What's a Hermanope?

Week Three has, in my opinion and the opinion of at least one other person, proven to be the best week so far. Even though it was the best week ever, it probably won’t take too long to talk about it because it is the kind of awesome that cannot be expressed in words.

Being Philosophical

I am taking Survey of Worldviews this semester. Since I am in Guatemala, I am taking it in tutorial form. This means that Paul (SAU’s boss-man here in Antigua) and I sit down for an hour each week and talk about my questions and comments about the books I am reading. So far I have read some about Judaism and Christianity. Not only have these readings been super enlightening, but I really enjoy my chat with Paul each week. This week I was especially glad because before my class I had had 3.5 hours of Spanish lessons with my teacher, one hour of Spanish lessons with a teacher who needed practice, and a fifteen minutes conversation in Spanish before being late to class. Paul always asks how I am doing before class and that day I was just super excited to have a deep conversation in English.

Spanish

Speaking of me trying to have conversations in Spanish, it is super hard for me to have conversations in Spanish. It was only today at the gym that I realized that I cannot talk in Spanish and do anything else. Usually when I talk in Spanish I am sitting at a table and can focus completely on making a sentence. This works out really well, but usually after forming a sentence that has more than seven words, I have to wipe the sweat from my brow.

This past Friday, I finished my three weeks of Spanish lessons. Even though I was sad to be ending lessons so soon, Week Three was the best week at school. This week a big group of Canadians showed up at school and more students meant more teachers and more teachers meant Manolo.  I did not know a lot about what I would be doing in Guatemala, but I knew I would at least meet Manolo because my friend Tim gave me something to give to Manolo.  The quest to find The Real Manolo was an interesting one, but not one I will reproduce because even I think it is a little creepy. Brenda, my teacher, and Manolo are good friends so I think that is why Brenda and I changed tables to one that was closer to Manolo.

I was kind of excited about the end of lessons because learning Spanish everyday has made my head spin, but when my lessons actually ended I was kind of sad. Mostly I was sad because I would not be seeing my new friends at La Unión every day. Of course, I realized that this was ridiculous because I will see them every day when I visit.

Tuk-tuk Bingo: Almost a Lost Cause

There are 176 tuk-tuks in Anitgua, Guatemala. Here is Dana and I riding in a tuk-tuk.

Tuk-tuks are a pretty popular form of transportation around here, but I don’t think riding in one is better than walking. I guess it was an important cultural experience, though.

I arrived at Paul's one day and Dana told me she figured out what a tuk-tuk was. She says it is a mix of a motorcycle, a tricycle, and a Jeep Wrangler. It is part tricycle because it has three wheels, a motorcycle because it is driven with handlebars just like a motorcycle, and it is a jeep wrangler because above your head it just bars with a tarp-like covering.

Tuk-tuk Bingo was invented by students who came last semester. A couple of them wrote down and kept track of all the tuk-tuks they spotted and eventually spotted 1-176. Crystal decided to make it into a game for us, so she gave us each a little peice of paper with 176 numbered boxes and said the first person to find all the tuk-tuks get a prize. I like games, so I have been playing quite competitively (but let’s just say, good thing Tuk-tuk Bingo is not a contact sport).

There have been a few close calls that have got me thinking that my tuk-tuk paper isn’t happy with me. Dana and I were walking to her house and I noticed my paper was missing from my back pocket. I exclaimed loudly and proceeded to run back down the street. After about ten seconds of frantically flailing, I met up with a guy who was walking his dog. He had my paper and gave me the best advice I had received all day.

“Stop dropping important [stuff].”

I tried to tell him that the worst part of my scene was that the paper wasn’t even important, but I saw in his eyes that he thought I was a little crazy so I ran back to Dana.

Another day this week, Dana and I were walking to Paul’s house and my tuk-tuk paper was safely in my back pocket. I knew that the way I wear my backpack causes my tuk-tuk paper to sneak out, so every block or so I would stuff it back into the safe depths of my pocket. One time I went to mark a tuk-tuk and it was gone. I figured this was for the best because Tuk-tuk Bingo was consuming my life. Dana said we could go back for it, but I decided being out of the game was for the best. Three hours later as Jamie, Dana, Austin, and I were walking back from Paul’s a small, white square was spotted across the street. Since Dana is the least likely to get hit by traffic (not), she retreived it. Of course, it was my tuk-tuk paper.

