Day 39: San Francisco El Alto

Wednesday and Thursday were pretty regular days. You guys should know that I super love my teacher. She made me read a story out loud the other day and while I was reading, she wrote down a list of words that I pronounced wrong (first, she wrote them how I pronounced them, then she wrote how they are supposed to be pronounced). It was super helpful. When I pronounce my vowels wrong, (if you're wondering, it's the i, e, u, and o that I mix up) she says, "What? I didn't understand that word you just used." Now I catch myself self-correcting pronunciation, which is awesome!

Here's our board this week. It's a stark contrast to the way it looked a few weeks ago.

Dance class was great both days. We are working on la cargada, which a super awesome move that looks great. It takes a little trust though, because the woman kind of throws her weight on the man... Generally, the men here aren't very bulky... so it scares me a little. The move needs perfecting, but we're getting there!

Stopping for ice cream has pretty much become a habit so we do that each day and fight over who pays. I have bought ice cream for more people this trip that in all my life combined, I think. It is just easier to convince them to go get ice cream if you add an "I'll pay" on the end.

Today we went to the market San Francisco el Alto with Cyndita and Edna. They told me it was a great place to buy huipiles (the tops to the traditional trajes), so I was pretty excited.

Our view en camino.

The market was really full. We walked through the first part and ended up at the church in the middle of the market. We paid 5 quetzales to go to the top and it was the perfect place for a few pictures!

Edna!

We walked through the meat market. Of course, I had already seen some of the stuff (piles and piles of dried, smelly fish), but I hadn't really been in a meat market yet. It was just packed full of raw meat. Then Cyndita and Edna started to ooh and ahh over some meat I didn't recognize and they were like, "It's cow tongue." After that, things went downhill because we saw whole cow heads for purchase with their brains piled in a bowl next to them. I was trying to be cool. They just laughed at me. Later, we were talking and Cyndi told me that it was likely the tacos we ate in Huehue were cow tongue. I felt a little shocked, but I really liked those tacos, so if they were cow tongue... Cow tongue isn't that bad.

The guys here like to cat-call and say somewhat obnoxious things. Today in the market was one of the first times that I walked past two different guys, realized they were talking about me, and understood what they were saying. I felt equally accomplished and creeped out at the same time.

We saw several huipiles that I liked, then we found a guy that had SO many options it was a little overwhelming! After searching through all the designs, I was eventually able to choose two beautiful ones for my mom and myself, but so many beautiful options!

Afterwards, we went to the animal part of the market. I was joking about buying a chicken and telling the airport that it was my therapeutic animal. Then Cyndita told me that a cow would have to do, so I took some pictures with a cow, but then he started touching me with his nose and stuff so that was enough therapy for me.

There were tons of cutesy baby pigs and lots of animals, but it was kind of sad, thinking about their tongues and stuff... 

We ran into traffic on the way out of San Francisco because there was a big accident at Cuatro Caminos, which is where roads from several of the major cities in Guatemala meet. We had to reroute and sat in traffic for a really long time! Cyndita said if we had my therapy cow, we would have gotten home sooner.

Desafortunadamente, no dance class today because Antonio had to go to the capital for a doctor's appointment. Such a shame, but the weekend is approaching so there is no telling what adventures we might find. I did get to FaceTime with my mom and grandmother today so that was super exciting! Love them both bunches! Thanks to all for reading.