we're in xela again!

everything was good. we stayed at patricia's bed and breakfast again. we played with their dog and ate pollo campero. it was relaxing and just what we needed. we immediately ran in and took over the bathroom as we were so disgusting and showered. plus, they were disgusting dirty hippies staying there too. we wanted the bathroom first. ick! glad there's a pollo campero in chicago.


i'm so happy because my friends are back from a medical mission and we're going out to dinner with them tonight. they are really great ppl. i'm definitely going to keep in touch with them b/c 1. they are great ppl and 2. they have a great organization that does medical missions. they had a pharmacist on this trip this time. sometimes they don't have one. god, i can't wait to be a freaking pharmacist already! i want to volunteer abroad! also, a masters in public health will be super helpful. they told me some crazy stories about their patients.

i dropped our stinky laundry off. i'm definitely going to miss someone doing our laundry every week. well, that's what nolan's for! lol!


i'm going to stop by josefina's house tonight and give her some of my clothes and toiletries. i need to lighten our load as i have so much shit i bought before nolan got here. nolan promised me we can go shopping in antigua tomorrow. we couldn't buy a damn thing while we were on the go.

i can't believe everything worked out so well. i couldn't ask for a better trip. nolan said that it was his best vacation ever.

i hope we get in on time on saturday as i want to pick up my little boys asap on saturday night. i miss them. nolan and i looking forward to watching movies and ordering in on sun and mon. i do have to go school supply shopping at some point though.

i can't wait to see my girlfriends from pharmacy school on tuesday too!

it's going to be weird feeling, but very good feeling to be home. i'm ready! nolan and i conquered guatemala.

i'm going to miss so many things though such as,
my host family, friends, guatemalan food, bread, the people, the beautiful country side, not speaking spanish all of the time, meeting great ppl in every place i visited, learning so much about the different cultures here.

i've developed an addiction to bread here. i definitely will have some withdrawals when i get back. however, it's good because i ate too much of it each day. it's funny b/c i hardly ate bread at home and now i have to eat it every day.

however, i'm not going to miss some things too such as,
not being able to flush t.p., drink tap water, use buses to go everywhere, constantly inhaling pollution, dodging cars, wondering if i'll make it to my destination alive because of the crazy drivers, seeing how poverty stricken this country really is...side note below...., the stray dogs on the streets....nolan and i feed a bunch a long the way...i wish we could've taken some of them home. bernie would have loved them..., and the dirty hippies...ick! not being near my friends and family in the USA.

when nolan and i were traveling we really went to some very rural areas. they were really what i've heard about they were the 70% of ppl that are below poverty and live in these little wooden shacks. you see ppl sitting on the side of the road or walking around. i can't help but thing...where are they going? it's incredibly heart wrenching. my friend chrissy said her friend just adopted a baby from guate. so nolan and i are definitely going to look into that in a few years. i can't wait!

that's about it! i don't think i'll update any more before we fly back unless that's a problem.

love u and miss you!


happy bday again, mom!

where do i begin?

wow! it's been a crazy 3 days since i last wrote...not sure if it's been 2, 3, or 4 days really. time's a blur! we got to coban via a first class bus. it was in the nastiest part of town in Guatemala City i've ever seen. definitely blew tiajuana away. glad i was with nolan. the bus stations are all in Zona 1, which is the worst part of town. why, i don't know...the bathrooms were vile! i don't even know where to begin to describe them. it seems like every toilet seat here doesn't have a seat. not like we'd sit on them anyway. we always travel with our own seat covers and T.P. you have to pay 1Q to use it. they couldn't even flush them, just put water in to wash down the waste. it was so disgusting then you have the dirty T.P. in the trash cans...i am going to be so excited to flush again! i know, i know, you guys are probably so sick about reading about the plumbing here. poor nolan, sometimes i think he's irked that we're roughing it. he's a city boy and all. i just try to go with the flow and there's not much we can do to change it.

Ugh! We arrived at a hotel, but it turned out it was a hostel...we just can't stay in hostels. We've gotta sleep in hotels. I know, I slept outside right? Well, this place had dead flies all over the bed, dirty, dingy, no lock on the door, vile stench, dimly lit, the flaws are endlesss. We snuck out of there and got a room at the finest hotel in town! $34 USD per night! It was actually very beautiful. There was an incredible bake shop nearby. There was some church retreat going on that we sat outside in the courtyard and watched. The shitty hostel was $26 per night. Wow! What a difference $8 made!

