Friday, July 30

Today during class our maestra took us to a Mennonite bakery. The woman working was from New York and came here to run the bakery. They live in el campo (the country), so the bakery is only open on Tuesdays and Fridays. The donuts were SO good! We also played "Manzanas con Manzanas" during class (Apples to Apples in Spanish). It was really fun! Our maestra, Rocio, is really nice and has lots of interesting stories to tell.

For lunch today Veronica made empanadas (cornmeal, potatoes, onions, chicken lightly fried). They were amazing! Terri and I each ate 3! After lunch we met up with the group. Christian took us on a tour of el centro historico, but it was pretty aburrido. We stopped in at a little cafe to have a drink, then went to dinner at Guiseppe's (one of the few Italian restaurants in town). It was decent, but was not like Italian in the US.

Tomorrow we are leaving early for Lake Atitlan. We are so excited to stay in a hotel with (hopefully) cleaner rooms and bathrooms! Lake Atitlan is rumored to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. I'll post pictures, but I don't know if we'll have internet access this weekend.

El Cuartito...and my eyes are closed!

Bailando con Jaime

El Edicio Municipal

Thursday, July 29

This morning, we awoke to...el gallo, again! We are about ready to matar el gallo! Every morning at 4:30 he starts up.

We had "mush" again for breakfast, then headed to school. We did 2.5 hours of classroom work, then talked our teacher into taking us into town again for some "cultural learning." Nicole came with us because her teacher can't walk well. (At Casa Xelaju, the teacher student ratios are 1:2 or 1:1, which is wonderful!). We went to the post office to mail our post cards. We were shocked to find out that it would cost 6.5 quetzales (almost $1) to send one postcard!

Then we walked around el mercado again, took lots of pictures, and went to el edificio municipal. That building is SO beautiful! It was built in the early 1800s and the architecture is so cool! (Chrissy, you'll LOVE the pictures!).

After school, Terri and I walked home for almuerzo. Veronica had made pollo frito (fried chicken), pasta (!), and cooked vegetables. The chicken was amazing! While we were eating she said, "Como Kentucky?" ("Like Kentucky?). She's a funny lady!

When we finished our pollo frito, I sat outside and read my book (actually, Alicia's book). It was so hot on the patio that I had to put on shorts and a tank top. It felt wonderful! The first two days we were here, it was chilly and rained both afternoons. But today and yesterday were absolutely perfect. Sunny all day!

This afternoon we had our clases de salsa. Casa Xelaju brought in 2 salsa teachers. It was so much fun! We learned basic steps and advanced steps. Because there were only a few men, Jaime (who works at Casa Xelaju), had the privilege of dancing will all of the women. I think he had a pretty good afternoon!

After salsa class a few of us went to a cafe called "El Cuartito" (The LIttle Room) for coffee and internet. We were surprised by all the Gringos that were there. We saw more Gringos there than we have all week in the city! The owner of the cafe is from Washington and has lived here for 4 years with her Guatemalan husband. She was really nice, and so was the cafe! Once again, we had chocolate caliente. It is so delicious here! Hot chocolate back in the states will never taste the same after trying this stuff!

La Pedrera

Helping Lorinda with matematicas

Wednesday, July 28

Once again, we have been so busy that I haven't had time to write! Today we had class in the morning. We talked our teacher into taking us for un camino (walk) to el centro for class! We walked around in el mercado (market), bought a few souvenirs, then went home for lunch. We had lunch with Veronica, Susanna, and Patricia - they are all so nice! After lunch we took a short siesta, then headed back to school.

For our afternoon activity, we volunteered at La Pedrera, which is a program for under-privileged children. The kids come to La Pedrera to get help with with homework after school. To get to the school, we had to walk for half an hour up steep, steep hills. We were exhausted by the time we arrived, but the view was AMAZING! I think I took about 60 pictures in the 2 hours we were there!

On the way home that night, Terri and I stopped at El balcon de Enrique, which is a beautiful rooftop restaurant in el centro. We had chocolate caliente with Anita (from Maryland), Paula (from Maine), Nicole (from Washington), Richard (England), and Angela (New Zealand). The chocolate caliente was the best we had EVER tasted! After El Balcon, we went home, did our tarea, and went to bed.

While we were there, I worked with 2 adorable little girls: Lorinda, who is 10, and Maricruz, who is 6. We worked on multiplication, division, printing, and addition. After the kids finished their homework, we took them outside to play. David (from our group) is a Phy. Ed. teacher back in MN and he brought a parachute for the kids to play with. They thought it was the coolest thing ever! We played a few games, and then David announced that he was going to donate the parachute to the program. The kids were thrilled!

When we left La Pedrera, we were walking down the steep hill and there were 6 cows on the path! We took more pictures on the way down, and were exhausted by the time we reached school.

Tuesday, July 27

This morning we had mush and toast again, then headed straight to school. It was freezing, so I had to wear a long sleeve t-shirt and a sweatshirt (the warmest clothes I have here!). Class was great again.

