(authors note: im dead serious about this whole entry, it might sound exaggerated, but you think what you like.)
So, its february, and my name is officially in the credits of a magazine. I may only be the 'events intern,' but its there. honestly i dont even consider what i did 'work'. Uhh, the last week in xela has been pretty rad. I started meeting with a friend from NY and these two foxy guatemalan twins (no, seriously..) in the park evrey night, and we speak spanish for an hour, and english for an hour. I have no idea why they keep meeting with us (well maybee..) because their english is like better than ours. Ive mostly just been teaching them slang and obscure phrases like 'the club is dead tonight' 'i shot myself in the foot' etc.. They explain grammar and the occaisonal vocab word. I should mention theyre catholics with really strong beliefs and really cant stand drunks. We did get them to come see some music last night, but they wouldnt dance... poco a poco, ¡verdad?
Wednesday, two other travelers, my host brother, his cousins and I took advantage of his dads bread oven. We made two outrageously large pizzas.
Probly the best afternoon of my life. We walked around the markets of xela, buying fresh vegetables, meats, and a 1.5 pounds of cheese. then we went to the bakery, and Oscar made a huuuuge piece of dough, while miles, sara, and I fried vegetables and experemented with sauce: 3 cans of paste, about 4 or 5 tomatoes, a whole onion, whole garlic clove, whole jalapeño, (ñ is on the keyboard! thats the first and second time i ever got to use it!) a bunch of fresh basil and oregano, and some mystery spices that tasted like they belonged in there. Sara fried onion, red pepper, and more jalapeño and garlic. Oscar finished the dough, we put down all the ingredients above plus spinach and mushroom, and used the family's dads gigantic woodfire oven. The biggest 2 pizzas ive ever seen, no exageration! then miles and I went to meet the twins...
uhh the rest of the week was really cool but im not gonna keep describing meeting strangers in the park because it would take forever and is probly alot less interesting to you guys... oh yeah except these two.
One of these last few days, miles and I were sitting in the park doing some people watching, (guatemala is officially the people watching capital of the world, by the way.) when we saw a couple gringos walk by with homemade instruments. They took a seat and shared some chocolate icecream with fresh bananas. This guy had a banjo made out of a gas can and a junk fretboard, with a kazoo attatched. We sat and exchanged stories for a while, then I asked what brought them to Xela. The guy said they just came down for fun. They had interesting passtimes. the girl does acrobatics hanging from ribbons in trees, climbing around hanging upside down and doing poses the look more or less impossible. i have no idea what this is called... it was going on at bela sol, if anyone remembers, you should comment. The guy is a slackliner, juggler, and can rip a banjo and kazoo apart. He started going and a huge crowd circled us in the park. Then someone asked him to juggle, but the cops came and put a stop to that quickly. The cops here are kinda weird. They said someone could get hurt, and when the gringo asked where he could practice, they pointed out towards the mountains and said something no one understood. I guess these guys were practicing in the park one day, when they ran into a mexican traveling circus from guadalajara (no, seriously.) and will begin traveling with them soon. That night I ran into a group of girls from norway, who said there was firespinning tonight. When I showed up to los chocoyos, no one was inside, but someone was spinning fire poy on the stoop, and a girl was hula hooping. Honestly, this is more or less a typical day in Xela.
Hula Hoop girl just happened to be the editor of xelawho, and we discussed my next assignment, which was to interview this band that plays bi-weekly at ojalA. I think I talked about them in the first Xela entry. they play covers of american tunes.
Yeterday i went to thriftstores, and got a rad 80s outfit for an 80s benefit party tonight. it was under 10buxx! That night, Miles and I met with the twins and had a cup of coffee. It was probly one of the first really good cups ive had since getting here. Then, we met sara in the park and walked to Ojala. The twins actually came, which was really surprising to us, and even them probly. I tried to get them to dance to some of the more dancey type songs, but they werent having it. So...
I danced, and once the band finished, i interviewed them. Id describe it, but id rather just link the article once its published. Or post the whole thing whenever I write it, cus alots gotta get cut out for the magazine.
Tonight: Futbol! Xelaju VS Zacapa!! Its the first professional sporting event where i can enjoy a frosty brew. Then, the benefit party. GGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
Oh, I dont know if i mentioned, but I lost my bank card, and its arrived again since then, so dont worry. Its kinda a good thing cus ive really only spent like 215 since I came here. (3 weeks, 3 days today.)
