So I'm laying in my bed in my house in Xela for the very last time. I can hardly believe it, it still seems so surreal to me. Tomorrow May 1st I will be taking a five hour long bus ride to Guatemala City where me and a couple of my classmates will be spending the night. Its much easier to do it this way because our flights leave midday on Saturday! I will be landing in the great state of MN a little bit before 10:00pm. I am sooo excited to come home!! But first I wanted to recap what has been going on this past...month haha. Enjoy....
April 1st:
I was sad that I was going to miss Sonia's birthday, because Jenna and I left for Spring Break really early that morning. However the night before I gave her her birthday present which was a nice scarf and I sang Happy Birthday to her. She loved the scarf and the nice birthday letter I wrote her. Afterwards I gave her a card and letter from my parents who gave her a money contribution. I have never seen someone as grateful or as humble as Sonia, she started to cry and give me (and my family) a million thanks. I felt happy that I had the opportunity to make her that happy and appreciative. According to our director we are living with middle class families, however I tend to disagree, especially because Sonia herself told me that she considers herself to be poor. Anywhoo on to spring break....
HolY WeeK: Mexico and Honduras (April 3-12)
The trip began with just Jenna and I. We took the 3:30am shuttle to Guatemala City. However Jenna thought that our flight left at 2:30pm but it really left at 4:30pm so we had time to go and pick up a package of mine that had gotten stuck in the capital and then we just chilled at the airport. We took our flights from Guate City to Mexico City and then from Mexico City to Puerta Vierta. In Mexico City we had to switch terminals and we totally got JIPPED because the men that we aked to help us took us to a private taxi company that ended up costing us twenty bucks! When really we could have taken a bus for like 5 pesos (less than a dollar). We arrived in PV around midnight. We started in PV because Jenna's family was staying in a resort type condo there. I was a little jealous that Jenna got to see her family but they are very nice people so I was thrilled to stay with them. When we got there Jenna gave her family their gifts and then we hit the hay.
We woke up the next morning at seven to go and do and ziplining and horsebacking tour. It was an awesome experience. 13 ziplines and then a scenic horseback ride which took a break at a waterfall and swimming hole.
Saturday we spent the day at the pool. The resort that Jenna's family and I stayed in was really nice. It had a 3 level pool! It was a beautiful sunny day so we played beach volleyball. But my favorite thing that day probably had to be boogie boarding. At the end of the day me Jenna and Aunt Joanie took a bus while the others took a car to meet us at the Holiday Inn. After we snuck in to the hotel we went out to dinner at Pipi's which had awesome guacamole and fishbowl margaritas!
Saturday the 5th was an entire day of traveling. Two flights: PV to Mexico City and then Mexico City to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Then we took a bus from San Pedro Sula to La Ceiba which is colser to the coast and our final destination of the Bay Islands. Here we met up with two of our other friends: Shannon and Brianna.
We all awoke early Monday morning to get to the fairy in time but we didn't make it. We were really bummed because there were only 2 fairies, one at 9:30 and the other at 4:30. So we had no choice but to buy tickets for the later fairy. Since we had time to kill, a really nice group of people brought us shopping. We finally caught our fairy...but the experience was a little....interesting. The waves were huge and thus it was a rough ride. Therefore many kids, adults everyone was throwing up. After finding our luggage in the heap we took a taxi to West Bay. We FINALLY arrived at 7:00pm. Fosters resort was our new home, it was literally ten steps away from the beach which had white sand and listerine blue water.
We got up early on Tuesday to go grocery shopping and find a scuba diving place. This was one of our original intentions of coming to Honduras. On the way back from getting our groceries we took a water taxi, and we got stuck in the rain! We went swimming in the ocean once the rain let up but we were disappointed that it wasn't sunny. That night we just chilled in our cabin and watched movies.
Wednesday we began our scuba diving certification course! It was a lot more work than I orginally had hoped but it was definitely vale la pena! After the 1st confined water dive with our instructor Sarah (where you pracitce basic skills like breathing through your regulator and everything in shallow water on your needs) I felt like I wanted to give up because it was hard and scary. BUT I stuck with it. That afternoon we watched scuba videos, and ate dinner at Foster's restaurant. In addition to practicing skills underwater, learning how to care and wear ALL of our equipment, and watching videos, we needed to do homework out of a book. That night we went to West End (the other end of the island of Roatan) to hang out and we found a nice group of boys to hang out with.
Thursday in the morning we went over our homework with Sarah and then did our first real dive! We took a boat a little ways out to a reef and I entered the water like they do in the movies by just falling backwards off of the boat, it was pretty awesome. We came back for lunch but then went back out to do our second dive. After my first dive I felt more comfortable. The process of scuba is very hard to describe and i'm losing energy fast, so I'll explain it more to anyone who wants to know! We crashed at night because we were so tired from our two dives. Friday was crazy. We did our last confined water session and then ate lunch and tanned. Then we went back to the dive shop and reviewed our homework and took the final exam. Then we did our last two dives back to back. Which was really hard to do. But all of the dives were absolutely beautiful with the reef, turtles, eels, schools of fish and so much more! It was literally like out of scene from Finding Nemo. At night we went to West End again to hang out with our new friends.
Saturday we caught the afteroon fairy back to La Ceiba and the ride back was a lot smoother than the ride there. Then once we got to La Ceiba we were going to bus a direct bus ticket from La Ceiba to Guatemala City but they sold out. So we proceeded to take a three hour taxi ride from our nice taxi guy who offered and we took it. We ended up spending the night in San Pedro Sula and then taking buses early that next morning. It was the longest day of traveling in my life. Three big buses, two taxis and a microbus later we finally arrived in Xela on Sunday night.
What an awesome trip it was.
Things that I will have yet to describe to you when I come home that occured in my last weeks here:
-Xelaju futbol game (soccer game)
-Dinner and Lunch at Victor's house
-My growing relationship with Mary
-Group dinner and bonding time
-My last days at Rapheal Landivar
-My final days at the orphangae
-Graduation of Celas Maya
-Laguna Chicabal
-Possible mas...!
Thanks everyone for continuing to read my blog. Sorry I kinda had to give up a little at the end but I need some sleep. I love you all and I can't WAIT to see you ALL SOON!!! Te amo. Over and out.
THE END
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Wrapping up March: Atitlan, Tulate Beach, in everything in between
Hola a todas. Yes I am behind as usual, but I thought I better get caught up seeing as how I only have 3 weeks left here! What I do is hand write or should I say roughly sketch out all of the things I have done in a journal so that I can remember and then write about it on my blog later. So right now I'm going to go start with the weekend of the 14th because that is the last thing I have written after my Santa Maria Volcano trip.
The biggest thing that I recall happening that weekend was that Jenna's sister visited. Jenna has three sisters all of whom attended St. Ben's. Beth is the one that came to visit, she attended the same Guatemala study abroad program four years ago, and then also came back to live here for 8 months after she graduated so she knows just a little bit about Xela! She stayed in a hostel in Xela with three of her friends. Jenna and I went out with them one night. It was so so much fun. Beth knows Xela really well and we went to some discotecas (places with loud salsa music) that we don't usually go to on a normal basis. Beth has remained in touch with a lot of Guatemalans and therefore it wasn't long before she was saying hi to a bunch of her old friends. Since I knew we would be getting back late from the discotecas I decided that it might be a good idea to stay in the hostel with Beth, Jenna, and Beth's friends. Luckily Beth invited me to stay so I didn't have to invite myself. All in all it was a really fun night.
Week of March 17th
Classes continue nothing really exciting happening there....on Monday night we had a group dinner with all 23 of us at Guisseppes which is an Italian restaurant close to school At dinner we talked about the upcoming trip to Lake Atitlan (it was going to be a short week because we left for Atitlan that Thursday) and tried to make some evaluations about our teachers and classes. On Tuesday after classes at the university I volunteered as usual but this time I helped the kids make a craft. Its getting harder and harder to come up with more ideas for them but sometimes they are already doing a craft with their teacher which I can help them with. On Wednesday morning instead of having classes at the university we took a field trip to the basuraro (the garbage dump of Xela). The purpose of the trip was for us to observe what extreme poverty in Guatemala was and to understand that some people live off the things they find in the dump either for food or by digging for recycable items and selling them but for very little money. It was a difficult experience. They burn the garbage and hence it was very hard to just even breathe as we were walking through the dump. We brought rice and beans as a donation to some of the people who live off the dump. At first we couldn't/didn't find/see anyone but then after about 20 minutes of walking we finally found some people. It was heart breaking to people especially young children digging for food in the dump. Now everytime I smell that same garbage smell of the basuraro when riding a bus or car I immediately think of the people living in the basuraro. Thursday morning we left on our last group excursion to Lake Atitlan.
Lake Atitlan
Thursday
-We arrived Panahachel in the afternoon and at lunch by the shore. Lake Atitlan is absolutely beautiful, its huge and is surrounded by volcanoes and there are many towns to visit around the lake.
-After eating we hit the market right away since it was supposed to be one of the best but I actually like the market in Mexico better. But don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean that I didn't buy things there ;)
-That night a large majority of the group ate Chinese food after a long day of shopping. Then I ended up heading back and chatted with my friend Steph before heading to bed.
Friday
-We woke up and had an amazing breakfast buffet at a five star hotel that was just right down the road from our hotel.
-After breakfast we took a boat to San Lucas Toliman where we visited a mission and got a tour from the leader of the mission and an inspirational leader of liberation theology: Father Greg. The mission actually has a good connection with St. Ben's/St. John's because it is one of the options for alternative spring break trips at our university so some of the students in our group had already visited the mission. Father Greg and the volunteers have done a lot with building a organic coffee plantation giving work and scholarship opportunities to men who promise to overcome their drug problems by working through the mission. There were so many other things that Father Greg has done with the mission but I don't have enough time to explain them all.
-Afterwards we took a boat ride back to Panahachel relaxed and I went swimming in the lake which was just a little chilly and there were a ton of weeds on the shore where 4 of us went swimming, but it was still fun. We met a young boy named Thomas and built sand aligators with him. We ate dinner at a pizza place with our friend Shannon's (from our group) mom who had come to visit her. We all had dessert afterwards and then took a Tuk tuk back to our hotel. A tuk tuk is an awesome three wheel tiny cab with barely enough room for three people in the back, they are so much fun!
Saturday
-We had another good breakfast brunch at Porta hotel.
-Then we packed up all of our stuff and brought it with us on the boat.
-Our first visit was going to be Santiago. We got the chance to tan a little bit on the boat and then we only visited the small town of Santiago for a couple hours. We mainly just shopped around for awhile. Then we took the boat to our final stop of San Marcos. We unpacked into our new hotel which was really cute with little cabins. Overall the town of San Marcos was kind of dead at night and there wasn't much to do but we found some fun things to do during the day. Jenna, Brianna, Nicole and I went kakaying...we didn't get very far haha but it was really fun regardless. A lot of the group ate dinner at the hotel that night because there really weren't many more options in town. The hotel owners were a nice young couple who chatted with us during dinner and invited us to play volleyball that next morning.
Sunday
-About ten of us played volleyball in the front yard of the owners cabin. I believe I forgot to mention that both of the hotels we stayed at were right on the lake. Anywhoo after volleyball I went kayaking again but this time with my friend Matt. It was easier the second time around and Matt and I actually made it down part of the coast.
-After kayaking we ordered lunch at the hotel but had to eat it super quick because it didn't arrive until right before we were supposed to be meeting our director at the bus to go back to Xela. Our director wasn't too happy...ooops.
Weekend of March 20th
I don't have anything written about the week of March 20th except for the fact that it started off a little rough with homework and homesickness...But the weekend of the 20th a large portion of the group decided to travel to Tulate beach! We took the all too famous chicken buses to go to Tulate which I believe I have explained before. We stayed in a cheap ghetto hotel but the best part of it (some people described the only part of the hotel) was that it had a pretty nice pool and a water slide! After we arrived we went to the beach right away. We tanned and played soccer with some locals on the beach. Most of the group that went to Tulate ate together on Friday but we had a late dinner. The food took so long that a large majority of the table was a little bit tipsy before the food arrived. After dinner I walked to the beach to see some of the most amazing stars I have seen in awhile. The night was really clear. Saturday felt a lot warmer because we woke up earlier. I got a lot more time at the beach and spent some good time catching the waves and swimming in the ocean. After getting worn out by the sand we headed back and hung out around the pool. Then I ate dinner with some other people in my group (Anna, Markie, and two Johnnie alums that had come to re-visit Guatemala who had studied abroad in Jenna's sisters group four years ago), afterwards we walked to the beach to see the beautiful sunset. Friday night I saw the sunset was well but I thought that the prettier of the two was Saturday. I will probably be framing some of the pictures of the sunset I took that night :) Sunday Jenna and I headed back earlier than the rest of the group because we wanted to go to a pool party that some of the guys from the salsa place that we go to were throwing. We got a little lost at first but we finally arrived at the right pool after stopping at the wrong one first! Unforunately it wasn't sunny at all for the pool party like it had been on the beach but there was a smal cover charge of about 8 bucks for tacos and a swim in the heated pool. After the pool party we made it back just in time for Carolina's birthday party (the director's daughter), which we celebrated at Celas. What a lucky 3 year old to be celebrating her birthday with a bunch of college students haha. Brought me back to my childhood. We played musical chairs, pin the tail on the cat, and of course there was a pinata too! Wow that seems like forever ago....we are getting closer to April :)
Alright well the next thing I have written in my journal is spring break....but I need to figure out a couple things that were in between there before I write about spring break. Also, after I write about spring break it might be my last entry until I arrive back at home since these last three weeks in Xela will be very stressful. But I do my best to try and write one or two more times. Love to all, I can not wait to be home in 3 weeks!
The biggest thing that I recall happening that weekend was that Jenna's sister visited. Jenna has three sisters all of whom attended St. Ben's. Beth is the one that came to visit, she attended the same Guatemala study abroad program four years ago, and then also came back to live here for 8 months after she graduated so she knows just a little bit about Xela! She stayed in a hostel in Xela with three of her friends. Jenna and I went out with them one night. It was so so much fun. Beth knows Xela really well and we went to some discotecas (places with loud salsa music) that we don't usually go to on a normal basis. Beth has remained in touch with a lot of Guatemalans and therefore it wasn't long before she was saying hi to a bunch of her old friends. Since I knew we would be getting back late from the discotecas I decided that it might be a good idea to stay in the hostel with Beth, Jenna, and Beth's friends. Luckily Beth invited me to stay so I didn't have to invite myself. All in all it was a really fun night.
Week of March 17th
Classes continue nothing really exciting happening there....on Monday night we had a group dinner with all 23 of us at Guisseppes which is an Italian restaurant close to school At dinner we talked about the upcoming trip to Lake Atitlan (it was going to be a short week because we left for Atitlan that Thursday) and tried to make some evaluations about our teachers and classes. On Tuesday after classes at the university I volunteered as usual but this time I helped the kids make a craft. Its getting harder and harder to come up with more ideas for them but sometimes they are already doing a craft with their teacher which I can help them with. On Wednesday morning instead of having classes at the university we took a field trip to the basuraro (the garbage dump of Xela). The purpose of the trip was for us to observe what extreme poverty in Guatemala was and to understand that some people live off the things they find in the dump either for food or by digging for recycable items and selling them but for very little money. It was a difficult experience. They burn the garbage and hence it was very hard to just even breathe as we were walking through the dump. We brought rice and beans as a donation to some of the people who live off the dump. At first we couldn't/didn't find/see anyone but then after about 20 minutes of walking we finally found some people. It was heart breaking to people especially young children digging for food in the dump. Now everytime I smell that same garbage smell of the basuraro when riding a bus or car I immediately think of the people living in the basuraro. Thursday morning we left on our last group excursion to Lake Atitlan.
Lake Atitlan
Thursday
-We arrived Panahachel in the afternoon and at lunch by the shore. Lake Atitlan is absolutely beautiful, its huge and is surrounded by volcanoes and there are many towns to visit around the lake.
-After eating we hit the market right away since it was supposed to be one of the best but I actually like the market in Mexico better. But don't get me wrong, that doesn't mean that I didn't buy things there ;)
-That night a large majority of the group ate Chinese food after a long day of shopping. Then I ended up heading back and chatted with my friend Steph before heading to bed.
Friday
-We woke up and had an amazing breakfast buffet at a five star hotel that was just right down the road from our hotel.
