Tuesday, February 21, 2012

A whole 'nother world, sort of

The flight to Guatemala City saw this inexperienced traveller slightly overcome by the thought of stepping into a foreign country without speaking the native tongue. So with my Spanish phrase book in hand, and a few pleasantries in mind, I left the plane a little unsure of what was to come.


Having organised to be met at the airport by a driver from my Spanish school in Antigua, my observations of Guatemala City are few. The first thing that hit me was a huge billboard for Dominos pizza. I was amazed by the sheer number of billboards advertising all sorts of things from fast food (McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Pollo Campero - Guatemala's KFC) to new cars and health care products. Most buildings were in need of some good handy work, the roads even more so, and most of the cars I saw were very old, with the driving erratic at best. Pretty much what I was expecting on those accounts.


The trip from Guatemala City to Antigua is about 40 minutes on windy mountain roads, and it didn't fail to throw up some interesting sights. Entire families travelling in utes (a few kids on the tray),  a four car incident that left a police car with a broken rear axle in the middle of the road blocking all traffic, luckily in the opposite direction to my travel, and also a car spun off the road into a ditch. Both incidents presumably caused by the misty, greasy conditions high in the mountains. People of all ages walked tightly along the edge of the major road with traffic whizing by because there are no footpaths, and at a military checkpoint backpackers nervously unpacked their bags infront of soldiers with ancient yet no doubt effective automatic weapons. A very interesting little journey.


Arriving at my homestay mid afternoon Sunday, I was met by my host, Juanita. She's a delightful old lady whose speaks little English, so the conversation was short and there was lots of gesturing going on as she showed me around her home. "Mi casa es tu casa" was one of the few sentences I understood. I instantly felt very welcome in my simple little home of the next two weeks.


The city of Antigua itself is an amazing place, and I instantly fell in love with it. The mix of old and new is extraordinary. From the outside, all buildings appear to have been built hundreds of years ago, and some of them were. The cobblestone streets are lined with high concrete or stone walls, many with grand old wooden doorways and barred windows. It's impossible to tell what lies within. Places like McDonalds and Subway are no exception to this. From the street they are just another wall painted a single colour, with a small sign beside the doorway, but inside, they look like any other McDonald's or Subway anywhere in the world, or even nicer with beautiful plant filled courtyards to eat your meal in, completely hidden from view from the street. Theres many places with hidden gardens like this; bookstores, coffee shops, bars and restaurants. Amazing.


Remains of buildings destroyed by the 1773 earthquake dot the city, most of them churches, and to look through them is absolutely breathtaking. The markets are a vibrant mix of colours, sounds and smells, and after seeing chickens being chopped up and red meat hanging in shop fronts under the hot tin sheds of the marketplace, I'm somewhat glad we don't eat much meat at my homestay!


The contrast between rich and poor is quite striking as well. Central park and the streets around it are filled with ladies selling beaded necklaces and hand woven blankets for as little as a couple of quetzales (25-30 cents), people pushing ice cream carts (with cow bell attached) along the cobbled streets remind you that ice cream is extremely tasty, and kids as young as 5 or 6 offer to shine your shoes, even if you are wearing brown hiking boots. Or thongs.


All this goes on whilst armed guards with shotguns stand in the doorways of numerous jewelry shops, and slightly twitchy fellows on street corners not-so-discreetly ask 'whatchu need?', which goes some way to explaining the high end Audis and brand new BMW's you occasionally see roll down the street, windows tinted so dark I'm not even sure they're made of glass. The gap between rich and poor is obviously quite large, but the city seems to roll on without too much trouble. The stories of gangs and late night personal security appear, at least at this stage, to have been greatly over exaggerated, whilst the legends of the chicken buses appear to be every bit the truth judging by the stories of each and every traveller I've met who's been on one. An experience like no other, an experience I'm looking forward to.


All this blogging, and hardly a mention of the main reason I'm in this wonderful city. The lifeblood of the place is tourism, and a big part of that tourism is Spanish language schools. Every street has at least one, and every foreigner I've spoken to has been to one for at least a week, many for a lot longer than that. Having never been interested in learning a language while at school, the decision to come here to learn Spanish for 4 hours a day for a couple of weeks may seem a strange one. But one week in, it's one of the most satisfying decisions I've ever made. It's an experience I certainly recommend to anyone remotely interested in learning a language, throw yourself into the deep end and just go for it. A long way out of my comfort zone, the first week was tough, but I came through it able to (more or less) understand conversations going on around me. Confidence in making conversation myself is growing, but still has a way to go! I know 2 weeks is hardly going to make me a master of the language, but I'm closer to my goal of being able to ask questions handy for travelers, and most importantly, understand the responses!


I hope this goes some way to explaining how much I've enjoyed my first week here in Antigua. It's a fantastic place, and I'm glad I made the decision to come here. In some ways it's exactly what I expected, in others it's much, much more. Nothing has disappointed me so far, and I'm sure the experience will get better and better the longer I'm here. Until next time, adios amigos!!

Saturday, February 11, 2012

What's with the backpack man, you homeless??

Whilst occasionally being questioned about the state of my homeliness, I've actually been living it up in quite fine style the last few days. It's been cheap hotels, basketball games and even a golf resort for this backpacker so far. Luxurious days ahead of some rough and tumble months to come.

