When given the choice between:
*a dirty dank room with a mattress that sinks in when you lie on the bed versus an immaculately clean room with a king size bed with a firm mattress and crisp white sheets;
*a shower that trickles cold to lukewarm water versus a bathroom with the strongest rainshower showerhead I've ever encountered with copious warm and hot water;
*plain untoasted bread with jam for breakfast versus a breakfast buffet offering fresh fruit, many varieties of breads and pastries, eggs made to order, traditional Guatemalan desayuno fare and skim milk (finally!)....
I prefer the latter in each case above. Yup, I am embracing my high maintenance self without guilt or apology. Roughing it won't kill me. I've learned that I can suffer if necessary. I can take cold showers. I can eat food after seeing cockroaches in the kitchen it came out of. I can sleep on a bed that always feels and smells slightly damp with a lumpy mattress. But if given the choice between that and a four star resort style hotel with maid service, immaculately clean room and bathroom, full breakfast buffet, sparkling pool where waiters bring you strong cocktails to your lounge chair, etc....well, I'll take the latter. Who wouldn't??
***
Mi tarea over the weekend was to write a composition about my weekend, using the preterite. I suck at the preterite. I tried to describe how perfect my weekend was, but my Spanish is too limited to describe details and also I´m too lazy to actually use my dictionary. The great thing about school as an adult is that you never have to do anything you don´t want to, such as homework. Or attend class, even.
La Antigua es una ciudad muy romantica. It positively radiates romance, especially during the evenings. I had no idea before this weekend because during my first week I stayed in the house after dinner because the house I was living in is on a fairly isolated street and I didn´t feel safe walking back to the house alone in the dark. Also, places/moments are only truly romantic if you have someone to share them with. Lucky me, I had the perfect visitor in town this weekend to share Antigua with. I´ll just refer to him as El Hombre.
El Hombre arrived early Saturday morning to another perfect sunny day in Antigua. Like many towns in Latin America, the majority of buildings in Antigua have an open courtyard/garden in the heart of the building. We had breakfast at a cozy table next to the courtyard in a popular gringo cafe. Visited the local market. Went back to the house I was staying at and moved all my stuff to Porta Hotel, a beautiful resort-style hotel housed on lush colonial grounds. I couldn´t believe that behind the white fortressed walls visible to the streets there was this immaculate, beautiful and grandiose hotel. I highly recommend a stay here.
Then the real magic/romance started happening. We walked outside our hotel to go to dinner and suddenly there were fireworks above our heads (we never did figure out what they were for, but in Latin America you don´t need a reason or a permit to light pyrotechnics...). Turned the corner and were greeted with the sight of the loveliest candlelit wedding in a beautiful old church. Walked to the restaurant and discovered an open-air jazz festival happening across the street and thus ended up dining to live jazz music. Add this to the clear star-filled sky, cobblestone streets and perfectly lit colonial relics....you feel as if you stepped into some weird romantic movie set in the 1940´s or 50´s. It´s completely surreal. I´m not normally a romantic or a sap, but honestly it was really hard not to get swept away by the magic of it all. Oh, and the company was pretty good as well. Haha. That was just Saturday but since words can´t do the experience justice, I´ll omit the details of Sunday and Monday. Suffice it to say that the weekend was full of many, many momentitos perfectos, those normally rare moments that are so perfect that they almost make you want to cry. Good God, I sound like a sap.
***
But as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. And so El Hombre returned home this morning. I had to move out of Porta Hotel since if I continued to stay there I´d have to cut my 4 month trip by half. But I found an acceptable compromise between the run-down casa I was staying at and the Porta Hotel - a quaint, pleasant little motel-like inn with a tiny but clean bedroom, warm water and free internet access just a few blocks from el parque central (the heart of Antigua).
Oh, if you ever find yourself in Antigua and are tired of eating beans, rice and tortillas and/or are looking for great Japanese food, visit Kabuki on la Quinta Avenida. Very yummy oyako don and katsu don, much better than most places in SF´s J-town. And if you´re lucky, there just might be an evening concert at la Cooperacion Española next door so that you can dine to live music.