Field Trip #4 ¾

This trip doesn’t get its own number because it was just a walking tour around Antigua and I had already been lost to all the places Paul took us to. I still figured it was worth mentioning because we went in the authentic Mayan disco-tech and enjoyed a really nice piece of grass.

So that’s my past couple days. Tomorrow we go to Tikal which should be super cool.

Everything is beautiful.

Peace, pessoas.

P.S. Don't worry about what a Hermanope is, Manda.

Face It, This IS Real Life

I cannot believe how fast this past week went. I really hope weeks start slowing down. Otherwise, this trip will be a blur! Maybe if I start being more excited for the summer, my time here will seem longer. I am scared to test this idea because maybe my brain will see past what my mind is trying to convince my head.

This week is my last week of Spanish lessons. I am sad because I will not see my friends at La Unión every day and I will have to try more deliberately to learn Spanish. The plus side of Spanish lessons ending is that my brain will not be in knots as much. One friend at school really summed out how we beginners feel at lessons:

“Yesterday, I said “bueno s’il vous plaît” and I don’t even speak French!" 

Field Trip Numero 3: A Macadamia Nut Farm

On Wednesday we visited a macadamia nut farm. Raúl said the name was a Spanish word for paradise. We learned the process from tree to cookie (or lotion) in approximately 10 minutes. After this short tour we could roam around the farm and check out the bamboo bathrooms. I was told these bathrooms are the most photographed bathrooms in the world. I decided to rebel by deciding that even if I had brought by camera on this trip, I would not have taken any pictures of it.

Family Matters

In Brazil I learned how much of a relationship can be developed without being able to communicate verbally. Here, I am learning how much relationships are limited by not being able to communicate. I love talking to people and getting to know people, but I cannot do that here because I cannot understand Spanish. It makes me sad when I think of the relationships I am missing out on. Also, it kind of makes me sad because most of my family knows English, but they are told not to speak it to us so we can learn Spanish better. I totally understand that, but I cannot help but think about it. Sometimes I talk to them in English anyway and they respond in Spanish. I am okay with this because I usually understand and at least they aren’t ignoring me.

It has been requested (by Dana) that I write about the mystery of my family. I hesitate to do this because, although Dana finds it hilarious, I find it rather frustrating (and I don’t know if it will make sense written out). Either way, here goes. When we arrived we were given a list of the people who live in our house. As I told you, we live with Cony, Luki, Francisco, Heidy, and Francisco. My previous post mentioned how we had a hard time figuring out which of four or five men Francisco was. Just when we had figured it out (basically the night after my first post) the mystery got even deeper. After dinner that day, Cony asked if we wanted cake. Of course we both wanted cake. She pulled out this really nice cake, so Jamie asked what the occasion was. “No occasion. Antonio just really likes cake,” was what I heard. This whole ordeal could have been entirely prevented if one of us simply asked who Antonio was, but the cake was all that was on our minds. A little later, as we reflected on our cake, we realized we had no idea who Antonio was. As the week progressed and my spying skills increased, I realized that indeed another man stayed the night in our house.

By this point we were 90% sure which man was Francisco, so we decided the other was Antonio. Of course, Antonio’s relationship to the family still had to be figured out. We started to assume that Francisco was a son, due to the role he seemed to play in conversations we had with Cony. This situation could have been figured out much easier if everyone actually ate dinner with us, but of course that never ever happens. At this point I will talk about the most awkward dinner yet (“besides the first one,” says Jamie). I thought we were making great headway towards the mystery of Rene, but I realized I was wrong as the web was spun even thicker. I decided to just be blunt and ask Rene how he was related to the family. “Ask Cony,” he says. This was really awkward of him to say, but I just went with it and asked Cony. She started going on about him being dead and 16 years or something like that. As she continued, I made more sense of what she was saying. Rene is Cony’s husband. They separated after 16 years. “Francisco was 13 and Luki was much younger.” Of course you see the problem in this translated quote from Cony. She does not even mention Antonio. Okay, so Antonio is not her son, but who is he??

Well, another night at dinner we got to talking about hair and Cony told a story. Luki had long hair and it was up in two pigtails. Antonio cut one of them off so she had one short one. She shock on my face had nothing to do with how surprising it is for a little boy to cut off a little girl’s pigtail. It had everything to do with Antonio and Luki being together as children. I think is all of the mystery for now. Speculation is still going around as to Antonio’s actual relation. I am currently leaning towards cousin. There is also a plan in place for Dana to come over and obnoxiously introduce herself to everyone and asks their names so at least we know who is who.