we went on the most amazing trip of our lives monday! we visited Semuc Champey, Lanquin, tubing, and Kan ba caves. I can't even express how much it was worth going 10 hrs. out of our way to visit paradise. The area is VERY rural and has this lagoon and river tucked away in a jungle. We hiked for about 30 grueling minutes and then we saw a look out point of the lagoons. It blew Jamaica way. The lagoons formed above a river so there are two seperate bodies of water. The lagoon water is blue and the river water is brown. The river flows underneath and into the caves. We walked and listened to the wild life around us. Our guide was awesome and I translated for Nolan and this other girl who was with us. She was from Isreal and so sweet. I can't even describe how beautiful it was...I can't wait to post pics! We swam around for about 1 hr. Nolan's swimming lessons are paying off! He did a great job! We sat at the lagoon and ate lunch and admired the beauty. I talked to the Jewish girl a lot and swam with her as Nolan was leery to go into the deeper parts. Boy, did he not know what we were in store for next. The guide said we were going to go check out the caves next! We read about them in the book and it sounded cool. It sounded like the ones I've visited in Tennessee with my mom. Boy, was I wrong! The guide said we were going swimming in the caves with candle light. How in the hell am I going to hold a candle and swim under ground? What the hell was Nolan going to do? Nolan said that he wasn't going to do it. I explained that he's not a great swimmer. The guide quickly had a solution for that. He got an intertube for Nolan! He said the only thing that's missing is a rubber ducky on the front of it! God, I wish I had a camera, but we couldn't take it down there because we had to swim! I of course left our flashlight in some hotel, it was water proof and we could have used that instead of a candle. It was wild! the water was freezing, bats were chirping and flying above, and he we are entring this cave and ducking from bats and stalagtites, those rock formations above us. It was incredible difficult to doggy paddle and hold my candle above me. Poor Nolan could barely move in his inertube he was stagnant. He could barely use the candle b/c the guide was afraid he'd burn his intertube and drown. He took it away from him. It was so freaking scary, but so exciting! We could hear a waterfall. We had to swing underneat a waterfall to get across this area, climb up and down ladders, squeeze through areas where the stalagtites were. I felt like Indiana Jones! We had to dump the candles at one point and our guide used a head light. We walked through the caves and were covered in bumps, scrapes, and bruises when we got out of there. My beautiful $85 bathing suit was ruined! However, I'd do it over in a heart beat. It was amazing! Wild! However, when we had to turn back there was a point where Nolan didn't have his innertube and I panicked! I started screaming at the guide that he can't swim! Nolan all of a sudden took a flying leap towards me! I was about to die! The guide told me to calm down and he would take care of him. Nolan said he was worried about me and wanted to get over there, but I told him that he's crazy b/c he can't swim that great yet. YIKES! Now we can laugh about it...as we're cracking up right now. It was exhilerating!

Nolan said he had enough fun so I went tubing with the girl from Israel. We went with two other guys. We had to interlock our legs and I touched these guys feet. Ick! When I looked down it was covered in toe fungus! I nearly screamed. I let go of him and it was just me and the girl from Israel. The guide, came over after a while and latched on to me. Thank god, that other guys feet were NASTY! I used hand sanitizer all day and was freaking out after thinking I'd get nail fungus. So far I'm OK.

We took a shuttle from Coban to Flores on Tuesday. We almost missed the shuttle b/c Nolan decided at the last minute to go to the ATM. I had to ask the guy to come back for us. What a mess! I nearly had a heart attack. We're on such a tight schedule. Every person in the bus, NOT US, smelled sooo badly. It was body odor central. Crazy Europeans! LOL! It was so hot and no one wanted to roll the windows down. We're in the freaking jungle, people! Its hot, humid, sticky, and 95 plus degrees. It's like Florida in the northern part of Guatemala. I felt nauseaus the entire time.

We made it to Flores took a crazy shuttle from there to Tikal. I really don't have time to explain the entire thing, but I can when we get back. It was a saga! We walked around Tikal last night and then took a sunrise tour this a.m. It was incredible listening to the wild life and especially the monkeys howling. We swam in a pool at our disgusting hotel and had dragon flies dancing above our heads, toucans chirping in the trees, spider monkeys swinging from tree limbs, and the howler monkeys screeching. i felt like i was in animal planet. the hotel only has electricity 3 hrs. a day from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. when they serve dinner. we slept in pools of sweat the entire night. mom, nolan said it reminds him of when he lived with you! i was afraid to use the bathroom and we had to take a gas latern to illuminate the pathway. nolan accompanied me every time. there was lizards, frogs, and other insects i've never seen before. i decided i wouldn't go alone after i was corned in the bathroom by a frog. it was cute, but i was so afraid it would jump on me. every move i made it inched toward me. it was awful! i ran out of there and never went back to the bathroom alone. god, the room was soooo musty! it was shared bathrooms too. i felt like i was in the dorms from college again.

we took the sunrise tour of tikal without a flashlight. nolan almost fell countless times over the gigantic roots of the gigantic trees in the jungle. i nearly twisted my ankle! we walked up stairs to sit on top of a 210 feet tall myan temple @ 5 a.m. in the dark. we waited above to watch the sunrise and listened to the howler monkeys go crazy. unfortunately, we don't have pics of the howler monkeys, but it was incredible. nolan took a video of the sounds of them calling to each other. it was the most amazing experience. we were sitting above the jungle canopy of trees. it was freaking wild! you could see every star in the sky. it was the clearest night i'd seen in a long time. however, the clouds started rolling in as the sun rose. at least it didn't rain, but it's so foggy in guatemala in the a.m.

we're now going to take a cab and keep our fingers crossed so that we can get on the plane to guatemala city without our passports. i hope so! i'm looking foward to taking a shower...i'm so sticky, smelly, and icky! then we're heading back to xela to hang out with josefina and some friends then going to antigua then flying out. i 'm excited to come home.

i want to pinch myself and can't believe that we endured these adventures. it was awesome! i'm so glad nolan did it with me. he's not too outdoorsy, but i think after nearly 10 yrs. i can break him in.

mom, happy early bday! i'll call you tomorrow!!! i love u!

oh! bernie is doing well. our dog sitter said he's made a lot of new friends in her neighborhood, dogs and ppl, plus he plays a lot with her dog. her ex boyfriend gave him a nickname. einstein is doing well too. he's handling the 2 doggies OK. i can't wait to see them!

