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!