-After breakfast we took a boat to San Lucas Toliman where we visited a mission and got a tour from the leader of the mission and an inspirational leader of liberation theology: Father Greg. The mission actually has a good connection with St. Ben's/St. John's because it is one of the options for alternative spring break trips at our university so some of the students in our group had already visited the mission. Father Greg and the volunteers have done a lot with building a organic coffee plantation giving work and scholarship opportunities to men who promise to overcome their drug problems by working through the mission. There were so many other things that Father Greg has done with the mission but I don't have enough time to explain them all.
-Afterwards we took a boat ride back to Panahachel relaxed and I went swimming in the lake which was just a little chilly and there were a ton of weeds on the shore where 4 of us went swimming, but it was still fun. We met a young boy named Thomas and built sand aligators with him. We ate dinner at a pizza place with our friend Shannon's (from our group) mom who had come to visit her. We all had dessert afterwards and then took a Tuk tuk back to our hotel. A tuk tuk is an awesome three wheel tiny cab with barely enough room for three people in the back, they are so much fun!
Saturday
-We had another good breakfast brunch at Porta hotel.
-Then we packed up all of our stuff and brought it with us on the boat.
-Our first visit was going to be Santiago. We got the chance to tan a little bit on the boat and then we only visited the small town of Santiago for a couple hours. We mainly just shopped around for awhile. Then we took the boat to our final stop of San Marcos. We unpacked into our new hotel which was really cute with little cabins. Overall the town of San Marcos was kind of dead at night and there wasn't much to do but we found some fun things to do during the day. Jenna, Brianna, Nicole and I went kakaying...we didn't get very far haha but it was really fun regardless. A lot of the group ate dinner at the hotel that night because there really weren't many more options in town. The hotel owners were a nice young couple who chatted with us during dinner and invited us to play volleyball that next morning.
Sunday
-About ten of us played volleyball in the front yard of the owners cabin. I believe I forgot to mention that both of the hotels we stayed at were right on the lake. Anywhoo after volleyball I went kayaking again but this time with my friend Matt. It was easier the second time around and Matt and I actually made it down part of the coast.
-After kayaking we ordered lunch at the hotel but had to eat it super quick because it didn't arrive until right before we were supposed to be meeting our director at the bus to go back to Xela. Our director wasn't too happy...ooops.
Weekend of March 20th
I don't have anything written about the week of March 20th except for the fact that it started off a little rough with homework and homesickness...But the weekend of the 20th a large portion of the group decided to travel to Tulate beach! We took the all too famous chicken buses to go to Tulate which I believe I have explained before. We stayed in a cheap ghetto hotel but the best part of it (some people described the only part of the hotel) was that it had a pretty nice pool and a water slide! After we arrived we went to the beach right away. We tanned and played soccer with some locals on the beach. Most of the group that went to Tulate ate together on Friday but we had a late dinner. The food took so long that a large majority of the table was a little bit tipsy before the food arrived. After dinner I walked to the beach to see some of the most amazing stars I have seen in awhile. The night was really clear. Saturday felt a lot warmer because we woke up earlier. I got a lot more time at the beach and spent some good time catching the waves and swimming in the ocean. After getting worn out by the sand we headed back and hung out around the pool. Then I ate dinner with some other people in my group (Anna, Markie, and two Johnnie alums that had come to re-visit Guatemala who had studied abroad in Jenna's sisters group four years ago), afterwards we walked to the beach to see the beautiful sunset. Friday night I saw the sunset was well but I thought that the prettier of the two was Saturday. I will probably be framing some of the pictures of the sunset I took that night :) Sunday Jenna and I headed back earlier than the rest of the group because we wanted to go to a pool party that some of the guys from the salsa place that we go to were throwing. We got a little lost at first but we finally arrived at the right pool after stopping at the wrong one first! Unforunately it wasn't sunny at all for the pool party like it had been on the beach but there was a smal cover charge of about 8 bucks for tacos and a swim in the heated pool. After the pool party we made it back just in time for Carolina's birthday party (the director's daughter), which we celebrated at Celas. What a lucky 3 year old to be celebrating her birthday with a bunch of college students haha. Brought me back to my childhood. We played musical chairs, pin the tail on the cat, and of course there was a pinata too! Wow that seems like forever ago....we are getting closer to April :)
Alright well the next thing I have written in my journal is spring break....but I need to figure out a couple things that were in between there before I write about spring break. Also, after I write about spring break it might be my last entry until I arrive back at home since these last three weeks in Xela will be very stressful. But I do my best to try and write one or two more times. Love to all, I can not wait to be home in 3 weeks!
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Second Week Sum UP
The beginning of the week was quite boring or just very chill. I think some days I have to tell myself that it is okay just to go to class at the university, come home for lunch, either go to Celas or volunteering eat dinner and then just stay home. That's basically what I did Monday Tuesday, Wednesday. I didn't even go out for salsa or anything on Wednesday. One new thing that I tried this past week was aerobics! Me Steph, Jenna, and Nicole found a as close to non sketchy gym as we could find which is pretty much near Celas. Tuesday was my first class, it was intense but good!
This week was also kind of morbid which I just remembered...Sonia told me that her niece's son died in Guatemala City because of a shooting for one. When we were at lunch Maria got a phone call and her uncle died of a heart attack (she called him her uncle but really he was her grandma's brother). Three there was a shooting in Xela. For the sake of my mom and all of you I won't tell you guys where it happened but it definitely shook up our group. But the important thing to remember that our director told us is that we are not the target for anything like that. It was a planned attack on a man. Sorry this one is so sparatic but I must go do some homework now because today is Sunday. I will write more about my second volcano climb later! I hope all who are reading this are enjoying it because I do this for all of you and so that I can remember for myself :)
Thursday
Class
Volunteer
-Played outside on the court
-Taught them how to play the game colors, and they now are pros at red light green light
-Paid and Received plane ticket for Mexico and Honduras
-Ate dinner out at El Cuartito
-Went to Smoothies and Rum, had a glass of wine with Steph, Angela, Megan, Mike L, Travis, Jordan, and Jordan's friend Christian. They stayed open for us until one!
Friday
Aerobics
Volunteer
-we took the kids to a fair
Studied with Julia for a bit
Santa Maria Volcano
-I will write more about my second volcano trip later but it was a full moon hike we started to climb around midnight and got to the top around 5:00am. The climb itself was a lot easier than my first volcano trip. I think it was because I wasn't carrying a 30lbs. backpack up a steep incline. All I had was my little school back pack with some food and some water. We climbed in the dark which was actually pretty cool, except I couldn't decide which layers I wanted to keep and which layers I wanted to take off because the temperature was chilly but I had been sweating from the climb. The path of the volcano was different then Tajulmulco as well, it was more of a zig zag type of climb. I was very proud of myself for doing another volcano since Tajulmulco (my first volcano) was so difficult of a climb that I didn't think I would ever do another volcano. We rested at the top again until the sun came up but we were very much disappointed with the view because there was nothing to see but clouds. The guide told us that he had done the climb probably almost 100 times if not more and he had only seen it that clouded over about 3 times in all of his climbs. Since there wasn't much of a view to see all of us too a nap at the top with the warm sun shining upon us. We actually spent a lot more time at the top than I thought we would. Overall though it was a fun hike, and I can now say that I have successfully climbed two volcanos!
This week was also kind of morbid which I just remembered...Sonia told me that her niece's son died in Guatemala City because of a shooting for one. When we were at lunch Maria got a phone call and her uncle died of a heart attack (she called him her uncle but really he was her grandma's brother). Three there was a shooting in Xela. For the sake of my mom and all of you I won't tell you guys where it happened but it definitely shook up our group. But the important thing to remember that our director told us is that we are not the target for anything like that. It was a planned attack on a man. Sorry this one is so sparatic but I must go do some homework now because today is Sunday. I will write more about my second volcano climb later! I hope all who are reading this are enjoying it because I do this for all of you and so that I can remember for myself :)
Thursday
Class
Volunteer
-Played outside on the court
-Taught them how to play the game colors, and they now are pros at red light green light
-Paid and Received plane ticket for Mexico and Honduras
-Ate dinner out at El Cuartito
-Went to Smoothies and Rum, had a glass of wine with Steph, Angela, Megan, Mike L, Travis, Jordan, and Jordan's friend Christian. They stayed open for us until one!
Friday
Aerobics
Volunteer
-we took the kids to a fair
Studied with Julia for a bit
Santa Maria Volcano
-I will write more about my second volcano trip later but it was a full moon hike we started to climb around midnight and got to the top around 5:00am. The climb itself was a lot easier than my first volcano trip. I think it was because I wasn't carrying a 30lbs. backpack up a steep incline. All I had was my little school back pack with some food and some water. We climbed in the dark which was actually pretty cool, except I couldn't decide which layers I wanted to keep and which layers I wanted to take off because the temperature was chilly but I had been sweating from the climb. The path of the volcano was different then Tajulmulco as well, it was more of a zig zag type of climb. I was very proud of myself for doing another volcano since Tajulmulco (my first volcano) was so difficult of a climb that I didn't think I would ever do another volcano. We rested at the top again until the sun came up but we were very much disappointed with the view because there was nothing to see but clouds. The guide told us that he had done the climb probably almost 100 times if not more and he had only seen it that clouded over about 3 times in all of his climbs. Since there wasn't much of a view to see all of us too a nap at the top with the warm sun shining upon us. We actually spent a lot more time at the top than I thought we would. Overall though it was a fun hike, and I can now say that I have successfully climbed two volcanos!
March Already?
Hello there. My title pretty much explains how I feel that it is March! I can't believe it is March...Holy MOLY! Anywhoo I thought I would finally catch up on some blogging and let you all know what I've been up to the past two weeks after Mexico. Things have been pretty crazy and busy, at times stressful but for the most part going well. I would rather be busy than not knowing what to do with my free time.
Week of March 2nd-8th
I am continuing to very much enjoy my volunteer work. Now I do my volunteering every Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. On Tuesday we brought some things to do with the kids at the orphange. Our director and his wife bought some puzzles, coloring books, and sidewalk chalk that we can bring to do with the kids. They loved it! They especially liked the puzzles or rompecabezas in Spanish. On Monday and Wednesdays is when I have my tutoring from 2-7pm. I go in and contribute extra hours after volunteering or on Fridays when I don't have any classes. I am getting to know my tutor Juila that I have now really well and sadly this upcoming week (the week of the 16th) is my last week with her :( Wednesday after class Julia invited me out to dinner with her and some of the other teachers from Celas. Originally I thought that some of the other students were going to come but it ended up being only me and Juila and about 4 or5 more teachers (Julia's sister Carolina, Juila, Maria, Ana, and Karina) from Celas. We went to a cute little Italian restaurant called Gesepies, I had a salad and some pizza :) The pizza here is a little different...especially the sauce, but it was pretty good overall. I love hanging out with the teachers from Celas outside of school. I believe I have mentioned before that the teachers at Celas are more like friends than teachers. For volunteering on Thursday I decided that I wanted to plan an activity with the kids on my own. I have actually brought the activities that our director bought a couple of times, so I wanted to do something new. I bought stuff to make nametags with the kids. I have now been working with the same small group of about 12 kids or so, which is nice because it is easier to get to know them that way. There are two groups of kids that are not allowed to leave the home for their safety (not even for school) and I work with one of those groups. Making nametags was a success, they loved them. The government barely gives the orphange money, so it felt nice to be able to support any way I can. Also on Thursday there was a large dinner at Celas with a group of local students that attend the same university (Rafeal Landivar) as us. My teacher for Guatemala History who we call Vivi organized the whole thing. Students from one of her classes attended. The local students brought Guatemalan food and we brought and made American food. It was real fun talking with some of the students, although most of them are unlike the average Guatemalan student and are pretty well-off financially (Rafael Landivar is a private university). Afterwards Jenna, Brianna, Nicole, and I met up with our friend Viktor at his apartment and then went out to a local disoteca with one of our friends from La Rumba (our salsa place). Friday was pretty chill, I didn't do much...I brought some laundry in, printed off some things for class and then I went to Celas and worked on a paper with Julia that I had due for history the following week. Afterwards I was supposed to go out to dinner with Freddy, but he bailed so Julia invited me out to dinner/hot chocolate with her, Carolina, and Karina. It was so nice of her to invite me unplanned! We went to a cute little place that had really good hot chocolate. It was more of a snack place than a dinner place but I still was filled up by hot chocolate, bread, and a tostada (crunchy tortilla shell with meat). Aftwerwards we went back to Celas for the graduation. There were very few people at this graduation but it was still fun. Afterwards I went to a new little cafe/bar called Ojala. They play live music there. It was really fun seeing another new place and it was fun just to relax and have a glass of wine in that environment.
Weekend Sum UP
Saturday
-Slept-in and tanned on Jenna's Patio
-Tried to plan my Spring Break Trip. We can not stay with our host families during Holy Week. **Thus half the group has family coming to visit (*cough* *cough* my family is not able), 8 are going to Belice, and me, Shannon, Brianna, and Jenna are going to Honduras! Its been hard planning it tho, I am still in the process today. I am actually going to Puerta Vayerta Mexico with Jenna first to see her family who is vacationing there and then we are flying from there to Honduras. Keep in mind I just figured this all out this past weekend (today is March 15th) and not the weekend that I am currently writing about haha...**
-Ate dinner at home with Sonia
-Went out with Steph, Mike A, Mike L, Chris, and Matt for dessert. I had dessert and they had pizza, it was another Italian place on the other side of central park
-Afterwards I watched Slumdog Millionare with almost half the group at Blue Angel, an internet and movie cafe. Not quick my type of movie but I thought it was good.
Sunday
-Went to the coast and beach of Camperico!
-Met Jenna, Nicole, and Shannon, and three of our amigos Viktor, Juan, and Chuchu, in central park at 7:00am.Ta
-We took 1 micro bus, 1 chicken bus, a smaller tuk tuk, and then another chicken bus to the beach for a total of about 4 hours.
-Got to the beautiful coast and I got to ride a horse on the beach! We only did a few laps around the beach with them, but mine was lazy and after awhile had to be pulled by one of the little boys that was 'renting' them to us.
-Swam in the wonderful ocean for the first time since being here.
-Tanned in the warm sun
-Had shrimp for lunch...with eyes! Yes, the shrimp had eyes. haha we had to peel them ourselves. They were a lot of work but I guess they were pretty tasty....
-Tanned and swam some more
-Got dressed and had some icecream before we left.
-Had the most interesting trip back.....
We took one bus and then at the next station we found out that since the hour was so late there was no more buses back to Xela. The group wanted to stay overnight in that town where the station was and I was like...ummm no thanks I really want to go back to Xela! After much debate and frustration we took a mircobus to a different station where there was "probably" going to be another bus (before we found this option the only option was to take a direct taxi back to Xela which was a little spendy to some...but not to me so we opted out of that). I kind of had a break down of frustration on the way because I was scared of the late hour and that we werent going to make it back to Xela. However it turned out well in the end...Instead of waiting for the bus at that station, which I believe arrived right after us, we took a truck back to Xela! It was like...an animal truck..haha...with us being the animals. Looking back on it, it was a little dangerous and it was a chilly ride back, but it was quite the adventure! We had left the beach a little before 5 and finally arrived in Xela a little bit after 9pm.