Sorry for all the typos once again! My english is so bad right now! Crazy, it's only been 4 months.

we´re leaving antigua tomorrow

hey everyone,

we finalized our plans for our adventure this week. yikes! i wish we would´ve started out adventuresome and ended with our relaxing time here. oh well...i´m pooped anyway because you have to take so many buses and walk everywhere. it´s really exhausting taking all the chicken buses, tuk tukes, micro buses, etc. to places.

yesterday, we hiked up Picaya, the active volcanoe about 1 and a half hours outside of Antigua. It was incredible. my legs got really sun burnt. i forgot to put sun block on them. we got pics and video of the lava moving down the volcano...at times we were only 2 feet away from it and the heat was very unbearable. some idiot threw his plastic bottle into a river of lava. what a loser! we all booed him! our tour guide went sliding down the volcano to get closer to the lava. it was scary.

we´ve eaten at some very great restaurants here! we checked out a macadamian nut farm today and just finalized our plans. it took a while booking with travel agents. a great guatemalan family gave us a ride back from the farm in their SUV. it´s the 2nd time someone has given me a lift here. the ppl are so amazing and nice here. i´ll remember that forever. i spoke to them in spanish while they replied in english. it was great! we used the fire place in our bedroom and drank some guatemalan, GALLO, beers too! this hotel is incredibly beautiful. it´s all down hill from here. i´m really nervous about our adventures across the country now. i´m so glad nolan is here with me.

we´re going to try to go to Coban tomorrow it´s 6 hrs by bus...not chicken, but not 1st class. somewhere in btw. we want to try to visit Semuc Champey, it´s a natural limestone lagoon, about 3 hrs away from Coban on Monday and a Coffee Farm. THe later may be impossible because Semuc is so far away. Plus, I heard the roads to those places are really shitty. We´re going to head up to Tikal, the Mayan Ruins, on Tuesday via some kind of bus and then check out a sunrise tour of the ruins on Weds...as long as the weather fairs well. Keep your fingers crossed for us and that we can fly back from Tikal because we don´t have our passports with us and we´ve gotten mixed responses whether the airline will let us on board with a photocopy of our passport. We bought the tickets anyway and will just fight the charges with our credit card company back home if we can´t board. However, I don´t want to take a 10 hr. bus trip back to Guatemala City. I´d rather take the 45 minute flight. Then we´re going to stay in Guate. for one night, head back to Xela, spend time with Josefina and go back to Antigua and then fly out on Saturday.


I emailed my professor over the summer who teaches the Medical Spanish Class and we´re going to meet on Sept. 11 during one of my breaks. I think I´ll be able to test in there now. LOL! If not, I don´t know what to say about my spanish....I´m also going to look for a job too. I hope my Spanish will give me an edge to get a retail pharmacy tech job. Although, I know my spanish is far from perfect.

We´re going to go relax by the pool now! It´s amazing, surounded by flowers, trees, and a waterfall. Nolan just commented on how bad my english is and is correcting me on all my errors with spelling and grammar. Geez!

Keep your fingers crossed that we get to our destinations safely! I don´t think we´ll get there in a timely fashion, but I hope that we can visit all that we want too. We´ve taken a lot of amazing pics.

Oh! One funny note, when we were at the Nature Reserve at the Lake we were chased down by some decendents of racoons. They have long pointy noses and they are redish colored. I halled ass out of that area of the jungle! I´ll have to find the name of them and post a pic of it. We were too scared to snap a pic of them!

We love and miss everyone! I can´t wait to get home! It´s incredible to think I havne´t been home for nearly 4 months.

We're in Antigua

Hey! We had a fabulous time at Lake Atitlan. We really didn't want to leave, but we need to explore other parts of Guatemala too. We went to a nature reserve yesterday and walked over a crickety suspension bridge it was pretty wild. We also walked up on a couple that was doing it too! Gross! There was a beautiful butterfly garden and the waterfall was amazing, but walking across the bridge to the waterfall was very scary. It took about 3 plus hours to walk around it. We also explored some towns around the lake, ate great food, hung out in the hammocks. We met some really great people and drank some really good chilean wines. We woke up yesterday and today to watch the sunrise at the lake. We walked out to our balcony and took a bunch of photos. Also, last night there was a thunderstorm so we took some pics of the lightening above the volcanoes.

We're going to hike up an active volcano tomorrow. We may cut our trip short in Antigua for one day if our hotel will let us as we really want to tour a coffee farm and check out the rainforest. I've seen pics of Picuaya, the active volcano, and it looks amazing! We leave at 6 a.m. tomorrow. Going to explore Antigua a bit today now.

We're at the Lake

Hey Everyone,

We went to Fuentes Georginas, walked around Xela and did the market thing, and went to Chichicastenenago. I didn't buy much at the Markets because NOlan said that I bought too much already. I tried to get a Mayan Calendar...it's a weaving and the ladies wouldn't budge. I wanted it...I should've just bought it. Nolan said, "No more jewelry...I only bought 3 pieces!" It was sad saying good bye to my family, but I left my stuff in Xela with some friends so we're going to go back and I promised them I'd stop by. Of course, they said their door is always open. I left on Sunday, b/c I thought my family would receive a new student, but they didn't. I did stop by to get the laundry I left there, I used the pila, the wash basin, to wash some stuff on Saturday night. How exhausting! Nolan took a few pics of me. They found the rat! I didn't dare look at it, but you could start to smell it. It died behind the stove and it was decomposing and worms were feeding off of it. Ick! Nolan looked at it. Had I known my family wouldn't of had a student we would have stayed w/them then at a hotel. Josefina wouldn't let me pay for Nolan staying there with us. I don't know why...I'm going to try to give her the $ one last time at the end of the month.

