Solo diciendo...

Mine and Audrey's favorite phrase to say is...'just sayin.' For some reason on this trip it's ended up making it's way into most of what we say, therefore once we really got into Spanish classes we concluded we probably needed to have a sufficient Spanish translation for it:) We think 'solo diciendo' will do.

So, I've alluded a couple of times to some more below the surface or bigger picture things going on in my mind...so this post is just going to be some of me processing and trying to share some of my thoughts of where I am right now! No bed bug stories or wading through caves...but some of my thoughts:)

So, the first couple of weeks really were just go, go, go. It was super busy, we were either out doing something crazy, just exploring cities, getting to know random people, or studying Spanish and figuring out our short term plans. All so so good, just not anytime to think and ponder and process. Probably not good (for me at least...you that know me really well know this...well:) in the long run but I was ok with it for the time being:) I wasn't really missing home or life or people that much...it was weird (and it sounds kind of terrible) but I was glad for it, as that is kind of one of my fears...that I'm just not gonna be able to handle being away from people and my life in DC and normalcy and being comfortable all the time.

THEN- we started going on long bus rides in our traveling around to different towns. When you're in a minibus for 6-10 hours and the social norm is to be silent and you've exhausted reading your fun/leisurely book, studying Spanish, listening to your iPod (if it felt safe enough), journaling if possible, and reading the lonely planet guide to Central America, all you have left is to sit quietly, look out the window, and think. For hours.

All that to say- I'm finally back in thinking mode (I guess our minds really are powerful enough to kick defense mechanisms into gear to just...stop thinking. Seriously, I think I actively avoided thinking deeply for 2 weeks straight) and have to get out the basic points of what I'm pondering.

First of all, I miss people. And life. And normalcy now. (!!!!) bah. Some moments and days are different/harder than others, and really for the most part it is just ok...mostly because we ARE just busy...with awesome stuff and enjoying life in different places...so that's good. But sometimes its definitely a little harder. Some days have actually been painful! It's all a mental thing I'm convinced, but I'm pretty sure I have actually experienced physical pain (if possible) from missing people. Yea, especially that one guy out fighting off bears and snakes hiking the appalachian trail. I got to actually talk with him for the first time a couple of days ago (well gchat, but we were chatting in real time!) and that was amazing, but definitely made the rest of that day kind of really hard. So, I miss people- family, friends, John. Not the end of the world. It was a known going into this that would be the case:) AND, through that I just keep coming back to the fact that I am unbelievable blessed in my life and so thankful to have family, and friends, and John TO miss so much. That's amazing. And after 6 months of amazing experiences and craziness...I have a lot to look forward to going back to! I'm thankful.

Ok, moving on. I've also been processing a little bit more about this trip. I had thoughts and ideas and goals and hopes for this 6 months before I left, of course, but now being IN it and doing it and having lots of conversations with people who are at various points of different types of trips, I've definitely been thinking more and more about it. We're only about 2 weeks in, but I'm definitely almost already feeling some kind of pressure about it all. I don't want to get to the end of this 6 months and wish I had done things completely differently, or wish that I had a different mindset the whole time, or regret not getting something out of it that I could've or not given something of myself that I could've or should've. This 6 months is a blessing and a gift of an opportunity that God has allowed to happen and worked out the smallest of details so well. I don't even know the extent of what to expect of it, but I want to be aware of everything rather than just going through motions of jumping on and off buses, hiking up volcanoes, and searching out hostels without chinches (bedbugs).

So, I think one of the biggest things I'm pondering is how to find the balance (and what the balance even looks like) of the one side of traveling which is solely FUN and adventure and experiencing life and places and the ridiculous things and people and food of lots of countries and then the other side of feeling like you're connecting at a deeper level, or giving, or helping, or doing SOMETHING to help someone or some situation that we come across or get to see or become aware of. Those are both a part of this, and Audrey and I have both verbalized that both sides are for sure important parts of this trip and what we desire out of it! We WANT to have ridiculous adventurous experiences and just live this life up and take full advantage of getting to be in these different places, but it still feels completely selfish sometimes when you spend a whole day and money simply on exploring a cave and doing things that seem solely for yourself and just self-indulgent. So...I'm trying to process that and what it means and what this is going to look like.