Más Sexy

Salsa lessons continued and this week the dance room was much more crowded. This was okay though, because more people meant more guys and more guys meant more chances for girls to dance (Last week we had to spend more time standing as we rotated through the three men.). For some reason girls from our group are super hesitant to learn to Salsa. According to short interviews, a lot of this comes from not wanting to be embarrassed. I cannot sympathize. After this past Monday’s lesson, we met Rob, who has henceforth proved to be a good friend. He also reminded us of the zoo trip happening the next day.

The Zoo

On Tuesday Manuel came around to all the tables and asked who wanted to go to the zoo in about 20 minutes. I was hesitant to say yes because I did not know how focused my teacher wanted to be (What was I thinking? My teacher never wants to be focused.) and she was wearing heels. But she said she wanted to go so ten minutes later we were waiting for the bus to take a group of us to the zoo in Guatemala City. I was pretty excited because I really like zoos. I really like animals, but I don’t love them so much that I hate to see them in cages. This is the perfect balance for a zoo-lover. When we got there Manuel said something but I was in the back of the group and distracted by something so I didn’t hear him. I caught the rail end of his hand motions though, so I thought I had a pretty good idea of what he said.

Me: “Did he say to go everywhere?” 

Brenda: “No. He said stay together.”

At the zoo I really revert to childhood. I ran around from animal to animal and really tipped my teacher off as to just how crazy and juvenile I am. While some people doubted my sanity, I had a stellar time at the zoo and really appreciated being able to go.

Field Trip Numero 4: Guatemala City…Round One

Right after lessons on Friday we loaded into a little bus and headed for Guatemala City. We went straight for an archaeological museum which I am sure was very interesting, but due to our location, all the plaques were in Spanish. This was slightly sad, but what can you do (Besides, like, learn Spanish)? I know that museums kind of have a bad rap, but let’s face it, museums are pretty interesting. You go to a museum and get to learn about something that you previously have no knowledge of. I never thought I would miss not being able to read the plaques at a museum, but this was about stuff I seriously wanted to know. Pictures and pottery are great, but those plagues probably said a lot of interesting stuff.

After the museum, we went to a pretty big mall. We were given half an hour to check things out. Paul said there was a restaurant in there that had a sweet fish tank. This wasn’t a not-your-grammas-flan fish tank either. This had sharks and sting rays. Since my previous plan was to find a nice bench and stare at people for a half hour, I decided that finding this restaurant would be a nice warm-up. I took Dana with me and after many escalator rides and a trip on the elevator, we found the place. They would not let us into the restaurant, so we just pressed our faces up against the windows for a few minutes. Even from a distance, it was a pretty cool fish tank. The fish tank really got Dana in the mood for one of those coffee-smoothie things from Starbucks, so we went there for the rest of our time. We met back up with the group and a few of them were buying bubble tea. This reminded me of my Core 200 trip to Chicago. That trip rocked socks.

My favorite part of the mall was something that I was not even present for. In fifteen minutes Jamie went into a store, grabbed three dresses, tried them on, and bought three of them. That is straight up skill.

After the mall we checked into the hotel. Jamie and I got our own room. This was okay with us because we got our own bed which meant I got four pillows to myself. Using four pillows blew my mind yet did not lead to especially wonderful sleep.

We walked about five blocks to a restaurant for dinner. Dana only walked in front of unyielding traffic once. Everyone learns their lessons after once, some people learn it sooner. The dinner table talk was extremely stimulating and everyone surrounding Paul learned a lot about social studies. We discussed a vast number of topics and a lot of people got to put in their say and have their questions answered. It was a dinner that some people will ponder for dinners to come.

When we returned to the hotel, the post-dinner craziness commenced. Even though we were on a steady 9 pm until 6 am sleeping schedule, Jamie and I managed to stay up until 1 am or later doing random craziness. Evidence is somewhere in cyberspace, although I am not at liberty to say where.

...and then there was night and some of us thrashed a lot.

The next morning we went to the National Palace, which is where the President of Guatemala lived until too many rocks were thrown through his windows. This building was super pretty. It was filled with beautiful artwork and displayed the work of extremely talented carpenters. After that we went to the market, a catholic church, and lunched at a chicken place. If you want me to come up with some details about any of those places, let me know and I will see what I can do.

We got home from this trip and mass napping ensued.

Ayer

Dana, Jamileh, and I went to mass yesterday. Previously, Jamie went to the 6:30 am and 4:30 pm masses, but we all went to this one to hear Raúl play the marimba and flute. Raúl is a teacher at La Unión. We have become pretty tight and even have a secret handshake. This is Raúl and Rob at the zoo.

I couldn’t understand mass, so I decided to read some of the Apocrypha. It was pretty interesting. After mass I went to the English-speaking church I attended previous Sundays. I am really glad I did this because there was a guest speaker and he presented a really nice message about rejoicing.

For dinner, we all went to La Peña del Sol Latino. When big groups come, they ask for food to be pre-ordered, so we picked what we wanted on Saturday. Starting about 4 pm, Austin and I got really excited for Paco’s Nachos, which we both pre-ordered. Paco’s Nachos are “as big as he is!” I got a little worried when Paul said that Paco had been losing weight recently, but neither Austin nor I were disappointed when the nachos came. Everyone left that restaurant super full and we talked about what would happen if any of us sneezed. General agreement: the results would not be good.

There is Week 2. Let me know if you have any questions.

Peace, peeps. Love you guys.

Jamie’s blog: jamieinantigua.blogspot.com

Dana’s blog: guatemala2013.blogspot.com

P.S. Pens like never run out of ink, but I the first two weeks here two of mine have. This is unfortunate and ironic because for once in my pen-using career I legitimately have a limited number of pens. They would run out now.

OH MY WORD!! This very day I was organizing my bag and came across the letter my family wrote to me on Day 1. I was all, “I wonder if I can read this now.” Sure enough, I could read it and sure enough it said this non-direct quote: “Antonio and Luki are your new siblings and Cony is your new mother.” I was seriously appalled. That whole time it was right there! And then as Jamie and I left our house right after we were saying goodbye to me and Antonio said goodbye and I said, “Goodbye, Antonio.” It was a beautiful moment.

Here We Go

Guatemala is located in Central America just south of Mexico. Guatemala has had three capitals, the second one being Antigua. Even though Antigua is no longer the capital, it is a tourist hotspot. Every day tourists are wandering around Parque Central, a square-block of trees and fountains in the middle of this beautiful city. 

So a group of 12 students from Michigan arrived at the Guatemala City airport last Friday. They were greeted by sun and green trees, which was all too unfamiliar. After stealthily sneaking all their clothes and shampoo through customs, they were loaded cozily onto a bus for a rowdy game of hot potato (I think another objective for this ride was to take us to Antigua). Nestor, a teacher at La Unión, sat next to me. There was a bit of a rift in our friendship because I did not know any Spanish, but I sealed the deal when I gave him a Twizzler. Also, I think he appreciated how excited I was about a billboard advertising “nachos as big as your head.”

Mi Casa

We arrived at La Unión, the language school that our Spanish courses would be held at and were distributed to the families we would be staying with. Jamileh and I were picked up by Luki, Heidy and Francisco Pequeñ0. They are the daughter, daughter-in-law and grandson of Cony, the woman we are staying with. We all live together, including Francisco Grande, Cony’s son. It took us about four days to find out who Francisco Grande was because there were four or five boys who were not introduced to going in and out of our house. Furthermore, it was hard to know who stays at night because Jamileh and I go to bed at like 9 and leave the house before most of our family wakes up(As of this morning the man we thought to be Francisco Grande may not be. We are extra confused). For the sake of clarity, it is safe to assume that every time I mention Francisco, I am referring to Francisco Pequeño. He is four.

Our room was decorated with balloons and streamers, which made Jamie and I feel super welcome. Jamileh and I were meant to be roommates here in Guatemala. From Day 0 until the present we are finding out reasons why we are so similar despite our differences. It is super fun living with her and I am super glad we were paired up.

Our room is upstairs and is around a balcony that provides a wonderful view and a place to bask in the glorious sunlight. 

We were given the rest of the night to unpack and relax, which meant a nap before dinner. 

We were warned that transitioning to the food might cause some digestive uncomfort, so I was pretty pumped to put my stomach to the test. Our first dinner was spaghetti.

