Alexandra Griffiths [PRESSLAND FUND REPORT: ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA] Misaventurasen
Guatemala
¿PorquéGuatemala?
My friends: ‘Why are you going to Guatemala Lexi? Do you know it has the 8th highest homicide rate in the world, ranks 4th on the WHO child malnutrition list and has 17% of the population living below the international poverty line? Why go to Guatemala to study Spanish? Surely, Spain is much safer and much closer.’ Me: ‘¿Por qué no?’ This was a conversation that I had many times over, with many different people, after I announced my decision to spend 2 months in Guatemala over the summer of 2012. As a medical student approaching my final year, Guatemala appealed to my sense of ideology; I wanted to work in a developing country, with a primitive health care system of its own, which really required medical aid but where I would not be ‘just another foreign aid doctor’, like in Africa. As a language student, after studying the CULP Spanish Basics course the previous year I wanted the experience of putting my language skills into action and had heard that Latin America was a great place to learn. Finally, as a traveller, the unexplored, wild nature of Guatemala appealed to my sense of adventure. I wanted to be somewhere where tourists would be a rarity. I wanted complete immersion. Unfortunately, explaining this to my mother was more challenging than the whole 3 months of travel combined! Misplanes
My plan consisted of 2 weeks spent in Sevilla Language School in Antigua, Guatemala, where I would do 5 hours a day of 1:1 language lesions. During this period of time I would stay in a hostel owned by the school and ran by Guatemalan women, necessitating Spanish use at all times. From Antigua I would travel to Quetzaltenango (Xela), in the more rural western highlands of Guatemala, where I would spend 6 weeks volunteering with an organisation called Pop Wuj. My mornings would be spent working as Guatemalan General Practitioner, my afternoons in language classes (with a medical focus, to allow me to lead my own patient consultations) and my nights working with the local Comedrona (a woman who works as a midwife but has received no formal training beyond extensive personal experience), attending births. After this, I would take a well deserved holiday, travelling round Costa Rica and Panama for 3 weeks before returning to my 6th and final year of medical school. Alexandra Griffiths [PRESSLAND FUND REPORT: ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA] Larealidad
Despite my bravado when reassuring my friends and relatives, the reality was that I was more than a little apprehensive for what might await me in Guatemala. I had to admit to myself that even after 2 terms of classes in CULP my Spanish was basic at best. I was worried that I couldn’t cope. Finally, the day of my long anticipated trip arrived. After a 5am start, followed by a 10 hour flight to Miami and a 4 hour stopover in the airport, I was starting to feel pretty scared. I took up a whole corner of the waiting lounge with my piles of CULP Spanish notes and started frantically studying. Five hours later, when I finally touched down in Guatemala City and was greeted in spanish by a cheery man in school uniform with a little poster bearing my name, my sole reply was ‘buenas noches’. Three hours of study and I still couldn’t form a sentence! I was definitely beginning to have doubts. What followed was a tense 2 hour drive through the streets of Guatemala City with my driver keeping up a constant babble of reassuring chat, of which I understood very little. When I finally arrived in Antigua I was greeted by 2 cheery Guatemalan girls who were to act as my hosts for the next two weeks. I have to admit, for me the most amusing part was their exceedingly English names; Mildred and Gladys! In a rush of spanglish I was directed towards my room, told what time breakfast would be in the morning and left to collapse after a solid 24 hour day. I have to admit that my first day wasn’t reassuring. I began to doubt the wisdom of my plans, to feel lonely and threatened by the idea of being in a dangerous country with no way to communicate with the locals. Reality was scary. However, when I think back to how I felt that first night Antigua, I want to laugh at my own fear. Little did I know that the next 8 weeks would be the most eye opening, exhilarating and valuable experience of my life so far. Ellugar
