Lety gave us some homework and told us that it was in our best interests to do it, rather than pissing it up all of the time like the majority of the language students here. “Their books are full but their heads are empty”, she told us.
Once again, our favourite breakfast place was still closed at 10:00 hrs. so we had to go elsewhere. Back at the hotel we did our homework and ate a cocktail of peanuts and pineapple. A Canadian bloke in the next room had spent another frustrating morning in Guatemala City trying to get visas. Today he was refused a Honduran visa because he had an Iranian visa in his passport. He was well pleased (upset), especially as he had never used it!
Lety arrived at 16:20 hrs. for our Spanish lessons and I wrote my essay while Declan struggled with the verbs “ser” and “estar”. In Spanish, two different verbs exist to express “to be” depending on what the speaker wants to express. Estar expresses the condition of something, or temporary states and locations. The verb ser expresses permanent or lasting attributes.
As for me, my written work was OK, but orally I needed mucho practice. My problem was that I would rather not say something than say it wrong. Unfortunately, my Spanish vocabulary was not up to discussing her chosen subjects of abortion and politics, but at least I could understand most of what she was saying.
At 20:00 hrs. it was off to Zen’s Japanese Restaurant, which is a few doors away from Mio Cid’s, for supper. We sat in the courtyard in a pleasant setting which was solely patronised by gringos. The food was good and relatively cheap at Q4.5 Guatemalan Quetzals each.
We moved on to Mio Cid’s where we met Byrn, Tom, Pedro, Laars and a very loud dark-skinned Australian who was usually very pissed or “on something”. It was Happy Night with Cuba Libras at Q1 each. Needless to say, we made the most of it!
The Scandinavian Contingent went off to “Los Pollos” leaving us drinking in Mio Cid’s. “Let’s Get Harry” was on the television. Part of the "men-on-a-mission" cycle of the action war films craze during the 80's Era, spreading the jingoistic 'feelgood' of the Reagan Administration, "Let's Get Harry", directed by the veteran filmmaker, Stuart Rosenberg ("Cool Hand Luke", "The Amityville Horror"), tells the story of a group of blue-collar workers from the Midwest who hire two Vietnam vets for a mission to rescue the older brother of one of the workers.
Later we were entertained by an American Indian guy with his guitar. A policeman with a shotgun stood on the corner outside the door, occasionally giving us a gappy smile. At one stage he came in for a coffee. He seemed very amicable.
Once again, we did not get back to the hotel until 01:00 hrs.
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