I know Audrey and I both want to help people and at some point volunteer however we can and learn Spanish so we can actually relate to and help in a better way...but I don't want to do any of that just to do it. To make myself feel okay about myself or to FEEL like I did something good when really I maybe got more out of it than anyone. So we're pondering what THAT means as well.

In the meantime...we're focusing on the short term - one, we're trying to learn spanish, which is going to be beneficial during this 6 months just for practical traveling purposes AND for if/when we get to volunteer, and two, we're working on following the advice my mom gave me awhile back when I couldn't stand my job anymore and wanted to know what in the world my purpose was and what in the world I was gonna do one day to actually contribute to helping the world or SOMEONE and what I even had to offer. She told me to focus on being who I need to be right now and right where I am and pouring myself FULLY into every moment WHERE I AM and in the day to day where God has me (rather than maybe constantly looking months or years into the future). It seems simple, but for some reason that clicked that night sitting having dinner with her in Panera, and I'm not sure a day at work went by that I didn't get frustrated or impatient and THAT conversation popped into my head. It completely changed the way I interacted with people and looked at my time there.

God has us in certain places for reasons we might not know at the time or ever even, and even though WE are always looking 10 steps down the road in our lives, who we are is who we are and even if we don't see our job or whatever at that time as significant or that it's our end goal in life, we can be making a difference and loving people and changing things in small ways just in our day to day interactions. That realization was so comforting and challenging and I hope to work on THAT the rest of my life. All of THAT to say, even if we haven't yet found a really great organization who has started some incredible sustainable clinic project somewhere where we can do medical volunteer work...we can be helping people and impacting people in really small ways just in the daily interactions we have. So we're focusing on that for now:)

Lastly...we're slightly frustrated with just the very obvious reality of not being able to trust people. One of the biggest things you look forward to when you travel is meeting the people and experiencing them and their lives! Right? Well, as travelers people are constantly telling us horror stories and making us aware that you cannot trust a soul and to be skeptical of everyone and everything that breathes. We are constantly told to be SO careful, and if anything SEEMS weird at all...it is. You are getting robbed. Well, that is no way to live...but we also don't want to be stupid and get ourselves into any terrible situations. So...we're trying to feel that out as well! It's just annoying! Just one example...the other day we went to a festival de San Cristobal (a religious holiday) in a town nearby. It was Audrey, myself, another student from our language school, and then the guatemalan woman who runs the Spanish school we are taking classes at currently. It was QUITE an experience...tons of people, music, even some roller coasters (from like the 1970s), and even some traditional dancing where the people were wearing INCREDIBLE costumes and masks and all.



The woman had warned us ahead of time, ONLY bring your camera and a FEW quetzals (their money) and be careful with your purse...carry it on front of you. Well, we walked around for awhile, just enjoying the sites, I took several pictures, and I THOUGHT was being careful with my purse. Until...we had stopped to watch the traditional dancing, and I looked down only to notice my Spanish books and notebook were popping right out of my purse! My first naive thought was...oh gosh, my bag just split open! Crazy. Until I examined it a little more closely and noticed the rather large, perfectly straight slit that was clearly cut with a rather impressive knife. WHAT?!?! I mean...we've definitely heard of this method, apparently it happens somewhat frequently and the woman just continues to walk along as everything is pouring out of her purse. Luckily they were not able to get my camera from the little pocket I had it in on the OTHER side of my purse...and they weren't interested in learning Spanish. Phew! That could've turned out quite differently. We all shared a moment of...'oh my gosh!' I learned the verb for 'to sew,' and now just have to learn...to sew:) I'm sure I'll be able to figure it out...my mom taught me at some point. AND it's one of those things I've been meaning to learn anyways...it's kind of a necessity in life at some point, huh? Anyways...so, that kind of stuff is always on our mind, we are always on guard and expecting EVERYONE is that guy who would cut open your purse to steal whatever it is you have. It's real...and I know that...just annoying.

Solo diciendo.

I got an email today from a friend back home, and the last line of it was this..
'Enjoy yourself. Be safe but not timid. Languish in the experience of it all.' You nailed it, Travis. Well said. :) Thanks for that!

Well, those are all of my thoughts for now! Thanks for letting me process some here:) Will post more soon about where we are and what it's like here! I think this is my favorite city so far. It's quirky yet authentic...more to come:) 

Semuc Champey! "It's safe! Just go!"

