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!