Antigua Week 1

Sunday afternoon (the 17th) we met and moved in with our host family that we will stay with throughout our 4 weeks here in Antigua. We had assumed we would be the family’s only students. However, there are actually two other students living here, John, who is here from Canada for a couple of months, and Lindsey, from Chicago who is leaving in a couple of days. There are also two other men who live in different rooms on the second floor of the house where we are. Fernando is a guide to the surrounding volcanoes and other popular tourist spots near Antigua. Juan is the other guy who lives here, we’re not sure what he does, but he is married and his wife works in another town and she is here on the weekends. Juan and Fernando pay rent to our family but take care of their own cooking, laundry etc. We’ve included a picture of the house from just inside the front door to give you an idea of the layout of the house. All the bedrooms in the house open to the outside, and the family dining room downstairs is sort of like a patio which is protected from the weather by the roof overhang. Our family cooks three meals for us each day except on Sundays. Breakfast usually includes refried black beans and bread, tea or coffee and fruit and then a main dish which has varied this week from eggs, French toast, cereal and bread and jelly. Cereal was kind of a treat for us because milk here is very expensive as is cereal. Lunch, which is the largest meal of the day, always includes tortillas and a native dish of vegetables and a rice or pasta. Supper is the smallest meal of the day and usually includes bread and a small portion of another native dish.

This is our host family, Ana Maria and Baudilio. Below are two pictures of their home where we are staying. Our room is on the second floor on the left. The other people who are staying here are also on the second floor.