The next day, feeling refreshed after a decent night’s sleep and a terrific Guatemalan breakfast, I began to venture out into Antigua city. Antigua itself is a UNESCO world heritage site, one of 3 in Guatemala. It is only a small city, with a population of roughly 30,000, most of who make their living from tourism. Originally founded in the 16th century as the 3rd capital city of Guatemala and the home of the Spanish government, it was abandoned after only 200 years of use. The frequent earthquakes that struck Antigua, necessitating the relocation of the capital to a safer site, also gave Antigua the beautiful, half ruined appeal that made the city so exciting to explore during my present day visit. The most classic view of Antigua, looking towards Volcan Agua, through the iconic ‘reloj’. Alexandra Griffiths [PRESSLAND FUND REPORT: ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA] Despite Antigua’s famous reputation on the Central American backpackers route, I found it to be oddly devoid of tourists compared to most other places I had visited previously. Antigua is also renowned for its plethora of language schools, which creates an oddly harmonious atmosphere between the foreign students and the locals, who are all very willing to chat to you in halting, poorly gramaticised Spanish. After I had recently suffered the perils of a Cambridge exam term, I found the friendliness of the local people to be incredibly refreshing, reminding me somewhat of a market town in northern England! Laescuela
The school that I had chosen to attend was situated in a quiet but central location, in an open courtyard with a central fountain, lined by mango and avocado trees. Sevilla really was paradise to study in! On my first day I was assigned a teacher for the next two weeks, given a book and a desk and set going. My teacher was a local student named Diego, who, I was surprised to learn, was only 18 years old! For him, teaching English was something of a family profession and the money that he earned from his morning job paid for his University tuition in the afternoons. I was really happy to hear this, knowing that my tuition was directly benefitting the local population. Diego and I started at the very beginning of the very first textbook, which I originally resented, after having studied the basics language course at university. I quickly realised that his judgement of my language skills was far more accurate than mine! However, despite my initially poor attempts at communication we rapidly became friends. Every morning we would have 5 hours of lessons, though after the break Diego would usually take me out into the town to allow me to practice my Spanish in real‐life situations; he would take me to the market and tell me to barter for my lunch, to the tourist office to plan my weekend trips or to local monuments, and ask me to translate the plaques from Spanish into English. I loved this way of Mi maestro: Diego and I studying in Sevilla’s courtyard. teaching as it made my classroom lessons come to life, and enabled me to judge my own progress as I attempted and succeeded with increasingly complicated tasks. Alexandra Griffiths [PRESSLAND FUND REPORT: ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA] I have to admit that I quickly fell in love with Spanish. I had always enjoyed language lessons in school but unfortunately, as a medic, languages were never an essential subject. Here, in Guatemala, I felt like I was in my richest ever learning environment, and took every opportunity that I could to speak and study Spanish. While mornings were always Practicing to barter for vegetables in the food market.
occupied with class, in the afternoons I would go on Spanish tourist tours, browse markets, visit local attractions or just find a quiet café with friends to study. Elidioma
At first, I found the language in Guatemala to be very strange and different to that I had previously been exposed to through my Spanish teacher in CULP lessons. I had spent hours perfecting my Spanish lisp in preparation for my CULP oral exam, and now it was no longer needed! However, the more familiar I became with the pronunciation, the easier I found it. It was incredibly interesting to see how the use of words and addresses differed between European Spanish and Latin American. For example, the vosotros form of address is never used in Latin America, only ustedes. That was one less verb declination to learn! However, it was only in my 6th week that I realised my close friends had started to address me in the vos form (a less formal version of ‘you’ than tu), which I previously didn’t even know existed! Mividasocial
My time in Guatemala wasn’t all about studying, by any means! Sevilla had a fantastic student activities programme, ranging from bike tours to salsa lessons and visits to local farms or plantations. I took full advantage of these and found my afternoons and evenings fully occupied. On my first weekend in Guatemala, I decided that my visit to Guatemala would not be complete without a visit to Mayan ruins, and considering that the UNESCO world heritage site of Tikal was a full 12 hours travel away, I decided to cross the border into Honduras. Myself and a fellow student at the school, a Canadian girl named Kandice, took the 4am bus over the Honduras border (possibly one of the least reputable land crossings that I have made) and spent a great 2 days exploring the Mayan site of Copan Ruinas. While Copan isn’t as large as Tikal, it is undoubtedly the best preserved