it happened so fast

oh wow, sorry it´s been a bit.  so much has happened.  this is how it went:

neil and i were sitting in hostel friday night discussing how we were going to travel to lake atitlan.  i didnt particulary want to take a chicken bus on long mountain roads, and shuttle busses are pretty expensive.  "well, let´s just walk there," we joked.  30 minutes later, neil walks into the room with toto, the kid the kid would be guiding us on foot over 5 mountains to atitlan starting the next morning.  en serio .. we walked.  the next day we joined toto, our guide saul, and three guys from israel (gilad, gal, and avia) in a van and drove thirty minutes into the mountains.  we started our hike in a little pueblo at 7000 feet.  my god, these mountains are so beautiful.  indescribable.  my pictures wont do them justice.  the first night we stayed in a cement room in someone´s house in a town with maybe 50 people.  their shower is a sauna, and they fired up this little room and we each bathed and used the sauna one at a time because it was so small.  the next day we rose at 5, significantly earlier than the sun, enjoyed a cup of hot milk and corn flakes, and headed off as the sun made its way above the mountains.  my legs were already sooooo sore from the day before, but we proceeded to descend steeply for 2.5 hours until we reached a raging river.  scariest thing of MY LIFE crossing two foot bridges made of logs strapped together with natural cordage and suspended 15 feet above the rio braced by giant bolders.  we arrived in a town called santa clara at about 3 in the afternoon and slept in a cement building with no lights and straw mats for beds.  we managed to get quite tuned up off of liters of gallo with the israelis and one of our guides.  this made waking up at 4:45 to see the sunrise over lake atitlan pretty weird.  after watching the sunrise with a group of 17 other trekkers, we headed off on a two hour hike with hangovers and no water on a tiny little bench cut trail.  and now, here i am, in san pedro la laguna, a super hip beach town on a mind blowing lake amidst mountains and volcanoes.  we are still staying with the israeli guys (in two hotels rooms that are costing us about $2 a piece per night), and our guides have headed back to xela.  this town is awesome .. i could imagine hanging around here for quite a while.  we have three more nights booked here, and might stick around with these guys for a bit longer as then check out other places around the lake.  let me tell you, we´re having a damn good time. 

well then, that´s the story.  it certainly seem to happen quickly .. strange how things fall into place like that.  until next time .....

pluggin along

hi family, still in xela, still studying spanish, still living the life.  i went to the mayan festival in a neighboring pueblo on saturday.  the dancing was over but the played marimba outside of a really old church (300 years old?) and it was pretty incredible.  i then proceeded to drink too much rum with a friend, which resulted in me feeling quite crappy yesterday and today.  i have my standard post-cold cough, and hopefully i can avoid antibiotics with mucho miel and limon (honey and lime .. they dont have lemons).  today we went to the oldest church in central america with my class (i believe 436 years old).  we also visited a home where they make traditional fabrics.  you guys wouldn´t believe these traditions materials and clothes.  they are so colorful and intricate, and all of the traditional mayan women where these elaborate outfits.  many of them have babies strapped to their backs with clothes and baskets of clothing and food on their heads.  it´s beautiful.  if i get pìctures i´ll post them, but i need to take care to be respectful to the people.  speaking of pictures, i havent taken many, but i have some.  i´ll try to remember to bring the cord for my camera next time i use the internet and i´ll post some pictures.

neil gets here tomorrow!  i´m pretty damn excited, let me tell you.  we´ll be here for a few more days, maybe take a trip to some rivers outside of xela with my friend on saturday, then take off for other places.  luke advises me to stay guatemala for a while longer because it is so culturally rich, so i might look for another language program elsewhere in the country before i move on. 

as far as spanish goes, it´s getting better.  a man from japan has moved into our house, and by some crazy turn of tables, i am now translating for him.  it´s pretty cool .. buen ondo as they say here.  okay then, adios!

being sick here is the same as being sick at home ..

Ugh .. estoy resfriada (I have a cold).  Not fun at all.  My nose is draining like a fountain.  A hotel room with heat, a hot tub and tv in English would not be a bad thing right now.  Thankfully, I´m an adult and I´m going to most likely make it through this without my mom (haha).

