Bienvenidos a Antigua

Estoy en Antigua, una ciudad colonial en Guatemala.

That´s about all I can speak in Spanish currently. Antigua is a quaint colonial town teeming with Americans. It´s weird being in a foreign country by myself where I look patently different from anyone else and don´t speak the language. I don´t feel scared or unsettled...just highly conspicuous and very far removed from my normal life. The locals so far have been uber friendly despite my stuttering attempts at Spanish.

My digs here (homestay with a local family), which I was told before I arrived would not be luxurious but comfortable, are very....sparse. The first word that came to mind when I saw my room was "ghetto." It´s about as nice as the very worst room I stayed in in Thailand was...maybe slightly cleaner. Despite my initial instinct to take my bags to the nearby hotel Mansion Pensativo, which looks looooovely, I´m going to stick it out for at least a week and maybe try to build some of that overrated virtue people call "character."