Week of March 2nd-8th
I am continuing to very much enjoy my volunteer work. Now I do my volunteering every Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. On Tuesday we brought some things to do with the kids at the orphange. Our director and his wife bought some puzzles, coloring books, and sidewalk chalk that we can bring to do with the kids. They loved it! They especially liked the puzzles or rompecabezas in Spanish. On Monday and Wednesdays is when I have my tutoring from 2-7pm. I go in and contribute extra hours after volunteering or on Fridays when I don't have any classes. I am getting to know my tutor Juila that I have now really well and sadly this upcoming week (the week of the 16th) is my last week with her :( Wednesday after class Julia invited me out to dinner with her and some of the other teachers from Celas. Originally I thought that some of the other students were going to come but it ended up being only me and Juila and about 4 or5 more teachers (Julia's sister Carolina, Juila, Maria, Ana, and Karina) from Celas. We went to a cute little Italian restaurant called Gesepies, I had a salad and some pizza :) The pizza here is a little different...especially the sauce, but it was pretty good overall. I love hanging out with the teachers from Celas outside of school. I believe I have mentioned before that the teachers at Celas are more like friends than teachers. For volunteering on Thursday I decided that I wanted to plan an activity with the kids on my own. I have actually brought the activities that our director bought a couple of times, so I wanted to do something new. I bought stuff to make nametags with the kids. I have now been working with the same small group of about 12 kids or so, which is nice because it is easier to get to know them that way. There are two groups of kids that are not allowed to leave the home for their safety (not even for school) and I work with one of those groups. Making nametags was a success, they loved them. The government barely gives the orphange money, so it felt nice to be able to support any way I can. Also on Thursday there was a large dinner at Celas with a group of local students that attend the same university (Rafeal Landivar) as us. My teacher for Guatemala History who we call Vivi organized the whole thing. Students from one of her classes attended. The local students brought Guatemalan food and we brought and made American food. It was real fun talking with some of the students, although most of them are unlike the average Guatemalan student and are pretty well-off financially (Rafael Landivar is a private university). Afterwards Jenna, Brianna, Nicole, and I met up with our friend Viktor at his apartment and then went out to a local disoteca with one of our friends from La Rumba (our salsa place). Friday was pretty chill, I didn't do much...I brought some laundry in, printed off some things for class and then I went to Celas and worked on a paper with Julia that I had due for history the following week. Afterwards I was supposed to go out to dinner with Freddy, but he bailed so Julia invited me out to dinner/hot chocolate with her, Carolina, and Karina. It was so nice of her to invite me unplanned! We went to a cute little place that had really good hot chocolate. It was more of a snack place than a dinner place but I still was filled up by hot chocolate, bread, and a tostada (crunchy tortilla shell with meat). Aftwerwards we went back to Celas for the graduation. There were very few people at this graduation but it was still fun. Afterwards I went to a new little cafe/bar called Ojala. They play live music there. It was really fun seeing another new place and it was fun just to relax and have a glass of wine in that environment.
Weekend Sum UP
Saturday
-Slept-in and tanned on Jenna's Patio
-Tried to plan my Spring Break Trip. We can not stay with our host families during Holy Week. **Thus half the group has family coming to visit (*cough* *cough* my family is not able), 8 are going to Belice, and me, Shannon, Brianna, and Jenna are going to Honduras! Its been hard planning it tho, I am still in the process today. I am actually going to Puerta Vayerta Mexico with Jenna first to see her family who is vacationing there and then we are flying from there to Honduras. Keep in mind I just figured this all out this past weekend (today is March 15th) and not the weekend that I am currently writing about haha...**
-Ate dinner at home with Sonia
-Went out with Steph, Mike A, Mike L, Chris, and Matt for dessert. I had dessert and they had pizza, it was another Italian place on the other side of central park
-Afterwards I watched Slumdog Millionare with almost half the group at Blue Angel, an internet and movie cafe. Not quick my type of movie but I thought it was good.
Sunday
-Went to the coast and beach of Camperico!
-Met Jenna, Nicole, and Shannon, and three of our amigos Viktor, Juan, and Chuchu, in central park at 7:00am.Ta
-We took 1 micro bus, 1 chicken bus, a smaller tuk tuk, and then another chicken bus to the beach for a total of about 4 hours.
-Got to the beautiful coast and I got to ride a horse on the beach! We only did a few laps around the beach with them, but mine was lazy and after awhile had to be pulled by one of the little boys that was 'renting' them to us.
-Swam in the wonderful ocean for the first time since being here.
-Tanned in the warm sun
-Had shrimp for lunch...with eyes! Yes, the shrimp had eyes. haha we had to peel them ourselves. They were a lot of work but I guess they were pretty tasty....
-Tanned and swam some more
-Got dressed and had some icecream before we left.
-Had the most interesting trip back.....
We took one bus and then at the next station we found out that since the hour was so late there was no more buses back to Xela. The group wanted to stay overnight in that town where the station was and I was like...ummm no thanks I really want to go back to Xela! After much debate and frustration we took a mircobus to a different station where there was "probably" going to be another bus (before we found this option the only option was to take a direct taxi back to Xela which was a little spendy to some...but not to me so we opted out of that). I kind of had a break down of frustration on the way because I was scared of the late hour and that we werent going to make it back to Xela. However it turned out well in the end...Instead of waiting for the bus at that station, which I believe arrived right after us, we took a truck back to Xela! It was like...an animal truck..haha...with us being the animals. Looking back on it, it was a little dangerous and it was a chilly ride back, but it was quite the adventure! We had left the beach a little before 5 and finally arrived in Xela a little bit after 9pm.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Mi viaje a Mexico (My trip to Mexico)
Thursday 26 de Febrero
We left for Mexico right after my Mayan Cosomovision class. We didn't have senior sem oh but don't worry our director Brian made us watch the documentary of Romero on the bus. We switched off watching it in groups of three or four on our lap tops, it was a depressing movie about Liberation Theology which is basically the topic of our Senior Sem. Anywhoo, the purpose for going to Mexico was to renew our visas. The bus ride was soo long. It felt longer than the one we took to Coban from Guatemala City. The ride was only supposed to take "6 to 8 hours" but we left Landivar a little after 11am and didn't arrive in San Cristobol Mexico until 9pm. It was really interesting at the boarder...we had to get out of our bus about 4 times within a couple of miles, thats when it felt like we were just inching along. It was SO hot when we were at the boarder, we could definitely tell that we were no longer in the cold mountains of Xela. We stopped at two "official" buildings where we got our passports stamped, and then the other stops were by the army or other officials to look inside our bus for things like drugs or to check our passports. Like I said we finally arrived in San Cristobol around 9:00pm. We unloaded and everyone was so tired that all we really wanted to do was crash in our beds. A bunch of us took advantage of the fact that the hotel restaurant was still open and ate a nice big substantial meal because we had been munching on snacky type food all day! Then we all went to bed. I really liked the hotel, it was huge!
Friday
Most of the people in the group slept in and didn't leave the hotel until 10 or 11. We had a free day on Friday :) A bunch of us girls (me, Brianna, Nicole, Jenna, Shannon B, and Steph) decided that we wanted to go shopping (a lot of the group went shopping as well)! I really liked the city of San Cristobol. It kind of reminded me a bit of Antigua but it was better than Antigua. It was a beautiful city, touristy, had many shops and restaurants side by side. We had a beautiful day to shop, the weather was similar to that of Xela because San Cristobol is also somewhat in the mountains hence it was cooler in the morning, beautiful warm sunny during the day, and then cool again at night. I shopped my little heart out on Friday. Literally we started off at some American looking stores but then finally we found the awesome artisan market (where vendors sell hand made things, it is outdoors and there were many tents side by side in long lines!). On the way to the market we got swarmed by indigenous mayans who carry what they make and try and sell it to you on the spot. We only took a break from our shopping spree to eat at cheap little taco place and then returned to the market. In between I must of visited the ATM like 3 times that day....haha. Luckily for us the peso has fallen a lot and it is 15 pesos to the American dollar! Later that night almost the entire group went out to dinner at a place called Margaritas. Beforehand I bought an elote off the street! Elote is corn on the cob, but almost like state fair style but weirder...it had mayo, shredded cheese, ketchup like salsa, and picante! It was delicious. Dinner was too I had chicken fajitas, and my first ever tequila popper ;) After dinner we got icecream for the second time that day (we had some after lunch too).
Saturday
Saturday was a planned trip day by our director. We woke up and ate breakfast at the hotel at 8. It was BY FAR the best hotel breakfast I have had thus far. It was buffet style. Eggs, big pancakes, fruit, bacon, beans, platanos fritos, yogurt, fruit, granola, pastries, the works! Afterwards we got in a bus and rode about an hour to a Zapitista village. I knew nothing about this group before visiting but a bunch of students in my group did. The Zapitistas are a rebellious group that fought against the Mexcican government with arms, but haven't fought with arms since 1994. Now they live still in existence in their own autonomy in their own society. Almost all of the men and women of this village wear black ski masks or hankerchiefs around their faces to protect their identity. Upon arriving our director told us that they don't always let visitors even enter their village so we really didn't have any idea what was going to happen. Luckily they were accepting and collected our passports and let us enter then asked us why we were there. We told them we were just visiting. We got to walk around the village a little before getting the opportunity to speak with some post revolutionary Zapitistas. Our director had us come up with questions to ask them and before entering the room and listening to them speak to us but we had to wait for a long time. One because Spanish is not their first language and two because they didn't want to answer some of our questions because they didn't want to disclose some of their information. It was interesting to hear what they had to say but it was a little hard to focus at times. Afterwards we left the village and went to an Indigenous Mayan town. Here the indigenous men wear wool vests and the women wear wool skirts. We got a tour of a beautiful church there which as a mix between a Catholic church and mayan tradition. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the church because of the belief that the Mayan spirit would be taken away or something along those lines... There is no mass conducted in the the church; the indigenous people in small groups to worship the figures (which are all statues of saints) that are all around the church. They worship by putting candles in front of which ever saint they would like to pray to and saying or chanting a prayer. Ah sorry this is getting kind of wordy...I'm just describing what I remember! We returned to our hotel around 4ish, and returned to the market again! I didn't buy anything more though, I had already boughten a lot! Then Steph Jenna and I decided to give in and taste a little bit of home by eating Subway for dinner. It was absolutely delicious. I believe I got more elote and icecream that night as well...haha. That night we just hung out at the hotel. Some played cards others like me relaxed and took advantage of the wireless.
Sunday
We ate another buffet breakfast at the hotel and then we were on our way back to Guatemala! The bus ride on the way back was better we still had stops at the boarder and all but they were shorter and took less time. This is when we actually got our visas stamped. We got back to Xela around...5 I believe. Even though we were tired, Nicole, Brianna, Jenna, and I went to the fair that was still going on outside my house (it lasted from Sunday to Sunday). We took advantage of the food :P I had a cheverre, elote, and curos! Yummy yummy. I am proud of my stomach :) Now its off to another week of classes....I can't even believe its March! Wow. I only have approximately 5 free weekends left in Xela! The other two or three others are our final group excursion to Lago de Atitlan and Spring Break! Oh and I don't recall if I made this shout out yet but I now have internet in my house! I bought a USB port that gives me wireless wherever I want it :) I only wish I would have known about this possibility from the beginning of trip. I absolutely love it, it elimates the anxiety I had about not being able to use the internet whenever I wanted (before I would go to internet cafes). But to all of my friends who are reading my Blog I am now available for evening Skype dates! Love to all.
We left for Mexico right after my Mayan Cosomovision class. We didn't have senior sem oh but don't worry our director Brian made us watch the documentary of Romero on the bus. We switched off watching it in groups of three or four on our lap tops, it was a depressing movie about Liberation Theology which is basically the topic of our Senior Sem. Anywhoo, the purpose for going to Mexico was to renew our visas. The bus ride was soo long. It felt longer than the one we took to Coban from Guatemala City. The ride was only supposed to take "6 to 8 hours" but we left Landivar a little after 11am and didn't arrive in San Cristobol Mexico until 9pm. It was really interesting at the boarder...we had to get out of our bus about 4 times within a couple of miles, thats when it felt like we were just inching along. It was SO hot when we were at the boarder, we could definitely tell that we were no longer in the cold mountains of Xela. We stopped at two "official" buildings where we got our passports stamped, and then the other stops were by the army or other officials to look inside our bus for things like drugs or to check our passports. Like I said we finally arrived in San Cristobol around 9:00pm. We unloaded and everyone was so tired that all we really wanted to do was crash in our beds. A bunch of us took advantage of the fact that the hotel restaurant was still open and ate a nice big substantial meal because we had been munching on snacky type food all day! Then we all went to bed. I really liked the hotel, it was huge!
Friday
Most of the people in the group slept in and didn't leave the hotel until 10 or 11. We had a free day on Friday :) A bunch of us girls (me, Brianna, Nicole, Jenna, Shannon B, and Steph) decided that we wanted to go shopping (a lot of the group went shopping as well)! I really liked the city of San Cristobol. It kind of reminded me a bit of Antigua but it was better than Antigua. It was a beautiful city, touristy, had many shops and restaurants side by side. We had a beautiful day to shop, the weather was similar to that of Xela because San Cristobol is also somewhat in the mountains hence it was cooler in the morning, beautiful warm sunny during the day, and then cool again at night. I shopped my little heart out on Friday. Literally we started off at some American looking stores but then finally we found the awesome artisan market (where vendors sell hand made things, it is outdoors and there were many tents side by side in long lines!). On the way to the market we got swarmed by indigenous mayans who carry what they make and try and sell it to you on the spot. We only took a break from our shopping spree to eat at cheap little taco place and then returned to the market. In between I must of visited the ATM like 3 times that day....haha. Luckily for us the peso has fallen a lot and it is 15 pesos to the American dollar! Later that night almost the entire group went out to dinner at a place called Margaritas. Beforehand I bought an elote off the street! Elote is corn on the cob, but almost like state fair style but weirder...it had mayo, shredded cheese, ketchup like salsa, and picante! It was delicious. Dinner was too I had chicken fajitas, and my first ever tequila popper ;) After dinner we got icecream for the second time that day (we had some after lunch too).
Saturday
Saturday was a planned trip day by our director. We woke up and ate breakfast at the hotel at 8. It was BY FAR the best hotel breakfast I have had thus far. It was buffet style. Eggs, big pancakes, fruit, bacon, beans, platanos fritos, yogurt, fruit, granola, pastries, the works! Afterwards we got in a bus and rode about an hour to a Zapitista village. I knew nothing about this group before visiting but a bunch of students in my group did. The Zapitistas are a rebellious group that fought against the Mexcican government with arms, but haven't fought with arms since 1994. Now they live still in existence in their own autonomy in their own society. Almost all of the men and women of this village wear black ski masks or hankerchiefs around their faces to protect their identity. Upon arriving our director told us that they don't always let visitors even enter their village so we really didn't have any idea what was going to happen. Luckily they were accepting and collected our passports and let us enter then asked us why we were there. We told them we were just visiting. We got to walk around the village a little before getting the opportunity to speak with some post revolutionary Zapitistas. Our director had us come up with questions to ask them and before entering the room and listening to them speak to us but we had to wait for a long time. One because Spanish is not their first language and two because they didn't want to answer some of our questions because they didn't want to disclose some of their information. It was interesting to hear what they had to say but it was a little hard to focus at times. Afterwards we left the village and went to an Indigenous Mayan town. Here the indigenous men wear wool vests and the women wear wool skirts. We got a tour of a beautiful church there which as a mix between a Catholic church and mayan tradition. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the church because of the belief that the Mayan spirit would be taken away or something along those lines... There is no mass conducted in the the church; the indigenous people in small groups to worship the figures (which are all statues of saints) that are all around the church. They worship by putting candles in front of which ever saint they would like to pray to and saying or chanting a prayer. Ah sorry this is getting kind of wordy...I'm just describing what I remember! We returned to our hotel around 4ish, and returned to the market again! I didn't buy anything more though, I had already boughten a lot! Then Steph Jenna and I decided to give in and taste a little bit of home by eating Subway for dinner. It was absolutely delicious. I believe I got more elote and icecream that night as well...haha. That night we just hung out at the hotel. Some played cards others like me relaxed and took advantage of the wireless.
Sunday
We ate another buffet breakfast at the hotel and then we were on our way back to Guatemala! The bus ride on the way back was better we still had stops at the boarder and all but they were shorter and took less time. This is when we actually got our visas stamped. We got back to Xela around...5 I believe. Even though we were tired, Nicole, Brianna, Jenna, and I went to the fair that was still going on outside my house (it lasted from Sunday to Sunday). We took advantage of the food :P I had a cheverre, elote, and curos! Yummy yummy. I am proud of my stomach :) Now its off to another week of classes....I can't even believe its March! Wow. I only have approximately 5 free weekends left in Xela! The other two or three others are our final group excursion to Lago de Atitlan and Spring Break! Oh and I don't recall if I made this shout out yet but I now have internet in my house! I bought a USB port that gives me wireless wherever I want it :) I only wish I would have known about this possibility from the beginning of trip. I absolutely love it, it elimates the anxiety I had about not being able to use the internet whenever I wanted (before I would go to internet cafes). But to all of my friends who are reading my Blog I am now available for evening Skype dates! Love to all.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Cosas grandes de la semana: 23 de Febrero
Second week of classes is over. I'm starting to get a little more a custom to my new schedule. Nothing real big happened on Monday...besides classes I went to El Cuartito which is a little cafe which has internet and some good food and coffee. Usually there is live music by an acoustic group that plays Goo Goo Dolls and Coldplay and other fun groups like that, last week they were really good but I guess they didn't show up this time because there wasn't enough people :(
Tuesday
I had my volunteer work for the second time at the orphange, since it was only my second time I didn't really know what to expect. But it was a blast! We played a game called "Pica Pica" outdoors on the court outside. We played this particular game in celebration of Marti Gras. All of the kids had either bags of confetti (pica pica) or casterones (hallowed out eggs filled with confetti). There really was no point to the game other than to take hand fulls of confetti and rub it in people's hair or to my personal favorite, taking the castorones and smashing them on people's heads! I had to bend over for some of the kids so that they could break them on mine haha but others who were tall enough or had a good vertical jump surprised me and broke them on my head anyway! Walking on the way home there was a huge celebration in the park. It was the one year anniversary of the SuperChivos in Central Park, which is the Xela soccer team. I finally bought a jersey! We stopped and watched for a bit and watched and then I went home to eat dinner.
