Antigua

This place is amazing. I came here last week just for the weekend and loved it so much that I moved here on Thursday. I was suprised to find out that saying goodbye is harder than having your friends leave.

Doris, my mother in Xela cried for four days straight and it was very sad. It was hard to say goodbye to the familiar old ways of Xela and to my friends at Celas Maya. Which I can now appreciate as a great school since the one that I am at is not so good.

But there is greatness here....at least for awhile. Antigua is this magically colonial town with beautiful buildings and streets. This place is nothing like anything else in Guatemala. Besides that, they have great coffee here. And even better I can get my plain bagel toasted with peanut butter and jam on the side. Yah! Oh yeah, People Magazine (not necessary for your trip to be a success).

Sorry for the delay in writing. With traveling so much I don't have a lot of time plus I lost over 200 pictures from my camera. Gone. All those weeks I was promising to show you pictures and was why I had hesitated in writing are all now gone. I was sick.

Like I said earlier, my school sucks and going to change next week. I only started on Monday and I have already switched my teacher. I think I have a couple of schools lined up, so hopefully one of them works out. I have met a ton of people here and the weather has been perfect. Almost too hot to be in the sun directly :-)

I truly think that my opinions of this wonderful country are changing everyday.

Champers (a.k.a. brown sacks)

Ha ha...I can only laugh at our experience. Once again, we had another great time together (Rachel, Megan, Lisa, Andy, Andy, David and I). I am so glad that I met them all and look forward to how are friendship grows.

We ended up taking chicken buses down to Champerico is about 3 1/2 hours away from Xela. This was the first time that I exerienced a chicken bus like a chicken bus should be experienced. Just to give you all some reference these buses are what we all rode on in grade school where "children" sat two to a seat. Here there is three or four people to a seat with people standing in the aisles.

Champerico is right on the Pacific Ocean with black sand and the beach is beautiful with dangerous waves. One of the guys that we know in another group almost drowned. There are several currents happening at the same time, so it can be very dangerous.

The city...well, not a city I am not sure what to call it. Is run down and delapitated. In the guide books they say that it is a horrible place. Ha ha... We had lunch right when we got there. I was informed to try the shrimp being that it is so fresh. I was so horried that when my meal came out I couldn't even eat it. It was actual whole shimp complete with eyes, feet, heads and tails boiled in some sort of watery tomatoe paste served with cold french fries. All prepared in a box that looked more like a closet for garbage than a kitchen.

After lunch we enjoyed the beach with the numerous pigs that were eating garbage. But not to be out done by brown sacks...the most interesting site of all. After swimming a bit we went to our hotel, showered, changed and off for dinner which was okay. We had some rum and beers afterwards to play several games of cards. Long live the President!

The night was sweltering and humid and there was an attempt of going to the "night club" which was more basketball court with music than a discotec but most of us were too tired to dance and fight off the potentially dangerous men that were staring. No we apted for mosquitoes instead and muggy air in out rooms.

Next morning we swam, ate a bit and were off home in a chicken bus meant for 20 people with about 60-80 people. A perfect ending for a perfect trip!

Day of the Dead

What am amazing experience! I have heard about the Latin cultures celebrating the death of their loved ones in the cemetery, but it is quite different to actually experience it in real life.

There was a group of us that went to Sumpongo (misspelled) for the kite festival. Upon our arrival we walked through the cemetery where they have bright colors on all the tombstones. There were a ton of people decorating the graves with flowers, kids running around with kites, some were burning things. While others were eating and having a picnic with their families.

After going through the cemetery we walked up this hill to a field where the kite festival was being held. It was amazing. There were kites up to 30 meters around (and no Lisa, they don't fly). Most of them had elaborate colors depicting social scenes prominent at this time in the country. There was a ton of people and a lot of celebration.

We then took a short right to San Antonio (I don't think this is the right name now?) where there was another festival going on. This one was better than the first because the kite festival was actually being held in the cemetery. It was amazing. Just think of a fair going on in a cemetery. There was so much joy and celebration for life and death.

I had to stand there to absorb it all in. Watching the children play, people eating and laughing, kites flying you couldn't help but take a different stance on death. Originally the kites were used to scare off evil spirits, but now it is more for celebration. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to share this experience with the Guatemalans here!