So I´m done with my first week of classes and I´m sure I am much more profficient in Spanish than I was when I started, but it kind of doesnt feel like it.  I went to a yoga class Thursday and Friday morning, which was an incredible way to start the day.  It was definitely the most strengthening yoga class I have been to .. my body is suuuuuper sore.  My friend/housemate Tomas left today to go back to the states after being here and in Honduras for over a year.  For me, sad and also a little scary considering he was my translator when all else failed.  He played guiatar and sang last night at a place called El Cuartito (the little room) ... the first time I´ve gone out since arriving in Guatemala.  Today I´m going to a Mayan festival in San Cristobal, a town about 45 minutes away, with a teacher from my school.  I´m not lookind forward to bleeding snot all over Guatemala, but I figure this an opportunity I can´t pass up.  Pretty excited actually, this is basically my first adventure outside of Xela.  Neil arrives on Wednesday (yea!!), I finish classes on Friday (although I could use months more) and after that we are off in travel land.  Definitely going to visit Luke´s friend on Lago de Atitlan, and I´d also like to see some ruins and head up to the teeny tiny Carribean cost for a little hammock relaxation.  I certainly dont feel like I´m on vacation right now considering I´m thinking/working as hard as my junior year in college when I took 18 credits.  Playing and lounging in a week will be a welcome change.

Thanks for following, miss you all.  

Español es muy dificil ..

Is it possible that this language gets harder as the days go on?  I was talking to a guy from Australia that attends my school yesterday and he said he feels like he knows less after two weeks.  Ahhhhh! 

I´m still not quite used to being here.  When I wake up in the morning I think I´m in my bed at home, and I slowly awaken to the unfamiliar sounds around me .. mostly Spanish.  My home here is comfortable, I feel very welcome.  It´s certainly not a bad thing waking up in foreign territory, just a bit of a surprise every time.

I have classes in the afternoon today because my teacher had a doctor appointment this morning.  I am trying to become orriented to the city, walking around and trying to find places that I have been before.  So far, so good.  Spent the morning making exactly one million notecards of spanish words and practicing them in a super cool cafe attached to a bookstore.  And here I sit ...  

In Xela!

¡Hola amigos y mi familia!  I´ve arrived safely in Guatemala, so you can stop your worrying. 

Traveling on Sunday was looooooong and exhausting.  I left Brent´s house in Chicago at 3:00 am and arrived in Xela at 8 pm.  Travelling was pretty much problem free, although it was necessary to use my weak Spanish as I moved from plane, to taxi, to bus, to taxi.  When I arrived in Xela after dark no one was at the school/hostel where I was staying the first night.  After a moment of panic my cab driver and I figured it all out, and I ended up under warm covers on a chilly night. 

The next day I started lessons at 8 am with my teacher Miriam, who is wonderful.  We went to a neighboring town, Zunil, and saw a shrine to the Mayan "evil" saint, San Simon and a beautiful Catholic church.  In the afternoon I moved in with my wonderful Guatemalan family.  Another American, Tomas, is living with us, and is beyond helpful with the language barrier.

So Spanish is way harder than I want it to be, and I kind of feel like a dumbass.  However, I´m learning A LOT and i think after two weeks of language classes I´ll be a lot more comfortable with the language. 

Xela is a big city, lot´s of houses and business packed together with narrow volcanic stone streets busy with people, cars, and big chicken buses (old U.S. school buses used for chaotic public transportation).  Green mountains rise sharply out of the city, and you can see volcanoes from many parts of the city.  Here and in neighboring pueblas they grow vegetables that they export all over the place (probably Michigan, even).  The weather is a lot like Michigan this time of year, cold at night (40´s?) and comfortable in they day.  Apparently they have been getting a lot of rain, but it´s been sunny and warm the two days I´ve been here.  The people here are very friendly and welcoming.  I feel safe and essentially like I am a new person in any city in the world.  I´m not a city person, so while I´m enjoying being here in the swirl of things, I´m excited to get on the road and be in smaller towns.

And that is my story thus far.  I promise to keep y´all posted.  ¡Hasta luego!

the first step

i'm leaving leelanau county today ... the first leg of my journey.  i have another couple hours of packing/cleaning to go and then i'm off to marquette for the night to pick up kendra and brent.

it's kind of weird .. i feel a little more sad and anxious than excited.  transitions are hard, regardless of how fantastic or terrible the upcoming journey is expected to be.  well, as coleen shared with me last night, the anxiety will build until i truly set off ... so hopefully that happens when i get on the plane sunday morning.  regardless, i'm pumped.  here i go .....

packing ...

i always, always, ALWAYS wait til the last second to pack.  that's what i'm doing.  i have this swirlynervousexcited feeling ... leaving home in a day and a half and will be in guatemala on a bus by this time 5 days from now.  yikes.