We're relaxing at the lake and have been town hopping by boat. It really should be the 8th wonder of the world. Our hotel is paradise! It's incredible. We're going to go in the hot tub tonight or tomorrow. We're going to try to get more ppl in it to subsidize the cost, but either way we're going to go because it'll be an experience being in a hot tub and surrounded by volcanoes. We walked to a neighboring down through the jungle...it was beautiful and not too difficult. We couldn't find the waterfall. It's sad that no matter how beautiful and lush it is here that there is garbage EVERYWHERE! the dogs look better fed here then anywhere else i've visited. I guess the hippies feed them...so many hippies by the lake and Xela too for that matter. i know our pics will pale in comparison to how beautiful it is here. Here's where we are

http://www.atitlan.com/

our hotel
http://www.lacasadelmundo.com/

nolan made it safely!

hey everyone,

im hear at an internet cafe with nolan sitting beside me! its great! everything worked out fine and we got here safely. we walked all around the city today and took a nap afterwards. we have a tight schedule from here on out!

we celebrated nolans bday here last night. he was completed surprised...josefina, norma, and i have been planning a party for months. we made a cake and deocrated it. it took 2 hours to decorated it with those two hoovering over my back and yelling dont mess it up. she cooked all day yesterday and weds. to prepare a special bday meal. it is called, choo choos. its a corn tamale with sauces and chicken breast inside, she made this special cinnamon, bread. they were incredibly! i took pics. it was an entire process. we didnt eat dinner until 1030 p.m. on tuesday night and then i had to write my speech for schoool and i was up until about 1 a.m. i had my teacher proof read it and i read it outloud to her twice and i read it to josefina because she wanted to hear it. nolan was completely shocked and they gave him big hugs and he really feels like he{s a part of the family here. i gave nolan a bag of guate. coffee and a chamarra for a bday gift. it was the myan symbols on it. its a bit colorful, but original and i hope that he likes it. they have been talking to him slowly and he understands it well, but i do have to do translating too. it does get to be a bit confusing because i{ll start speaking to nolan in spanish mid sent. what am i going to do when i get home. nolan was a bit shocked when he got here and cant believe that ive been living here for over 3 months. i think i have changed a bit and not as prissy as i used to be, but i definitely want to resume doing my hair and make up when i return and wearing cute clothes again!

sorry for the punctuation i cant get it off the spanish mode.

i will write soon!

i cant wait to get my speech over with tonight! i tried to make it funny but i am not sure how well my humor will translate into spanish. we will let you know. i am a bit nervous...but ready to say good bye to the school and have nolan meet the ppl ive been hanging out with for the summer.

i'm going back to guate tomorrow

hey everyone,

i'm running around trying to prep. for nolan's arrival. my teacher and i walked around the city and bought my bus ticket, snacks, and i bought chiltepes, the tiny hot peppers for my mom and brother. i doubt i'll be able to smuggle them back in, but i'm going to try my damndest. i bought 8 oz. and i put 1/2 of them in the sun and the other have is in a bag and i'll toast them tonight. those little suckers pack a punch and are smaller than my pinky nail.

i went to the wedding on saturday after my spanish class. it was way out in the boonies in salcajas. it was jeremy, josefina, and i went as everyone else had to work. i took a bunch a pics for norma as they don't have a camera and she couldn't go...her boss wouldn't give her the time off...it's her best friends wedding! i'll bring them out and mail them to them along with pics i've taken here. i'm trying to take pics each day of them, but they don't like taking pics...only jeremy likes it. i'll have nolan take pics of me with them later this week. i just hope nilda is here. i haven't gotten any pics of her yet. it was neat to see the tradition. we arrived late as usual...we late to everything...kinda like nolan and i. everyone in the entire church was staring at us. it was neat to see the customs and listen to the ceremony. a lot of ppl were curious about where i was from. it's really interesting because ppl don't smile in pics. here. it's really sad too, because josefina and her family and i are always joking and laughing, but in the pics i have of them they never smile...except jeremy.

i borrowed nilda's cell phone and gave it to the family that's picking me up tomorrow so they can call me this time...i doubt i'll be late tomorrow. i think the roads are OK. i just hope that Nolan arrives on time.

i had 10 hrs of class on sunday. it was incredibly taxing for me and i'm sure my teacher. i was getting everything wrong. her book that we studied from was incredibly difficult. even she said it's one of the hardest books in their school. she as are most of the teachers there constantly picking our brains. i'm just happy i can have a conversation with someone. it may not be correct, but i can try to squeak out something. i've just been reviewing this week. i've gotta write my good bye speech tonight so my teacher can read it and correct it. i'm VERY nervous about speaking in spanish in front of like 50 ppl. speaking in english isn't a problem in front of ppl, but spanish is an entirely diffrent experience. i'm definitely going to be nervous especially since nolan hasn't seen me speak in public before. my palms are getting sweaty just thinking of it.

