You would think that a five week stay in Guatemala for the purpose of studying Spanish would somehow satisfy my typical travel fetish -- books, books, books, reading and discovering a place through its literature. Unfortunately, the pile of grammar books I accumulated in both schools did nothing to diminish the magnetic force of Antigua´s bookshops. Now, if I can somehow balance the weight of my bags at check-in tomorrow.
I have been reading -- in Spanish -- La Hija del Puma, by Monica Zac. This book was converted to a film with the same title. I am interested to know if this film will be available in the US. The story presents the facts of the massacres of the citizens of the Mayan pueblos in the 1980s, with a fictionalized narrator, a survivor whose family escaped to Chiapas, Mexico. I have my dictionary at hand, but I am very proud to say, I have needed to look up fewer and fewer words as I studied grammar and vocabulary during the day, and read each night. I have more books about the indigenous cultures and politics. I also have a second volume of Spanish short stories, Rigoberta Menchu´s autobiography in Spanish, and a book of idiomatic expressions.
I celebrated today by walking around Antigua and stopping in some favorite places. One of these places is Café Barista, located on Quinta Avenida, at the northwest corner of the square surrounding Parque Central.
Yesterday, I took a lot of shots of two of my quirky points of fascination with this colonial city: the cupolas and the doors of the homes. The only outward personality of any house in a colonial design here in Latin America are the exterior faces: the windows, the doors, and the roofs. Antigua has some strict rules about how buildings and signs can be decorated, so the little distinctions are the most eye-catching, at least to me. Click the link above to see some more of these features.
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