Wednesday
After a long day of classes I thought that I was just going to go out salsa dancing like I usually do on Wednesday nights but right towards the end of my classes at Celas I found out there was a SuperChivos home game! I was really surprised because I thought that all of the games were on weekends and our group has already missed a bunch of them because of traveling. So a bunch of us went to the game right after class (which ended at 7:00pm). It was a smaller game because they were playing a team in the minor division instead of the major division, but it was still fun. I ate a Cheverre off the street (its a hot dog, kinda like dome dog with mayo ketchup, picante sauce-spicy sauce, and mustard oh and it usually has cabbage but I decided to skip out on the cabbage because it was sketchy lookin) :) I think my weak stomach has actually gotten a lot of stronger since being here! We ended up winning the game 1-0! It was funny there was about 12 of us gringos, all decked out in our SuperChivos jerseys. Afterwards a couple of us went to La Rumba just for a little bit to hang out.
Tuesday
I had my volunteer work for the second time at the orphange, since it was only my second time I didn't really know what to expect. But it was a blast! We played a game called "Pica Pica" outdoors on the court outside. We played this particular game in celebration of Marti Gras. All of the kids had either bags of confetti (pica pica) or casterones (hallowed out eggs filled with confetti). There really was no point to the game other than to take hand fulls of confetti and rub it in people's hair or to my personal favorite, taking the castorones and smashing them on people's heads! I had to bend over for some of the kids so that they could break them on mine haha but others who were tall enough or had a good vertical jump surprised me and broke them on my head anyway! Walking on the way home there was a huge celebration in the park. It was the one year anniversary of the SuperChivos in Central Park, which is the Xela soccer team. I finally bought a jersey! We stopped and watched for a bit and watched and then I went home to eat dinner.Wednesday
After a long day of classes I thought that I was just going to go out salsa dancing like I usually do on Wednesday nights but right towards the end of my classes at Celas I found out there was a SuperChivos home game! I was really surprised because I thought that all of the games were on weekends and our group has already missed a bunch of them because of traveling. So a bunch of us went to the game right after class (which ended at 7:00pm). It was a smaller game because they were playing a team in the minor division instead of the major division, but it was still fun. I ate a Cheverre off the street (its a hot dog, kinda like dome dog with mayo ketchup, picante sauce-spicy sauce, and mustard oh and it usually has cabbage but I decided to skip out on the cabbage because it was sketchy lookin) :) I think my weak stomach has actually gotten a lot of stronger since being here! We ended up winning the game 1-0! It was funny there was about 12 of us gringos, all decked out in our SuperChivos jerseys. Afterwards a couple of us went to La Rumba just for a little bit to hang out.
Fin de Semana del 20 de Febrero
This weekend was really fun. On Thursday night we all went to a concert and saw a band called Buena Vista Social Club. Its a really old band, but they are well known throughout Latin America and have been in existence for a long time. They played mainly salsa and merengue they were very fun to listen too, and the place we went to was packed! We waited in a long line outside the door for almost an hour before even entering the buildiing. Esta noche Jenna durmio en mi casa conmigo :)
Friday I spent some time in the morning using the internet and trying to fix my computer which has a virus....I think it had virus before I left. I made a pit stop at home to eat lunch and them me and a bunch of girls went over to Steph's house to tan! It was a gorgeous weekend for tanning and Steph has a nice little concrete patio in her backyard that is perfect for laying out. My goal is to be nice and bronze by the time I come home. Friday night there was yet another graduation at the school (like there is every Friday) except this one was way different from many of the others because there was a HUGE group of students from Holand graduating from Celas. They were a big group of about 25 students like us, they studied for 3 weeks but unfortunately I don't think many students from our group got to know them that well because we went on our long excursion one of the weeks and then all of us got real busy and started taking classes at the University. Anywhoo the graduation was beautiful, it had candles and a cena tipica (typical guatemala dinner). There must of been AT LEAST 50 people there! Afterwards we decided to have a few drinks and go out dancing at La Rumba. It was really fun this night. I danced with one of the Rumba guys named Pepe. Afterwards me, Jenna, and Nicole went back to Nicole and Stephs house. Their parents were gone for the weekend and so we got permission to sleep over :) I slept with Steph.
Saturday
I slept in and since I was already at Steph's we all decided to tan again :) This time we went out earlier and therefore the sun was stronger! It was awesome. That afternoon I went to Hiber Pais (the mall) with my friend Freddy and I bought....INTERNET! I bought a USB port that gives me internet in my house. Its so awesome, if I would have only known about this option way sooner that would have been nice. So to all my peeps out there I have more time to Skype now, I am probably going to be most free in the evenings ;) Afterwards Freddy and I went to central park to hang out and we bought some icecream to keep us cool. Saturday night we went out to the Rumba again...it was fun meeting up beforehand at Nicole's house but when we went to the Rumba it wasn't as fun as Friday night. Jenna and I were both kind of frustrated how the night turned out.
Sunday
Freddy took Jenna and I to a sweet outdoor pool! It was only about 20 minutes away by car. It had beautiful landscape with palm trees, flowers, and nice green grass, it was just purdy. However we did get scared at, Jenna and I were definitely not only the white people there but the only white girls there, and the only girls that were wearing bikinis...haha. We did see Jordan (a guy from our group) there with his little host brother so that made us feel a little more comfortable, overall it was a great time! I came back home to eat lunch with Sonia and Maria. Then I went to school and got a little piece o home and watched Grey's Anatomy with Jenna. That night I went to church with Sonia and Maria. It was really good I like El Calbario (the name of our church), its easier to understand then the others I have attended. I think God sent me a message that night in the reading (member its Spanish mass) I understood "Don't think about the past." This was really good for me to hear. After church we went to this carnival that was right outside my house! Literally I could see the a farris wheel from my courtyard. Apparently this fair is only here for a week, it moves around during Lent to the different zones of Guatemala. It has ghetto little rides, some games, but the best part obviously was...THE FOOD. Which ended up being the only part I participated in. Sonia bought Mari and I Curos which are basically sugared donuts but they were way yummier than donuts!
Friday I spent some time in the morning using the internet and trying to fix my computer which has a virus....I think it had virus before I left. I made a pit stop at home to eat lunch and them me and a bunch of girls went over to Steph's house to tan! It was a gorgeous weekend for tanning and Steph has a nice little concrete patio in her backyard that is perfect for laying out. My goal is to be nice and bronze by the time I come home. Friday night there was yet another graduation at the school (like there is every Friday) except this one was way different from many of the others because there was a HUGE group of students from Holand graduating from Celas. They were a big group of about 25 students like us, they studied for 3 weeks but unfortunately I don't think many students from our group got to know them that well because we went on our long excursion one of the weeks and then all of us got real busy and started taking classes at the University. Anywhoo the graduation was beautiful, it had candles and a cena tipica (typical guatemala dinner). There must of been AT LEAST 50 people there! Afterwards we decided to have a few drinks and go out dancing at La Rumba. It was really fun this night. I danced with one of the Rumba guys named Pepe. Afterwards me, Jenna, and Nicole went back to Nicole and Stephs house. Their parents were gone for the weekend and so we got permission to sleep over :) I slept with Steph.
Saturday
I slept in and since I was already at Steph's we all decided to tan again :) This time we went out earlier and therefore the sun was stronger! It was awesome. That afternoon I went to Hiber Pais (the mall) with my friend Freddy and I bought....INTERNET! I bought a USB port that gives me internet in my house. Its so awesome, if I would have only known about this option way sooner that would have been nice. So to all my peeps out there I have more time to Skype now, I am probably going to be most free in the evenings ;) Afterwards Freddy and I went to central park to hang out and we bought some icecream to keep us cool. Saturday night we went out to the Rumba again...it was fun meeting up beforehand at Nicole's house but when we went to the Rumba it wasn't as fun as Friday night. Jenna and I were both kind of frustrated how the night turned out.
Sunday
Freddy took Jenna and I to a sweet outdoor pool! It was only about 20 minutes away by car. It had beautiful landscape with palm trees, flowers, and nice green grass, it was just purdy. However we did get scared at, Jenna and I were definitely not only the white people there but the only white girls there, and the only girls that were wearing bikinis...haha. We did see Jordan (a guy from our group) there with his little host brother so that made us feel a little more comfortable, overall it was a great time! I came back home to eat lunch with Sonia and Maria. Then I went to school and got a little piece o home and watched Grey's Anatomy with Jenna. That night I went to church with Sonia and Maria. It was really good I like El Calbario (the name of our church), its easier to understand then the others I have attended. I think God sent me a message that night in the reading (member its Spanish mass) I understood "Don't think about the past." This was really good for me to hear. After church we went to this carnival that was right outside my house! Literally I could see the a farris wheel from my courtyard. Apparently this fair is only here for a week, it moves around during Lent to the different zones of Guatemala. It has ghetto little rides, some games, but the best part obviously was...THE FOOD. Which ended up being the only part I participated in. Sonia bought Mari and I Curos which are basically sugared donuts but they were way yummier than donuts!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Mi Orario Nuevo (My new schedule)
Hello Everyone,
The first week back has been a definite adjustment because my schedule has changed completely. We are now in the second phase of our program. I no longer have classes at Celas everyday from noon 8am to 1pm. I now have classes at a university called Raphel Landivar. It is a nice private university that is about a 20 minute walk from my house. Its so funny here that for things around Xela it is almost always the distance is told almost always by how far the distance is walking. The univeristy is beautiful, its grassy and there is nice landscaping with green grass and flowers (I labled it on my flicker). Its all open and you enter the classes from the outside. Ahora yo tengo un orario muy llena (Now I have a very full schedule). Along with classes at the university I am still taking classes at Celas Maya but in the afternoon either 2 or 3 times a week from 2pm to 7pm. I can choose whether I want to go to go take only ten hours a week or 15 hours a week. For the first week I took 15 hours of Spanish because I didn´t have much homework at the university, but I think from now on I will only take ten hours at Celas per week because IN ADDITION to classes at the university and classes at Celas Maya everyone in our group is required to do 4 hours of volunteer work every week. Everyone had an interview with the director of Celas so that we could be placed where we would like to be placed. Since I love working with kids I got placed in an orphange which is right up my alley ;) I worked there for the first time on Thursday. The kids vary from real little like 2 to age 14. Chris and Mike, two guys from our group (from St. Ben´s St. John´s) are working there with me. We all went together the first time, but since everyone in our group doesn´t have the same schedule (because some are taking different classes at the university and are required to take 15 hours at Celas because of their level of Spanish). My volunteer work was fun the first time because it just so happened that it was an activity for some of the students of Celas to go and visit the orphange that same afternoon so that had planned games and pinatas to break! I´m sorry if this is all really confusing, I hopefully I wording this correctly. Maybe this will help HERE is MY schedule:
Mondays
Guatemalan History 1100 to 1230
Spanish Classes at Celas 200 to 700
Tuesdays
Mayan Cosmovision 900 to 1100
Senior Sem 1100 to 1245
(200 to 700 either some of my volunteer work or optional classes at Celas or my only free afternoon)
Wednesdays
Guatemlan History
Spanish Classes at Celas
Thursday
Mayan Cosmovision
Senior Sem
Volunteer work
Friday
FREE DAY
So, Guatemalan history, Mayan cosmovision, and Senior sem are the classes I am taking at the University. At Celas I am continuing to take Spanish classes with a tutor. For the next five weeks unless we have to change we will have the same professor. My professor's name is Juila. She is really nice and young and fun.
The first week back has been a definite adjustment because my schedule has changed completely. We are now in the second phase of our program. I no longer have classes at Celas everyday from noon 8am to 1pm. I now have classes at a university called Raphel Landivar. It is a nice private university that is about a 20 minute walk from my house. Its so funny here that for things around Xela it is almost always the distance is told almost always by how far the distance is walking. The univeristy is beautiful, its grassy and there is nice landscaping with green grass and flowers (I labled it on my flicker). Its all open and you enter the classes from the outside. Ahora yo tengo un orario muy llena (Now I have a very full schedule). Along with classes at the university I am still taking classes at Celas Maya but in the afternoon either 2 or 3 times a week from 2pm to 7pm. I can choose whether I want to go to go take only ten hours a week or 15 hours a week. For the first week I took 15 hours of Spanish because I didn´t have much homework at the university, but I think from now on I will only take ten hours at Celas per week because IN ADDITION to classes at the university and classes at Celas Maya everyone in our group is required to do 4 hours of volunteer work every week. Everyone had an interview with the director of Celas so that we could be placed where we would like to be placed. Since I love working with kids I got placed in an orphange which is right up my alley ;) I worked there for the first time on Thursday. The kids vary from real little like 2 to age 14. Chris and Mike, two guys from our group (from St. Ben´s St. John´s) are working there with me. We all went together the first time, but since everyone in our group doesn´t have the same schedule (because some are taking different classes at the university and are required to take 15 hours at Celas because of their level of Spanish). My volunteer work was fun the first time because it just so happened that it was an activity for some of the students of Celas to go and visit the orphange that same afternoon so that had planned games and pinatas to break! I´m sorry if this is all really confusing, I hopefully I wording this correctly. Maybe this will help HERE is MY schedule:
Mondays
Guatemalan History 1100 to 1230
Spanish Classes at Celas 200 to 700
Tuesdays
Mayan Cosmovision 900 to 1100
Senior Sem 1100 to 1245
(200 to 700 either some of my volunteer work or optional classes at Celas or my only free afternoon)
Wednesdays
Guatemlan History
Spanish Classes at Celas
Thursday
Mayan Cosmovision
Senior Sem
Volunteer work
Friday
FREE DAY
So, Guatemalan history, Mayan cosmovision, and Senior sem are the classes I am taking at the University. At Celas I am continuing to take Spanish classes with a tutor. For the next five weeks unless we have to change we will have the same professor. My professor's name is Juila. She is really nice and young and fun.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Long Excursion!
I have been travelling through Guatemala for the past week and a half! This excursion fell in between the two phases of our study abroad program. The first five weeks of the program were one on one tutoring, the first three weeks were with teacher Monica, and the last two weeks were with a different teacher, Julio. Both of them were awesome. I had to take two tests at the end of my time with both of them in order to receive a grade. So, after my I had taken my test with Julio, we left on our long excursion!
Friday : February 6, 2009
We left Celas at one o clock in the afternoon to leave for our first stop to Guatemala City. Guatemala City was basically a pit stop in the whole excursion because the places our director planned on us seeing were further north in Guatemala. All 23 student of the group, plus Josua (one of the directors at Celas Maya who works closely with our director Brian), Brian, his wife Terese, and their 2 year old daughter Carolina, and also two teachers from Celas Maya Marium and Loyola (neither of whom I have had but I have great things about them, they got chosen lottery style out of all of the teacher of Celas, they came to have Spanish conversations with us along the way and for their own vacation as well) all of these people travelled on a coach bus together for the duration of the trip.
When we arrived in Guatemala City after the five hour bus ride we ate together at a restaurant called Fridas. Then we returned to the hotel, I talked with my mom and dad for a bit and then I took a long shower. It felt AMAZING! Definitely an upgrade from my shower in Xela. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Guatemala only for one night. I roomed with Anna and Megan this night. The roommate situation for the duration of the trip was really fun because the girls decided to switch it up room with different girls almost every hotel.
