Sergio and I went to the San Francisco ruins today, a church and monastery built in the 1500s. The ruins were quite extensive and it was absolutely beautiful! We went there first thing in the morning so the sun was just starting to reflect off of the large pieces of the once elaborately-carved columns and fountains. The church of San Francisco dedicated much of its time and resources to help people with disabilities. We walked through the museum. It was full of prosthetic limbs and stories of individuals helped long ago by the church. There were also bones of saints buried in a section of the church that was still standing. As we walked around, my imagination ran wild. I recreated the San Francisco church as it once was and imaged people with prosthetic limbs walking out of the church doors. Sergio and I sat at a stone table surrounded by ruins and studied Spanish there. Every time I looked up I would think “wow!”
After lunch I got on the “chicken bus” to go to San Pedro Las Huertes to work with Avivara. By the time the bus reaches my stop it is filled with people. The buses are refurbished (and by that I simply mean colorfully painted) old school buses from the U.S. People sit 3 to a bench on the bus and the isles are packed with people standing. Oftentimes kids are hanging off the side and back of the bus. My friend said he saw a bus the other day with people getting a ride on the top! How they held on, I have no idea. Here, I don’t think they have the concept of “personal space.”
After waiting awhile on a packed bus, I realized that I was on the wrong bus. It was a bus to San Pedro… something else, not ‘San Pedro Las Huertes. Once the bus made its final stop I got off of it for a few minutes to see where I was at. Some kids from behind a building started throwing rocks at me. One hit me in the arm and left a bit of a sting. That’s when I decided that I better get back on the bus. In Antigua, tourists are normal, but it these smaller towns, I stick out like a sore thumb. I don’t think those kids would throw rocks at people from the community, but I was different and so probably an easy target.
After waiting for 40 minutes for the right bus, I decided to walk back to my house and work on things for Avivara from there instead.
That night I went out to salsa dance with several of my friends that I’ve met. They are people from all over the world and most of them are here to learn Spanish and several are working with nonprofits. At first there were only a few couples lighting up the dance floor. A live band jazzed while a man in a suit and white hat belted Spanish love songs. There were a few women in particular that where amazing. While watching them, I thought “I want to dance like that.” I ended up dancing most of the night and picked up a lot of moves. I signed up to have lessons with a private instructor. While I’m here I might as well learn to Salsa really well. I’ve always wanted to. My instructor is some short Latino guy with a pony tail. He is kind of cheesy and I forget his name (something really Latino), but he is a good dancer so it should be fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment