Likes and Dislikes about my Spanish Immersion Adventure

Liked and Will Miss	Didn’t like and Won’t Miss
the people. They are friendly and patient and seem to love their children very much	The noise - loud bangs at all times of the day and night; it’s like 4th of July ALL the time down here
friends I made here (mostly my friend, Miguel)	The noise, part 2 - they also drive cars around with loud speakers on them announcing public events or political party meetings or something like that
Most of the food	People spitting on the sidewalk; Come on, people, if you HAVE to spit, spit into the street
The yogurt	Dog shit on the sidewalk; again, people,if you’re not going to pick it up, make them go in the street!
The strawberry jam (& I'm not a strawberry jam fan)	Shrimp served with the heads either put back on or just ‘cleaned’ with the heads left on - No Thank You.
Living in the shadow of Volcan Agua - it’s so beautiful in all the weather and different times of the day	The cobblestones, altho’ I have to admit, I got pretty adept at walking a good pace over them after 2 or 3 weeks and they never grabbed my ankle more than just a tiny bit
How ‘not too sweet’ most of the sweet food is	Related to the cobblestones - the bad sidewalks, gaping holes waiting to break the ankle of an unwary pedestrian
granizadas de cafe - you would just have to try one to understand	The lack of money and how difficult the Antigua bureaucracy makes it to fix up much on the exterior of the buildings
cheap liquor/beer	lack of much of anything to do
Moza (see above)	the slow pace
the beauty in the ruins	the poor, poor doggies not taken care of
Parque Central	the veggie curry at Reilly’s
The lack of advertising EVERYWHERE	the rain, altho’ I think I could get used The 2nd floor patio at same to it
the papas fritas (potato chips - OMG)	the weird feeling knowing you're one of the rich people. It was something that I always remembered and I tried very hard not to be “some jerk with money”
the guacamole at Reilly’s	tuk-tuks and chicken buses (and their drivers)
the slow pace	Eggs and black beans EVERY morning for breakfast
the weather - the temps are practically perfect	Papaya - it’s waaay over rated as a fruit
The people of the Casa de Familia Ovalle; Maria Elena, Caty, Elizabeth, Christina y Hugo
THE COFFEE!!! - This should have been waaaay higher in the list. Don’t know why it didn’t occur to me sooner
Having a cook and a full-time housekeeper. I have become even more spoiled, (if that’s possible)
the nice Dutch guy that owned Thai Flor who told me I had beautiful eyes

That’s all for now, I’m sure I’ll be updating this as things occur to me. Signing off for now. The next time I post I will be at home and reflecting over it all. - Melinda