Saturday: February 7, 2009
We woke up at around 6:30am because we all had to be in the lobby for breakfast by 6:55am. This was only one of the many meals that we planned to eat together as a large group (aka it was mandatory but fun to be with the group). Breakfast was actually kind of funny. During the trip we almost always had to pre-order any of the group meals we had because we had such a large group that it would take a lot of time to order if we didn’t pre order ahead of time. The day before there was a group meal there was always a menu and a list with all of our names so you could write what you wanted. This is sometimes funny because you have no idea what you are going to get because sometimes the description of the food can be a little deceiving. I ordered pancakes, and these pancakes were some of the smallest things! Haha. They were about the size of a cookie, and there was only two of them. Luckily Brian talked to the cook and got us some more. Food never goes to waste in our group, because everyone always passes around what they don’t want or if they are full or something! When we returned to the hotel a little after 8:00am we left right away. Our next stop was Flores, which would be about a 8 hour bus ride. We spent a lot of time in the bus. Most of the time I slept. Otherwise I talked with others. We only watched half of Finding Nemo on the TV screens on the bus. I was disappointed bc that was the only movie we watched on TV screens. People brought more movies but some brought their lap tops and DVD players so the group (including me) watched movies in pairs or triples on their own.
Saturday Night
We arrived in Flores sometime in the late afternoon. Flores is an island located on a large lake called Lake Paten. Our hotel was right on the lakes edge. This night I roomed with Angela and Shannon. One of the first things I did in Flores was jumped right into the lake. I’m not sure if it was really clean or not but it was a spontaneous thing that Jenna, Jordan, Doug and I did. We just jumped right of the dock that was outside of our hotel. The lake was pretty clean...but it was a little akward because I don't think it was a 'normal' swimming area. Afterwards we all showered and whent to a restaurant that was real nearby called Reices. I had a pincho which is a cabob with chicken and beef it was delicious, and a few cuba libres ;) Afterwards we headed back to the hotel and a bunch of us gathered in one hotel room to play a game called zoomie zoomie. Then that same group all went to the discoteca at Reices (which played more techno and American music than salsa). It was nice to have a fun place that was so close to our hotel. Overall I felt safter walking around the island of Flores than I do in Xela.
Sunday: February 7th, 2009
Sunday was fun because we had the whole day to do whatever we wanted, it was a complete FREE DAY. I slept in until about 10. Then I got up and had breakfast by the lake with Markie, Anna, and Laura. I thought it would be warmer out but it was kind of overcast with on and off rain which was kinda a bummer. Afterwards we went shopping for a bit. I liked the shopping in Flores it had fun stores and hence I spent a lot of money. Then I went to lunch but didn't have time to eat what I had ordered because a bunch of us wanted to go on an activity with Josua at in the afternoon to take a boat and go swimming and see the higher points so we could see the whole island. We took two boats across the lake to see a little bit of mayan history and go on a little hike. We took a hike to an overview so that you could see the entire island, it was really cool. As we were leaving we saw monkeys in the rain forest right before we left! The second part was going swimming in the lake. Josua said that he knew some nice beaches or places to swim. I was picturing like a cabin beach but really it just a random place to swim. The water was nice though, a bit chilly but not bad. Then we returned, I showered and went out to eat at a different place called Yaxha with some other people from the group: Shannon, Angela, Doug, Jordan, and Mike so that I could see some more places of the island, did a little bit more shopping, and then got some icecream at a very popular icecream place for our group called Sarita. I caught some of the grammies with the group back at the hotel, then a bunch of the group went out for happy hour but I was too tired so I just stayed in and basically went to sleep.
Monday: February 9th, 2009
Alrighty sorry its getting a little lengthy for me. I get a little stressed out sometimes, and through talking with my dad I realized that I don't need to be spending so so much time on my blog. So Monday we switched hotels in the morning to one that was real nearby where we stayed for the next two nights. I really like this hotel because of the beautiful overlook of the island, and it had a nicer pool than Hotel de la Isla. After dropping off our stuff we went took an hour long bus ride to Tikal National Park. We spilt up into three groups and explored Tikal. We went toured around the ancient mayan temples and pyramids and climbed lots of steps to the top of some to see of the pyramids to see some amazing views. We went out to Reices again for dinner this night.
Tuesday: February 10th, 2009
These two nights at the new hotel I roomed with my friend Steph. Everyone had breakfast together again. After breakfast we left for Yaxha which is another ancient Mayan site. It was a lot smaller than Tikal where we would have to walk 20 minutes in between pyramids and temples. There were still undiscovered ruins which were under mounds of dirt and grass and trees. I believe that they will one day be uncovered. We were actually told to bring lunch to Yaxha which was nice because at Tikal we just had snacks. We had a lil group picnic on top of one of the pyramids. At one of the last and tallest pyramids at Yaxha we could hear the howler monkeys! They were soooo loud they sounded like dinosaurs. At one point I felt like I was in the middle of Jurassic Park :)
Wednesday: February 11th, 2009
We took a long bus ride to Coban. The coolest part of the 6 or 7 hour bus ride was riding the fairy across the river. Our whole bus and a bunch of cars fit on this little wooden boat! Overall Coban was my least favorite city of the trip. It was more crowded, more busy, and more dirty than Xela. The main purpose for us being there was to have a place to stay before traveling to Semuc Champey. We ate dinner at our hotel because it is one of the best places to eat dinner. The hotel itself was actually pretty interesting...it was colonial style and every room was different. However the rooms were a bit damp and musky. We did a little bit of shopping this day as well, but not much since the city didn't have too many places to go. After dinner we went out for icecream, but it was hard to find a place that was open because everything in Coban closes at like 8pm (I think its b/c the city is dangerous). We found one place and the lady kept it open just for us! We love our icecream. We came back and watched a movie one Jenna's DVD player. I roomed with Jenna and Shannon this night.
Thursday: February 12th, 2009
We ate breakfast on the fly because we left at around 8:00am for Semuc Champey! Only the 23 students from the group and Josua went to Semuc Champey because it was a little much for a two year old and for the teachers. It took about 2 hours to get to Semuc. We stayed in rustic cabins, we were definitely roughin it. Only 3 hours of electricity at night and that was it. We did have bathrooms attached to our cabins though. There was five in my cabin: Jenna, Shannon, Brianna, Nicole, and I. It was really fun though. We got there pretty early in the day on purpose so we would have a lot of time to explore Semuc with Josua as our tour guide. We changed into our suits right away and there was a rope swing into a river right outside our hotel! So we did that first. Then on the way to see the lagoons and natural beauty of Semuc we crossed a bridge which we jumped off of!! Not everyone in the group participated but I was surprised by how many did participate. It was real scary and real high but awesome! Oh and the river had a slight/mediocer current which made it a little difficult to swim to the side after jumping. After that we went to Semuc, which cost to get in but it was definitely worth it! It was absolutely beautiful. I agree with the guidebook that it is pry one of the most beauitful places in Guatemala with its beautiful lagoons. First we hiked around and say the lagoons/lakes from the top, and then we went swimming! The water was clean and a bluish greenish color. It will take me awhile to get the pics up but i don't even feel that the pics I have do this beautiful place justice! On the way back a bunch of us jumped off the bridge again and swam with the current of the river back to our cabins! The second time was less scary because we had to jump one after another in order to keep up with the group as the current would pretty quickly pull them down the river. Then we came back and played some cards before having a family style dinner with the other people in the cabins and with the workers. It was the night before Markie's birthday so we celebrated and made her a candy bar cake and danced some salsa. There was a live Marimba band at dinner! After dinner we hung out, had a couple drinks, and had a little head lamp party out on the dock.
Friday: February 13th, 2009
We woke up around 8 and ate breakfast. We went to the caves this day. The caves were really cool and scary too. Josua was our guide for everything on this part of the trip. The walk to Semuc and to the caves were close to our cabins, about 15 or 20 minute walk. The only thing i wore to the caves was my swimsuit and shorts and we brought one disposable camera for the whole group in a plastic bag so we'll pray that those pictures turn out! We all put paint on our faces since it the caves are a sort of special place for the mayans. We did a combination of walking and swimming in the dark through the caves but it was awesome! The scary part was not knowing how deep the water was. But there were many cool formations and small waterfalls and things to see. Its hard to believe that our group only explored a very small portion of the caves, there was aparently a lot more! Afterwards we tubed down the river and it was finally a full sunny day! This was one of my favorite parts! It was just so beautiful and relaxing. I couple people parked their tubes and jumped off the bridge again but I opted out this time. We left the cabins after changing and having lunch back to Coban. We ate dinner as a group at our same colonail hotel. It was really good, I had pasta like I did the first time we ate at the restaurant, it was delicious.
Saturday: February 15th, 2009
We all ate breakfast at the hotel together. Then we packed up and headed home to Xela! It was probably about a ten hour bus ride overall! Thats all I have for now...I hope everyone is doing well.
Friday : February 6, 2009
We left Celas at one o clock in the afternoon to leave for our first stop to Guatemala City. Guatemala City was basically a pit stop in the whole excursion because the places our director planned on us seeing were further north in Guatemala. All 23 student of the group, plus Josua (one of the directors at Celas Maya who works closely with our director Brian), Brian, his wife Terese, and their 2 year old daughter Carolina, and also two teachers from Celas Maya Marium and Loyola (neither of whom I have had but I have great things about them, they got chosen lottery style out of all of the teacher of Celas, they came to have Spanish conversations with us along the way and for their own vacation as well) all of these people travelled on a coach bus together for the duration of the trip.
When we arrived in Guatemala City after the five hour bus ride we ate together at a restaurant called Fridas. Then we returned to the hotel, I talked with my mom and dad for a bit and then I took a long shower. It felt AMAZING! Definitely an upgrade from my shower in Xela. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Guatemala only for one night. I roomed with Anna and Megan this night. The roommate situation for the duration of the trip was really fun because the girls decided to switch it up room with different girls almost every hotel.
Saturday: February 7, 2009
We woke up at around 6:30am because we all had to be in the lobby for breakfast by 6:55am. This was only one of the many meals that we planned to eat together as a large group (aka it was mandatory but fun to be with the group). Breakfast was actually kind of funny. During the trip we almost always had to pre-order any of the group meals we had because we had such a large group that it would take a lot of time to order if we didn’t pre order ahead of time. The day before there was a group meal there was always a menu and a list with all of our names so you could write what you wanted. This is sometimes funny because you have no idea what you are going to get because sometimes the description of the food can be a little deceiving. I ordered pancakes, and these pancakes were some of the smallest things! Haha. They were about the size of a cookie, and there was only two of them. Luckily Brian talked to the cook and got us some more. Food never goes to waste in our group, because everyone always passes around what they don’t want or if they are full or something! When we returned to the hotel a little after 8:00am we left right away. Our next stop was Flores, which would be about a 8 hour bus ride. We spent a lot of time in the bus. Most of the time I slept. Otherwise I talked with others. We only watched half of Finding Nemo on the TV screens on the bus. I was disappointed bc that was the only movie we watched on TV screens. People brought more movies but some brought their lap tops and DVD players so the group (including me) watched movies in pairs or triples on their own.
Saturday Night
We arrived in Flores sometime in the late afternoon. Flores is an island located on a large lake called Lake Paten. Our hotel was right on the lakes edge. This night I roomed with Angela and Shannon. One of the first things I did in Flores was jumped right into the lake. I’m not sure if it was really clean or not but it was a spontaneous thing that Jenna, Jordan, Doug and I did. We just jumped right of the dock that was outside of our hotel. The lake was pretty clean...but it was a little akward because I don't think it was a 'normal' swimming area. Afterwards we all showered and whent to a restaurant that was real nearby called Reices. I had a pincho which is a cabob with chicken and beef it was delicious, and a few cuba libres ;) Afterwards we headed back to the hotel and a bunch of us gathered in one hotel room to play a game called zoomie zoomie. Then that same group all went to the discoteca at Reices (which played more techno and American music than salsa). It was nice to have a fun place that was so close to our hotel. Overall I felt safter walking around the island of Flores than I do in Xela.
Sunday: February 7th, 2009
Sunday was fun because we had the whole day to do whatever we wanted, it was a complete FREE DAY. I slept in until about 10. Then I got up and had breakfast by the lake with Markie, Anna, and Laura. I thought it would be warmer out but it was kind of overcast with on and off rain which was kinda a bummer. Afterwards we went shopping for a bit. I liked the shopping in Flores it had fun stores and hence I spent a lot of money. Then I went to lunch but didn't have time to eat what I had ordered because a bunch of us wanted to go on an activity with Josua at in the afternoon to take a boat and go swimming and see the higher points so we could see the whole island. We took two boats across the lake to see a little bit of mayan history and go on a little hike. We took a hike to an overview so that you could see the entire island, it was really cool. As we were leaving we saw monkeys in the rain forest right before we left! The second part was going swimming in the lake. Josua said that he knew some nice beaches or places to swim. I was picturing like a cabin beach but really it just a random place to swim. The water was nice though, a bit chilly but not bad. Then we returned, I showered and went out to eat at a different place called Yaxha with some other people from the group: Shannon, Angela, Doug, Jordan, and Mike so that I could see some more places of the island, did a little bit more shopping, and then got some icecream at a very popular icecream place for our group called Sarita. I caught some of the grammies with the group back at the hotel, then a bunch of the group went out for happy hour but I was too tired so I just stayed in and basically went to sleep.
Monday: February 9th, 2009
Alrighty sorry its getting a little lengthy for me. I get a little stressed out sometimes, and through talking with my dad I realized that I don't need to be spending so so much time on my blog. So Monday we switched hotels in the morning to one that was real nearby where we stayed for the next two nights. I really like this hotel because of the beautiful overlook of the island, and it had a nicer pool than Hotel de la Isla. After dropping off our stuff we went took an hour long bus ride to Tikal National Park. We spilt up into three groups and explored Tikal. We went toured around the ancient mayan temples and pyramids and climbed lots of steps to the top of some to see of the pyramids to see some amazing views. We went out to Reices again for dinner this night.
Tuesday: February 10th, 2009
These two nights at the new hotel I roomed with my friend Steph. Everyone had breakfast together again. After breakfast we left for Yaxha which is another ancient Mayan site. It was a lot smaller than Tikal where we would have to walk 20 minutes in between pyramids and temples. There were still undiscovered ruins which were under mounds of dirt and grass and trees. I believe that they will one day be uncovered. We were actually told to bring lunch to Yaxha which was nice because at Tikal we just had snacks. We had a lil group picnic on top of one of the pyramids. At one of the last and tallest pyramids at Yaxha we could hear the howler monkeys! They were soooo loud they sounded like dinosaurs. At one point I felt like I was in the middle of Jurassic Park :)
Wednesday: February 11th, 2009
We took a long bus ride to Coban. The coolest part of the 6 or 7 hour bus ride was riding the fairy across the river. Our whole bus and a bunch of cars fit on this little wooden boat! Overall Coban was my least favorite city of the trip. It was more crowded, more busy, and more dirty than Xela. The main purpose for us being there was to have a place to stay before traveling to Semuc Champey. We ate dinner at our hotel because it is one of the best places to eat dinner. The hotel itself was actually pretty interesting...it was colonial style and every room was different. However the rooms were a bit damp and musky. We did a little bit of shopping this day as well, but not much since the city didn't have too many places to go. After dinner we went out for icecream, but it was hard to find a place that was open because everything in Coban closes at like 8pm (I think its b/c the city is dangerous). We found one place and the lady kept it open just for us! We love our icecream. We came back and watched a movie one Jenna's DVD player. I roomed with Jenna and Shannon this night.
