| Sayings | Literal translation | Meaning |
| Ahora | Now | In the future |
| Ahorita | Right now | In the near future |
| Ahora mismo | Right now | Faster than ahorita |
| Luego | After, next | After I finish what I'm doing ……… |
| Luego, luego | After, next | Next of no time………. |
| Ya, ya | Right away | I will start right away but finish sometime in the future |
| En chinga | f** fast | I will start right away but finish sometime in the future |
| De volada | Flying | In a little while |
| Manana | Tomorrow | Not today |
| Pronto | Pronto, soon | Soon in the future |
| En ocho dias | In 8 days | Ask me again in a week |
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Mahahual's 2nd Carnival held the 26th and 27th of February was actuallymy first! Despite lots of waiting around and delays, the paradestarted started about 6:30 - about bug eating time. As the crowdsstood around Barudi's, waiting for the main float to arrive, Aroma'sand Barudi's did a brisk business selling beer. |
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Lots of beautiful girls and costumes - like any carnival! After the parade, the show went on until 11:00 PM after which the band played most of the night. |
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And of course the guys have to get into it too! |
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The YouTube slide show presentation below shows these two very different areas. This is specifically geared to new development in the Costa Maya, but is of interest to anyone wanting to know more about the Costa Maya.
![]() | July Minter from Blue Ocean Safari was instrumental in organizing the event which included attendance by Mexican pop singer Chavo. At the end of the day, he even performed a free concert in Tequila beach. He was very interested in all the Columbian labeled garbage we found up in the Placer area, so I left him a gift of a bag of well preserved Columbian Beach trash as a gift. In return I received a CD of his new album, Chavo Nueva Tierra. The Project Aware group may very well be instrumental in finally bringing recycling to Mahahual. I will keep you informed! Again, the problem seems to be location, location location. |
![]() | ![]() Piles of garbage collected on Beach clean-up Day |
Ever wondered how to make the accents in Spanish on your computer? You have several options for this, and it can be kind of convoluted. I've explained several of the options below.
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PC ASCII (use numbers on number pad while holding down the Alt key) |
Laptop PC ASCII Use numbers in color in the center of the keypad. Mine are on the M J K L U I O 7 8 9 keys- NumLk must be on |
Macintosh ASCII Press option+__, then release and press the letter you want. For example, "option+e then the letter e" gives you é |
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á |
Alt + 0225 |
Fn + Alt + 0225 |
Option + e then a |
|
é |
Alt + 0233 |
Fn + Alt + 0233 |
Option + e then e |
|
í |
Alt + 0237 |
Fn + Alt + 0237 |
Option + e then i |
|
ñ |
Alt + 0241 |
Fn + Alt + 0241 |
Option + n then n |
|
ó |
Alt + 0243 |
Fn + Alt + 0243 |
Option + e then o |
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ú |
Alt + 0250 |
Fn + Alt + 0250 |
Option + e then u |
|
¿ |
Alt + 0191 |
Fn + Alt + 0191 |
Opt + shift + ? |
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¡ |
Alt + 0161 |
Fn + Alt + 0161 |
Opt + 1 |
|
Á |
Alt + 0193 |
Fn + Alt + 0193 |
Option + e then Shift a |
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É |
Alt + 0201 |
Fn + Alt + 0201 |
Option + e then Shift e |
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Í |
Alt + 0205 |
Fn + Alt + 0205 |
Option + e then Shift i |
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Ñ |
Alt + 0209 |
Fn + Alt + 0209 |
Option + n then Shift n |
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Ó |
Alt + 0211 |
Fn + Alt + 0211 |
Option + e then Shift o |
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Ú |
Alt + 0218 |
Fn + Alt + 0218 |
Option + e then Shift u |
Adding the Spanish Keyboard option to your PC computer or Laptop .
