away.

1202_The street outside the Ixcamey home.

1201_My buddy Copi

1198_I have a simple but spacious room with a fluorescent light and a table and chair and a bookshelf for my stuff

1207_A View of our backyard from my bedroom doorway. Que flores mas bonitas.

1206_Washing and drying clothes in the back yard. I enjoyed the activity - nice outdoors.

1233_Memo waiting patiently in the morning for the family to emerge from their bedroom. Copi is more interested in playing ball. Taken from outside my bedroom door.

1222_Dinner time at the Ixcamey home, with the other 2 guests - Rachel (21, from Switzerland), and John, from Sun Valley, Idaho.

1220_Food was usually quite good, and was excellent value for money. ($12 per day for room and 3 meals and family togetherness).

1263_Tomas and Rachel at breakfast