i didn't have time to go to any of the talks last week, unfortunately. i had to make up classes and i wanted to hang out with my friend emily before she left. we went out afterwards for a drink and i went dancing with her and some of my teachers from school. it was the first time i went to the discoteca here. it was a lot of fun...i danced with my teachers and my classmates...i took some pics. a friend of my teacher drove us all home...he wasn't drinking either. neither was i mom, i know you'll be worried about it when you read this. i made the exception to go out with emily as it was her final night here and we've hung out for 2 months together. now i go to the aerobics class solo.

i've just been hanging out with my family really. i really am trying to spend as much time with them as possible. they have a problem with a rat...the damn thing finally showed itself when we were eating lunch yesterday. i nearly had a heart attack! josefina and i had to pick up all the food from the table and jeremy and run out of the room. i suggested that we eat in the living room last night because i was petrified of the rat. it was eating bananas with a toxic chemical on it. we don't know where it went either. carlos and a guy that was in the house making repairs to the house tried to find it to kill it. it was chaos! they are making a lot of repairs to their house to protect again more hurricane-like storms come again. they lost some furniture last year. they are also painting so between the paint fumes and the car fumes i'm definitely having a rough time with the smells.

i think they poisoned the dogs again as i don't see anymore stray dogs during the day. it's very controversial here because everytime someone's dog is poisoned in the process of trying to kill the stray dogs. how sad!

can't think of anything else! keep your fingers crossed that my travels go well in to guate. also, even more, keep your fingers crossed that nolan arrives SAFELY and on TIME. everyone is very excited about meeting him. i can't believe how quickly the time flies. it doesn't feel like i've been here for 3 months...however, i'm looking forward to traveling and ready to come home. i really can't wait! however, i do wish i had more time to study spanish too and hang out with josefina and her beautiful family.. however, i'm ready to see my family and friends too! i'm torn! it's going to be emotional good bye with the family on saturday. we're staying there until sunday a.m., but we're leaving the house around 7 a.m. to go to chichi and also we're not going to to come back and we'll stay in a hotel in xela for the night. she'll receive a new student...i could stay until mon., but i know that this is her job and she really needs a student or a couple to live with them because she'll get double the $ if a couple is there. if we don't leave there is a possiblity she won't get anyone for a week. they have to make repairs on their house so. she's going to try to get the other bedroom set up so 2 students can stay there constantly. poor, carlos, her son will have to sleep on the sofa permanently. jeremy, catarino, norma, and josefina sleep in the other bedroom.

nolan, the weather has been incredibly beautiful and hardly any rain and cold...perfectly sunny! everyone is complaining about how hot it is, but i'll take the heat before cold anyday. i'm so tired of dressing in layers, but it's going to be necessary soon after i return home. i hope it continues for the next few days that we're here. as we'll be walking around a lot around xela and also because we'll be going to the hot springs. i went to two when it rained...it's OK. i mean your going to get wet anyway. it's so beautiful!

i'll definitely write while we're traveling! i hope everyone is doing well! love u and miss u all!

i'm back!

things at the capital went off without a hitch. is that the correct expression? god, my english has really gone to hell since i've been speaking and focusing on learning spanish. i expect some tutors in english when i come back! lol! it was a last minute decision to go up there before nolan arrives because i'd rather us focus on fun stuff than the legalities of renewing my visa. it's my responsibilty. he's only responsible for having fun while he's here. the only hiccup was that the buses were running it took 6 hrs to get to and fro each way, there was a landslide. It should only take 4 hours. I felt bad because the guy that was helping me had to wait at the busstation for 2 hours. It was pretty hot in Guate too. However, I welcomed the sun as I've been freezing my ass off in Xela. I slept a lot on the bus and looked out the window and admired the moutains and beautiful vegetation. The lady said I can pick up my passport any day next week except next Tues. because they are closed for a holiday. I'm going back up next Weds. on Nolan's bday and will retrieve it and Nolan on that Thursday a.m. I hope the return trip to Guate is just as easy. It's really a crap hole, it gives Tiajuana a run for it's money. Ick! The pollution is worse...which is hard to believe. Also, there's way more police walking around carrying guns. it's crazy, they are the biggest guns i've every seen...some kind of rifle of some sort. out side and inside banks here there's usually like 4 or 5 guys holding guns. they don't mess around here with theifs. i didn't drink a sip of water all day in fear that i'd have to go to the bathroom and experience the pain i felt when i went to chichi. i thought was going to die. it was a long day...about 16 hrs of traveling. poor nolan, called my school 4 times to get an update...each time he received a diffrent story, each one more incorrect a one was bad. finally the secretary gave him the ph# for the guy who helped me out who speaks english he and his parents own a bed and breakfast so i'll stay there next week. he told him that i'm running late, but he dropped me off at the busstation safely. whew! luckily, josefina's youngest son, speaks englsh. however, he's never spoken it with me, but he has with nolan a few times. lol!

i'm going to the wedding on saturday with josefina. i never bought a dress just don't have time. i'm going shopping with josefina to buy a guipel, the traditional top, and for a few other things. i have classes all weekend long to make up and finish all my classes so i can get my 50 hrs in so i can have thurs. and fri. off of next week. i'm not looking forward to having class for 10 hours this sunday. my poor teacher won't have much of a break this weekend. i have to take 5 hours on saturday and rush to the wedding.