Thursday: February 12th, 2009
We ate breakfast on the fly because we left at around 8:00am for Semuc Champey! Only the 23 students from the group and Josua went to Semuc Champey because it was a little much for a two year old and for the teachers. It took about 2 hours to get to Semuc. We stayed in rustic cabins, we were definitely roughin it. Only 3 hours of electricity at night and that was it. We did have bathrooms attached to our cabins though. There was five in my cabin: Jenna, Shannon, Brianna, Nicole, and I. It was really fun though. We got there pretty early in the day on purpose so we would have a lot of time to explore Semuc with Josua as our tour guide. We changed into our suits right away and there was a rope swing into a river right outside our hotel! So we did that first. Then on the way to see the lagoons and natural beauty of Semuc we crossed a bridge which we jumped off of!! Not everyone in the group participated but I was surprised by how many did participate. It was real scary and real high but awesome! Oh and the river had a slight/mediocer current which made it a little difficult to swim to the side after jumping. After that we went to Semuc, which cost to get in but it was definitely worth it! It was absolutely beautiful. I agree with the guidebook that it is pry one of the most beauitful places in Guatemala with its beautiful lagoons. First we hiked around and say the lagoons/lakes from the top, and then we went swimming! The water was clean and a bluish greenish color. It will take me awhile to get the pics up but i don't even feel that the pics I have do this beautiful place justice! On the way back a bunch of us jumped off the bridge again and swam with the current of the river back to our cabins! The second time was less scary because we had to jump one after another in order to keep up with the group as the current would pretty quickly pull them down the river. Then we came back and played some cards before having a family style dinner with the other people in the cabins and with the workers. It was the night before Markie's birthday so we celebrated and made her a candy bar cake and danced some salsa. There was a live Marimba band at dinner! After dinner we hung out, had a couple drinks, and had a little head lamp party out on the dock.
Friday: February 13th, 2009
We woke up around 8 and ate breakfast. We went to the caves this day. The caves were really cool and scary too. Josua was our guide for everything on this part of the trip. The walk to Semuc and to the caves were close to our cabins, about 15 or 20 minute walk. The only thing i wore to the caves was my swimsuit and shorts and we brought one disposable camera for the whole group in a plastic bag so we'll pray that those pictures turn out! We all put paint on our faces since it the caves are a sort of special place for the mayans. We did a combination of walking and swimming in the dark through the caves but it was awesome! The scary part was not knowing how deep the water was. But there were many cool formations and small waterfalls and things to see. Its hard to believe that our group only explored a very small portion of the caves, there was aparently a lot more! Afterwards we tubed down the river and it was finally a full sunny day! This was one of my favorite parts! It was just so beautiful and relaxing. I couple people parked their tubes and jumped off the bridge again but I opted out this time. We left the cabins after changing and having lunch back to Coban. We ate dinner as a group at our same colonail hotel. It was really good, I had pasta like I did the first time we ate at the restaurant, it was delicious.
Saturday: February 15th, 2009
We all ate breakfast at the hotel together. Then we packed up and headed home to Xela! It was probably about a ten hour bus ride overall! Thats all I have for now...I hope everyone is doing well.
Tajulmuco Volcano
Hello all! I believe it was the weekend after my birthday that I decided to try something out of my comfort zone and climb Volcano Tajulmuco. It’s not just a volcano. It is the tallest point in Central America! I did go to the Rumba for a little bit the Friday night before the Volcano but not for long because I really wanted to be rested for the Volcano. Only about….eight people from our group/University went on the Volcano trip but overall I think there was a group of about twenty of us, because I think I explained that the activities are open to everyone at Celas Maya and sometimes even other random people because the people that lead the tours are a part of Celas but also their own independent tour company called Icaro Tours. Any who, we met at Celas at 8:00 on Saturday morning. I had no idea how much stuff I should bring. We got a list from the leader which included 4 liters of water, chocolate (for the altitude and energy), very warm clothes, good walking shoes, etc. We were required to bring our big travel backpacks. It was a somewhat expensive weekend trip, about 370 Q (7.8Q to the dollar). My bag ended up weight probably close to or more than 30lbs, because it included all of the stuff on the list plus the things that the tour group provided: food for meals, a sleeping bag, and a mat. I was nervous about having too much stuff in my bag but I was a little more reassured when I saw that everyone elses bag was just as heavy as mine.
After we were all packed up we took about a 2 hour bus ride to San Marcos which is where the volcano is located. Right when we got out of the van I knew why they told us to pack warm clothes, the air was already cool and blowing. I wore one pair of spandex, one pair of long johns, and some hiking pants. On top I wore a t-shirt, a long sleeve t-shirt, a fleece, a sweat shirt, and my north face fleece on top of that (I didn’t bring a winter jacket haha). As we starting walking I ended up taking layers off because even though the air was cool, the walk was really difficult so I was sweating up a storm. It was the hardest hike I have ever done. At times I had to be “in a zone” to force myself to take it step by step or else the want to turn around and go back would overwhelm me. The walk got steadily steeper as we got closer to the top. At points I was literally stepping or climbing up big rocks with my huge bag. We did take a lot of breaks, which was awesome because my body was out of shape! After about 2 hours we took a longer break and the guides Juan and Oliver made us a fantastic lunch. I had no idea that they or should I say the group (everyone packed lunch for the group in their bag) had brought that much food. They brought tomatoes and onions to put on our sandwiches. The sandwiches had ham, cheese, and then cheese spread or bean spread. There we chips and other things as well. After lunch, the last part of the hike to the summit was almost easier because I was getting more used to the altitude. We finally arrived to the campsite which was the summit of the volcano around 6:00pm. I think it took us about 6 hours to hike the volcano in total. We started gathering wood for the fire. Our tents and dinner food we not yet there because they were being brought up by horse! I’m pretty sure there was a miscommunication because the tents and dinner food didn’t arrive until 8:00pm! So, at the summit of the volcano it was FREEZING, like really really really cold. Definitely below 30 degrees Farenheit. We set up our tents in the dark and then the guides made us soup and spaghetti for dinner. Overall I was very impressed with the food. The pasta was starchy but when you are freezing cold and on a volcano anything tastes good. We slept sardine style in our tent to keep warm! I don’t think anyone in the group got more than 2 hours of sleep that night. We went to bed around 10ish or 11, but then had to wake up at 3:00am so that we cold hike the final part of the summit and see the sunrise. I was really scared when we climbed the summit because I had my blanket and sleeping bag around my shoulders because it was going to be even colder at the top. I was scared because it was pitch black and climbing the a steep summit and cold only see the light that my head lamp provided. But I kept on going in the line of people. It was even colder at the peak so we huddled and cuddled together and waited for the sunrise. When it came it was stunning. The sky when from a clear dark night starry sky to a beautiful orange sun. I was basically amoung the sea of clouds because we were up so high (I’ll soon load pictures on my flicker! Check them out!)). It was a VERY beautiful site! Even though the whole hike down my knees were shaking and the trip was one of the hardest things I’ve done it was definitely Vale la Pena (it was worth it!)!
After we were all packed up we took about a 2 hour bus ride to San Marcos which is where the volcano is located. Right when we got out of the van I knew why they told us to pack warm clothes, the air was already cool and blowing. I wore one pair of spandex, one pair of long johns, and some hiking pants. On top I wore a t-shirt, a long sleeve t-shirt, a fleece, a sweat shirt, and my north face fleece on top of that (I didn’t bring a winter jacket haha). As we starting walking I ended up taking layers off because even though the air was cool, the walk was really difficult so I was sweating up a storm. It was the hardest hike I have ever done. At times I had to be “in a zone” to force myself to take it step by step or else the want to turn around and go back would overwhelm me. The walk got steadily steeper as we got closer to the top. At points I was literally stepping or climbing up big rocks with my huge bag. We did take a lot of breaks, which was awesome because my body was out of shape! After about 2 hours we took a longer break and the guides Juan and Oliver made us a fantastic lunch. I had no idea that they or should I say the group (everyone packed lunch for the group in their bag) had brought that much food. They brought tomatoes and onions to put on our sandwiches. The sandwiches had ham, cheese, and then cheese spread or bean spread. There we chips and other things as well. After lunch, the last part of the hike to the summit was almost easier because I was getting more used to the altitude. We finally arrived to the campsite which was the summit of the volcano around 6:00pm. I think it took us about 6 hours to hike the volcano in total. We started gathering wood for the fire. Our tents and dinner food we not yet there because they were being brought up by horse! I’m pretty sure there was a miscommunication because the tents and dinner food didn’t arrive until 8:00pm! So, at the summit of the volcano it was FREEZING, like really really really cold. Definitely below 30 degrees Farenheit. We set up our tents in the dark and then the guides made us soup and spaghetti for dinner. Overall I was very impressed with the food. The pasta was starchy but when you are freezing cold and on a volcano anything tastes good. We slept sardine style in our tent to keep warm! I don’t think anyone in the group got more than 2 hours of sleep that night. We went to bed around 10ish or 11, but then had to wake up at 3:00am so that we cold hike the final part of the summit and see the sunrise. I was really scared when we climbed the summit because I had my blanket and sleeping bag around my shoulders because it was going to be even colder at the top. I was scared because it was pitch black and climbing the a steep summit and cold only see the light that my head lamp provided. But I kept on going in the line of people. It was even colder at the peak so we huddled and cuddled together and waited for the sunrise. When it came it was stunning. The sky when from a clear dark night starry sky to a beautiful orange sun. I was basically amoung the sea of clouds because we were up so high (I’ll soon load pictures on my flicker! Check them out!)). It was a VERY beautiful site! Even though the whole hike down my knees were shaking and the trip was one of the hardest things I’ve done it was definitely Vale la Pena (it was worth it!)!
Monday, February 2, 2009
Cosas divertidas (fun things)
Wow i cant believe i havent written in so long. I will catch you up on the most exciting things that have happened these past two weeks.
Glass Blowing
As i previously mentioned, there are many activities that one can attend during the school week. the week of the 20th of January i visited a place called Copavic during class. I went with my teacher Monica and a couple of other students. It was the coolest thing ever. Copavic is a place where they make all sorts of glass products in the style of glass blowing. They make everything from cups to bowls to glasses to figurines! They use different colors of glass to make different colors. I wish I could explain it better but there were many workers working to produce the glass products. When it came out of the hot hot stove it looked like lava and then they mold and shape it into whatever it is that they are making by blowing throw a tube to form a bubble. I got to blow my own glass!! I will try and add pictures to my blog but your best bet will be to continue checking my flicker account, I am really going to work hard on adding pictures this week.
Itra
Two weekends ago Jenna, Shannon, Monica, Tania (another teacher) and I went to a entertainment park called Itra. We had to take two different buses to get there. One micro bus and one chicken bus. One part of it is called Cocomil and the other is called Xetatul. I liked Cocomil because it was a water park! Probably one of the coolest water parts I have ever been to! Its one of the best or the biggest in Guatemala or central america I believe. The slides were huge and there were many different kinds. some had tubes and others had mats. Besides the amazing slides there was a lazy river, a wave pool, other park type things in the water, and regular pools. It was soo much fun!! Afterwards we went to Xetaul for a bit and rode some of the rides there. Xetatul was really nice but there was only about 6 rides there. I would prefer Valleyfair to Xetatul.
Mi Cumpleanos!
Even though it still seems surreal that I am 21 my birthday was really fun. I woke up and dressed cute for once. It is cold here in the mornings and since I didn't bring many long sleeve T-shirts or cute warm clothes I pretty much live in my north face. BUT on my birthday I wore a really cute dress given to me by yours truly Karri. I usually eat breakfast at seven, and when I came out of my room Sonia had brought a different boom box out and blared a celebratory birthday song for me. One was in English and the other was in Spanish. I had my normal breakfast which now consists of cereal and two pieces of bread, but it was good. Sonia also had a present for me on the table. She got me a really cute scarf and two bracelets! I wore the scarf the day the whole day because it coincidentally matched my dress perfectly! Sonia is so nice. My day at school was pretty much normal. Jenna is an amazing friend and told me that she had most of the day planned out already. She gave me flowers at school and steph gave me hot chocolate. Everyone at school wished me a Happy Birthday :) including a majority of the teachers. After school I went home and ate lunch with Sonia. Then I returned to school and checked the internet to see all of the lovely posts from friends on facebook and personal emails as well. They made me very happy and sad as well. Then me, Jenna, Steph, and Shannon all went out to eat. It was a surprise as to where we were going. The place was called Paris something....and it was very yummy. I had fettchini. And of course drum roll please.....my first real drink was.....a tequila sunrise! I actually had two with dinner, haha. Then all of a sudden Jenna was acting weird and said that we needed to leave the restaurant by 730, and I was like why? I thought that the plan was to go to a bar and meet up with a bunch of other people from our group. I just went along with it, and thought that they were probably waiting at the bar for us the whole night was planned by Jenna and I didn't know where we were going. Jenna said she needed to stop at Celas Maya (our school) to use the bathroom, she knew it would be open because Tuesday night because Tuesday night is movie night. Then she asked me if I had to go and i was like no....then she pushed me into one of the back rooms which was completely dark and about 40 people yelled SSSUURRRPPRRIIIISSEEE!!!! Jenna had planned a suprise party for me! It was awesome. Everyone from the group attended, the director of the program Brian and his wife Terese and their daugther Carolina, some other students from Celas Maya, some of the teachers from the school, and some local guatemalans that we recently have become friends with. Needless to say it was a party!! There was food and cake and balloons and.....A PINATA!! I was the only one to break it open. It was really exciting! After breaking open the pinata we ate cake and played some fun group games. I don't know if you all know of 'Vroom' or 'Ride my Pony' but that is what we played. After the party a small group of about 8 of us went to one of the bars in central park. Don't worry I didn't drink anything at the party at school, but I did have another drink at the bar :) I took a taxi home with Jenna afterwards! Needless to say even though it still feels a little surreal that I'm 21, my birthday in Guatemala will be a day I will never forget.
Glass Blowing
As i previously mentioned, there are many activities that one can attend during the school week. the week of the 20th of January i visited a place called Copavic during class. I went with my teacher Monica and a couple of other students. It was the coolest thing ever. Copavic is a place where they make all sorts of glass products in the style of glass blowing. They make everything from cups to bowls to glasses to figurines! They use different colors of glass to make different colors. I wish I could explain it better but there were many workers working to produce the glass products. When it came out of the hot hot stove it looked like lava and then they mold and shape it into whatever it is that they are making by blowing throw a tube to form a bubble. I got to blow my own glass!! I will try and add pictures to my blog but your best bet will be to continue checking my flicker account, I am really going to work hard on adding pictures this week.
Itra
Two weekends ago Jenna, Shannon, Monica, Tania (another teacher) and I went to a entertainment park called Itra. We had to take two different buses to get there. One micro bus and one chicken bus. One part of it is called Cocomil and the other is called Xetatul. I liked Cocomil because it was a water park! Probably one of the coolest water parts I have ever been to! Its one of the best or the biggest in Guatemala or central america I believe. The slides were huge and there were many different kinds. some had tubes and others had mats. Besides the amazing slides there was a lazy river, a wave pool, other park type things in the water, and regular pools. It was soo much fun!! Afterwards we went to Xetaul for a bit and rode some of the rides there. Xetatul was really nice but there was only about 6 rides there. I would prefer Valleyfair to Xetatul.
Mi Cumpleanos!
Even though it still seems surreal that I am 21 my birthday was really fun. I woke up and dressed cute for once. It is cold here in the mornings and since I didn't bring many long sleeve T-shirts or cute warm clothes I pretty much live in my north face. BUT on my birthday I wore a really cute dress given to me by yours truly Karri. I usually eat breakfast at seven, and when I came out of my room Sonia had brought a different boom box out and blared a celebratory birthday song for me. One was in English and the other was in Spanish. I had my normal breakfast which now consists of cereal and two pieces of bread, but it was good. Sonia also had a present for me on the table. She got me a really cute scarf and two bracelets! I wore the scarf the day the whole day because it coincidentally matched my dress perfectly! Sonia is so nice. My day at school was pretty much normal. Jenna is an amazing friend and told me that she had most of the day planned out already. She gave me flowers at school and steph gave me hot chocolate. Everyone at school wished me a Happy Birthday :) including a majority of the teachers. After school I went home and ate lunch with Sonia. Then I returned to school and checked the internet to see all of the lovely posts from friends on facebook and personal emails as well. They made me very happy and sad as well. Then me, Jenna, Steph, and Shannon all went out to eat. It was a surprise as to where we were going. The place was called Paris something....and it was very yummy. I had fettchini. And of course drum roll please.....my first real drink was.....a tequila sunrise! I actually had two with dinner, haha. Then all of a sudden Jenna was acting weird and said that we needed to leave the restaurant by 730, and I was like why? I thought that the plan was to go to a bar and meet up with a bunch of other people from our group. I just went along with it, and thought that they were probably waiting at the bar for us the whole night was planned by Jenna and I didn't know where we were going. Jenna said she needed to stop at Celas Maya (our school) to use the bathroom, she knew it would be open because Tuesday night because Tuesday night is movie night. Then she asked me if I had to go and i was like no....then she pushed me into one of the back rooms which was completely dark and about 40 people yelled SSSUURRRPPRRIIIISSEEE!!!! Jenna had planned a suprise party for me! It was awesome. Everyone from the group attended, the director of the program Brian and his wife Terese and their daugther Carolina, some other students from Celas Maya, some of the teachers from the school, and some local guatemalans that we recently have become friends with. Needless to say it was a party!! There was food and cake and balloons and.....A PINATA!! I was the only one to break it open. It was really exciting! After breaking open the pinata we ate cake and played some fun group games. I don't know if you all know of 'Vroom' or 'Ride my Pony' but that is what we played. After the party a small group of about 8 of us went to one of the bars in central park. Don't worry I didn't drink anything at the party at school, but I did have another drink at the bar :) I took a taxi home with Jenna afterwards! Needless to say even though it still feels a little surreal that I'm 21, my birthday in Guatemala will be a day I will never forget.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Antigua
We went on our first excursion this weekend to Antigua!
