Thursday, January 17, 2013

Finding Home and Learning to Speak in Quetzaltenango (Xela), Guatemala

At the end of last year, I spent five weeks learning Spanish in a university town in Guatemala. It was full of beautiful people, colors and textures. My brain was full of vocabulary words and verb conjugations.





4 comments:

Carmen K. Sisson said...

Is the second photograph where you stayed? That looks like such a neat place. And the people gathered around with candles, what are they doing?

Sarah Beth Glicksteen said...

Carmen, caption requests! A lady after my own heart. Yes, the second photo is my room in one of my two homestays. I hit my head on that windchime almost every day, sometimes in the middle of the night, and the sound made me feel simultaneously embarrassed (it didn't move, you'd think I could remember it by now.) and proud (I'm so tall here in Guatemala!).

Sarah Beth Glicksteen said...

Oh yes, and the candles: that was an evening procession for the Virgin of Guadalupe. They carried a float of the Virgin Mary through the streets. There are 'pasadas', or processions like this through the streets almost every night as Christmas gets close. People blow whistles and block traffic... I participated in one and the only comparison I can think of to something in the U.S. would be Critical Mass.

Mom said...

I like the little owl picture over your bed...Wise old owl...was it in cahoots with the wind chimes?
Miss you!! Can't wait to see you!!