Day Thirty-One, Antigua

South end of my new street

Monday was classes at Casa in the morning and Spanish in the evening. In history class we discussed Positivism and Auguste Comte, Social Darwinism, and scientific racism, as well as Manuel Estrada Cabrera and the beginning of the Banana Industry. In religion class we defined phrases which are used to describe the combination of two religions; "folk Catholicism," religious syncretism, and religious creolization or hybridity.

In the afternoon I worked in the Casa on my map project and then had Spanish class at 3. During Spanish class we learned about past tense and the words for "this, those, these, etc." After Spanish I walked back to the Casa in the rain (the downpour more like) and waited out the worst of it at the Casa.
While I waited for the rain to let up, I had a Spanglish conversation with the guard of Casa Herrera. We talked about the students at Casa and I tried to tell him about my trip here to Guatemala in March at the beginning of this year. I also told him about the mural we painted in Santiago Zamora. I had been taking my map home to work on, and I also tried to explain its design to the guard. There was a lot of laughter, and I said "lo siento" (I'm sorry) quite a lot, but the experience was wonderful, and I am very glad for the rain.

North end of my new street

I had dinner with my host and the girl from Canada and worked on my map that night before going to bed around 10:30-11pm.