Richard Scarry's Copan

These little taxis are all over the city. Hard to believe they do so well on all of the cobblestones and hills, but they do. They're inexpensive, they go everywhere, and they're a little reminiscent of Lowly Worm's apple car. Remember this little guy?

Yo estudio

Tried out a new place, Cafe Villamil, that has a rooftop terrace with awesome views of Copan. Also awesome smoothies. It was entirely too sunny for me on the roof, so I stuck with the semi-open second floor. Although I was pretty distracted by the view, I managed to study a few irregular verbs.

A walk, pt. 3

A walk, pt. 2

A walk, in 3 parts

Today I decided to go for a serious walk and see the less touristy parts of Copan. I was looking for this abandoned jail, Mirador el Cuartel, that my guide book recommended. Didn't find it, but the walk ended up being really worthwhile.

los gatos

Cats everywhere. On the roofs in Copan, in the rural villages. This guy on the bottom was really talkative. He lived with Maria, the woman who makes pottery. She fed us some strange fruit, and he was so hungry he ate the seeds we dropped.

for athena

(As promised). Scarves! These ones are from this store called La Casa de Todo. As the name suggests, they have everything. Sort of....

field trip pt. 2

After she prepared the clay, she whipped up this pot (on the right) in about 10 minutes. All by hand. She let us try, too. I always appreciate being able to boost someone else's self-esteem at my own expense. Mine is on the left...

Here are all of the pots we made. Maria's (the professional) is second from bottom.

More of Maria's work. She told us, in Spanish, that she has a contract with two of the hotels in Copan. She makes these big pots for them and they use them as flower pots.

field trip

Thursday after classes, we took a field trip! All of the students went (all five of us). We piled into the bed of an ailing pickup truck and drove 30 minutes into the mountains outside of Copan. A few houses, spread out, set back from the road. The houses were pretty similar to the ones I've been seeing in other rural communities; sticks, mud, maybe cement. 

We visited a woman at her house, which doubles as a workshop. She makes pottery to sell in the market in Copan. Here she's kneading air bubbles out of the clay, which she digs up from somewhere near her house.

Now I know why you're not supposed to eat the lettuce...

Yikes. Very very sick the last few days. No more salad.

zapote

I've never heard of this fruit before. It's called a zapote (in English and Spanish). My teacher bought this one at the market so I could try it. It was kind of bland, like a soft cantaloupe.

This little piggy went to market

Wednesday, my teacher and I went to Copan's main market, which is in Parque Central. Sort of indoors, sort of outdoors. I was supposed to be learning my fruits and vegetables, and the market was full of them. We bought two fresh mangoes, which were delicious. Fresh and sweet. 

Museo Regional de Arqueologia Maya

So today after class I went to the Museo Regional de Arqueologia Maya. It's right in town off of Parque Central, the main square. The museum was small and kind of dated, but it was worth the trip. Plus it only cost $3. 

The artifacts are all from the nearby ruins, which I'm going to try and get to soon. 

I didn't know if it was ok to take pictures, so I only snagged a few. These stone pillars tell the story of each of the Mayan rulers of Copan. Apparently archaeologists have figured out the exact grammar of the glyphs and have learned a lot about this particular Mayan settlement from these pillars. 

Probably the coolest thing I saw was a whole skull, with a perfectly preserved set of teeth. In the teeth, in little holes, were these small pieces of jade. There was a piece of jade in almost every tooth. Most of the information was in Spanish, so I couldn't figure out if people did this while they were alive or if it was just for the dead. Either way, it was really cool. 

(Somewhat) lost in translation

Over the past 2 nights we've had some great, broken dinner conversations. Helmito translates what he can of his parents questions. I say basic stuff in Spanish. Parents throw in the occasional English word. Here's what maybe sort of was communicated:

1. Lena facts

- first name, last name, age, only child, college stuff, parents' names, parents' jobs, vegetarian

- dad is not an avocado (aguacate) but a lawyer (abogado)

2. Barack Obama

- everyone wants to know (Helmy and my Spanish teacher) if I like him

- Helmito read a book about him in school

- Helmy does not like the current president, Manuel Zelaya, because he's from the liberal party and Helmy's in the national party

3. Family facts

- Lisseth, mom, dentist

- Helmy, dad, running for mayor

- Helmito, 4th grade, good at English, "used to have a girlfriend in the past"

- Diego, 7 months old

4. New York and Cleveland

- they knew where Cleveland was (!)

- (they knew where New York was)

- Helmy wanted to know if there were a lot of Latinos in New York

agua

Water. In a bag. I love the design. And the biblical quote. Does that make this holy water?

When we go to villages where there's no running water, we buy it in these bags. The villagers drink it, too. Usually people just drink right out of the bag. I've been saving these since my trip to provincidad Langue. Finally remembered to post the pictures.

A different look

It seems like there's no effort in Copan to hide the city's other half. Maybe that's because there aren't really two distinct halves; the poverty is mixed in with the high-end hotels and hipster wine bars. It's really interesting to see. Here are some of the sadder spots around town. I guess the buildings aren't too bad. I think it's the kids selling stuff in the streets that's a little harder to see. They pile into pickup trucks and drive into Copan from neighboring villages. You can see them get dropped off in Parque Central every morning. They carry these black plastic bags full of cornhusk dolls and walk up to people who look like tourists. Some of the kids don't have shoes.

Maybe mayor

I don't think I mentioned this yet. Helmy is the dad in the family I'm staying with (he's married to Lisseth, Gloria's cousin). He's running for mayor of Copan. But according to Gloria, he's going to lose. Apparently he isn't a very avid campaigner. At least he has cool bumper stickers.

Lunchtime

Lunch today (tortillas, cheese, salad, cooked vegetables). I was so excited that there weren't any beans or eggs! Otherwise, this is pretty typical.

One of my favorite things here is fresh lime. Everywhere I go they squeeze lime on salad instead of dressing. It's really good.

Hola, me llamo Lena

We stuck with the basic basics today. I learned numbers, days, months and introductions. I also learned a few words about what I'm studying at school, but that was hard. Try translating women and gender studies (I went with "a little bit of psychology, a little bit of women, a little bit of gender, a little bit of equality. Close?).

Here's my workbook (libro de trabajo). My homework for tonight deals with numbers. Mostly just looking at them and then writing out the words.

Learning Spanish is making me realize how much French I know. French sort of helps me understand people in Spanish, but doesn't help me say anything back. And I keep pronouncing Spanish words like they're French ones. I'm working on it....

Class time

Before my teacher came, the school's director showed me into a classroom and left me with a diagnostic test. It was 5 pages long and I didn't get past the first question: writing out some numbers. Yikes.....

Waiting for my teacher was a little dicey. I had my obligatory crisis of confidence and thought about leaving. There's only the main entrance though, and I didn't want to have to run out past the director. So I stayed. Glad I did.

My teacher is really nice. She laughed about the diagnostic test and reassured me that I could learn a lot in 2 weeks. We'll see.

First day of school

So today was my first day of Spanish school (8 - 12, 5 days a week, 2  weeks). The school is really nice and new, and has an open courtyard with a serious garden. There are 3 other students, and each student has their own teacher. The teachers are all really young, attractive women. My teacher's name is Orbily. I think.

Class is from 8 - 10 and then a bell rings, which means it's break time. The bell is just like the one that rang at elementary school for recess.  20 minutes and then back to work. Another bell at 12 and that's it. I stopped at home for lunch and then headed straight for coffee and blogging at B'alam Cafe.

Retro food labels, pt. 2

Milk. In a bag.

Retro food labels, pt. 1

Orange juice.