Por favor habla despacio.: ...and then we return to school.

We arrived at the San Pedro la Laguna and began our search for a place to rest our heads for the evening. We ended up at Casa Elena on the lake shore (approximately $4 per person per night for a private room with a shared bathroom... in case you were wondering). After locating a place for the evening we met up with Javier to visit Flor de Maiz Spanish School. The school is located in the heart of San Pedro (for most villages around the lake this entails a short walk up a steep road). The school is located on the third floor of a home in a residential area. We decide to begin with 4 hours a day, 20 hours a week... and that we´d start the following morning at 8 am. We also expressed an interest in homestays and it just so happened that a homestay was available with Javier´s family in the same building as the school. After meeting the gracious family we knew this situation would work well for us. Javier and Lola are gracious hosts ... and as an added bonus they have two beautiful daughters Lolita (12) and Magda (2). The following morning we packed up our things from Casa Elena and arrived in Lola´s kitchen at 7am for a delicious breakfast before class beginning class.

A view of the courtyard from the second level (yes, that is another giant poinsettia... they´re everywhere!).

Another view from the 2nd floor.

Philip admires the buena vista from the 2nd floor balcony... you can see a little bit of the orange tree in the courtyard. Philip knocks them down with a long pole (see picture below) and I attempt to catch them before they bust on the ground... so far I´ve only caught one. I hope to improve, but Philip´s not holding his breath... the busted oranges still taste the same.

The orange tree and the long pole...

Our cozy room.

A painting of a Mayan god on the wall in our room.

This is our shower! It´s great... there´s no hot or cold, you just turn it on and it´s the perfect temperature every time... and it must save a tone of energy!

This is where you´ll find Demiss and Felipe... unless they´ve stopped for a break.

You can find Andrea and I at this table Monday through Friday from 8-12... unless we´re on a little field trip in San Pedro.

This is the view from the school (the 3rd level of la casa).

Another view from our classroom. This is a shot of the Indians nose. In our next post, we´ll share the pictures from our journey to the top of the nose for a beautiful sunrise and view of the lake.

This is a Mayan picture... we hope to learn a little more about it in the future.

If we´re not in class, you can find us studying at one of the cafe´s down in gringolandia... Cafe Atitlan has become on of our favorites.

Javier took us on a hike out of the village and through a coffee plantation for some great views of San Juan and San Pedro.

Coffee grows abundantly on the bases of the volcanoes in the area and in their surrounding foothills, and many locals earn their living picking it. Most of the coffee is shade-grown, under avocado trees....not a bad combination at all. Avocadoes are about 15 cents each in the markets, or you can just find them yourself...

A coffee processing plant. The "first skin" is removed (in a process similar to grape stomping at wineries in the past), then the beans are set out to dry in the sun for a week or two. The first skins are used as fertilizer.