Courtyard at The Cloister
Once again, I am attempting intensive Spanish language study, which has been thrice-thwarted for a variety of reasons. I really needed a vacation this time, though, so I'm only doing 20 hours of study over the week (compressed into four days). And, instead of staying with a host family to immerse myself more in the language, I'm spoiling myself and staying at a lovely place called The Cloister (www.thecloister.com).
It's a rather charming place. As the name suggests, it's the cloister of a convent that has been converted into a bed and breakfast. Each room has its own wood burning fireplace, private bath (apparently this is a big deal for a B&B, which I wouldn't know as this is my first time at such a place), and a couple of shelves of books. The rooms/suites are arranged a central courtyard that contains some gardens, hanging plants, and a little fountain. Spent some time out there today reading in the sun after I arrived. Very restful.
The hotel is located right at the arched entry to the city and my room has a little window seat where one can watch the world go by on the main drag into the city. Fresh flowers in my room add a nice touch and scent to the air. There are many churches in the area so church bells are heard every 15 minutes. The Cloister offers earplugs, but I rather like it all and can sleep through pretty much anything.
There are three things missing from the hotel/room that one might otherwise expect -- a lock on the door for when you leave (you can lock from inside still), a TV, and a phone. I find the absence charming. Just what I needed to really unplug.
Perhaps the biggest barrier to unplugging, though is the BlackBerry. Despite T-Mobile's claims to the contrary, I have full data access, including Internet browsing. Blast!!! Going to have to learn to not carry it, though not having it with me concerns me from a safety and information perspective. Unplugging, unplugging, unplugging....
But speaking of the BlackBerry (aka Pearl), I got a Bluetooth GPS Receiver before I left that serves as the receiver for Pearl's BlackBerry Maps program (eat your heart out, model 8700 owners!). I turned on the GPS receiver while I was out by the fountain and it proudly told me that I was 1,888 miles from home. Perhaps not surprisingly, when I asked it to navigate me home, it had some difficulty as apparently there aren't many maps available for Central America, as I discovered last year with my regular GPS. Still, a nice toy. The receiver actually tracks the locations and when I get home I'll be able to plug it into my computer to show where I've been. Good times!
But back to unplugging.... A guy named Carlos from my language school picked me up at the airport in Guatemala City and drove me to Antigua. Nice guy, but doesn't speak much English, so I got some practice in on my Spanish. I'm remembering more than I thought I would, though that's not really saying much. It was a nice drive, though, and a more scenic route than usual as the main highway is under construction. I'd forgotten about the exhaust-belching old U.S. diesel school buses used here as public buses, the walls around homes, people carrying things on their heads, houses built on the sides of hills that look like they're falling off, the extensive use of corrugated galvanized steel, mangy dogs (Va, chu-cho!!), staked out horses, wandering cows and chickens, and the beautiful smiles of the kids. It was a good choice to come back here, if I do say so myself.
There was an interesting-looking woman on our flight from Houston (name the airline that gave me miles but no elite points for any of these flights) to Guatemala City. Short gray hair, no make-up, athletic build, probably in her early 50s, and dressed in cargo pants and a fleece vest like she was ready to go on an adventure. Lacking in restraint, as always, I walked up to her at baggage claim and started up a conversation. Turns out she's a nurse and is here with a church group to build houses in a village in the mountains called Vasquez. In addition, she actually adopted (truly adopted, not just sponsored) a baby boy from Antigua, Guatemala who's now nine years old, as did three other nurses she works with. In addition to the house building, she will use her medical skills to assist in giving immunizations to children and other medical needs. Fascinating. And, since baggage claim in Guatemala is only slightly more efficient than in the United States, we also talked about what I'm doing here and about the Corporate Social Responsibility Fellows program I participated in last year. Really good conversation.
So many interesting people out there. I think this is going to be a great trip!