So, once we finished up in Flores, sweated to death the entire time we were there (seriously, one time I took my shower in the welcomed freezing cold water, got out, dried off, brushed my hair, then just took another shower cause I was already dripping in sweat again- though I hear it's about like that right now back home!!! Aaaay, sorry guys!), visited Tikal and all...we knew we wanted to head back down south to hit two more places in Guatemala (Lake Atitlan and Quetzaltenango-also known as Xela) before moving on. BUT it is quite a distance and we had heard lots of really good things about a place called Semuc Champey about half way in between Flores and the far south that is kind of in the middle of nowhere, is pretty authentic (dominated by locals, esp Mayans), and full of adventurous things. So...of course we decided we had to stop there for about a day and a half and scope that out. We had NO idea what to expect! We pulled up to the hostel that we had booked in advance in the early evening, after a LOOONG bus ride in a minibus with quite some characters, and asked the guy who was clearly in charge of the hostel, 'so this is Semuc Champey, huh?' (looking around at the BEAUTIFUL scenery of this random cabin like hostel placed in the middle of nowhere surrounded by beautiful mountains and a rushing river below. He responded smartly, 'you're about 9km away from Semuc Champey, which is a national park. There are no places to stay IN Semuc Champey. You're in a little town called Lanquin right now. Welcome:)' Well, ok:) Good to know, thank you.

{you can always click on any picture and get a BIGGER view!}

We kinda looked around, scoped out some flyers of what there was to do, talked to some people and decided...we would just go ahead and catch one of the many buses early in the morning that head straight on up to Semuc Champey. As we were getting our things together in the am, they told us some people had dropped out of the one day guided tour which takes you through doing all the major things there are to do in Semuc Champey with a guide and everything, so we spontaneously jumped in on that! And it was a GREAT decision! So...we all (I think there were 16-17 of us?) loaded onto one of those...basically a pickup truck with a bunch of metal bars surrounding the back bed area so you can hold on. I'm sure you've seen them, usually they are carrying cows. They use them a lot around here to transport people.

Pretty soon after we all loaded in a couple of goofy guys in the front just started moo-ing...we all laughed and the ice was broken:) Riding the 25-30 minutes out there standing in the back of the truck, taking in all of the amazing mountains and scenery, driving past tons of random houses, people walking or biking along, crop fields, people working, and random little villages tucked away was definitely one of the highlights of the day.

But THEN...we arrived to Semuc Champey and jumped right into the most ridiculous adventure of the day...and probably my lifetime so far! It. Was. Nuts!!!! We went caving. I had always heard 'caving' and really had no idea what that really looks like. Do you just grab a flashlight and walk through a cave and study the stalagmites? Well, maybe it's different each time and in each cave you go to...but this was unreal! So we get to right outside the cave and the tour group has a little hut where someone stays and watches all your stuff, cause you're gonna get wet. Oh, ok. Like I said...we had NO idea what we were getting into! They said we couldn't wear shoes, luckily and surprisingly they said going barefoot is just fine, and we were going to get soaked so we should not wear shirts...so sorry for the pictures of us in our sports bras, but we had to do what we had to do!:)

Oh yea, and...of course we couldn't bring our cameras due to the water factor, so the pictures from that part are from another guy's camera that was waterproof..that's why some are of random people:) but just so you can get an idea of what it was like!

So...we all ascended a pathway up to the start of the cave, the guide (Carlos) started getting out all kinds of candles, lighting them, and sending us into the cave one by one. The water was kinda cold but not freezing.

It was definitely really rocky, not the most comfortable thing to walk barefoot on but it worked. Eventually we were basically just swimming and couldn't touch the ground anyways! We took our time for awhile...were just kind of strolling along, enjoying being in a cave by candlelight, trying to swim while holding our candles above water. Everyone's faces were priceless. We didn't know what was going to be around each corner, but were all just laughing together and taking comfort in our guide Carlos who was OUT OF CONTROL and had quite the sense of humor.