Cony asked if we liked cats and dogs. I did not think much about this question, but the next morning I realized why she asked. At around 5 am a dog goes crazy and seems to drive a cat into an even bigger frenzy. This is accompanied by a rooster and church bells that are about a block away. So far, I have not needed to set an alarm to wake up each morning. Also, at lunch yesterday we discussed our favorite way to eat cat.

The food has varied quite a bit since our first meal of spaghetti and as far as I can tell the meals have yet to repeat themselves. I would also like to take this opportunity to let my mother know that I am eating more vegetables than I have ever eaten in my life (or at least in the past three years). She should be very proud of me.

Field Trip Numero Uno: La Azotea

While we are here we will go on a few field trips as a group. So far we have been on two day trips. As much as I would like to say that the field trips are the most exciting part of my time here, they are not. It is fun to be together as a group and see the people you do not see every day, but honestly the everyday stuff is the most fun. Unfortunately, every day is rather repetitive and would not be as funny hearing about it, so y’all will mostly hear about the field trips.

Our first trip was to La Azotea. We went through a music museum first. I am sure that everything the woman shared was extremely interesting but she only spoke Spanish and I only knew like three words in Spanish but now I know four because Dana taught me the word for always, “Siempre!” Since I unfortunately could not listen to what the woman was saying about marimbas, Crystal and I kept ourselves occupied and quiet with a nice game of Spot-the-armadillos (Crystal did not have to pay attention either because she is partially in change of the SAU groups who come to Guate so she has been on this tour almost a zillion times). Here are the armadillos we found.

We tied. After we went through the rooms of the musical instruments, we watched a short documentary about Mayan music. My favorite part was the end. After the music museum we went to the coffee museum were I could follow along better because I know the Spanish word for cherry. After the real tour went through, Crystal summarized everything the tour guide said. Guatemala produces so much coffee, but for each dollar of profit from the coffee sold in other countries, Guatemalan farmers only get 16 cents. The other 84 cents stays in the importing country. The coffee farm that was connected to the museum is a fair trade farm, so the farmers get more of the profit. Crystal said it wasn’t really fair trade but we go to a coffee cooperative later on in the semester where farmers get 100% of the profit. This is a patio where the coffee beans sit in the sun to dry out. 

They were not fooling me though. I could tell by the smell that under each of those piles was the beginnings of the coffee made from fecal matter. After seeing the patio we walked through the forest where the coffee plants grew. The coffee plants were pretty interesting, but I got a few pictures of some more unique Guatemalan shrubbery.

Each coffee tree only produces enough fruits for 40 cups of coffee each year. Combine this with the fact that the process from tree to cup takes about three weeks and you see what makes coffee really expensive. I thought coffee was pretty cheap but Crystal says that Folger’s is not really coffee. It is processed and contains mostly chemicals. That is why it is so much cheaper.

Despite all the distractions, I learned a lot on this field trip. Also, I decided that if I ever have a part in opening a coffee shop I will probably make sure coffee is purchased directly from Guatemalan farmers.

Field Trip Numero Dos- A Mayan Village…Kinda…

This field trip was super interesting. We went to a nearby town were basically everyone is Mayan. Most of the women still wear traditional Mayan clothes that they make by hand. In a little room where the walls were made out of hand-made clothes, we were told how men claim a wife and then shown how a traditional wedding ceremony would go. The mother of the groom blesses the couple and includes the blessing of many corns and beans. Corn represents boy babies and beans represent girl babies. After the wedding, everyone dances and parties for 12 hours. Some of us were up for it, but with 11 hours and 56 minutes to go the Mayan ladies started making tortillas and people have to have priorities. Along with about six tortillas, I ate traditional Mayan stew and delicious tea. It was really nice to have a snack that afternoon because I am not going to lie about how hard it is to withstand the usual six and a half hours between meals.

On the way home José sat next to me. He is a teacher at La Unión who came along on this field trip. We talked about Cuidad Vieja (the first capitol of Guatemala), Carnival and Semana Santa. He shared how during Carnival everyone buys eggs filled with confetti or flour and busts it over other people’s heads. This gave me an excellent idea, so I was careful not to share this bit of information with any of my fellow students.

