Category Archives: #Guatemala

Las Cosas que Son Iguales

Me fue bien el vuelo de Salt Lake City y acabo de llegar en Atlanta.  Estoy sentando en un restaurante en el aeropuerto, bebiendo café, y esperando mi vuelo a la Ciudad de Guatemala.

Voy a estar intersante para mi ver las personas que van a estar en el avion a Guatemala.  ¿Ellos seran Guatemaltecos … Norteamericanos … personas son de Europe … otros?  ¿Quien sabe?  Quizas, algunos de todos.

Estoy muy emocianante viajar a Guatemala para aprender mas español y conocer las personas que vive allí.  Las vidas de ellos son diferentes que mio, sin embargo en otra manera somos iguales.  Espero que encontrar las cosas que son iguales mientras honrando las que son diferentes.

Sheri & Keith Adventure

Three years ago we left the hills of West Virginia and travelled 2,000 miles west to Salt Lake City. We live in a great neighborhood called The Avenues, which is located between downtown and the University of Utah. This is probably the most diverse neighborhood in the entire county … a mix of urbanites, professional people, vegetarians, university students, protectors of the environment, animal lovers, kindred spirits, and various other people that make this neighborhood unique and feel like home. Hiking trails, the grocery store, a LIBRARY (which Sheri especially loves), restaurants, and other things we enjoy are within walking distance of our home.

All-in-all we love it here for lots of different reasons – heck, we even purchased the domain name WeLuvUtah.com. Probably one of the best things about being here in the Mountain West is that we are much closer to various sites we’d like to visit, such as Jackson Hole and Yellowstone National Park, the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, the Northwest, various Colorado towns, Boise, and we could go on and on. We are much closer to Sheri’s family, but alas we are further away from most of Keith’s family. We think that we might be here another 6 years until Sheri retires in 2016, but you never know – we are always up for adventure. The airport is also nearby, so please come visit us … our house is your house!

Speaking of adventures, we’d like to tell you about our plans to go to Guatemala later this year.

God willing, Keith is leaving for Guatemala on October 1st to spend one month in the city of Quetzaltenango (commonly known by its indigenous name Xela). Keith was given a passion for learning Spanish about a year a half ago, and now spends several hours each week learning it. He was laid off in January, which turned out to be fortuitous since that gave him extra time to study Spanish while he looks for work. (And thank the Lord for weekly unemployment checks!). While in Xela, in addition to 5-hours a day of Spanish language school, Keith will be participating in community development projects run by the nonprofit teacher’s cooperative called Pop Wuj. These projects are dedicated to supporting public health, education, and sustainability … particularly in the indigenous Mayan communities. Check out http://www.pop-wuj.org/volunteer/community-development.html.

Sheri will join Keith in Guatemala on November 3rd in the city of Antigua, and for the rest of the month we will vacation, eat lots of ethnic food, visit plantations, go on excursions, and also do some volunteer work at local charities. While Keith continues Spanish immersion training in the mornings at Antigua, Sheri will spend the mornings knitting, doing yoga, taking cooking classes, reading, and also being tutored in Spanish for one of the weeks. Sheri also looks forward to learning more about Mayan textile arts, such as the beautiful multi-colored garments and other items made through backstrap-weaving (which Sheri plans to try her hand at too). We definitely plan to go one day to the famous twice-weekly Mayan market in Chichicastenango where there are many Mayan vendors selling their beautiful and colorful handmade items. Check out the market by going to www.virtourist.com/america/guatemala/index.html, click on Chichicastenango, and then page through the photos taken at this Mayan market.

Mayans are the indigenous peoples who have been living in that part of the world since before the Spanish colonization of the Americas. In spite of the hardships that they have endured, Mayans are peace-loving people who are dedicated to preserving their ancient customs, and are celebrated all over the world for their brightly colored fabrics and textile arts.

We would like to do something to help Mayans during our upcoming trip to Guatemala, and we’d like to ask for your help as well. Please go to our fundraising page at www.firstgiving.com/spanish and share some of your hard-earned money with the needy in Guatemala.

Thank you so much for your love and friendship. We are so glad that our paths have crossed in this lifetime, and we hope that you will prayerfully consider helping the Mayan people we will soon cross paths with while in Guatemala. Keith will be blogging regularly at http://fotopala.com/blog/, and we will also send you periodic updates on our Guatemalan adventure.

Paz (Peace)!

Sheri & Keith

Guatemala

If you want to learn Spanish … and learn it inexpensively, go to Guatemala.

Spanish language learning has grown tremendously in popularity over the last 20 years or so. And the concept that is the most talked about, that seems to be the most effective, is called “Spanish immersion.” In other words, go somewhere to eat, sleep, hear, speak, and study Spanish all day, all the time.

There are literally dozens of language learning programs in each of the Latin American countries (and in Spain as well), in all of the biggest cities within each country. Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Costa Rica, Chile, Honduras, etc. – wherever you want to go, you can find a school that will teach you Spanish.

There is a web site www.123teachme.com that allows you to select a country, and then a city within the country to learn how different language learning schools rate. I believe that the ratings are based solely on student feedback.

The schools in Guatemala are prized for some of the following reasons: (1) They tend to be less expensive than schools in other countries, (2) Guatemalans tend to speak Spanish more slowly, thus it is more palatable to gringos, and (3) the Mayan culture in Guatemala is very interesting.

In Guatemala, the 3 most popular areas for Spanish language study are Antigua, the LakeAtitlán area, and Quetzaltenango (the official name, but locals call this city by its Mayan name Xela).

From what I have read, Xela is the best place to go to learn Spanish. It is the least expensive of the 3 most popular areas in Guatemala, and there is very little English spoken in Xela. Thus, the opportunity to cheat and speak English is very limited. You are literally forced to speak Spanish. It is a large city, the second biggest in Guatemala. Twenty hours of language learning 1-on-1 with your own private tutor, including room and board with a Guatemalan host family, will run you about $160 per week.

The Lake Atitlán area is the medium priced option. Some friends of ours told us that this area is one of the most beautiful places on earth. Lake Atitlán is a large endorheic lake (one that does not flow to the sea) that was formed by volcanic activity thousands of years ago. There are various villages around the lake, the biggest of which is probably Panajachel. There is a lot to see and do in this area besides learning Spanish, such as the twice-weekly market in Chichicastenango where there are many Mayan vendors selling their beautiful and colorful handmade items. Check out the market by going to www.virtourist.com/america/guatemala/index.html, click on Chichicastenango, and then page through the photos taken at this Mayan market.

Antigua is the most expensive, and the most tourist friendly area in Guatemala for Spanish language learning. It is a small town, but one with lots of gringo conveniences, lots of English speakers, lots of restaurants and boutiques, but still Guatemala … in other words, a poor city by comparison to most U.S. cities. Twenty hours with a private tutor including room and board with a Guatemalan host family is about $250 per week in Antigua.

Let’s go to Guatemala and … aprender a hablar Español!