Twitter Weekly Updates for 2008-08-17
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Another lazy weekend
Day 334
Xela, Guatemala
Well I seem to have gotten my site back to 100%, the RSS feeds were broken for a week and I couldn’t upload anything using Windows Live Writer either. Seems the problem was some blank lines in my various PHP files. I’ve been messing around trying to get a ‘digg this’ button on my various posts, obviously without much luck and breaking the damn thing in the process.
I finally bought a phone, a Nokia 1208 for Q125 so I can update my blog using Twitter. Sadly I am still stuck with the 140 character limit, I thought I could send larger texts and they would post to my blog. Maybe I could work on a plugin to solve this problem but my programming skills aren’t all that hot with PHP. Maybe I need to down load some books.
I’ve been playing my guitar quite a bit recently and finally dug out the FireWire audio interface I bought in the UK and last night spent several frustrating hours trying to get it to work. It finally seemed to start talking to Cubase and I think the problem is old drivers. I don’t have an Internet connection at home (well its intermittent when the family turns on the router, which has now disappeared….) so I had to wait until I hit a cafe today.
I was lucky I made it here at all. Yesterday we went on an excursion to some hot springs and the drive back was insane. I hate chicken buses!
Breakfast in the hot pool! 
Photo of the Day
Near Zipolote, Mexico is a swamp and refuge for the much maligned crocodiles. Here at least they are safe from the locals, and their own kind. 
Photo of the Day
Insects form in important part of many cultures diet. Piles of ruby red bugs await hungry Mexicans in a local market.
Photo of the Day
Transport in Belize is sometimes basic. These children get a ride and an interesting view of the country on the way.
::My host family owned a new puppy…
::My host family owned a new puppy for just 2 days before it ran off or was dognapped. They’re all very sad now
Photo of the Day
In Mexico Cities biggest market the animals face a grim future but at least these chicks are still alive. Many of the cages were filled with dead animals and few had water in the searing heat.
Back to School….s
Day 326
Xela, Guatemala
I’ve been in Xela for 10 days now and not just hanging out watching cable TV! :p My travels have brought me here to improve my Spanish and its going quite well. My teacher Rosario is rather nice and we sitting chatting about all kinds of stuff in between learning a mass of verbs.
I’m paying $150 for a weeks tuition of 4.5 hours a day and that includes staying with a host family and getting 3 meals a day. Its not totally what I want, I’m sharing with another student Chris but we mostly eat our meals together. If I’m not be going to be spending time with the family, what’s the point?
The meals are rather basic and breakfast is something different every day, which sounds good but isn’t really. I would rather just get some nice cereal in the morning and some good fresh coffee. They only have nasty instant stuff, but happily the school provides a big urn so that provides my cerebral energy for the day.
My Spanish is getting to a passable level I think, although I am lacking lots of verbs and words I have a reasonable level of comprehension if the person speaks slowly and clearly. I easily have over a thousand words under my belt and my accent is coming along nicely. Now if I could just meet a nice local girl to help me…. :p
There are also a couple of Salsa schools here so since Wednesday I have being going to Salsa Rosa everyday at 6pm for a $4 group lesson. The classes are small enough for the instructors to keep an eye on you and you also have several ‘helpers’ hanging around who can offer advice too. Instead of concentrating on teaching a set group of moves they encourage you to think about the move and do it confidently when you’re ready. This makes a nice change from the hurried flailing I was used to in my classes in the UK. Well I was never that bad, but when you come to the sixth move of a set it can be hard to remember what it was.
I also got Chris to come along and he seems to be enjoying it, despite his initial reservations. I will probably stay for another 2 weeks and then have to skip back over to Mexico to renew the ‘visa’ for my minivan. Maybe I will come back for some more punishment, we’ll see!
The day of the ‘Black Cloud’
Day 316
Coban, Guatemala
In the afternoon it started raining. I tried to ignore it despite the fact that the rain was so heavy it disrupted the satellite signal. It was really coming down. A lot!
The owner started banging on my door and I came outside to find the car park outside my room under 6″ of water, and it was still raining. I changed, grabbed my keys and went to move my car. I opened the gate to find the way blocked by the owners land-rover. He wouldn’t move it either.
He then locked the gate! I was screaming at him to open it and move his car with no joy. Trying not to freak out too much I let him explain that the road outside was lower than the car park. I move everything off the floor of my car and prayed.
Pretty soon my room was flooded :p
I waited and moved my stuff into another room. This one was on the top floor with 6 beds :p After a nervous hour (and more rain) it finally stopped and it all drained away. Maybe it was time to leave.
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Playing tourist
day
Mexico City
Museum/irish/murals/zoo?/art gallery/monkeys/josca birthday/beer and cards