After class, we went home and had an amazing lunch. Chicken with rice in tortillas. After lunch it was getting sunny and warm, so I changed into flip flops. The weather is so weird here! At 2:30 we met at school for a Guatemalan cooking class. It was awesome! Judith taught us how to make platanos rellenos (stuffed plantains). Fried bananas, fried refried beans, cinnamon, vanilla, and sugar. It sounds weird, but they were delicious!

Now we are sitting in a neat little cafe drinking cappuccinos, working on tarea, and using the internet.

That's all for now! Hasta Luego!

Monday, July 26

After a sleepless night, we were happy to see the sun! Veronica made "mush" and pan tostado (toast) for breakfast. The "mush" was oatmeal, but it didn't look very appetizing. It was white milky liquid with chunks in it. :/ I decided to be brave and try some...it was delicious!

After breakfast Veronica walked us to Casa Xelaju (Shay-Lah-Who), which is where we're taking our Spanish classes. It was a short walk (less than 10 minutes) and it was a beautiful morning. However, the walk was a little scary because the streets are very narrow, the sidewalks are narrow or non-existent, and the drivers are crazy. People do not stop for pedestrians here!

When we arrived at school, we met our teacher Rocio. She is wonderful! Very nice, very funny, and very accommodating to our needs. We had class from 8 until 1, with a break from 10:30-11. This will be our school schedule every day. During the breaks they serve us coffee, tea, and pan (different types of sweet bread). Class was great today! I felt like I learned (or re-learned) so much in that short time!

At 1:00 we were dismissed for almuerzo (lunch). Terri and I walked back to our casa, where Veronica had lunch waiting for us. She had made fried fish, potatoes, and tomatoes...delicious! Veronica's daughter Susanna and her friend joined us for lunch. They are visiting from Guatemala City and they are really nice!

After lunch, Terri and walked to El Centro (downtown) to exchange our dollars for quetzales. We were surprised that each bank was guarded by officers with machine guns! Crazy! Because it took so long to exchange our money, we didn't leave El Centro until 2:30, which is when we were supposed to be back at school for orientation. We thought we knew where we were going, but it turns out we didn't. We were completely lost! We asked 5 different people where Casa Xelaju was and nobody knew! Finally, we found someone who knew where it was and he helped up get there. By this time we were exhausted an sweaty after walking up and down steep hills! We arrived almost 20 minutes late, but luckily the orientation hadn't started yet.

After orientation, Christian (our "tour guide") brought us to El Centro to buy international pre-paid cell phones. Then we stopped in at a pub to grab drinks and escape from the rain. (See picture below). We stayed at the pub for awhile and had delicious chocolate caliente (hot chocolate). On the way home we stopped at el supermercado. It was very small and didn't have a great selection. We bought a few snacks, beverages, etc. I bought 2 small pillows for 1.50 each because my pillows at Veronica's are flat and hard. We then had to walk home in the pouring rain. The streets had so much water flowing down...it looked like a river!

When we finally made it home, we were soaked and cold. Veronica had a light supper prepared for us: platanos fritos (fried plantains) and refried beans. The combination sounds weird, but it was delicious! After dinner, we did our tarea (homework) and went to bed. We were both exhausted!

Sorry I haven't posted anything yet! We've been so busy the last 3 days and the internet is very slow here. Here's a short description of our trip so far:

Sunday, July 25th

After 7 hours of flying/layovers, we finally arrive in Guatemala City. After going through customs we walked outside where there were TONS of people waiting. We felt like celebrities! We took a few pictures, loaded our suitcases on top of the bus, and headed out. GCity is beautiful! The city is surrounded by mountains on all sides. So cool! After leaving the main part of the city, someone asked Julio (our contact at Casa Xelaju) how long the bus ride would be. He responded: "Well, the road we usually take has been shut down because of mudslides. We're going to take a different route, which will take 4 hours instead of 3." Well, after 6 hours, we FINALLY arrived in Quetzaltenango. The bus ride was rough...potholes everywhere, rain, heat, etc. It was a little scary too! The drivers here are crazy! We arrived in Xela (nickname for Quetzaltenango) around 8:30p.m., after having been up since 4 a.m. We were all exhausted by the time we were dropped off at our host homes. Terri and I met Veronica (pronounced Bear-oh-nick-ah) and toured our house. After the tour of the house, I started to panic. It was not what I was expecting and was a bit of a culture shock. However, I've gotten used to it, and have realized that it could be worse! Veronica is probably in her late 60s and has 3 grown children. She is very nice and helpful!

Terri and I went to bed as soon as we got settled into our rooms (which were outside in the courtyard). My door doesn't lock, so I didn't sleep muchthe first night! I kept thinking someone would come in if I fell asleep! I finally fell asleep well after 1a.m., only to be woken up by a BAND in the street at 4:30. Drums, trumpets, and singing that lasted until 5:30, which is when the rooster started. Needless to say, it was a rough night! In the morning, we found out that the band was playing because the colegio (high school) in town was having an anniversary celebration all week. However, the rooster will be a problem every day :/