Meringue y Salsa y Bachata

On our first day of classes Alfredo gave everyone a schedule of events that La U sponsors. Some cost and others are free. That same day the event was free meringue and salsa lessons. Everyone (and by that I mean Dana, Jamie, Morgan and I) was pumped. At 5 o’ clock, five of us (We are friends with a girl from Traverse City, MI who just happened to got put in the same house and Dana and Morgan.) headed to La U where we were then escorted to Salsa Dreams, a dance studio down the road. I expected to have fun learning to salsa, but I was so surprised at how much fun I had. It was seriously a blast. The next day there was free bachata and salsa lessons so we went back. It was so much fun again and now we are pretty good friends with Mike, the instructor. All week I have been super excited to go back and dance more. For now, I think I will spend my Monday and Tuesday afternoons taking dance lessons. Jamie and Dana are even thinking about taking private lessons.

Francisco

Francisco was really shy when we first arrived, even though Cony said he had kept asking when we were coming. After classes on Monday, Francisco was playing some soccer in the garage, so Jamie and I joined in. Jamie was a little less into in after Francisco kicked the ball into her head and we stopped playing after he kicked it into mine. The next day we played again and he was a little gentler. Of course, this gentleness could not last forever. The day after, Francisco had his swords out, so I thought we could have a friendly little spar. Less than five minutes later Francisco was beating me black and blue with his sword. While this was a sure relationship builder for him, I usually run to my room if I see him digging around in the box where he keeps his swords. The next day our relationship took a positive turn when we raced each other up Cerro de la Cruz (more about Cerro de la Cruz later). On another positive note, Francisco taught me The Comer Song (Comer is “to eat”), which was not previously in my set list.

New Friends

To be completely honest I am not good with strangers. Being around strangers makes me shy and nervous and I just have a hard time talking to them. But this is okay because I combat this by quickly making everyone who might have the chance at being a stranger into my friend. Here are some of my new almost-strangers.

Keely, Jeff, and Tanner. All the students take Spanish lessons from 8 am until 12 pm, but from 10 til 10:30 everyone is on break. During this break most people tend to chill in the garden. On Day 1 I saw two people wearing Tennessee apparel, so I started chatting with them because I love Tennessee. These two people were Jeff and Keely. Keely is a teacher in the Dominican Republic and Jeff will be too after their four weeks at La U. Tanner is a friend who came along to Antigua for the experience. It turns out that Jeff and Tanner went to Tennessee Technological University, which is about 20 minutes from where my family used to live, so we know some of the same places.

Carlos. There is a used book store in Antigua and I have been itching to check it out ever since we arrived. Morgan and I went one day and we looked at most of the books. The man at the desk spoke English so we exchanged some words about Machiavelli. I did not end up getting a book, so I went back the next day to look some more. Really I just wanted to tell the man at the desk that my Spanish teacher made some feminist comments that related to our discussion about Machiavelli. So I browsed some books and made some small talk. The man behind the desk/owner is Carlos. It got super crazy when it turns out that he is from Tennessee, too. He splits his time between Antigua and Knoxville. I had to rush out on Carlos that time, but I will definitely go back to that book store when I need a book. As I left, Carlos reminded me not be reading “that Machiavelli stuff.”

Brian. One of the men who always seem to be in and out of our house was a very intriguing mystery because it appeared as though he stayed the nights here on several occasions. One night he ate dinner at the same time as us so I used my new language skills to ask him where he was from and what he was doing. Thankfully, I had Jamie to fill in the gaps. Brian lives about three hours by bus from Antigua, but he goes to high school here. During the week he stays at Cony’s house. After that night we ate with Brian every night and had great conversations about sports and learning. Now it is the weekend and Brian is gone. Jamie and I are sad.

Getting Buff

Included in our Guatemala package is a three months membership to La Fabrika, a gymnasium. This is very exciting and so far Jamie, Dana and I have taken advantage of this opportunity every day. The gym has free pilates and tae-bo classes, but our schedules haven’t allowed us to go to one yet. Another perk to this gym is that you can have a personal trainer that tells you what machines to do each day. One day when Jamileh couldn’t go to the gym I took Ana, but we have to stop taking friends because then every girl will want a red-shirted Guatemalan.

That’s Week One, y’all. Just in case you doubt it, I love it here and am really happy.

Peace.

For another point of view, feel free to check out Jamie or Dana’s blog.

http://jamieinantigua.blogspot.com/

http://guatemala2013.blogspot.com/

P.S. Today I went to put on a pair on my short and I had them mostly on and there was a gigantic spider on them. It was terrible.

P.P.S I have an armpit rash.