- Log On
- Click the Start button
- Click on Control Panel
- Click Regional and Language Options - a new window will pop up
- Click the Languages tab
- Click on the Details button
- Click the Add button - a new window will pop up
- Select United States-International (keyboard layout menu)
- Click OK
- Click Apply
- Read the instructions for "Using the U.S. - International Keyboard" below.
Note: You will now have a keyboard icon on the task bar (usually on the right side). To switch between keyboard layouts click the keyboard icon on the task bar and choose which layout you want to use. Changing the keyboard layout will only affect the log on profile used. No other users will be affected.
Windows Vista
- Start-->Control Panel-->Clock, Language, Region-->Change Keyboards
- New Window: Click the Change Keyboards button
- New Window: Click the Add button
- Select United States-International keyboard
- Click OK
- From drop down menu (Default Input Language) select United States International
Using the U.S. - International Keyboard on your PC or Laptop
Once you have the international Keyboard working, you will find it now reacts differently. When struck, the single apostrophe (') key, does nothing. To type the single apostrophe now, you must strike the single apostrophe key and then strike the space bar. When you strike the space bar, the apostrophe will appear.
The next thing to note is that the quotes (") key behaves the same way as the apostrophe key. You must first strike the quotes key and then strike the space bar in order to create the (") symbol. These two minor inconveniences are more than made up for by the ease with which you can now type the special characters.
To type the special characters, two keystrokes are required. To type the á, you need only strike the apostrophe key and then the letter a. The other characters are just as easy:
To type the special punctuation characters, you need to hold down on the Alt key while you strike the appropriate punctuation mark. On some keyboards, only one of the two Alt keys will work for this, usually the left.
Key combinations
á = ' + a
é = ' + e
í = ' + i
ó = ' + o
ú = ' + u
ñ = ~ + n
¡ = Alt (hold down) + !
¿ = Alt (hold down) + ?
| So I opted for Something that was close - within a day's drive, rural and something that would force me not to hear English. After researching the web, I found EcoEscuela to fit the bill. We were able to drive there in about 10 hours from Mahahual, even stopping for lunch along the border. Buses are also available out of Chetumal to the town of Flores, the Tikal tourist town on an island in the middle of lake Flores. Next time, I'll just take the bus, since it seems to be easier than taking a car across the border and the return trip from Guatemala was only $170 Quetzales - the equivalent of $22 USD. I don't know the price in Pesos from Chetumal. If you are not familiar Guatemala, EcoEscuela is located in the town of San Andres in northern area of Guatemala, or the Peten and across the lake from Flores. The Peten is where the Mayan Ruins of Tikal are located, and one of the largest jungle reserves in all of Central America. Coincidentally, lake Flores is one of the most beautiful lakes I've seen, rivaling Bacalar. | ![]() First view of San Andres, Peten, Guatemala |
The reason I chose EcoEscuela over other Spanish immersion programs was:
| ![]() Neighbor hood kids coming to visit a family of another student |
Here is my review of the immersion program at EcoEscuela:
| ![]() Making Alo Vera Soap with Iris - part of a woman's cooperative of 35 women who make items with local herbs and plants. I also learned how to make Chaca soap (antidote for Chechen and other itchy things). When I take another coarse, I will split the days with Iris and the school. For $350 Quetzales (exchange rate of 8x1) you can spend a week learning Mayan Remedies. Or for $700 Q get room and board at one of the women from the school and spend the time learning to make Mayan Remedies. She only speaks Spanish as do all of the activities in the town. You will already need to have an understanding of Spanish for this program. |
I wish they had given me a list of things that make it more comfortable. The program is geared mostly to students and backpackers, not to 50-somethings. | ![]() Courtyard of the second family I stayed at. We nightly stayed outside and visited and then at 8:00 went into watch the Soap Opera "Manana es Siempre" or something like that! |
| ![]() Tikal is 90 km away on a good road. The site is huge, so allow a full day. We didn't arrive until noon and at 6:00 PM had not seen everything we wanted to. shopping for Guatemalan items is best done in Tikal. The market in Santa Elena has some Guatemalan fabrics you can purchase by the yard. |