He was constantly pretty much just making fun of us. He would mess with us and tell us there were snakes in the water or whatever kind of myth he would think of...but by the end of it we all decided his key phrase from the day was, 'it's safe! Really!' Which we all actually took great comfort in, we had to:) So, after strolling along, getting over the fact we were swimming in cave water and it looked amazing inside, we started the real stuff! There was lots of climbing up from the deep part where we couldn't touch, onto some rocks, then jumping into the next pools of water where he would say, 'really it's fine, it's safe!' ok! Of course while trying to hold our candles and keep them above water so it wouldn't go out! Then there would be random rocks with water pouring down over it that we got to use as watersides. Lots of up and down, climbing up, jumping or sliding down. And THEN! We get to a part where there is just a sliver of an opening that people keep disappearing through, but it's taking a very long time so we're all just kind of waiting back, standing in the water with our candles wondering what's going on. We can hear rushing water ahead, hmmm....:) but it's real loud so all we really hear is a bunch of yelling, they're not telling us anything. So finally we get up there, sliver through the narrow opening horizontally, as water is splashing through the opening and is quickly putting out everyone's candles, and we find our guide standing there, holding a rope that is against a wall of rock with a RUSHING waterfall coming down onto us, and he's yelling to 'CLIMB UP USING THIS ROPE! PUT YOUR FOOT HERE, THEN HERE, THEN HERE, GRAB ON, OK GO!!' Uhhh...ok. I watched Audrey go up first, it sounded simple but boy, as she was dangling by that rope and I could hardly see much except her flailing legs and the rushing waterfall and it seemed to take about the longest minute to get up ever...as the whole time I was thinking, 'if she loses grip of that, or slips, or whatever...mmm...this is not going to end up well...this is ACTUALLY dangerous!' Haha. Again, we had no idea what we were getting into. But we were near the back of the group and just knowing all those people in front of me had actually done it, I found some comfort in that:) Finally Carlos turned to me, grabbed the rope and started yelling the instructions. As soon as I grabbed the rope, placed my foot on the wall and hoisted myself up to start climbing...I couldn't see a THING as the REALLY powerful waterfall just pounded me in the face and of course sent water up my nose and everything! I had a split second of a freak out moment and then just remembered...'PUT YOUR FOOT HERE AND THEN HERE AND THEN HERE!' Somehow I pretty smoothly climbed on up and (fight or flight, you know?) was so relieved to get to the top where the water was no longer drowning me. It was nuts. Everyone was just waiting in the next little area waiting to climb down the next set of rocks and would just wait to see everyone's reaction as they got to the top. We would all congratulate each other and celebrate a little...hilarious. That was a rush.

There was some more wading, swimming, climbing, jumping...then we got to the end (after about 2 hours of this), and were all just waiting in a pool of water wondering where our guide went. Next thing we know we hear him and look up and he's standing way up in this hole in the wall, tells everyone to clear out and blow their candles out, and he jumps from probably about 6m up!!! Into a pool. Of cave water...in the dark! It was nuts. He said anyone who wanted to try was welcome. I definitely pondered it for a minute, (as my adrenaline was still flowing from climbing up those rocks with a waterfall rushing down on me), but I think made a good decision and did what I thought my parents would advise me. :) And what my commonsense told me, 'There is no WAY you are climbing up some sharp rocks in the dark, to get up there, and jump blindly into a pool of water that you don't know how deep it is.' :) So we watched the crazy boys in the group do it and be pretty stunned for awhile after their jumps.

We thought we had made it to the end and we were about to turn the corner to find an opening out of the cave, but Carlos informed us we were heading back just the way we came:) ha. Luckily at one point there was a cut through that allowed us, one- to not have to descend that wall using a rope with the rushing waterfall, and two- didn't take us another 2 hours to get out. The shortcut was another sliver of rocks, with rushing water coming down, and people just kept disappearing through it and you had no idea what you were supposed to do! You would just get up to it as you were the next person up, start yelling down things like 'OK WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?! I CAN'T HEAR YOU!' Only to hear lots of muffled words through the loud rushing water but of course you would always hear, 'IT'S SAFE! JUST GO!' haha, ok. You would just go, go, go and find Carlos there at the bottom to catch your fall. Ayayay. Some trust, we are learning. Along with lots of distrust as well, as is realistic and necessary:)

So, that was awesome! Then, the rest of the time we went and jumped off a bridge into a river. Ok, yes I did this one! I watched several other people do it first, and it was totally safe! THAT was awesome as well. They said it was about 10meters. Wow. You got quite some hang time on that, and it didn't even hurt! Maybe I got that out of my system:) Then we hiked up, got to see a sweet view of a waterfall down below with some beautiful bright blue pools of water further down.

Then we hiked back down, got to SWIM in the beautiful water, went from one pool to the next by jumping or having Carlos push us down more natural waterslides, relaxed, got our feet eaten by fish, then saw some howling monkeys! They climbed right above us and howled quite a bit. Then headed on back in our cow truck:) Quite a day.

That was Semuc Chempey. Well worth the trip out there and the crazy bumpy ride on a narrow gravely road for the last hour of it. We loved it. It was gorgeous and was quite an adventure. Now we're on to our second to last stop in Guatemala. Quetzaltenago (or Xela- pronounced shela). We arrived about noon yesterday, and will be starting a couple more weeks of language school here on Monday! 

GuateBUENA!

One of the first jokes my language teacher and I got to share in and laugh together about:) We were practicing the beginning basics, I asked him where he was from (I already knew...we just had to practice, you know?), he told me Guatemala but that he doesn't like that it is called that as 'mal' literally means bad in Spanish. So, Pedro says it should be called Guatebuena:) as bueno/a means good. I like it. It IS good! Guatemala that is. Guatemala is huge, and has such variety, and SUCH history, and interesting issues of the past and interesting issues of today, and is absolutely gorgeous, with incredible scenery (huge lakes, endless mountains, caves, waterfalls, rivers with pools of bright blue water, volcanoes, incredible sunrises and sunsets),

amazing genuine people, and quite a culture.

But of course it's REAL and there are sad things and frustrating things and I'll be honest about those later:)

First, language school and Flores! Flores was a beautiful TINY island way up in the north of Guatemala. I could run around the island in about 5 minutes (yikes...I am NOT a fast runner by any means:), but it was absolutely gorgeous. Awesome sunrises and sunsets especially as it is surrounded by mountains! (as most places around here seem to be).



One day Audrey and I rode on a 'lancha' (an adorable colorful old wooden boat) to a beautiful beach off of another island and we just swam and sat and looked at the ridiculous clouds, and the beautiful scenery all around and reflected on the fact of where we were and what was going on and just laughed and talked about life. It was probably my favorite day of being in Flores.

The lancha driver was an old man named Victor who was amazing and just drove the boat slowly and taught us all about Flores and some Mayan history, very cool.

 

We did a home stay through the language school and ended up staying with this 72 year old incredible woman named Gilma who lives alone and is SUPER independent, has a beautiful family of three children who live in Canada and the U.S. and lots of grandchildren, nieces, and nephews, was SO kind and gracious, an amazing cook, and...knew not a word of English...except for 'bye-ya!!!' :) Precious.

 

Every meal we ate together (which is part of the deal that she provides 3 meals a day for us) was INCREDIBLE. (Which is NOT necessarily a part of the deal). And often very awkward:) Audrey definitely carried us through a lot of that! Dinner conversation was difficult. PARTLY because she didn't HEAR super well, but mostly because we don't speak quite enough Spanish and she spoke zero English. Se was so patient with us though and a LOT of sharades occurred throughout the week. One night Audrey decided to try and ask Señora Gilma what the word for statue is. :) ha, oh my. As Audrey starts to ask, she looks over at me for back up and I kinda shrug...we both spurt out some words that will get Señora maybe in the right ballpark, Audrey takes a deep breath and starts hammering in the air and making a 'tink tink tink' noise like she's BUILDING a statue...then freezes in mid air in a pose like she IS a statue. We all kind of pause...there was silence...and more silence...then Audrey finally unpauses from her clearly epic statue pose. We both look at Gilma like...surely she got it NOW! Only to find her sitting in her seat with a MUCH more confused look on her face than ever:) haha. We all just started cracking up. Finally after more sharades and random word associations...she got it. (BTW- the word in Spanish for statue is.......estatua. Brilliant. If we would have just said it in English enough times she may have gotten it). Some of my favorite moments from staying with her...One- her knowing I love coffee and asking me each morning and evening so excitedly if I would like coffee and us drinking coffee together at our meals:) (p.s. I drink my coffee just black now! Sometimes with a little bit of sugar. At least for now. It's kind of fun! And something I never thought I'd do).

 

Two- the night she made us this awesome dish of empanadas made with sikinchet mushrooms (most of you know I don't do mushrooms, but this meal was amazing!) taught us about the mushrooms, the Mayan tradition of making this meal, how she prepared in, then showed us what was left of the outside of them and pretended like one was an earring. Kind of out of character for her, but so cute!