jenny, i'm sure spanish will come back to you when we talk to gether. there are 4 modes of spanish and i'm on the 3rd of 4 and i'm only touching the tip of the iceberg of subjunctive. i'd rather review my stuff that i've learned. i'm happy with my progress and will continue taking classes when i get home. i definitely want to practice with you when i get home! yippee! yeah, her children, nilda and carlos, use email. however, i'm going to snail maile the photos to her. she wants pics of our wedding too. she's so sweet and it's sad that i'm leaving so soon. i'm sad too, but i'm so psyched about traveling and then coming home. i'm really starting to miss a lot of things from home now, 3 months is the max. i think i could ever be away from my loved ones. i don't know how ppl do it and live here for months. incredible!

the wedding should be interesting as the customs are a bit different there. they have 2 religious ceremonies...thank god we're oinly going to one. however, they are evangelical so they are strict and don't play music or drink. how sad! i foudn out from my teacher that the catholics throw down and party. they always have music and drinks. i still haven't gotten to try the guatemalan beer yet. i told nolan i want to give it a try when he gets here. however, the bday party was very nice and they did go all out, but it was classy and now rowdy. i was very impressed! josefina said they had a small bday party and it was simple for each of their children as they can't afford a fancy party. there's nothing wrong with keeping things small and simple. that's nolan and i's theme for our wedding! the ppl here really center their entire lives around religion...it's a part of them. i feel very fortunate to get to witness some of there traditions and costumes. ppl were very nice andtalked to me and were courious about where i was from. the people here couldn't be more kind. i'm so lucky that josefina allows me to do things with them...

i hope all is well! i'll write more next week before i leave for guate again! can't wait to meet nolan at the airport! i'm ready to travel and looking forward to coming home.

busy next few weeks

hey everyone,
i went to the bday party yesterday, it was long and fun. i am right now planning to go to the capital, guatemala city-guate. for short, on bus on weds. a.m. and have someone meet me at the station to take me to the immigration office so i can start the process to extend my visa. the director of my school called a buy you ones and bed and breakfast in guate. he is going to take me from the bus station in the a.m. to the office and then back from the office to to the bus station to take a bus back. i don't want to stay there during the extension process. i want to get up there and get back during the same day. it's going to be a LONG tiring day. as i have to take a bus at 430 a.m. to guate and i'll get there around 9 a.m. then the guy will take me to the office and wait for me. i'll then take another 5 hr. bus ride back to xela. i'd rather have it this way and not have to stay overnight...it can take a few days...

i'm going to return to the captial next weds. aug 16th on nolan's bday to stay over night at the bed and breakfast and then pick up my visa the following a.m. and meet nolan at the airport and then have the guy take us to the bus station to take the 5 hour bus ride back to xela together.

keep your fingers crossed that all goes smoothly. i'm a bit on edge, but want to begin the paperwork process before nolan gets here as i don't want to be caught in the capital with paperwork and my visa stuff when we could be having fun and traveling.

i'll write more when i have time! i'm trying to plan our trip right now and catch up on my studies. i've been slacking a bit. i'm trying to review all my stuff right now. i'm gettting pretty far in my grammar...i've learned 2 past tenses, present, 2 future tenses, 3 past perfect participle, past participle, 3 conditional tenses, and tomorrow i'll start learning subjunctive, which is what i wanted to get through before i left, but i found a place in chicago that offers classes, which i've taken from before and they told me they go over subjunctive throughly. i an intermediate III spanish speaker, but i feel far from it. the next level is advanced I. i feel like i know nothing sometimes...i have probs with some of the tenses. it didn't help that i had a sucky teacher last week. i have an incredibly one this week. i'm going to make up the class i missed next sunday. and i'm going to have classes for 10 next mon and tues to make up for not having classes on thurs and friday of next week to spend time with nolan. ugh! it's worth it though! plus, i want to get my 50 hrs of lecture in...i'm a freaking nerd. so i'm not going to push subjunctive too much and really focus on reviewing to ensure that what i've learned i never VERY well.

jenny and lauren, did ya'll learn this? i'm looking forward to practicing with you guys. ya'll said you a few years of spanish.

keep your fingers crossed that all goes well in guate. on weds. nolan, please call me on weds. night. i should be home by 7 or 8 p.m. the lasted. the biggest thing is how long it'll take in the capital at the immigration office.

I forgot to mention a few things!

The best part of my bday was after you blow out the candles it is customary to bend down and take a bite of the cake. Ramon, Norma's older brother, was standing behind her when she bent down and he smooshed her face into the cake! I got a pic of it! Afterwards, Josefina told me something from across the room, but I didn't understand. I said, what, and she motioned her hand up to her mouth and acted like she was going to bite it. I thought, OK, here we go! It's way different then in the US, usually we just give the bday girl the first piece of cake. LOL! I figured that I was safe because Ramon was across the table from me and they wouldn't smoosh my face into the cake because I'm a visitor. Well, I don't know how he did it, but he moved across the room like lightening and as soon as my mouth was a few centimeters away from the cake he smooshed my face into. I got icing in my nose! It was so funny! Everyone started laughing and came around and gave me another round of hugs!

My teacher this week, her cousin is studying to be a pharmacist, she told me about a course that you can take with the public health of guatemala to learn how to prepare natural medicines, study the diffrent plants, and treatments and adverse effects. it's a 3 month course and it's really cheap, it lasts 3 months and it's a 4 hour weekly class. they give you the books and then you study every week and take a test. i guess the 4 hours is a bit of lecture and lab. anyway, it sounds so freaking cool! they have this course in Xela and in the towns surrounding the area. her cousin just finished the course. i'm not really confident my spanish could've handled it this summer. however, if i return next summer then i'll definitely take the course if it correlates with my schedule. i tried to find a website for them, but i couldn't. Nolan, can you help me. It's Salud Publica de Guatemala...I think...



