Happy Day!

Our first day of Spanish class and it was wildly successful.  Everything is falling into place really well.  We are happy with our hotel and through blind luck it happens to be around the corner from our school.  Brook was a little nervous going into our first class since he didn’t know any of the answers to the questions in the on-line placement quiz.   Of course, this didn’t matter because the three of us are in a private class.  We arranged classes through the Instituto Chac-Mool.  Their main campus is in Cuernavaca but they have recently opened up a tiny branch in Tulum.  Nelly is our instructor and she is exceeding our expectations.  She is using an immersion approach but she speaks so slowly and clearly that it is not too difficult for the three of us to understand her.   We are going to spend three hours every morning with her for one week.  The class is at her house where she lives with her husband and two sons, ages 5 and 9.

Almost every afternoon or evening Nelly offers activities such as salsa dancing, cooking, yoga and cenote exploration for us to join in on.  This afternoon we took a cooking class in Spanish and learned how to make chili rellenos.  They are easy to make and very tasty.  The ingredients should be available in Vermont so we hope to make them a part of our cooking repertoire.

Tulum is the perfect size to get around on the bicycles that we have rented from our hotel.  This evening we rode them to Ginger restaurant for a superb dinner with a great waiter and a friendly chef.  The three of us had an exceptional day.

Blackening los chiles poblanos