From the minute that I got here, I was completely amazed at this Airbnb Spanish mansion built in the 1500s. What an absolute treat! Let’s take a tour, shall we?

Whether it’s sitting in the courtyard patio to drink, coffee, hanging out in the living room and playing ping-pong, cooking in the kitchen, or just sitting and having a glass of wine, it’s completely fantastic.

Patio by the courtyard

Inside the front door, you can park your car here

Bedroom i’m staying in to the left of the bench

My bedroom, bathroom to the left. It’s so cute!

Today was really fun. What can I say, I woke up and had coffee and a beautiful courtyard garden. Then, Michele and Nicole lovingly went to the market to buy all the ingredients for an amazing super lunch that we prepared for her niece Magie and all of the high school students on their Spanish school trip to Guatemala with their teacher. Luca and I watched an absolutely fantastic movie called “Leo”.

I also got a mini adventure of getting to go to two local markets to pick up sodas for the kids. The streets of Antigua were filled today as the lights of Antigua festival is still going on. After an amazing lunch, we went to the soccer game at the Antigua Stadium. What a great game! Antigua won of course …3–0. I forgot how much fun it was to go to a soccer game with front row stadium seats! Almost forgot our trip in the “tuk tuk” to get to the game. I still can’t believe we all fit in this tiny little truck, it looked like we were getting out of a clown car when we got there, lol. 

And it is…a beautiful day to remember in Antigua. For my second day of Spanish school, I never would have thought that I would present a dish of potatoes with rosemary and garlic, and complete a presentation on how I prepared a meal in a small kitchen in Antigua with my Spanish teacher, Naoemi. My presentation was totally in español!! 😃 Chefs, I prepared for you today…Papas en Romero E Aho (potatoes with rosemary and garlic).

Luca made a homemade fire grilled tomatoes salsa, and Michele made a delicious cucumber salad called Pepinoes. Everything was delicious, and now I have a new recipe for a radish salsa, which was so tasty that Nicole brought home all the ingredients from the market and Michele prepared a giant bowl for a mud-afternoon snack!!

Our chefery was then followed by amazing conversations in Español about mi familia and Naoemi’s familia. We shared photos and stories about our families. It truly is amazing that when immersed in language, how easily one can pick up on it. The people in Guatemala are super friendly and welcoming. They speak Spanish slowly and are all around kind hearted.

Other highlights… We took a Bachata and salsa lesson, had an amazing margarita, and then followed up with a delicious steak dinner at a very bougie, yet inexpensive steakhouse called Escobar. Also watched the light show for the Lightsof Antigua Festival…. Front row seats with the windows open and the breeze blowing. We took a stroll through Central Park to watch the Mayan Antigua lights Festival and headed back to our beautiful historic Spanish mansion built in the 1500s!

I’m still in awe… This is my second day! 😍

I am truly grateful to experience this amazing trip with the two wonderful amigas, Michele and Nicole, not to mention the extraordinary super kid… Luca. My heart is full. ❤️❤️❤️

Today was my first day at La Union Spanish School. Five hours of 1:1 Español. Pardon my Español . My teacher’s name is Naomi. She is 40 years old, lives in Guatemala and during the year she is a teacher for kids age 6 through 12. She teaches grammar, culture, Guatemala, social studies, science, math, and languages, including Japanese, Portuguese, Italian, And English. I don’t think I’ve ever learned so much of a language in five hours. We even played a game of goldfish with opposite cards with Luca and his teacher Kenya. Of course, Luca won with 7 siete pairs, while me, Naomi and Kenya had six pairs. The phrase is “no tengo. Pesce.”

During our “pausa”, (30 minutos break) we had an amazing Cubano cordito, which is different than a regular cordito. Cordito has milk, no sugar and Cubano cordito has sucre plus Leche. For lunch, Michele whipped up these Incredible, when I say incredible…., I mean Incredible tortillas with steak, cheese, beans, and rice, avocado, and delicious spicy salsa. For a snack, she then cooked up these sugar dipped plantains fried in olive oil. And for dinner, chipotle bowls. And of course, the venito (the vino rosso). Salute, I mean, salud.