I forgot to give you the link for Jorge Mario Pivaral Ortiz, the gentleman who've I've seen speak nearly 10 times. I can't tell you how much I've learned about Guatemala from going to all the conferences in general. It's really been incredible and I see how much pain the people have endured and continue to endure. He fleed the country and lived in Mexico for 10 years, but last night I listened to a prisoner of war recount his experiences during the Civil War. It's was riviting, chilling, and unbelievable. He's an incrediblel person and an amazing speaker. If anyone is interested when I return I can always tell you about the talks.

http://www.xanga.com/iniciativasporguatemala

Wedding Update!

Dear Friends and Family!

Please email me your mailing address so I can mail you a wedding invitation for our wedding on Saturday, 3/3/07 in Tampa. I sent out emails, but a few bounced back and a few have not sent your mailing addresses. Please, please send it to us! You have both my or/and Nolan's email.

Also, I bought two bottles of fermented rum with fruit. It's a typical alcohol that they make here when I visited Salcaja a few weeks ago. It's really good and pretty smooth. So that means that there's a party at my house when I get back! To show you my pics, of course and to catch up. The alcohol is fermented for 4 mo. with cherries, applies, peaches, cinnamon, and camomille. I tried a fermeneted cherry, it was strong, but the alcohol was quite sweet. They remove the fruit and it's just the alochol in the bottle.

I hope all is well with everyone!

Feliz Cumpleanos a mi! (Happy Bday to me!)

I heard music around 8:30 p.m. but was incredibly tired and didn't want to budge because I was tired from being out late with some friends. I finally got up around 10 a.m. Nilda began blasting music and the guy was singing a bday song! Everyone say that I was awake and ran toward me to give me hugs and kisses. Even a friend of Carlos, Josefina's son, who was there for the weekend came and gave me a hug and kiss on the cheek. It wasn't even a hug for the formality of it's your bday it was a good embrace like you've known someone forever. I went to exercise after a monsterous breakfast. When I returned Josefina told me my teacher, Carlos, stopped by to wish me happy bday. As you can see Carlos is an extremely popular name here. I think I've met 5 since I've been here. LOL! I went shopping to find a dress for the wedding I'm attending in a couple of weeks, but had no luck. I talked to nearly 7 friends and family members from the US, I can't thank you enough for calling me. It made me feel so loved and miss everyone so much! When I got back from shopping I helped Nilda and Josefina chop veggies for the meal. Josefina felt bad because I was working on my bday, but I told her it was not a probably. Josefina went to shower and Nilda screamed and said that she cut herself. I freaked out and ran to get a towel and then I looked down at her finger and realized it was a piece of onion. She told me to trick her mom. She said she deserves it after all the tricks I've fallen for over the past few months. I screamed when Josefina returned and said that I cut myself and she started freaking out. I was practically laughing the whole time, but she didn't notice. I finally couldn't act any longer. She said that I got her good! FINALLY! It took her two days to make the bday feast. She made mole sauce, chicken, cabbage salad with lime juice, papas fritas, cinnamon tea, and 2 cakes! The mole sauce as nearly 20 ingredients one of them being chocolate. It was incredible! I've always hated mole sauce, but this kicks the Mexican sauces ass! The chocolate she used was pure cocoa beans ground with vanilla. She made hot chocolate with it the other day and I couldn't sleep all night long. She said her sister grows and makes her own chocolate. I was amped! OK, back to the bday bash! The sauce has a completely different flavor, she learned the recipe when she was a little girl and used to clean this rich families house. They were from Mex and made it. There's no way I'm goign to get this recipe because I'm sure we can't get a lot of the ingredients, plus I don't want to grind all of the ingredients. She said that she usually doesn't fuss with a students bday as they usually want to spend it with their firends or they buy a store bought tiny cake. They went all out for Norma and I's bday. I was INCREDIBLY honored and touched! We feasted and about 15 of us squished in her tiny kitched, laughing, talking and enjoying each others company. It was so fun! It wasn't about materialism it was celebrating the birth of others and enjoying good food and times with great people. It was a joyous occassion! She hasn't made the mole sauce in nearly 3 years because it's time consuming and it's expensive.

They had 2 cakes that Nilda and Josefina baked. One they put a group of 2 and 5 candles to rep Norma turning 25 and the other they had a group of 2 and 7 for 27 for me. They turned out the lights and sang happy bday to us in english and spanish. we blew out the candles to our respective cakes together. I tried to get Carlos to take pics but he wasn't able to work the camera so I only got 2 or 3 pics. I have memories to last a life time! Everyone took turns walking over to Norma and I giving us hugs and kisses. I gave Norma her gifts and she loved them. She said she felt bad because she didn't buy me anything. I told her it wasn't necessary. I was incredibly shocked because Nilda brought out two presents behind her back and she said they were for me. I was incredibly moved! She also gave Norma her gift which was a pair of jeans that we shopped for last week. I just know they don't have that much $ and for them to buy me gifts was very moving and I felt so bad. One of them was candy, it was mint and chocolate, similar to peppermint patties which are my favorite candy aside from reese PB cups. I was eating one the other day, it took me 2.5 months, but I found them in an internet cafe here! I gave 3/4 of one to Josefina and she said it was heavenly. I have a story about it, but I'm trying to just focus on my bday right now. She remembered it was my favorite combination! Also, they gave me a hand made purse, it's great, and very cool. I love it! It's beautiful! The handmade stuff here is so beautiful. You'll see it when I get home! She remembered my favorite color was green! I tried to get a pic from with Norma, but the camera wouldn't work. Then I got a new battery in and she was practically fallling asleep. She was incredibly tired because she worked for 12 hours on her bday at the pet store. I'll definitely get pics with the family before I leave.