*a dirty dank room with a mattress that sinks in when you lie on the bed versus an immaculately clean room with a king size bed with a firm mattress and crisp white sheets;
*a shower that trickles cold to lukewarm water versus a bathroom with the strongest rainshower showerhead I've ever encountered with copious warm and hot water;
*plain untoasted bread with jam for breakfast versus a breakfast buffet offering fresh fruit, many varieties of breads and pastries, eggs made to order, traditional Guatemalan desayuno fare and skim milk (finally!)....
I prefer the latter in each case above. Yup, I am embracing my high maintenance self without guilt or apology. Roughing it won't kill me. I've learned that I can suffer if necessary. I can take cold showers. I can eat food after seeing cockroaches in the kitchen it came out of. I can sleep on a bed that always feels and smells slightly damp with a lumpy mattress. But if given the choice between that and a four star resort style hotel with maid service, immaculately clean room and bathroom, full breakfast buffet, sparkling pool where waiters bring you strong cocktails to your lounge chair, etc....well, I'll take the latter. Who wouldn't??
***
Mi tarea over the weekend was to write a composition about my weekend, using the preterite. I suck at the preterite. I tried to describe how perfect my weekend was, but my Spanish is too limited to describe details and also I´m too lazy to actually use my dictionary. The great thing about school as an adult is that you never have to do anything you don´t want to, such as homework. Or attend class, even.
La Antigua es una ciudad muy romantica. It positively radiates romance, especially during the evenings. I had no idea before this weekend because during my first week I stayed in the house after dinner because the house I was living in is on a fairly isolated street and I didn´t feel safe walking back to the house alone in the dark. Also, places/moments are only truly romantic if you have someone to share them with. Lucky me, I had the perfect visitor in town this weekend to share Antigua with. I´ll just refer to him as El Hombre.
El Hombre arrived early Saturday morning to another perfect sunny day in Antigua. Like many towns in Latin America, the majority of buildings in Antigua have an open courtyard/garden in the heart of the building. We had breakfast at a cozy table next to the courtyard in a popular gringo cafe. Visited the local market. Went back to the house I was staying at and moved all my stuff to Porta Hotel, a beautiful resort-style hotel housed on lush colonial grounds. I couldn´t believe that behind the white fortressed walls visible to the streets there was this immaculate, beautiful and grandiose hotel. I highly recommend a stay here.
Then the real magic/romance started happening. We walked outside our hotel to go to dinner and suddenly there were fireworks above our heads (we never did figure out what they were for, but in Latin America you don´t need a reason or a permit to light pyrotechnics...). Turned the corner and were greeted with the sight of the loveliest candlelit wedding in a beautiful old church. Walked to the restaurant and discovered an open-air jazz festival happening across the street and thus ended up dining to live jazz music. Add this to the clear star-filled sky, cobblestone streets and perfectly lit colonial relics....you feel as if you stepped into some weird romantic movie set in the 1940´s or 50´s. It´s completely surreal. I´m not normally a romantic or a sap, but honestly it was really hard not to get swept away by the magic of it all. Oh, and the company was pretty good as well. Haha. That was just Saturday but since words can´t do the experience justice, I´ll omit the details of Sunday and Monday. Suffice it to say that the weekend was full of many, many momentitos perfectos, those normally rare moments that are so perfect that they almost make you want to cry. Good God, I sound like a sap.
***
But as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end. And so El Hombre returned home this morning. I had to move out of Porta Hotel since if I continued to stay there I´d have to cut my 4 month trip by half. But I found an acceptable compromise between the run-down casa I was staying at and the Porta Hotel - a quaint, pleasant little motel-like inn with a tiny but clean bedroom, warm water and free internet access just a few blocks from el parque central (the heart of Antigua).
Oh, if you ever find yourself in Antigua and are tired of eating beans, rice and tortillas and/or are looking for great Japanese food, visit Kabuki on la Quinta Avenida. Very yummy oyako don and katsu don, much better than most places in SF´s J-town. And if you´re lucky, there just might be an evening concert at la Cooperacion Española next door so that you can dine to live music.
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