Well we've been in the town of Copan for a week now and it's going well. The family that I'm staying with are very nice, cook me tasty food (anything from pancakes to enchiladas etc) and sometimes I can even understand what they are saying to me. No-one speaks english so it's tricky at times. Actually, the mum of the house, Esmeralda, is very good at speaking slowly and simply so I can usually get the gist of what she's saying. The other person I talk to a bit is young Carlitos who is 4 years old and doesn't seem to mind that I only understand a little of what he's saying. It sure doesn't stop him from saying plenty! I'm sure I got told a fair bit about the new Fantastic Four movie the other day and later he explained in depth to Craig and I how to make a watch out of plasticine but my ability to reply with anything sensible is not great. Listening to me speak in the past tense is at times painful I'm sure as huge delays ensue as I scan the depths of my brain for what tense I am aiming for, how I need to tweak it just right and then I spit it out. You can definitely hear the cogs turning! I need more practice.
The setup here is pretty good. I've got a bedroom of my own with a bathroom and a tv that has a good number of cable tv shows including CNN in english plus Simpsons and Family Guy in either spanish or english. Craig tends to drop by in the evening so that we can watch the soccer as the Copa America competition is on right now. Last night we watched Chile get spanked by Brazil. Carlos, time to barrack for Peru!
The Spanish classes are pretty good and go for four hours in the afternoon. The mornings are free time and are usually spent keeping out of the heat, doing some homework etc. Yesterday, being the weekend, Craig and I went to Macaw Mountain which is a bird sanctuary close to town. We saw awesome coloured macaws, very cool toucans plus owls and other birds who were a notch down on the coolness scale from the macaws and toucans but still worthy of a bit of a look. I took photos but the pc I'm using doesn't seem to have a usb connection so I'll load them up another time.
This morning I went to see the Mayan ruins which are also just outside of town. They were pretty impressive. It's thought that the civilisation died out in the area because the population got too large and the environment they were living in couldn't handle all the deforestation and other general havoc they subjected it to. Crops failed, not enough food was produced etc etc. I guess they didn't have Live Earth concerts back then.
The mosquito population here is looking much healthier than they were when I arrived and I'm taking a fair bit of credit for that. This morning I killed a mozzie dining on a little "liquid Damo" (as they like to call it) and I swear he was as large as Norm from the Life Be In It commercials! They tell me there's no malaria here so it's more of an annoyance then anything. I have two or three small lizard/gecko creatures living in the roof of my bedroom and they come out at night to eat bugs and run along the walls but I think a pep-talk is in order because they really need to lift their game.
I'm hungry. I'm going to try to find some cake.
7 comments:
Hey Pedro, yo quiero saber de las mujeres. Quiero detalles y photos.
-Jonsey
I don't remember much spanish, but I'll translate Carlos' comments for everyone else.
"Hey Damien, your saber has been quiet with the ladies. Quiet details in photos."
Speaking on behalf of everyone else, we actually don't need details of your saber in photo format. Maybe just e-mail them straight to Carlos.
hehehe Adz was that a serious attempt at a translation? Cause from my limited Spanish, (yeah i know my mum is Spanish but i struggle), Carlos' comment was;
Hey Pedro i want to know about the ladies. I want details and photos.
And i say DITTO!!! Come up with the goods boy, people will stop reading your blog unless it has s*x, drugs and alcohol. Even Harry Potter gets up to more mischief.
ooohhh and say hi to Ronaldo from the Simpsons. Last we saw he was dressed up as a toucan in a parade in Brazil. :-)
Yeah, cos this blog is just the right place for 'detalles y fotos de las mujeres'. Ba-bow! No can do sir!
Pedro, the people have spoken. El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido!
- Jonsey
Ahhh got me this time Carlos.... ummmm.... is it something like, The People are united, we have won. Or in Aussie slang, We won!!! Now give us the goss like your writing about Paris Hilton!!!
Ever since watching Ronaldo, Pepe and the Bumblebee man on the Simpsons, my Spanish has improved remarkably. :-)
I can't understand your crazy idea of spanish Carlos. I think you need to go to a spanish school and learn again. Anyway, I think you are forgetting my Peruvian wife. She has forbidden me from playing up while on holiday and she has spies everywhere.
Post a Comment