Wednesday nights basketball game kicked off with a few drinks at some random downtown bars until I found one with people that were actually willing to have a bit of a chat with this lone traveller, a couple of pints and even a tequila shot later it was time to head to the Amway Center to watch my boy Ryan Anderson put the Miami Heat to the sword in the first half, and my other boy JJ Redick finish off the job in the second. Dwight Howard was good all night as expected, and for the Heat, only Dwayne Wade showed any resistance. My seats were nowhere near as close as the ticket price may have indicated I should be, but I did randomly get seated next to two terrific young college kids, Kyle & Michaela. A few more beverages and we were basically best buddies for the rest of the night. Drinks after the game at the rooftop bar on top of the basketball arena was a good, if not slightly overcrowded/priced way to kick off our new found friendship. Numerous bars in the downtown area were visited, all of which had crazy cheap drinks because it was game night, and because well, that's just how cheap grog is in the states! 

Cab driver obviously saw me coming and absolutely rorted me on a prepaid fare. Back to the hotel about 3am. Thursday was ouch.

When plans to go stay with my new friends fell through late Thursday I went with my original plans of heading down to stay at a hotel with golf course about 30kms(?) out of Orlando. I took the bus and probably started the journey a little late, at 6pm. After a couple of bus changes, an unexpected trip to Animal Kingdom (wrong bus!) and about a 3km walk at the other end, I got to Mystic Dunes golf course and resort. At 10pm. 

Safe to say they don't having too many people here a) walking through the front gates, and b) bringing only the pack on their backs. It's certainly more a resort than a hotel, and I'm currently living amongst retirees and families on disneyworld holidays. I have a villa that comfortably sleeps 4 people to myself, and the hardest question I've had to ask myself so far is which pool to swim in. Closely followed by "is it ok for a 27 year old to use a waterslide?". The latter of which conundrums was made infinitely more difficult by two near octogenarians who decided to have a go. 

I resisted the urge.

Today consisted of tackling one of the hardest golf courses I've ever played on, and now preparing to start the real adventure in my trip. With an 850am flight to Guatemala tomorrow morning, I'm not sure when my next update will come, but rest assured I'll be having a blast learning Spanish and seeing more of this amazing world we live in!!

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Yo amor la vida

So the weekend before my trip came and went really quickly. Friday night was drinks with work and football friends, Saturday night was drinks with my old school mates, Sunday was a final catchup with the family, and somewhere amongst the hangovers I managed to pack my backpack without forgetting anything (except a pair of footy shorts).

Monday started with an alarm going off, and having to get up earlier to go on holiday than I usually get up to go to work. Not ideal, but I suppose for this occasion I can make an exception. Off to the airport in true touristy fashion, the airport bus from Sothern Cross station was my chosen mode of transportation. 

Five and a half hours at Auckland airport was my first destination, and the scene of the realisation of my first amateur mistake. Back in Melbourne I'd exchanged all my Aussie dollars for US dollars, and left nothing for using in Auckland during that time. So the exchange from AUD - USD - NZD was done and, a few dollars lighter because of the fees, I was able to tuck into the first of many fast food dinners, and have myself a few Speights golden ales while passing the time away. A good brew. The Super Bowl replay was on, and ads for Thursdays Miami vs Orlando NBA game gave me warm fuzzy feelings inside, as that's one game I WON'T be watching on TV!

11 hours later I was in La-la land, literally as well as figuratively, after yet another long haul flight with no sleep (I just can't do it!). Had 9 hours before my next flight so I jumped on a shuttle bus to the nearest cheap hotel and got a few hours sleep, just enough to get me through the next 24 hours.

Another overnight flight to Fort Lauderdale, no more sleep, and the realisation that my iTunes back home is not configured to put all unwatched episodes of tv shows on my phone, so I'm jetting around carrying the final 5 episodes of both Dexter and Sons Of Anarachy having not seen the start of either season. A little disappointed about that (chalk it up as amateur mistake #2), but I'll get over it. 

I did, however sit next to the most wonderful elderly lady on this flight, Nellie. Nellie was born in Columbia, lives in Maui, and was traveling to see her daughter in Costa Rica. She told me all about her travels over her lifetime, she's been everywhere, and most stories started with "when I was a spring chicken..." - delightful. It's hard to explain, but she just had an amazing energy about her. She taught me the most important Spanish phrase, and motto she lives her life by - "yo amor la vida" - I love life. The world needs more people like Nellie.

After some delays on the central Florida train system that make Melbourne's Metro look like they're running to NASA type scheduling, I made it to Orlando. A very nice looking city, although not as green as I had pictured in my head, and nowhere near as busy. The bus system runs like a charm, but the train line running directly though the downtown area made me question the town planning a little. Imagine freight trains running up and down Swanston street.

I walked around the downtown area for a few hours, including a lap around Lake Eola, which has a few nice photo opportunities along the way. I took too many photos. Made it back to my hotel and just managed to peel myself off the bed before falling asleep to go get some dinner and take advantage of the 2 for 1 drink offer. 

I think I've got myself into the time zone now after a good nights sleep, and today is about to involve a quick dip in the pool and then heading into the downtown area to do some touristy stuff, then see if I can find some friends amongst the trendy bars to go to the basketball with (I know they're trendy because the lady in the city information centre told me that's where "the young people" go). 

Loving life, thanks for reading!