Episode One...I Go to Spanish School

Carole on SV Adrosian and I have been studying our Spanish together for almost four years now.  She is much more diligent than I, but we meet for an hour every day and work at learning a little more.  This year Carole decided that she was going to go to a Spanish School for a week and invited me.  I let her do all the planning as I was still out for the cruising season in Belize.

She decided on Flores, a lovely island in the Petén that we both had traveled to before and enjoyed.  The town is so small you can walk it in two hours, the streets are cobbled and the people warm and friendly.  She chose the school, Dos Mundos.  We were to have one - on – one instruction for four hours a day, for one week.  Our bus tickets were purchased and we prepared for departure on a warm Sunday afternoon.  We would arrive at around 6:30 pm and were to report to the owner of the school at his restaurant, Yax Ha Arqueología.

We went to the town of Rio Dulce to catch our bus.  Now there are several bus lines and ours was Linea Dorada.  Linea Dorada has its waiting area on the left side of the street, but the bus would be on the right side of the street.  So we decided we would wait in Fuente del Norte waiting room on the right side of the street.  That was not acceptable to the staff of Fuente del Norte.  We were told to wait across the street for our bus.  So we did and when the bus arrived we ran with our backpacks across the traffic, dodging cattle trucks, people, pick-up trucks and tuc tucs.  We quickly boarded and off we go!

Imagine our horror when we arrived.  It had rained and the lovely streets were gone!  They were torn up to put all the telephone, electric and plumbing underground.  This meant that  most of the streets now had trenches and planks over them so that you could get from side to the other side.  You must remember that OSHA does not exist in Guatemala so when I say planks, these are boards of varying sizes, strength, and durability.  Anyone in the marina will tell you that, I DON’T DO PLANKS!  But this night I had no choice.  If I wanted to get to my hotel I had to not only walk a plank….I had to walk several.  Did I mention that it had rained and everything was muddy and slick?

As we are making our way carefully up the road to find the restaurant to meet with Dieter of the school our eyes are glued to the slick muddy road when Carole asks, “Are you looking for the restaurant?”  Of course I wasn’t but I looked up and there it was just a few steps away.  Lucky she asked!  Now we are asking the staff where Dieter is and no one seems to know where he is or why we are there.  Finally we get them to call him and Carole takes the phone.  I can hear him laughing in the background about us being early… ha, ha, ha and can we meet him at 8:30pm and he will show us where the school is located.  Firmly Carole informs him that we will not be meeting him and we will find the school ourselves in the morning.  We are tired, hungry, and thirsty.  “Okay, then be at the school at a quarter to nine in the morning and we will get you started with your classes”, Says Dieter.

We make it to our hotel which is on what once was a street, but now has two open trenches running the length of the street on either side and more planks than I want to count.  We weave our way across the planks from side to side, working our way around the piles of sand and gravel.  Please can we have something to eat… oh and a beer?  Back out to the nonexistent street to Captain Tortugas.  It had cold beer and a good meal.  On our return to the hotel one of planks has broken and a small thin plank now replaces it.  Carole crosses first and it bends badly in the middle.  I am a big woman and have a backpack so if it is bending with Carole’s weight I am thinking that it won’t hold me.  I hand off my pack across to Carole and a little Guatemalteca helps me put another plank on top of the existing one.  I decide to cross sideways so that I can have my fingers on a one inch ledge on the building for support.  Whew, I make it!  However, I tell Carole that I can’t keep this up as I am sure I will fall and break a leg or my neck.  She agrees that our usual 10 minute walk to school will be at least 40 minutes.  We will move after day two in our current hotel as we had paid in advance.  We at least want a road that we can walk on.  We can search for a new hotel after class.

The next morning we arrive at the school.  Dieter greets us with, “You are early”.  We have a little chat about nothing and then he remembers that we need to pay.  We pay and our teachers arrive and we are introduced.  Patricia and Vivian are delightful young ladies.  They are younger that my youngest child.  They are not allowed to speak any English to us, only Spanish.  About the middle of the morning I hit the WALL!  My brain will not function and fortunately Patricia recognizes this.  She offers me a game of dominos and I beat the pants off her.  Thank God.  One more game which she wins and we are back to the Spanish.

We find a hotel on the same road as the school.  Here there is a road, but no sidewalks.  Guess that you can’t have everything.  We now have a room with 2 double beds, a private balcony with 2 chairs overlooking the malecón and a lovely view of the lake and it is less expensive.

Stay tuned for Episode Two of Our Adventures in Flores…