When she went to the market on the a.m. of my bday she told the lady she's buying food to cook for dinner for her two daughters. The lady said, oh you have twins? Josefina said that no, she has one daugher that's 25 and the other is a student that's living with her for the summer. The market lady said, oh, a gringa. Josefina was immediately defensive and corrected her. LOL! She kept calling us her two twin daughers, "Gemelas!"

Answers to Questions

What different kinds of veggies do they? There are hundreds of veggies and fruits here because the soil is so rich and the climate varies they can grow a so many types. I've tried many types different types, which I loved very much. I don't know what their names are, but every thing I've tried here I've loved. Except these things called patches I also got really sick from them too.

Have you had the chance to test them out? Yeah, Josefina cooks with lots of veggies. She uses fruits to make tea too. Yummy! I'm lucky because a lot people say that their host mom doesn't cook good food or use any type of veggie besides black beans. I'll tell you one thing I'm extremely sick of cake and eggs. I definitely don't have any desire to eat them for a long time when I return. I know a lot o families don't have variety in their diet as veggies and fruits are expensive. I do supplement my fruit in take though. I know they can't afford to buy it every week.

Copa Vic sounds like alot of fun too!! I visited Copa Vic last Friday with my teacher. I bought 4 glasses a small pitcher. It's cool because they use recycled glass to make all of their stuff. The piture is blue and green and the classes are green so they match. I wanted to buy more, but I doubt these pieces will make it home in one piece. They are beautiful. I watched them make stuff too.

Ok, I'll start with the night time hike. Is this a QT hike? Is it a large group of hikers? Is it even remotely safe? Everything is safe with them...I think...I wont' have time to do the night hike as I want to try to squeeze in 50 hrs of lessons over the next 8 classes starting next week. No biggie. We'll be hiking around Tikal, Coban, and Antigua. I'm psyched about traveling, but nervous as hell about being the travel guide. I have no sense of direction and my spanish is so-so. However, we'll have maps and everyone is friendly and willing to help. Everyone, keep your fingers crossed for nolan and i's adventures around guate with the chicken buses!

Where is her nephews and why would you have liked to have gone? Not sure what you're talking about.

Where is the wedding? It's in Salcaja, it's a tiny pueblo outside of Xela, about 10 min busride. It's the same town where Nilda works. Is it in Xela? No. How does she know it would be ok with the bride and grooms family? Because they have known them for years. It's actually on 8/12 so Nolan you can't go...I'm going with them. I've gotta search for a dress. This weekend I'm going to a bday party of one of Josefina's neighbors. It's the little boy's 15th bday. They really throw done for the 15th bday. I'm looking forward to it. I have acceptable clothing for that. They start out with a church procession at 10 a.m. then go back to the persons house or rent out a buidling to have the party. However, Josefina said she doesn't want to go for the entire mass so she wants to arrive around 11 a.m. LOL! She used to go to church, but doesn't have time and she's afraid she's going to go to hell. I think they are going to start going to church again on this Friday. She asked me if I wante to go...I have my weekly cena. Plus, I hear enough from the churches across the street...I think that counts for something! LOL!

mmm, I think what you described is Horchata? Nope, Horatcha is cold and this drink is hot. They just call is arroz con chocolate, rice with chocolate. It's good!

Do they maybe buy the pets to control rodent infestation? Not sure why there are so many strays. I know that we had a baby mouse in the house and Josefina wanted to borrow a cat from a friend to search for it and kill it. Needless to say with the rat and the grandma I have been so scared to go out at night to use the bathroom. I have to walk across the patio to get to the bathroom.

did you know there's a vegetarian chorizo called soy-rizo? yes, i eat soy-rizo, jenny, but chorrizo is so much better. LOL! sorry, jenny, but i do resist temptation most times.

i hope we can cook together when you get back and you can give me all your recipes! of course, i need to sit down with josefina to get all the info. i have an idea of everything, but not exactly. just had guacamole today. it's so good it makes my toes curl!

do you have enough room in your luggage to bring home all these things? of course not! i asked nolan to bring an empty suitcase so we can tote my stuff home. i don't have that much extra stuff...yet. lol!

i would love to see the traditional skirts and aprons. not sure if i'll have time to buy a traditional skirt, but i'm definitely going to buy the traditional top. i'm either going this or next friday with josefina to buy one. she can help me get the best price. i'm just going to put it in a frame or something and hang it on the wall. i've gotta figure out something. anyone else have any ideas?

are they all brightly colored dyed wool? yes, some people where diffrent colors depending on their region. i'm going to a lecture tomorrow with my teacher to learn about the indigenous clothing as well as learn about the significance of all of the symbols on the clothing. nolan, when we go to fuentes georginas i want to stop by a womens cooperative to buy some place mats. my friend bought some and they had the mayan symbols on it, it's in zunil and we have to take the bus to zunil and then a pick up from zunil to fuentes georgina.

you say you'll never wear them but you could wear them at your own wedding! hehe I can't wait to go shopping for my wedding dress!