Cafes and Conversations

Though we had class each morning, the afternoons were ours. So most of us made a habit of taking the Chicken Bus down to Antigua and setting up camp in a cafe to do our homework, use the Internet, and escape from using Spanish for a while.

Antigua, with its cobble-stone streets, horse-drawn buggies and dozens of language schools, is a Mecca for international Spanish students. Sometimes it seemed like there were just as many tourists in the city as actual residents.

Ironically, being surrounded by internationals means there’s people everywhere who can speak English. So, while I couldn’t communicate much in Spanish as first, I was at least able to share my faith with other English-speakers.

The beauty of talking with international language students is that they’re pretty open to new things – Otherwise, they probably wouldn’t be international language students. This openness made it very easy to start spiritual conversations.

There were times when I was able to start chatting with the person at the next table, and within minutes share my testimony with them. I became comfortable asking pointed questions of strangers, and to my astonishment, they were very comfortable reciprocating.

I simply loved the environment and the people. Antigua is one of the coolest towns I know.