Va? Or, I speak Spanish with a Canadian Accent

When speaking Spanish, there are a lot of small dialect differences.

One thing that my friends Karen and Anabell taught me, was that "va" is an abbreviation for "verdad."

(Verdad means "correct."  In a sentence you could say "Usted hablas inglés, verdad?" and it would mean "You speak English, right?")

So "Usted hablas inglés, va?" would mean pretty much the same thing--va?

Mmm, sort of.

Only Guatemalans use "va."  Kind of similar to the way only Canadians use "eh/ay?"

So basically I have a Canadian accent in Spanish.

My Spanish is improving, eh?

Valentine's Day in Guatemala

Overall,  I think that Día de San Valentín in Guatemala is pretty much the same holiday as  is celebrated by most of the world.

In addition to saying "Felíz día de San Valentín!" (Happy Saint Valentine's Day)  it is also popular to wish someone "Felíz día del Amor!" (Happy day of love/romance) or "Felíz día de amistad!" (Happy day of friendship) or "Felíz día de los enamorados!" or "Felíz día de corazón!" (Happy heart day).

Along with the usual flowers, chocolate, and wine displays at the grocery stores, I discovered that in Guatemala, heart-shaped red and pink balloons are extremely popular.

I think that perhaps the reason for this, is that flowers are remarkably common and generally inexpensive. I'll have to take a picture of Pablo the flower guy who lives across the street from us.

I didn't think of taking pictures of the real balloons soon enough, so I'll just try to give you a basic idea of what they look like.

A quick search for "día de San Valentín globos" (balloons) will show you this:

Most of them say things like "Happy Valentine's Day," "I love you," and "I want you"--which is probably not as naughty-sounding in Spanish as it would be in English.

Also very popular are the teddy-bears holding hearts that say "I love you" and "te amo." (Yes, the teddy-bears are bilingual.)

Much like anywhere else in the world, the shopping centers were totally packed with last-minute gentlemen scrambling for a gift.  I know this, because I went to Oakland mall with my friends and students Karen and Anabell. We practiced our English and Spanish (respectively) by talking about school, work, boys, romance, breakups and sexism in the world.


We went to a restaurant called Nais, it had a giant aquarium inside, and I learned that "los pescados" is a term reserved for edibles, and that "los peces" is the appropriate term for fishes that are still swimming.

The servers probably thought that I intended to eat the aquarium citizens.

We also got these fabulous photos from a fabulous photo-booth.

Karen is wearing black, I am wearing white, and Anabell is wearing the black and pink sweatshirt.
I obviously didn't clearly understand where to look.

It was a really fun night.

After our girl's night, I went home. I tried Skyping Austin, but the internet at the house was down--so instead I moped at the screen for the remainder of the night before going to bed.

Overall I had a great Valentine's Day: I got to go to the Museum of Modern Art (Museo de Arte Moderna), get a fancy juice-drink from an aquarium restaurant, and spend some time with some awesome people.

The only thing that could have made it better would be spending it with my honey.

Or being able to Skype him.

(I may or may not still be a little bitter about the internet failing me in my time of need.)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Chicken Bus

There is, in Guatemala, a mode of public transportation called "chicken buses."  It looks like this:

As a note, I have only heard ex-pats (people foreign to Guatemala) call them Chicken Buses.

I say public transportation, but I should specify.  Chicken buses are retired US school buses that have been privately purchased, blinged out, and repurposed as public transit.

I don't know how it all works, but chicken buses are the primary transportation from the city to other places, as well as some in-city routes. In spanish, they are called "bus de transurbaro." 

**Update: they are called "las camionetas," or just "los buses."**

Anyway, I've been trying to get a decent photo of one for weeks, but they move really quickly, and are difficult to photograph, but I finally snagged a good photo.

Much love!

**Update**

There is an actual documentary about these buses.  The US Embassy showed it last week with English subtitles. See the trailer below:

I have a student who buys transports, and sells these buses.  He says that he usually buys them from the east coast, because then he can ship them across the gulf of Mexico.

I asked him why he sends them by boat, instead of driving them, and he said that because of the cartels in Mexico, it's just too dangerous to drive them through Mexico to Guatemala.

**End of Update**

Puerto de San Jose, Guatemala

BEACH!

Austin and I landed in the Guatemala City Airport (GUA) and were a bit surprised by how cold it was.

Please keep in mind, that we had a direct flight from LAX to GUA.  In January, (at least this one) Guatemala is colder than Los Angeles.  Our flight left at 12:01 am and arrived in Guatemala four and a half hours later at 6:30 am. (That is neither a typo nor poor math, it is two hours later in Guatemala than it is in Los Angeles.)

We were picked up by Hergil, and from there I don't really remember what happened, because I was really, really tired.

I know that I dropped off most of my stuff, took a short nap, then Austin and I embarked with duffle bags.

We took a "chicken bus" to Puerto de San Jose and arrived quite late, because the bus was constantly picking up more passengers at dozens of stops along the way.  Due to all these stops, the chicken bus took three hours to reach our destination instead of an hour and a half.

The first night, we arrived late, and got a small motel room right next to a discotecha. Which means that some powerful dance beats were vibrating through the neighborhood until midnight.

The next day, we ate breakfast at the motel.

Then we found a fancy four star resort on the beach for about $100 USD per night. (Soleil Pacifico for anyone who's interested.) We told everyone that it was our honeymoon; then the resort upgraded us from a normal room to a bungalow, (with a kitchen, and living room) for no extra cost.  (I would like to think it's because we are such a cute couple, but it is in fact the slow season for them.)

Aerial photo of Hotel Soleil Pacifico: courtesy of the internet.
The big thing on the left is the restaurant we stood in front of for the last picture.

The beach was amazing! It was between 80 and 90 degrees (F) the whole time we were there.  The beach had black sand (from volcanic rock nearby) which made the pacific ocean about 75 degrees (F).

Such cute honey-mooners!

We went to the beach every day that we were there.  

SuperAustin: the hero of kittens everywhere.

The bridge we crossed every day on our way to the beach. www.hotelessoleilguatemala.com

The gorgeous view of the jungle from the bridge. We crossed it every day to get from the bungalow to the beach.


Our first morning in Puerto de San Jose, I woke up in our darkened room, because I heard a sound-effect of a jungle bird. I thought "It's really early for someone to be watching TV." and went back to sleep.  I realized later, that a real  jungle bird was on our roof.

On our way back from the beach.  We're standing in front of the outdoor restaurant.

Austin and I had a good time.  Overall: everything was really affordable, especially when compared to a similarly-priced crappy hotel in Los Angeles, the weather cannot be beat, and it is such a beautiful place.  If you want a strictly R&R vacation, Hotel Soleil Pacifico in Puerto San Jose is the place to be.

Overall, I recommend vacationing near the ocean in general, but most especially in places where it's warm enough to interact with the waves without turning purple.

I really love Puerto de San Jose (Puerto San Jose), and hope everyone gets a chance to visit it sometime. (Bring your own sunscreen.)

Much love,

Meagan Michelle