Overall it was a really fun time.
We left school around 12 on Friday so before classes ended.
We all crammed into a small bus that sat four people across shoulder to shoulder. Needless to say it was a long 5 hour bus ride. I'm just going to give you an outline of the trip for now.
Friday Night
-After settling in at the hotel, everyone in the group went out to dinner at the same place and our dinner was preordered so it was awesome that we could just get our food.
-The hotel was really nice we had 3 people in every room. I roomed with Jenna and Shannon.
-After dinner most of the group was tired so we just rested and played cards, and hung out at the hotel. It had a nice patio area to do so.
-Saturday was museum day. First we all went out to breakfast at a nice place that was outside. The weather was a little bit wamer in Antigua then it was in Xela. Our director gave us a list of the museums, churches, and historical places that we needed to visit and then we were on our own for the rest of the day. The large group split off into smaller groups to see the museums. I liked exploring with the smaller groups but it was also kind of weird because most of the museums and places there did not have any information about the places...literally not even in Spanish. The only place that did have some information was a small museum in one of the beautiful churches that I visited.
-Saturday night it was fun that everyone in our group chose to eat at the same restaurant called La Pina. There was live music playing while we were eating!
-After dinner we spent the night finding a place to dance.
-Sunday we had the day to ourselves so me Steph, Jenna, and Shannon went shopping!
We literally spent the whole day shopping and getting one last look at Antigua before getting on the bus at 2 and returning to Xela.
Overall it was a really fun time.
We left school around 12 on Friday so before classes ended.
We all crammed into a small bus that sat four people across shoulder to shoulder. Needless to say it was a long 5 hour bus ride. I'm just going to give you an outline of the trip for now.
Friday Night
-After settling in at the hotel, everyone in the group went out to dinner at the same place and our dinner was preordered so it was awesome that we could just get our food.
-The hotel was really nice we had 3 people in every room. I roomed with Jenna and Shannon.
-After dinner most of the group was tired so we just rested and played cards, and hung out at the hotel. It had a nice patio area to do so.
-Saturday was museum day. First we all went out to breakfast at a nice place that was outside. The weather was a little bit wamer in Antigua then it was in Xela. Our director gave us a list of the museums, churches, and historical places that we needed to visit and then we were on our own for the rest of the day. The large group split off into smaller groups to see the museums. I liked exploring with the smaller groups but it was also kind of weird because most of the museums and places there did not have any information about the places...literally not even in Spanish. The only place that did have some information was a small museum in one of the beautiful churches that I visited.
-Saturday night it was fun that everyone in our group chose to eat at the same restaurant called La Pina. There was live music playing while we were eating!
-After dinner we spent the night finding a place to dance.
-Sunday we had the day to ourselves so me Steph, Jenna, and Shannon went shopping!
We literally spent the whole day shopping and getting one last look at Antigua before getting on the bus at 2 and returning to Xela.
La Segunda Semana
Hello everyone.
Sorry it has taken me so long inbetween posts, but I have found that it will be difficult for me to update it as frequently as I would like to. Last week was January 12-16th (I'm keeping reference for myself as well since I am not going to keep a journal besides this one).
Monday the afternoon activity was to go to a museum of Mayan clothing, and then afterwards there was a conference/speech/lecture which talked about the Mayan Calendar. I thought it would be interesting and about 10 of us from the group went. However it wasn't what I thought it would be, it was actually kind of boring. It was just kind of an old building with a bunch of Mayan clothing. I did learn some things about the Mayan type of dress but otherwise the lecture about the calendar was difficult to understand.
Tuesday the afternoon activity was REALLY fun. We went to natural saunas called Las Cumbres. Each sauna room held about 4 people so me Jenna Shannon and Monica all went in the same one. The sauna felt great and Monica had lotion we could use to put on our skin to make it extra soft :) There was also a cold shower and changing room in our sauna. We spent about 20 min in the sauna and then we needed to take a cold shower because it was so hot!
The rest of the week was honestly pretty chill because I got a cold after sitting in the internet cafe with wet hair and the cold atmosphere so I wasn't feeling to well and I still am not feeling quite normal today but I'm hoping that my cold will get better soon!
Wednesday we had a meeting in the afternoon about our trip to Antigua!! Thursday Sonia's brother visited us. I was a little embarassed because my cold kind of took over and I was so congested that I couldn't really talk to him very well.....haha. Sonia had to translate my Spanish to him. I know a lot about Sonia's family but it would take me forever to write about it. I could blog just about her but I really want to add pictures today so I'll write about her later...hopefully!
A couple random things...Sonia does laundry which is awesome! I pay her to do mine and she is also willing to do the laundry of other students. Sonia is worried about my cold and she thinks that I should see a doctor, but I think it will get better. She at first thought it was the flu but it isn't. She didn't want me to shower last week before Antigua because she thought it would be worse for my cold...haha.
Sorry it has taken me so long inbetween posts, but I have found that it will be difficult for me to update it as frequently as I would like to. Last week was January 12-16th (I'm keeping reference for myself as well since I am not going to keep a journal besides this one).
Monday the afternoon activity was to go to a museum of Mayan clothing, and then afterwards there was a conference/speech/lecture which talked about the Mayan Calendar. I thought it would be interesting and about 10 of us from the group went. However it wasn't what I thought it would be, it was actually kind of boring. It was just kind of an old building with a bunch of Mayan clothing. I did learn some things about the Mayan type of dress but otherwise the lecture about the calendar was difficult to understand.
Tuesday the afternoon activity was REALLY fun. We went to natural saunas called Las Cumbres. Each sauna room held about 4 people so me Jenna Shannon and Monica all went in the same one. The sauna felt great and Monica had lotion we could use to put on our skin to make it extra soft :) There was also a cold shower and changing room in our sauna. We spent about 20 min in the sauna and then we needed to take a cold shower because it was so hot!
The rest of the week was honestly pretty chill because I got a cold after sitting in the internet cafe with wet hair and the cold atmosphere so I wasn't feeling to well and I still am not feeling quite normal today but I'm hoping that my cold will get better soon!
Wednesday we had a meeting in the afternoon about our trip to Antigua!! Thursday Sonia's brother visited us. I was a little embarassed because my cold kind of took over and I was so congested that I couldn't really talk to him very well.....haha. Sonia had to translate my Spanish to him. I know a lot about Sonia's family but it would take me forever to write about it. I could blog just about her but I really want to add pictures today so I'll write about her later...hopefully!
A couple random things...Sonia does laundry which is awesome! I pay her to do mine and she is also willing to do the laundry of other students. Sonia is worried about my cold and she thinks that I should see a doctor, but I think it will get better. She at first thought it was the flu but it isn't. She didn't want me to shower last week before Antigua because she thought it would be worse for my cold...haha.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Mi Primera Semana Aqui (My first week here)
Monday January 5th was the first day of classes at Celas Maya. Every morning I wake up at 6:45am and then eat breakfast at the table my myself at 7:00am. Then I get ready and walk to school which starts at 8:00am. Every student has their own personal tutor whom they work with from 8am to 1pm. I really like my tutor, her name is Monica, she is young...like 25 I think. This week we have been kind of going back to the basics of present tense irregular verbs, interrogatives, etc. We do exercises and we also have conversations. I love the one on one attention in Spanish! Classes end at one and then we are done for the day. Celas Maya (the school) offers many activities both in the afternoon and at night. Sometimes the activities are free like the salsa lessons on Wednesday and sometimes you have to pay, but the activities are pretty cheap. On Monday a bunch of us went on our first activity, a hike to La Muela, which is a peak slash mountain. The people at the school told us that it was just going to be una camina (a walk) or hike up the mountain, BUT no it was waaayyy harder!! We walked up several inclined paved streets first for about 2 hours, and then the terrain switched to forest type paths and then solid rocks and boulders! We basically went rock climbing for another 2 hours. However, despite the fact that my legs have been sore for a couple days and it was one of the hardest hikes of been on in awhile, the view was definitely worth it! We were VERY high up. I found the whole trip fun and amusing, especially because no one in our group knew that the hike was going to be that hard! The walk back felt like it took forever. We left school and walked to the mountain around 2:30pm and the leader said that we would return around 5:30pm but we didn´t get back until 7:00pm! When I finally arrived home I ate dinner, took a shower, did a little homework, and went to bed!
Tuesday I had class, which I will have everyday from 8am to 1pm, so that won´t change for awhile. When people want to meet up and do something, Celas Maya is where we always meet up. I don’t know if I mentioned this yet, but we get a ‘pausa’ or a break from 1030 to 1100 everyday. During this time people either check their email, chat with each other, eat the free bread snack provided OR they go and buy a coco banana from Anna’s host mom who sells chocolate frozen bananas, pineapple, and strawberries, they are so delicious! Today a bunch of us didn’t really feel like going on the activity which was a visit to a cemetery which I actually might go on later because it is supposed to be really beautiful and different from an American cemetery. About six of us took a micro bus to Hiper Pais which is the big commercial type mall in Xela because we all really wanted to buy cell phones so that we can keep in touch with the group and loved ones from home. The micro buses are funny but great. All you have to do is simply stand on the correct side of the road on a street near school and get in the one where the driver or little boy is yelling “HHHHIIIPPPERRR, HIIIPPPEERR!!!!” (pronounced e-ber in Spanish). The ride was really cheap too, it was about a 15 min ride to the mall and it only cost about 2 Q, so if you read my conversion above thats like…not even 50 cents!! I thought that Hiber Pais was pretty nice for a Guatemalan mall, I would probably compare it to a smaller mall in the U.S. Hence I probably won’t go there too much because I think I’ll like shopping on the streets and being more involved in the Guatemalan culture better. We bought our phones from a store called Tigo. Its basically the Verizon Wireless of Latin America. You see advertisements for Tigo everywhere, even in the poorest of towns. We each bought a phone for 200 Q and got 30 free minutes with it, pretty cheap if you ask me. However you don’t have a plan, you have to buy the minutes for the phone. After we all had our phones we sat around for awhile and just looked like a bunch of Americans exchanging numbers. The number exchange was made even better when we all decided to buy frozen yogurt, it was delicious! They take fresh frozen fruit and make it for you. Yum, I’ll go back to the mall just for the frozen yogurt!
Wednesday January 7th
I am getting to know Monica better now and I love it. I have found that we become closer everyday through our conversations. I have no problem telling her things I'm frustrated with or things about my host family or just simply telling her about my family, friends, and boyfriend back at home. I was super excited for the activity today! Jenna said that we should for sure go some time! The activites at Celas will be offered more than once during our time here since the average Celas Maya student spends about 2-3 weeks here. We decided to go today! A bunch of us signed up to visit Las Fuentes Georginas. They are natural hot springs! We took about a 20 min bus ride, but this time it was in a tour van that the school owns so we all just packed in. Kind of remided me of la Gua Gua van in the Dominican. The hot springs were beautiful and…SUPER HOT! There were about 4 medium-small sized pools. Each had a little bit of a different temperature ranging from very hot to warm. I'm pretty sure I went in all of them. Some people including myself got a little light headed after entering and exiting the pools a couple of times. They felt great though because the atmosphere of the mountains is cool. A couple people in our group didn’t bring their swimsuits….I felt bad for them however I believe that the leader had said that, when the activities were introduced on Monday (the activities are introduced every Monday), that it was a necessity (obviously because the pools are like giant hot tubs). I came home for dinner and then I also wanted to do the night activity which was free salsa lessons! A bunch of us met up at school and walked to one of the local discotecas, which are clubs with salsa dancing and a bar. The one we walked to is called La Parranda, its nice and modern and I learned the basic steps again and then learned some fun turns.
Thursday-Friday
I didn't really do much on Thursday. It was nice just to vedge and spend a little time on the internet. If I failed to mention before I do not have internet in my house. At times it is unfair because some students do have internet in their house and it would be a lot easier, oh well it has both its benefits and its downfalls. That is why I haven' posted my blog until now. I have been slowly updating it and after a while I just decided that I wanted the first week to be posted before I sent everyone a mass email with my blog address on it.
Friday night was our first night out! Since I mentioned that we are not the only people studying at Celas Maya there is a graduation party at the school for the other students here every week! The party started at 7:00ish, but if you wanted to attend you had to bring something ie food or drink. Me, Angela, Shannon B, and Jenna walked down to La Dispensa which is a local grocery/convinient store to buy something. Jenna and Angela ended up making jello cake (a Jenna favorite), and Shannon and I bought citrus juice and soda for punch. Everyone else arrived later with their contribution to the fiesta. It was the most random buffet ever! There was spaghetti, cake, punch, pizza, home-made guacamole and salsa, chips, cookies and more! All of the things I listed were brought by people in my group :) After the graduation party died down/was over we all hung out for a little bit at the school, and then we all went to dance at another discoteca! This time we went to La Rumba which was a popular disoteca amoung last years travelers. It was very fun, loud salsa music and some techno, free popcorn, some drinks, friends, and Guatemalans equal a good time! The streets here are dangerous at night, especially on the weekends. I would never walk home alone, so we walk home in groups, usually a bunch of girls with one guy does the trick.
Saturday
It felt awesome to sleep in today. I wasn't really sure how it was going to work with our host families serving three meals a day. I thought Sonia would wake me up for breakfast but thankfully she let me do my own thing, and I just ate when I got up. Today I went shopping! Me, Jenna, Shannon B, Angela, and Mike A all met up at school and walked about 10-15 minutes to a store called La Democracia. It is an outdoor market with TONS of stores, and you can pretty much buy ANYTHING there like....underwear and socks, to DVDs and music, to Guatemalan souveneirs todos. I bought a cute Guatemalan looking purse, a coin purse, and a head band, but I will definitely be going back because there is no way I could visit/see all of the store in one day. I was tired after our shopping extravaganza so I didn't know if I wanted to go out salsa again. I met up with some people around 8:00pm to go to a place called the Blue Angel which is a movie cafe. What's a movie cafe you say? Its a small place that sells food (as in meals) and drinks and every night it plays 2 different movies in the movie rooms which have a regular sized TV and a bunch of seating. It cost 10 Q to view a movie, but they do have free wifi and cheap food there! After the Blue Angel we went to El Pasarje which is a nicer restaurant in an enclosed area. A couple of us ordered some awesome dessert, I had helado chocolate(icecream).
Sunday
I slept in again today, and used the internet again in the afternoon. I cried for the first time today. I think I was just frustrated talking about the streets of Guatemala but really all is going awesome here! On Thursday, I told Monica (my teacher) that I liked her nails, they are long...and real! I asked her if she had polish and if I could borrow some. Since she is so so nice she brought a small bag to share. Sunday me, Jenna, and Shannon B got together and at Jenna's house and painted our nails. It was cool seeing another house. Jenna's house looks like a Shanty from the outside but on the inside it was nice! Her house has two floors! I had to rush home to be there by 5:30 so I could go to church with Sonia. Something excited happened at church! Like at home there are prayers of the faithful...ya know when the person says, "For the poor." and then the congregation says "Lord hear or prayer." Except here they pass out slips of paper to random people to go up and read into a mircophone and Sonia and I both got one! I was SOO nervous, but Sonia gave me the easier one and it was only like a sentence long. I asked her a few pronunciation questions and when it was time I went up and read the prayer to the church! At least I didn't have to face the church....the people that get the slips face the alter instead of the church to read them.
