This morning at 6:11am local time, another earthquake. Wasn’t big. Lasted about 20 seconds.
Today we had a late breakfast. I think because Olga came out with us to go see Fuego last night – she was still sleeping. Even though last night, when I asked (in Spanish!) what time for breakfast, she said 8am – when I went to the kitchen at 8am – silence. So I sat outside Dennis’s place using the Internet. Sarah came by about 30 minutes later, and asked “did you get breakfast?” Eventually, we did get breakfast – when we both went back to the kitchen around 8:45am. The other housemates “don’t get breakfast” because the “standard” around here (other rentals and host families) typically don’t include Sunday meals (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) since it’s supposed to be family/off day, but Maximo Nivel requires all hosts for their volunteers/students to include meals for all 7 days. The other housemates did not go through Maximo Nivel – they either went through their schools (the other 3 are here to primarily take Spanish classes) and/or directly went to Olga to get a room for their stay. Dennis had previous told me that the standard rate for my room was US$15/day, including meals.
Speaking of – from conversations with other people, it seems like I’ve been lucky to have been placed in Olga’s home. The housemates are a LOT of fun – we all get along well. And, the meals from Olga/Lorena/Rosenda have been extremely delicious local food. I have not heard the same from other volunteers. Dorothy did mention one time she got “Mac-n-Cheese” for dinner – that just baffled me.
In the morning, I sat with Sarah and Sue outside Dennis's room – we talked about frugalness/commercialism. Eventually, Sue left and Chelsie showed up, and the conversation moved onto makeup. I also learned that Olga’s husband passed from cancer 14 years ago. He was a surgeon and an Ambassador to Haiti (?).
At lunch, Olga asked Sarah and I (only the two of us since we were the only housemates who were “assigned” meals for Sundays) if we can "please" skip dinner so she can go to church – to which we both said of course.
After lunch, Sarah, Dennis, Olga, Olga’s granddaugher, and I went to Cuidad Vieja - the 1st capital of Guatemala (before Antigua) for a festival. We watched 41 (too many) floats go by (for over 2 hours)…
One of the ladies in the parade reached out to Dennis and he stepped up to dance with her in the street…
We were supposed to meet Chelsie and company at the “tallest ferris wheel” – but with the schedule and crowd, we never made it. Then we roamed around the area before catching a bus back to Antigua to try to catch the “The Burning of the Devil” (Quema Del Diablo) festival, which was happening at 6pm. While we waited to catch a bus, the other heard and saw Chelsie yelling at us from another bus going back to Antigua that drove right past us.
After we got back to Antigua, on our way to “The Burning of the Devil” festival, Dennis and Sarah and I stopped by the local McDonald’s on the west side of Antigua, which was known for being one of the Top 5 most beautiful McDonald’s in the world…. or something.
We walked past Central Park since the Burning of the Devil was on the East side of Antigua…
Crowds were forming quickly in the narrow road… I was unable to see the devil – I expected something larger… not as large as “Burning Man” but at least something bigger than the size of a human being – or at least, held up high enough for everyone to see… but was only able to get a few pictures of it before and after by holding the camera up high. The whole “thing” (burning) lasted only a few minutes… I wasn’t impressed.
And after losing Sarah to a swam of other friends, Dennis and I, very hungry, went to look for a restaurant to eat at past Central Park…
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