 

She also made beets one night! And I LOVED them! Three- the last night we were there she made us TONS of fried plantains. They were our absolute favorite, and she knew, and was SO excited and loved our reaction when we realized what she was making. Like PANS of them. :) Four- one of the last days we were there, and we had each ended up in her living room from different places, and she made some comment about pictures and walked over and grabbed all six of her photo albums, and proceeded to go through EACH album, picture by picture, and point out who was in each picture (including herself...'y yo estoy' :) and where they were in each picture. A-dorable. You can bet by the end of that, I now know very well how to say all the family relationships in Spanish. Aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, granddaughter, etc:) You could tell she was SO excited and proud to show us...it seemed almost therapeutic for her. We felt really honored and grateful to have bonded with her like that. She definitely didn't have to share her beautiful life and family with us...but I think our attempted EFFORT (though maybe not always SO successful) to relate to her and converse and understand her life and Guatemala led to quite a bond after just a week.

Which leads lastly to moment number five- the morning we packed up and were heading out she stalled and stalled and stalled, and TOTALLY teared up as she said goodbye and gave us hugs. Aaaah. Man, she was great.  We will definitely be sending her postcards, and hopefully maybe eventually we'll print out a picture of her so we can take some pictures of 'the three of us' being places that we all talked about:)

So- language school. REALLY good, really difficult, really hilarious.

Once again, my language teacher knew NO English. Well, besides...'bugs bunny' and 'Hollywood.' Those were about the only English words I heard him say. That made for some very interesting conversations. But I definitely see why people say that can help. You are literally FORCED to only speak Spanish and to just figure it out and have quite some motivation to learn:) But, it is pretty unfortunate when you REALLY don't understand something (like an actual grammatical issue) and need someone who understands English to explain it to you. Each day we would go to the language school for one-on-one teaching and conversing from 9-1pm, then head back to Gilma's for lunch, then study study study until dinner at 7! Some days we would just do whatever, go for a walk around the island, explore, go for a run, that kind of thing...let our minds relax:) but definitely lots of studying. It was fun, but we found Flores to be pretty tiny and kinda claustrophobic...so we decided we just had to move on to some of the other places in Guatemala we want to see and are going to take more language classes in those places. 

Before we headed out of Flores we knew we had to take a day trip to the Mayan ruins of Tikal which are just an hour from Flores and apparently are some of THE greatest ruins in Latin America, which after seeing them I sure believe. It was a-mazing.

 

We went with another girl we met at the language school, Kirsty from Australia, and it was a great, peaceful, relaxing day!

 

We would just walk from temple to temple, climb to the top, sit, enjoy the view, maybe eat a snack, read and learn about the temple/area, then move on.

 

We went SUPER early in the morning, when it opened, so it was so peaceful and kind of unreal.  When we first walked in to the park we headed straight to the gran plaza where there are two massive twin temples and a large grassy area in the middle.

 

When we walked in there was this unreal buzzing sound, and we quickly realized the grassy area was COVERED with thousands of bees just buzzing around. It was nuts!!! We got see some hilarious monkeys playing up in the trees and other random animals. It was great! Later that night we ate dinner with three of the girls we had met in class and talked about where we were from (they were from Australia and Denmark) and talked about Guatemala and our stories so far and laughed and laughed until we cried! It was awesome. Sometimes just being two of you doesn't quite do it socially, so those times of just sitting around with people you can somehow relate to and laugh with is amazing. 

Ok, so I'm gonna end there for now. But will be posting another post soon about this past week! And just some honest thoughts...some deeper thoughts. :) we're doing well! Enjoying all kinds of things, learning a ton, meeting incredible people, and experiencing things already we never thought we would!

Definitely missing you all! But good news- it is official that a group of friends (including roommates and JOHN!!!) are coming to meet Audrey and I in Peru to hike the Inca Trail in October! You can probably imagine how many random spontaneous smiles that has created as I think about it:) Too cool. That is, of course, after SARAH comes to visit in about a month or so!

There's only going up...

So, again- super long post...I seriously need to try to post more often so they don't end up being this long...but oh well. Lo siento! (I'm sorry!)

