Month: January 2008

Rebel Without a Reason

I just plain didn’t feel like going to school today. I did everything I could to divert my teacher’s attention from imperfect verbs. I don’t know why I was so ornery but maybe it was because of last night’s dream: I’d returned to high school to study Latin with my old friends Pat and Kate. On our first exam, Kate got a 98 percent and Pat got 100. When they saw I got a 62 […]

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Girl in the North Country

Luis tuc-tuc’d me to school right on time but I never reached my Arco of Learning because of an unexpected field trip with Silvia and a few others. The first stop, 1.5 hours and 1500 feet of elevation gain later, was Iximché, an archaeological site inhabited by the Maya from 1500 BC until they were driven out by conquistadores 3000 years later. While a fraction of the scale and magnificence of Tikal, these ruins were […]

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The Estudiante Blues

Yet another linguistically discouraging day at school, and nary a travel story to report except a fun dinner with my two favorite people from the Tikal trip, along with a woman I would have favorited if I’d talked to her. Their lodging in Antigua has mesmerizing views of Agua, Fuego and Acatenango. Fuego was spitting out a little tendril of smoke. Anyway, my three dinner-mates are studying Spanish at San Jose el Viejo, which they […]

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La Receta de los Rellenitos

Here’s Silvia’s recipe Silvia for the dulce tipico she bought me in Monterrico. [Sorry: the accents fell off the page.] Makes 10–15. 6 Platanos (grandes o medianos, con un poco de amarillo y negro; no bananas) Frijoles negros (no liquidos o duros; medianos) Aceite Azucar (2 cucharadas) Canela Vainilla Lavar y cortar en 3 partes los platanos (con piel) y cocinar con agua, azucar y canela. Cubrir los platanos con el agua y cocinar por […]

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