Background Information

5 days and counting!

I wanted to give everyone information about where I'm going to be living for the summer. This Sunday, I'm flying out of Chicago on a 6 a.m. flight, which means I'm going to have to get the airport at 4 a.m.! Fun! I'll arrive into Guatemala City around 12:30 p.m. Luckily, Guatemala's in the same time zone so no jet lag! I'll be escorted to a bus station by a person who's affiliated with the language school. I have a 4-5 hour bus ride to my new home in Quetzaltenango, commonly referred to as Xela (pronounced shay-la), the Kiche Mayan name. Xela is in the heart of the Sierra madres volcanoes, it's surrounded by two mist-covered volcanoes and one of which is still active. Guatemala has a total of 33 volcanoes! Some of which I intend to hike up! Xela is a commericial mecca of Southwestern Guatemala and is the second largest city in Guatemala with about 250,000 people; preceded by the capital, Guatemala City.

I'm going to go to study spanish at Sakribal for 3 months and the last two weeks I'll travel around Guatemala with Nolan. I'll be taking classes for five hours a day and going on afternoon excursions and weekend excursions with the school. Nolan's going to fly to Guatemala in August so hopefully by then I'll have a good understanding of the country and language so I can easily show him around.

I'm most nervous about my travel from Guate (an abbreviation for Guatemala City) to Xela. As I've heard the bus rides are quite crazy because the bus drivers drive fast and aggressive as they are climbing the mountains and dodging and passing cars. At least I'm taking a first class bus and not a chicken bus. I'll leave the adventures of the chicken bus once I'm a bit settled in my new home.

I feel like if I pinch myself then I'll wake up and realize that I'm not going to Guatemala in a few days! I've never been so adventuresome! I can't wait!