The typical day

San Pedro La Laguna, Mary & Steve
So we´ve settled into a bit of a routine here in San Pedro as we apply ourselves to learning Spanish. Here´s what a typical day looks like

7:00 Rise and Shine, Shower, Shave etc...
The showers are a little interesting here as hot water is provided by an electric appliance on the end of the shower spout. You need to make a decision as to whether you want pressure or heat. The more water that flows the less it can be heated by the electric element. We usually opt for the hot dribble.
8:00 Breakfast with the family except not really with the family. Mama Vicente serves us and the other students and the family eats at a different time. The breakfast favorite is known here as mosh. Back home its known as quaker oatmeal.
8:30 Quick study review before class.
On the walk to class we are offered all manner of things on the street most often its pan de canela (cinamon buns) these go for about 75 cents.
9:00 Class begins
11:00 La Pausa or the break. They give us half an hour with which we usually stretch our legs and walk up a hill to the market for a snack (a hard tortilla with beans, guacamole, carrots, a slice of egg, cheese and tomato sauce costs about 15 cents)or just to take in the atmosphere.
11:30-1 Second half of the class
1:15 It´s eating time again
The afternoon is often filled with any number of things including study, internet, card games, coffee and conversation, walks, kayaking on the lake, etc.
6:00 We eat yet again. I should add at this point that Mary has come to loath corn tortillas. We have them at every meal. For a while the novelty of peanut butter and corn tortillas was enought to keep her interested but we have now run out of peanut butter. One of the differences here is that most people cook on wood stoves so if there´s no breeze the whole town smells a little like a campground on an August long weekend.
After supper we have the option of watching a free movie at one of the local shops, studying some more, walking some more etc...
One of the things that takes some getting used to is the firecrackers going off at all hours of the day. It is break time for students here and they seem to have gotten a hold of a large supply of homemade firecrackers. One thing that seems to entertain them is to set these off near tourists and watch them jump. Even the son in the family we stay with has been guilty of this.

We´ve uploaded some more pictures for your enjoyment. If they don´t have titles yet we´ll add those in the next day or two.

www.flickr.com/photos/koehnadventures/