So since our initial 24 hours...things have gone up! We are SO enjoying Guatemala and are only getting started!:)

We have made several friends, who have already come and gone, but it is interesting on a trip like this how you bond with people, become pretty good friends real fast, just kind of latch on and enjoy venturing together and finding what that day is going to hold together! then of course saying a strange goodbye, most likely never to see them again.

Audrey and I became pretty good friends with (aka- we hung out with for several days) a girl named 'Allison from Vancouver' who was staying at our hostel. Our first day exploring Antigua we hung out with her and another girl, Jill from Australia, who we didn't bond with too much cause she headed on out for somewhere else that evening, and was just pretty reserved. Anyways, we all explored the market together, the adorable streets of colorful, colonial Antigua, and sat at a cafe for quite awhile having SUCH interesting conversations teaching each other about what various things are like in our respective countries, comparing different things about our countries, and telling hilarious stories. Very fun and interesting.

So- I have several days of several activities to catch up on reporting about, and I want to get it all down, so I'm gonna try my best to cover the important stuff, but keep it as concise as possible.

First, our laundry was done at a little laundromat by an incredible man who assured us: has been in the business for 11 years...he knows how to take care of the chinches. We loved and trusted him, but still spent probably about another hour (in addition to the many hours spent that first night searching our things to make sure we didn't bring the bedbugs along to our next hostel) searching the things we had washed JUST to make sure he really knew how to take care of them. He sure did:) Totally clean and free of chinches.

Audrey and I are getting to know each other- how we function in everyday life and just things about our lives we've never known about each other. Although we've known each other for about 11 (!!!!!) years, we've never spent a significant amount of time together really. So, for example...I now know that she was born in San Francisco, has lived in Texas and Missouri, and her mom and dad met in San Fran when her mom was actually a vocalist in a band (!!) who opened at one point for the band who plays a lot of the songs in the soundtrack for Forrest Gump (John's favorite movie ever). :) Random...anyways...we're getting to know each other:) Slow but sure, it's only been ONE WEEK!

So just a general update- we spent about 5 days in Antigua, loved it...but it's definitely filled with quite a few tourists...though not DOMINATED by us. Enjoyed some sightseeing, salsa lessons, random people/friends, amazing food, markets, and hiked a volcano (Volcano Pacaya) which was A-MAZING! The city of Antigua is adorable, colorful, antique-y, and is surrounded by mountains and 3 large volcanoes! Two of them are active and one (volcano Fuego- aka FIRE in Espanol)  you can see smoke come out of from the explosions several times a day! Crazy. So, Saturday evening we headed out on an overnight bus REALLY far north to a town called Flores which is tiny and surrounded by water (BEAUTIFUL) to start language school. We got here eeeearly Sunday morning, met our host family...which has actually ended up being a host woman (who is probably late sixties to 70 and incredible)...then started language school Monday morning. We basically have one-on-one class from 9am-1pm, then head back to the house to have lunch with our señora, then study and run errands/walk around some until dinner, study some more and head to bed.

 