Alexandra Griffiths [PRESSLAND FUND REPORT: ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA] Mayan city. I was absolutely awed by the intricacy of the remaining temples and their scale, for which pictures can never do justice. The sumit of volcan Pacaya, with 3 more volcanoes in the background. For my second weekend in Antigua, I took an early morning hike up Volcan Pacaya, an active volcano which had last erupted in 2006, killing 3 people. Due to this, hikers are not allowed to access the crater (thankfully) but it’s possible to get high enough up that the rocks become hot enough to toast marshmallows on, which definitely makes for an unusual Saturday morning breakfast! The views back over the Antigua valley were incredible, and it was possible to see over to Volcan Fuego, which was erupting during my entire stay in Guatemala. Unfortunately, my second weekend in Antigua was also my last, and on the Sunday I took a 4 hour bus ride to my new home for the next 6 weeks, in Quetzaltenango (Xela), western Guatemala. Lacultura
Guatemala is one of the remaining Central American countries with a high indigenous population (approximately 40% of Mayan descent and 60% Ladino/Mestizo) and because of this it displays rich cultural traditions and beliefs. The official religion of Guatemala is Catholicism, though many indigenous people still follow the Mayan religion (reverence of the sun and the moon) or pray to pagan Saints, such as the evil St Maximon. Interestingly, many indigenous people will hold Mayan beliefs while still considering themselves catholic, and this tolerance of religion and diversity is often matched by a friendly attitude and tolerance to strangers. However, despite cultural mixing in some areas, it is a sad fact that racism still exists in Guatemala. The ladino population are found mainly within cities, and hold professional jobs with better salaries. My school, despite its anti‐racism policy, did not currently employ any indigenous teachers. Part of this is due to the difficulties faced by the indigenous population, who often live in more rural areas with poor access to schooling, and are often not able to read, write or speak in Spanish (there are many different Mayan dialects in use). Unfortunately, a second contributor is often employer racism, as many times it is reported that a person who wears indigenous dress will not be employed by ladinos. Alexandra Griffiths [PRESSLAND FUND REPORT: ANTIGUA, GUATEMALA] Sadly, as Guatemala becomes more westernised, it is likely that local traditions will be lost in a similar way to other Central American countries. Mayan dialects will disappear. Western clothes will be cheaper than handmade traditional weaves. Knowledge of local medicinal plants will be replaced by advances in pharmacy‐bought medications. It is these The beautiful local outfits of the Mayan women of the Xela district.
colourful aspects of Guatemalan culture that I loved the most, and I would be sad to see them disappear. ¿Entonces,porqueno?
So, after my experience, how could I not recommend Guatemala to anyone intending to study or travel abroad? The people were warm and friendly, the environment beautiful from every angle and the language easy to grasp with brilliant local instruction. I enormously enjoyed my time in Guatemala and eagerly anticipate a return journey. My experience in Sevilla language school was absolutely essential to the rest of my work and travel in Central America. After 2 weeks in Antigua I moved to Xela, where I spent every morning for 6 weeks working in a medical clinic. Upon my arrival in Xela, I was greeted with enthusiasm and respect, as a final year medical student is a valuable commodity in Guatemala. For my first 2 weeks I was put to work with another student to act as translator when my language skills were not up to scratch. However, by week 5 in Guatemala I was leading my own medical consultations in Spanish (or with a Mayan translator) and could easily see 10 to 15 patients in a morning. What amazed me was that every single patient wanted to see me and was grateful for my help, even if all I could do was prescribe an asprin. This was one of the most valuable experiences of my life, and something I will never forget. I have always felt that doctors have a duty to their patients to be the best communicators that they are able to be, and learning Spanish has helped me in this capacity. When I reflect on my learning, I am almost ashamed by how poorly I communicated at the start of my trip, and wish that I could replay my very first conversation with the enthusiastic taxi driver in Antigua. My time in Sevilla was unquestionably invaluable for providing a strong base for my learning. I could not have managed without it, and I thank the Pressland fund for its support with my tuition. Without doubt, this experience has changed me both personally and professionally, and I would like to think has also provided some measure of help and support for my patients in Guatemala.