A Farewell to Dorms

Antigua was a lot of fun. We did a lot of walking, reading, writing and relaxing.

The last two of the four nights we stayed in Antigua were spent in the dormitory of the hostel. It wasn’t as comfortable as the private room we had for the previous two nights but we saved a little cash and got to meet our dormmates (three Irish lads, all named Bryan). We also saved a little money by cooking some rice, beans and eggs for lunch.







We had a blast on our last night after discovering Café No Sé. The beers were a little pricy and it was a bit “too cool for school” (the no-play song list included Jeff Buckley) but we met some good people. Some were working on dissertations; some were working on their next boarding pass; and some were just living in Antigua. The owner of Café No Sé came from NYC 10-20 years ago with only $400 in his pocket. Now he only returns to the U.S. to sell/market his brand of mescal.





At about 10 pm Sheer started giving me the “ok, that’s enough” look so we headed back to the hostel to get some decent sleep before our five hour bus ride to Xela in the morning. Our dorm was vacant when we arrived so we got to pack our things and prepare for bed in privacy. I climbed up in my top bunk; Sheer settled in her bottom bunk; we turned off the lights and said “night, night.” Then… a few hours later: the Irish lads returned. One of the Irish lads, Bryan, had found himself a little Guatemalan princess. The lights remained off; there was some whispering; and then they laid down in bed together. They were silent in bed for about 1 minute then… the 1 hour soundtrack began. My first thought was “Sheer is going to flip out.” Sheer has no reservations when it comes to shhh-ing talkers at the movie theatre so I knew that if she knew what was going on just a few feet from her feet… something would hit the non-existent and much needed fan. Luckily, Sheer had some good quality earplugs and she slept through the event in blissful ignorance.

The next morning we awoke and bused to Xela (Guatemala’s second largest city). It was really rainy and there was a lot of debris on the roads due to mudslides, but we made it to the highlands.

Our Spanish immersion school is great! One student, one teacher and one table for 5 hours. It’s really intense but it feels great to learn so rapidly.
Sheer and I are living with the same family but in different rooms. We live only 2 blocks from school.

Our school,


Our mom,


Sheer's room,


Sheer's room,


My room to the left and Sheer's room straight ahead,


I’d like to write more about Xela, the school and our new home but I have lunch coming up and then school. Also, we’ll be here for 4 weeks.

Thanks for the comments, we love them!

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