Day 3: A Very Happy 4th

Near my house

Yesterday was the exact opposite of my arrival day. The sun was out the entire day, I got hot water, and I had even gotten the Internet password before I went to bed the night before. The Internet worked surprisingly well for work, and on my lunch break I wandered the town and had an excellent lunch. In the evening I chatted with the owner of the home and talked to Shannon on Skype. 

Now it’s the 4^th of July, and a holiday in the U.S. means a free day here to get settled and explore. I didn’t sleep well last night because of course there was a catch with the hot water--  an extremely annoying drip… drip… drip started and would not stop in my shower. It was seriously like a form of torture. But today Lupita, the housekeeper, told me the guy was coming this afternoon to fix it, and luckily I didn’t have to work, so that seemed okay. So I drank some coffee on the patio, watched the birds, and then did a bit of Spanish practice: past tense verbs. I’m really awful at conjugation, so I sat down and did a bunch of drills via an online site. It helped.

My street: La Calle de Los Pasos 

Later I set out for “town” which is what I call the area around parque central, to do some things:

1. See if the guys at the phone shop, La Conexion, could unlock my other cell phone.

2. Go look at another apartment (if the drip didn’t stop, I couldn’t stay here and wanted to see my options).

3. Check out the central market.

Funny fountain in central park

Well, the phone could not be unlocked, but I feel like I know that guy at the phone shop now so it’s as close as I get to visiting a friend here, which isn’t bad.

The apartment was far away from here, but as usual, I got to see a lot of Antigua by trying to find something. I saw the amazing, yellow Iglesia Merced, which I should have taken a picture of.  I’ll have to go back. The guy who showed me the apartments was really nice and the apartment wasn’t bad. It wasn’t all that good either though. It made me realize how nice my place is and I decided to work on changing rooms or getting the drip fixed and just stay put.

After the apartment, I went to the central market, but by this time I had walked a LOT and inhaled a LOT of bus fumes, so I was losing enthusiasm. I wanted to buy: slippers, shampoo, mousse (my hair looks like crap here), and a notepad for class. I bought: shampoo.

View from my room/office

I went home and ate lunch, and later in the afternoon while I was recovering, the guy came by to fix the drip. Of course, he couldn’t fix it and would have to come back tomorrow. Apparently he didn’t have the tools, which seemed odd since he was a repairman sent to fix a leak. At this news, I felt stressed that I’d lose another night of sleep to the drip. Then fate saved me. The guy in the room next door left and his room was free. I checked it out and it was really nice—no drip in the shower—and even two beds! I asked Lupita if I could switch and she helped me make it happen. She’s awesome! 

With this great turn of events, I headed out to my first Spanish class, which is at a school around the corner called Ixchtel (pronounced ee-shell). I went early because I figured they might be able to bump my class up. I met the woman I had emailed, Marleni, and we chatted. Turns out she had forgotten to email me that the students and teachers were having a 4^th of July party tonight, so we decided I’d start tomorrow, which was fine with me.  She showed me around though, and the school is so nice! It has tables for tutoring inside and out, lots of beautiful tropical plants, a nice kitchen for coffee and drinks and best of all, a rooftop patio where they also teach students. There’s a 360 view of Antigua, including the 3 volcanoes. Truly incredible.

When I left I was feeling pretty darn good. I had escaped the drip and was also very happy with my choice of Spanish school. As I trotted toward town to find the grocery store, I felt something warm hit my shoulder. Yes, a large (or well-fed) bird had shit on me. Well, maybe I was getting a little big for my britches anyway. I scraped it off with a business card I had in my bag from the guy renting the apartment and continued on my way.

Money spent today (I've decided to keep track):

5Q water

14Q tomatoes and pasta

125Q groceries

50Q shampoo and conditioner

35Q umbrella
=  229Q ($31 USD)