Hola, long time no blog I know! Sorry I`ve been really busy and occupied with Spanish school. So I did my 4 weeks at Proyecto Linguistico Quetzalteco?in Xela but I got so hooked?on the school and learning spanish I decided to extend my tuition. I fancied a change of scenery though so I booked myself into PLQ`s sister school, La Escuela de la Montaña. It`s situated amongst some coffee fincas in the mountains about an hour from Xela. The school is very small and so is the rural community nextdoor. It`s a tiny place but strangely it`s made up of 3 different villages, fatima, nueva san jose and santo domingo. If you didn`t know though you`d think it was one village. At this school we only eat with the local families, we don`t live with them because people don`t really have the space or the facilities. When many of the families house 7 or 8 people in one room it`s not really feasible for them to take students. So students live in the school house.?There`s?a lovely atmosphere here. The culture is very different to the city. People are more traditional and?considerably poorer but the sense of community?seems to be?stronger. For many people the school provides them with a vital source of income that they otherwise would not have. Some of the men work in the surrounding fincas but many are also unemployed or very poorly paid. There is a primary and a middle school in the community but in order to go to high school kids have to travel an hour or so either to Xela or Coatepeque. Also I think?high school costs Q40 a month (about 3 quid) and the majority of people here can`t afford that with travel on top so only 3% of kids get a secondary education. Just another reminder to be grateful for the things I take for granted.

I feel like I`ve learned a?lot more spanish during my two weeks at the mountain school. There are no distractions here, it`s incredibly tranquil and there is no gringo social scene so you find yourself in more situations where you have no choice but to speak spanish. The kids are fantastic as well. Mostly they are happy and playful. They`re interested in where you`re from... and the size of your family is also a popular question. I think because family is so important here. It`s interesting to see the affect that poverty can have on the culture of community. Families have no choice but to live together and support eachother, the elderly are also respected much more... obviously it`s not a good situation that people don`t have the resources to access education or health care but it`s interesting to see how people make do and live more simply. Unlike the US and europe when people get old and sick here, their families look after them, they don`t get shipped off to nursing homes and visited under duress once a month, children don`t sit around playing playstation all day and eating junk food, they`re outside playing football or marbles and they`re smiling and happy... they don`t suffer from ADHD! I`ve had a couple of strange moments where I`ve been unsure how I feel... for example a little girl asked me if I was rich. I had no clue how to answer because I couldn`t say yes or no! It was really difficult. Also both of the families I have eaten with so far the mother has been younger than me. Last week my mother was 24 and her oldest kid was 9! I was sat eating my dinner with her and just thinking how incredibly different our lives have been. She`s lived through a war, got married and had three kids, the first when she was only 15... I`ve been lucky enough to have a free education, work and earn money and travel the world, it`s acceptable in my culture to choose not to get married and wait til my 30s before thinking about having a family. Here if a girl isn`t married by about 18 people fear that the poor girl will be left on the shelf! Well in the rural communities that seems to be the case but in the cities peoples attitudes are different.

This weekend I came back Xela to catch up with friends and go dancing! There was a music festival in the streets which was fun...?too much reggaeton though. Latin Americans can`t get enough of reggaeton! I don`t get it... if I hear Gasolina one more time I might actually go crazy... I fear that that likelihood is very high!?Jess, mi peque?ermana, would love it!!

Well that`s enough for now. I have to catch up with the report of my month in Xela as I`ve been putting it off `cause there`s too much to tell! I will soon though. I`ve updated my pics and added a couple of videos. Not many though ?cause it takes too long! Damned time vacuums these internet cafes are!

So I`m off back to the mountains for more school now. Talk soon. Miss you all.

Se?ta Anita! xx