Tuesday I had class, which I will have everyday from 8am to 1pm, so that won´t change for awhile. When people want to meet up and do something, Celas Maya is where we always meet up. I don’t know if I mentioned this yet, but we get a ‘pausa’ or a break from 1030 to 1100 everyday. During this time people either check their email, chat with each other, eat the free bread snack provided OR they go and buy a coco banana from Anna’s host mom who sells chocolate frozen bananas, pineapple, and strawberries, they are so delicious! Today a bunch of us didn’t really feel like going on the activity which was a visit to a cemetery which I actually might go on later because it is supposed to be really beautiful and different from an American cemetery. About six of us took a micro bus to Hiper Pais which is the big commercial type mall in Xela because we all really wanted to buy cell phones so that we can keep in touch with the group and loved ones from home. The micro buses are funny but great. All you have to do is simply stand on the correct side of the road on a street near school and get in the one where the driver or little boy is yelling “HHHHIIIPPPERRR, HIIIPPPEERR!!!!” (pronounced e-ber in Spanish). The ride was really cheap too, it was about a 15 min ride to the mall and it only cost about 2 Q, so if you read my conversion above thats like…not even 50 cents!! I thought that Hiber Pais was pretty nice for a Guatemalan mall, I would probably compare it to a smaller mall in the U.S. Hence I probably won’t go there too much because I think I’ll like shopping on the streets and being more involved in the Guatemalan culture better. We bought our phones from a store called Tigo. Its basically the Verizon Wireless of Latin America. You see advertisements for Tigo everywhere, even in the poorest of towns. We each bought a phone for 200 Q and got 30 free minutes with it, pretty cheap if you ask me. However you don’t have a plan, you have to buy the minutes for the phone. After we all had our phones we sat around for awhile and just looked like a bunch of Americans exchanging numbers. The number exchange was made even better when we all decided to buy frozen yogurt, it was delicious! They take fresh frozen fruit and make it for you. Yum, I’ll go back to the mall just for the frozen yogurt!
Wednesday January 7th
I am getting to know Monica better now and I love it. I have found that we become closer everyday through our conversations. I have no problem telling her things I'm frustrated with or things about my host family or just simply telling her about my family, friends, and boyfriend back at home. I was super excited for the activity today! Jenna said that we should for sure go some time! The activites at Celas will be offered more than once during our time here since the average Celas Maya student spends about 2-3 weeks here. We decided to go today! A bunch of us signed up to visit Las Fuentes Georginas. They are natural hot springs! We took about a 20 min bus ride, but this time it was in a tour van that the school owns so we all just packed in. Kind of remided me of la Gua Gua van in the Dominican. The hot springs were beautiful and…SUPER HOT! There were about 4 medium-small sized pools. Each had a little bit of a different temperature ranging from very hot to warm. I'm pretty sure I went in all of them. Some people including myself got a little light headed after entering and exiting the pools a couple of times. They felt great though because the atmosphere of the mountains is cool. A couple people in our group didn’t bring their swimsuits….I felt bad for them however I believe that the leader had said that, when the activities were introduced on Monday (the activities are introduced every Monday), that it was a necessity (obviously because the pools are like giant hot tubs). I came home for dinner and then I also wanted to do the night activity which was free salsa lessons! A bunch of us met up at school and walked to one of the local discotecas, which are clubs with salsa dancing and a bar. The one we walked to is called La Parranda, its nice and modern and I learned the basic steps again and then learned some fun turns.
Thursday-Friday
I didn't really do much on Thursday. It was nice just to vedge and spend a little time on the internet. If I failed to mention before I do not have internet in my house. At times it is unfair because some students do have internet in their house and it would be a lot easier, oh well it has both its benefits and its downfalls. That is why I haven' posted my blog until now. I have been slowly updating it and after a while I just decided that I wanted the first week to be posted before I sent everyone a mass email with my blog address on it.
Friday night was our first night out! Since I mentioned that we are not the only people studying at Celas Maya there is a graduation party at the school for the other students here every week! The party started at 7:00ish, but if you wanted to attend you had to bring something ie food or drink. Me, Angela, Shannon B, and Jenna walked down to La Dispensa which is a local grocery/convinient store to buy something. Jenna and Angela ended up making jello cake (a Jenna favorite), and Shannon and I bought citrus juice and soda for punch. Everyone else arrived later with their contribution to the fiesta. It was the most random buffet ever! There was spaghetti, cake, punch, pizza, home-made guacamole and salsa, chips, cookies and more! All of the things I listed were brought by people in my group :) After the graduation party died down/was over we all hung out for a little bit at the school, and then we all went to dance at another discoteca! This time we went to La Rumba which was a popular disoteca amoung last years travelers. It was very fun, loud salsa music and some techno, free popcorn, some drinks, friends, and Guatemalans equal a good time! The streets here are dangerous at night, especially on the weekends. I would never walk home alone, so we walk home in groups, usually a bunch of girls with one guy does the trick.
Saturday
It felt awesome to sleep in today. I wasn't really sure how it was going to work with our host families serving three meals a day. I thought Sonia would wake me up for breakfast but thankfully she let me do my own thing, and I just ate when I got up. Today I went shopping! Me, Jenna, Shannon B, Angela, and Mike A all met up at school and walked about 10-15 minutes to a store called La Democracia. It is an outdoor market with TONS of stores, and you can pretty much buy ANYTHING there like....underwear and socks, to DVDs and music, to Guatemalan souveneirs todos. I bought a cute Guatemalan looking purse, a coin purse, and a head band, but I will definitely be going back because there is no way I could visit/see all of the store in one day. I was tired after our shopping extravaganza so I didn't know if I wanted to go out salsa again. I met up with some people around 8:00pm to go to a place called the Blue Angel which is a movie cafe. What's a movie cafe you say? Its a small place that sells food (as in meals) and drinks and every night it plays 2 different movies in the movie rooms which have a regular sized TV and a bunch of seating. It cost 10 Q to view a movie, but they do have free wifi and cheap food there! After the Blue Angel we went to El Pasarje which is a nicer restaurant in an enclosed area. A couple of us ordered some awesome dessert, I had helado chocolate(icecream).
Sunday
I slept in again today, and used the internet again in the afternoon. I cried for the first time today. I think I was just frustrated talking about the streets of Guatemala but really all is going awesome here! On Thursday, I told Monica (my teacher) that I liked her nails, they are long...and real! I asked her if she had polish and if I could borrow some. Since she is so so nice she brought a small bag to share. Sunday me, Jenna, and Shannon B got together and at Jenna's house and painted our nails. It was cool seeing another house. Jenna's house looks like a Shanty from the outside but on the inside it was nice! Her house has two floors! I had to rush home to be there by 5:30 so I could go to church with Sonia. Something excited happened at church! Like at home there are prayers of the faithful...ya know when the person says, "For the poor." and then the congregation says "Lord hear or prayer." Except here they pass out slips of paper to random people to go up and read into a mircophone and Sonia and I both got one! I was SOO nervous, but Sonia gave me the easier one and it was only like a sentence long. I asked her a few pronunciation questions and when it was time I went up and read the prayer to the church! At least I didn't have to face the church....the people that get the slips face the alter instead of the church to read them.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
The Beginning: January 3rd & 4th
Hola y bienvienidos a Guatemala! (Hello and welcome to Guatemala!)
Today is January 6th 2009. I have now been in Guatemala for 3 days! Every day here is an adventure, there is rarely a dull moment. The trip from the states went well, I flew from Minneapolis to Houston and from Houston to Guatemala City. The first flight was about 3 hours and the second was about 2 hours. It was fun flying into Houston because we met up with three of our group members who are from Colorado. There are 23 of us in total, all who attend St. Ben’s/St. John’s. We had about half of the group when we flew from Houston to Guatemala City. The flights went well, I slept almost the whole time on both flights. Once we arrived in the airport of Guatemala City we went through customs and then found our luggage. Then we all went outside and Brian, the director of our program, was waiting for us. Once we had everyone in the group we loaded up our coach bus and began the five hour long bus ride to Xela, where we will all be residing for 4 months. The bus ride was probably one of the scariest things so far. Since we didn’t arrive in Xela until a little after 8pm, it was dark and everyone on the bus was anxiously awaiting to meet their family. We kept going up and up into the mountains. I was apprehensive because I knew that once we arrived in Xela, particularly at Celas Maya, our language school we would all go our separate ways. We kept going up and up into the mountains. Once we finally arrived we loaded our luggage into a smaller bus/van and then walked a couple of blocks to Celas Maya. There all of our families were anxiously awaiting our arrival. All we had time to do was send our parents a quick email telling them that we arrived and then we were off with our families! I was one of the last ones out of the internet café, which is located in the school, because the computers were super slow since we were all trying to use them at the same time.
My host mom Sonia is SO adorable. She is like my grandma and my mom here. Her son Victor and Victor’s son Roberto picked me up from the school. They loaded my luggage into their car, which also made me nervous because I thought that that meant that my house was far away from the school (but it really isn't too far away). I also thought that Victor and Roberto would live with us but they don’t. Its just me and Sonia, which originally I was more nervous about, but now I am seeing its benefits more and more. My house is small but cute. There is a living room right when you come in the door, and then you turn the corner and there is a long hallway, the first door on the right is my room and then the next is Sonia’s room. The bathroom is right across the hall from both of us, and then further down the hall is the little kitchen (pictures are soon to come). Sonia and I ate dinner together after I arrived and I did my best to start up a conversation with her. My Spanish is….not good, but then again it’s not horrible. After dinner I unpacked a bit and went to bed. My room is nice it has a nightstand, bed, desk, and a nice sized closet for my clothes.
On Sunday I woke up and took a shower. I have yet to shower in the afternoon, but I’m thinking that might be a better time. When I showered in the morning there is only a trickle of hot water. It is really cold in the morning and at night here. Way colder than I originally imagined. So I had a warm shower, but with very little hot water and then I got out and the atmosphere is freezing! I was actually cold in the shower too because there is so little pressure, but one can’t complain too much. After my shower Sonia walked me to Celas Maya for orientation. I took notes along the way so I wouldn’t get lost on my way home. I live about seven or eight minutes (by foot) from school, which unfortunately seems like a long walk, especially in comparison to other students in my group. After meeting at school we walked a short distance to a hotel for brunch. The food there was really good, gourmet style with eggs, fruit, bread, beans, fresh juice, pretty much the works. The director of Celas Maya whose name is Josua and our director Brian both talked about things like safety, places to go, things to do, the school, health, etc. After breakfast we took a small tour of Xela, but the Xela that is around us because it is a huge city, the second largest in Guatemala. It was fun to see Central Park and some of the stores that Josua talked about in his speech. After we were done with the small tour, everyone went home for lunch. Our families are required to provide us with 3 meals a day. I like the food thus far, there is a variety of things I have eaten….potatoes, rice, beans, chicken, different hot dishes, platanos or plantains, beef, soup, MUCHO! After lunch some of us met up and went to one of the local grocery stores called La Dispensa to get some Queztales from the ATM. The currency here is about 7.8 Q to the American dollar. Then we just walked around the city a little bit. I had to be home by 515 because Sonia asked me to go to church with her. Church started at 6pm but it was super packed, so we left at 530pm. Mass was similar to that of a Catholic mass, I liked it. We then came back and had dinner with a friend of Sonia’s named Freddy. Since I had already had a couple of meals with just me and Sonia, it was nice to have someone else at the table. Freddy is 25 and he is studying medicine to become a doctor. He has a girlfriend named Maria who is coming to live with Sonia and I in February! Freddy is really really nice, kinda felt like a big brother to me the moment I met him. He also knows a little bit of English so that’s nice as well, he is just a funny nice guy. Maria was born here but moved to Canada when she was 5, then returned to Guatemala when she was 18. Then at some point she returned to Canada, but she has lived with Sonia before, for a long period of time. Maria is studying medicine to become a doctor as well! Anyways she is in Canada now and is coming to stay with us in mid February.
Today is January 6th 2009. I have now been in Guatemala for 3 days! Every day here is an adventure, there is rarely a dull moment. The trip from the states went well, I flew from Minneapolis to Houston and from Houston to Guatemala City. The first flight was about 3 hours and the second was about 2 hours. It was fun flying into Houston because we met up with three of our group members who are from Colorado. There are 23 of us in total, all who attend St. Ben’s/St. John’s. We had about half of the group when we flew from Houston to Guatemala City. The flights went well, I slept almost the whole time on both flights. Once we arrived in the airport of Guatemala City we went through customs and then found our luggage. Then we all went outside and Brian, the director of our program, was waiting for us. Once we had everyone in the group we loaded up our coach bus and began the five hour long bus ride to Xela, where we will all be residing for 4 months. The bus ride was probably one of the scariest things so far. Since we didn’t arrive in Xela until a little after 8pm, it was dark and everyone on the bus was anxiously awaiting to meet their family. We kept going up and up into the mountains. I was apprehensive because I knew that once we arrived in Xela, particularly at Celas Maya, our language school we would all go our separate ways. We kept going up and up into the mountains. Once we finally arrived we loaded our luggage into a smaller bus/van and then walked a couple of blocks to Celas Maya. There all of our families were anxiously awaiting our arrival. All we had time to do was send our parents a quick email telling them that we arrived and then we were off with our families! I was one of the last ones out of the internet café, which is located in the school, because the computers were super slow since we were all trying to use them at the same time.
My host mom Sonia is SO adorable. She is like my grandma and my mom here. Her son Victor and Victor’s son Roberto picked me up from the school. They loaded my luggage into their car, which also made me nervous because I thought that that meant that my house was far away from the school (but it really isn't too far away). I also thought that Victor and Roberto would live with us but they don’t. Its just me and Sonia, which originally I was more nervous about, but now I am seeing its benefits more and more. My house is small but cute. There is a living room right when you come in the door, and then you turn the corner and there is a long hallway, the first door on the right is my room and then the next is Sonia’s room. The bathroom is right across the hall from both of us, and then further down the hall is the little kitchen (pictures are soon to come). Sonia and I ate dinner together after I arrived and I did my best to start up a conversation with her. My Spanish is….not good, but then again it’s not horrible. After dinner I unpacked a bit and went to bed. My room is nice it has a nightstand, bed, desk, and a nice sized closet for my clothes.
On Sunday I woke up and took a shower. I have yet to shower in the afternoon, but I’m thinking that might be a better time. When I showered in the morning there is only a trickle of hot water. It is really cold in the morning and at night here. Way colder than I originally imagined. So I had a warm shower, but with very little hot water and then I got out and the atmosphere is freezing! I was actually cold in the shower too because there is so little pressure, but one can’t complain too much. After my shower Sonia walked me to Celas Maya for orientation. I took notes along the way so I wouldn’t get lost on my way home. I live about seven or eight minutes (by foot) from school, which unfortunately seems like a long walk, especially in comparison to other students in my group. After meeting at school we walked a short distance to a hotel for brunch. The food there was really good, gourmet style with eggs, fruit, bread, beans, fresh juice, pretty much the works. The director of Celas Maya whose name is Josua and our director Brian both talked about things like safety, places to go, things to do, the school, health, etc. After breakfast we took a small tour of Xela, but the Xela that is around us because it is a huge city, the second largest in Guatemala. It was fun to see Central Park and some of the stores that Josua talked about in his speech. After we were done with the small tour, everyone went home for lunch. Our families are required to provide us with 3 meals a day. I like the food thus far, there is a variety of things I have eaten….potatoes, rice, beans, chicken, different hot dishes, platanos or plantains, beef, soup, MUCHO! After lunch some of us met up and went to one of the local grocery stores called La Dispensa to get some Queztales from the ATM. The currency here is about 7.8 Q to the American dollar. Then we just walked around the city a little bit. I had to be home by 515 because Sonia asked me to go to church with her. Church started at 6pm but it was super packed, so we left at 530pm. Mass was similar to that of a Catholic mass, I liked it. We then came back and had dinner with a friend of Sonia’s named Freddy. Since I had already had a couple of meals with just me and Sonia, it was nice to have someone else at the table. Freddy is 25 and he is studying medicine to become a doctor. He has a girlfriend named Maria who is coming to live with Sonia and I in February! Freddy is really really nice, kinda felt like a big brother to me the moment I met him. He also knows a little bit of English so that’s nice as well, he is just a funny nice guy. Maria was born here but moved to Canada when she was 5, then returned to Guatemala when she was 18. Then at some point she returned to Canada, but she has lived with Sonia before, for a long period of time. Maria is studying medicine to become a doctor as well! Anyways she is in Canada now and is coming to stay with us in mid February.
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