Life in San Cristobal

It is my third day in San Cristobal, and I´ve just finished my second day of classes at the language school. Back on Sunday afternoon I got friendly with my dorm-mates, a bunch of Britons who were all travelling independently. We went to dinner at a dodgy taqueria and then had drinks at what appears to be San Cristobal´s most popular bar and live music venue, Bar Revolucíon. Back at the hostel we built a fire in the fireplace of the dorm and played cards, then went to sleep with the fire still burning. The nights are amazingly cold up here. Yesterday they all went on a bus/boat tour (which sounded incredible) while I attended my first day of school. Unexpectedly, I´m having one-on-one tuition. Two sessions per day with two different teachers. I´ve impressed myself with how much I already know and I think I´m going to get a lot out of my few weeks here. After school I was picked up by the mother of my host family - a tiny hunched woman with no English whatsoever. We walked back across town to her house, where I will be staying. She seems lovely and doesn´t seem to mind chatting to me despite the fact that I only understand snippets. My room is basic but typically Mexican... it even has a Frida Kahlo print hanging above the bed. As part of the deal I am provided with three meals per day, and she seems to spend a lot of time cheerfully preparing food for me. She has three grandsons staying with her and I have only met one so far. It should be a comfortable stay, but I´m still undecided whether I want to be there over Christmas, imposing on family celebrations... Later in the afternoon I walked to the big public market north of town. It´s mostly food and produce, with dogs roaming, and a big hall of butchers´ stalls that has quite an amazing stench. It was good to see a bit of local culture anyway... Last night I met with my former dorm-mates again for dinner, and we went to a swanky Italian restaurant before again spending the evening chatting by the fireside, before I made my way back across town to spend my first night at the family home. It was comfortable enough, but there was a rooster next door that was crowing regularly between midnight and dawn, so I had little sleep (I don´t know how I´m going to deal with that). The Britons all left town today and are all on their way to Guatemala by different means, so there might be an opportunity to catch up again on one of my weekends - we are very close to the border here. Today I´ve bought a Spanish exercise book and I have homework for the afternoon. Later we have a school excursion to a museum, and tonight all students are invited to a birthday party for one of the teachers. I´m going to try to keep busy here and it doesn´t seem like that will be too hard.