Saturday Relaxation

Anah enjoying the good life. Not pictured: Dan enjoying the good life.

With school starting on Monday Anah and I are playing it safe and staying in the city. Originally we talked about heading out and exploring the country with some friends, but decided it would be best to not exhaust ourselves right before school begins.

Last night, there was a end of summer/ school kick off party at one of the second-year foreign-hires' house. It was a low-key affair with the exception of a little hook-up gossip between two of the new teachers. The whole situation with all of the new teachers and the social circles we run in is a lot like being a freshman in college all over again. You meet a whole bunch of people at one time, live with all of them, travel to various places, party together, and apparently also hook up (and then have to call the girlfriend back home and break the bad news....). Its very entertaining to observe all of this.

I'm getting off topic... Anah and I woke up early, which is very typical for us and took off for the city market, Guamalito, hoping to find some art and decorations for our very Spartan home. Usually places like this a terribly over-priced, but ripe for negotiation where the products become steals.

Given my abject failure as a Spanish speaker, the negotiations were left up to Anah. Despite Anah's best efforts, the dealers at the market didn't seem to be interested in bargaining. Anah would offer half of the price, the dealer would say no and offer what coverts to about a dollar less, and Anah would tell him/her that it was still too expensive (which it was), and the dealer would walk away.



Some of the wares being hawked at Guamalito



We wanted some of this stuff(below), but we suck at bargaining.



I guess I expected a lot more back and forth. I don't know if we're supposed to be more proactive in offering prices, but either way we left the market empty-handed. Its not that big of a deal because I'm sure will be back for round two and there are plenty of other markets throughout the country that are supposed to be a lot better than Guamalito.

From the market we head off to Copantl, which is a hotel in San Pedro where the EIS teachers get memberships to as an employment perk, for a little R&R. Just like the maid situation, Copantl is another little bit of our spoiled life down here. Take a look:





Alex, Caitlyn, and just a little bit of Jesse back there, poolside



Reality sinks in tomorrow, though, because Jesse, Anah, and I are going into school tomorrow (on a Sunday!) to get things ready for classes on Monday. I think everything will be just fine, but that doesn't mean that we're all just a little bit nervous. We'll keep you posted.

- Dan