Some interesting observations about Guatemala thus far-

-they LOVE their firecrackers. all day long, usually starting between 7-7:30, they start setting off very loud firecrackers. At least in Antigua.
-the cats love to walk along the tin roofs, but are pretty clumsy...so it is VERY common to hear lots of crashing noises (aka- the cat falling from one roof to another) followed by some painful sounding meowing. Random, but seriously at LEAST 2-3 times a day we've heard this phenomenon occur.
-they do not use hot water. ever. well...our hostel in Antigua DID have amazing hot showers, but they never use hot water for laundry or anything (which we found out as we were trying to tell the laundromat man to use REALLY hot water to get rid of the bedbugs), and here in Flores where we are now...no hot water. Todo bien (it's all good)...if our Señora can do it, so can we.
-their grocery stores are hilarious- they pair/package the most random things together...a large bottle of rum and potato chips (and they'll throw in a free 1.5 liter Pepsi?), a bottle of OJ and pasta sauce, chips with a tupperware container attached to it, and tomato paste paired with two cans of condensed milk. Duh...who WOULDN'T need a bottle of OJ to drink while preparing dinner for the fam? ALSO their cereal is...CRAZY expensive. Unreal. Wonder why? I wouldn't blame the dude on the corner for buying the $1 bottle if liquor over the $5-6 box of cereal. Well...maybe.
-Guatemalan marshmallows are not just white, they're all different colors, and taste INcredible when roasted on the heat from a volcano. Mmhmm.
-Guatemalans are super proud people. At the markets, they have their little tiendas (stores) with like a 2x5ft little area in front of it, and they are CONSTANTLY cleaning it. Impressive.
-little boys would run around the town square in Antigua and ask to shine your shoes. One day Audrey, Allison from Vancouver and I were sitting around the edge of the square under a portico enjoying some ice cream as it rained, and two boys ran up to us and started their request- "can I shine your...your...your choos (shoes)?" We all awkwardly looked down at our feet in our flip-flops, and by the time we could all realize/acknowledge how hilarious the situation was, the boys had pretty much run on. I did just want to pay them, though, for a shoe shine JUST for being the cutest kids I had seen in about a week:)
-apparently they have amazing live music at fun restaurants, particularly even New Orleans jazz! One night we went with two of our favorite friends we've met so far (Karen from Toronto and Kira from Atlanta) and just talked about all kinds of things, while enjoying some pretty impressive musicians- a keyboardist and a trumpet player who rocked it out. Random, but fun.
-there is an incredible non-profit located right outside of Antigua in San Miguel, As Green As It Gets, that we spent almost an entire day visiting and learning about and meeting the Guatemalans who are involved with it. We learned a TON about how complicated it is to grow coffee beans and make coffee, watched a woman hand make lotion for Kira from Atlanta, and got a schpeel from a 16 year old girl named Maria who makes lip balm and just got an offer from Best Buy (!!!) who wants to purchase THOUSANDS of her product. You should check out the organization. It's cool what they're doing for the people and the families.
-apparently Guatemala has 27 (!!), yea that's right, 2-7 political parties. Haha. It's their election time right now, the campaigning is nuts, but apparently only the top 3 parties have any chance of winning. One of the candidates is a woman who is pretty high up in the ratings, but she is the current president's ex-wife...who divorced him SO THAT she could run...cause it's illegal for family to run.
-running in strange countries is always an experience. Yesterday I went for a MUCH needed run, though it is SO hot in Flores, we literally just sit around and sweat constantly. I was wearing my ipod for the first time of the trip, I just needed some normalcy- a run and my music:)- and of course the song 'Fix You' by Coldplay came on (which Sarah once recommended to me to run to due to it's incredible instrumental- it will literally give you goosebumps every time...well at least it does to me) and as I'm already running along with a smile on my face as the instrumental is getting real good, the lady walking in front of me on the street carrying her baby drops her burp cloth without realizing it. I run over and pick it up, and as I get up next to her she starts to realize she doesn't have it, and the smile on her face as she turned around and saw me handing it to her...sheesh...had me smiling while running along for about the next 2 minutes solid. Incredible. When I got back, I don't think I have EVER been so wet with just sweat before in my life- phew.
-their water pressure/sewage drainage system is not amazing, meaning you can't even put toilet paper in the toilet- it. will. not. flush. Which has made for some interesting experiences already. The MOST memorable one being, without going into TOO much detail, what you can imagine happens when you have quite a change in your diet, the toilet does not flush very well, and finally after you and your travel partner try for about an hour to solve the problem, the older lady you're staying with comes in to save the day, you finally communicate what you mean by acting out what a plunger is, but the really old plunger ends up flipping inside out while in action, and some pretty nasty toilet water ends up spraying everywhere as the three of us are crowded in the super narrow bathroom over the toilet. Yes....absolutely mortifying and STILL having a hard time believing that actually happened. señora was SO nice and gracious about the whole situation, but we're still trying to figure out what to do for her to make up for all of that. :) Phew. whoops!

We're loving Guatemala so far. We're SUPER overwhelmed with Spanish. The 4 hours of class is awesome but quite an overload...then we come home and try to engage in conversation with our lady and by the end of all of that I think my head is about to explode. It feels crazy to be thinking all the time, even as I'm laying in bed at night, how I would say this or that in spanish...but it's awesome. Being completely immersed in it is I guess the best way to go.

We're gonna stay here in Flores until the weekend after we see the incredible ruins of Tikal which are right near here, then actually go back down south to see a couple more places, do a few more weeks of language school, then move on to our next country.

My next post will be a little bit more about language school:) Which is pretty priceless.

MISS YOU ALL!