Starting out in Xela

views of the city from a hill by our house












Well, here are finally some pictures of our life here in Xela! I am REALLY excited to be here still! We have finished a week of school and are finding our way around the city. I was here last year for 4 weeks to study, but I lived on the other side of the city. So while there is a sense of familiarity, it also is very new.
I am having fun being in the city. I can´t remember if I wrote in my last post, but it is A LOT colder here! Now I don´t regret packing my fleece and vest and jeans!!

There are a lot of Cafes here so we have been spending a lot of our afternoons studying in them. And we started taking yoga in the evenings too.

My teacher is EXCELLENT here! And our family is incredible!!





the family minus Gabby and my room to the right































Saturday night much of the world turned out their lights for an hour and so did we.. during which we payed scrabble with Andre. He played in English and we played in Spanish



















Me and my teacher Oscar












Kir and I at McDonalds (as if you coudn´t tell)




























To the right is a picture of the hot springs Fuentes Georginas which are about an hour outside of the city and roasting hot!!!

Traveling to Xela

Kir and I spent about 3 days of last week in buses and mini vans traveling to Xela. We stopped off on the way here in Semuc Champey... which was kinda on the way. What an incredibly beautiful area!!! We stayed at a sort of Hostel there for 4 nights and 2 full days. It was very relaxing. On the fist of the 2 days we took a cave tour during which we traveled through th cave with candles and had to swim for a lot of it! I was quite chilly by the time we came out. Since our cameras are not water proof we don`t have pics. Sad, cause it was really cool!! The next day we went to Semuc Champney where there are the most beautiful cristal clear pools of water!! Other than that we spent a lot of time just reading and studying. Although we did get in a little dancing in one night. It was nice too because all of the employees speak spanish and som of the guests too so we had opportunities to talk.

We arrived here in Xela on Saturday. My friend Hugo`s nephew, Roca, lives in a town near by and came to town with 2 of his frinds and took me and Kir out dancing! Such a fun night (which I don`t have pictures of either). We went to church on Sunday and I think it is THE friendliest ward I have ever attended. Both Kir and I love all the cheek kisses we get!

The family we are staying with here are so great. It`s a husband and wife who are about my age (just a bit older) with 2 kids 19, and 15. We were suprised when we got there to find out we have our own rooms AND our own bathrooms with hot showers!! The mom, Sandy, is an amazing cook and the family is good about eating with us and talking to us a lot, and helping us feel very welcome. Infact they had 4 family members over last night and we all had dinner togther. Although they have a different faith we all hold hands and pray before meals which I think is sweet and they have us take turns to practice too.

Last night Kir and I had a bit of a scare as we were walking home from the center of town around 7:30pm.. it was dark, but not that late. Kirsti was walking behind me and there was a point that I turned around to see her and saw a guy right behind her with his hood over his head and I screamed "watch out" and grabbed her, and then she screamed and dropped to the ground. Luckily he ran away! It supposedly not normal for the hour and location, but our dad, Roberto told us to buy whistles and if we blow them the neighbors will know something is wrong and run out. I think we just had bad luck, but we will get whistles and Kir will carry her pepper spray (don`t worry mom and dad!!)

I am very happy to be here. Xela is the 2nd biggest city in Guatemala so we have a lot more access to things! Kir and I are going to take Salsa lessons tonight too. And I am VERY happy to be in school again!

I have not taken ANY pictures of life here yet... they are coming!

El Mirador!

What a week. Kir and I decided to hire a guide (Adonis and his son Alan) to take us to see the Mayan ruins of El Mirador! It took us 2 days to hike in and then we spent a day exploring the ruins and 2 days back out.

We left at 3:30am last Wednesday morning and arrived in Carmalita (the town right next to the trails leading in) about6:30. Where we ate breakfast. Kirsti REALLY did not like what the guides gave us for breakfast and tried her best to put it down, but after a lot of gagging she gave up. Luckily they were not sitting near us and had no idea how grossed out she was. I finished it, but didn`t like it. It was a fear before every meal that we would be served the same thing but luckily the rest of the meals were amazing!!

We hiked in to the Camp Tintal for the first night. There are a lot of men who work in El Mirador year round watching over the area and they have set up camps and rotate shifts -- which were the camps we stayed in.

The city covered a lot of land and there are ruins all over the place and so many of them have een dug into by robbers. Supposedly it was a huge problem in the past, but with more people working on the projects there and tighter guarding of it has gotten a lot better. So much of the ruins have yet to be discovered there which was a really cool part about it is we saw a lot that was freshly discovered and in the process. It was so amazing to think that there was a thriving city there!

My favorite parts of the trip where hearing and seeing the animals and we spent 2 of the nights on top of temples watching the sun set and moon rise and laying under the stars for a while! We saw soooo many monkeys! We saw some tucans and other birds, but heard a lot more than we were able to see.

The third day we climbed the temple Danta which is one of the highest pyramids in the world!

The trip ended great to with us running out of gas about 30 minutes form San Andres. In the middle of the day too which was roasting hot. So we all found shade and sat on the side of the road while poor Alan had to walk into the neares town to get gas!

It was fun to practice our spanish on the trip as our guides only spoke Spanish and all of the other people who work in El Mirador did too. And we only saw a handful of other tourists which was nice.

And when we got back, being especially dirty and dusty and roasting hot we went for our last swim in the lake...... AND I have more mosquito bites than I have ever had at a time before!!! Thank goodness for malaria meds!

This morning we said good-bye to our family. Which was a lot sadder than I thought it would be. I am in love with San Andres and with our family there! I could spend a lot more time there, but think for learning Spanish I am ready to head to Xela to meet new people to talk to and try out a different school. And the weather is a lot cooler there which will be really nice too. I plan to head back to San Andres.. hopefully not too far in the future. Genesis will turn 15 on March 21, 2001. If at all possible I would LOVE to head back for her celebration!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KIRSTI!

It`s fun to plan little surprises for other people. Maybe more fun than receiving! Dalia and Genesis woke Kirsti up at 6am Sunday morning with birthday songs (which is much kinder than the town`s tradition, which is that all of the person`s family and friends come over at 4am to celebrate! There have been quite a few mornings that we wake up to loud music at around 4am... and fireworks!)




Later in the day Genesis and I snuck of to Julia`s house to prepare a surprise cake! The day was REALLY hot so the icing spread without any problem! Actually it started to look like the cake was melting. We brought it back to the house and wanted to put it in the fridge or freezer, but it wouldn`t fit! But Dalia did an excelent job making do!

We played games with the family which was hilarious!! My favorite was oogabooga! Which I was going to post a video of, but if I do I won`t be able to play with my family becasue you can really only play it once! :)

YUM Fish and a little game for dessert

Just wanted to post some pictures of a fish I ate. I was nervous about it because I am a little picky about the fish I like. But it actually had a very light taste. Phew, except the spines were dangerous! There were sooo many little bitty spines to pick out. I am just glad I wasn`t expected to eat the heat.

After We palyed a game. Genesis blew out the candle and told us that we had to close our eyes before we start and she was going to go around and make sure all of our eyes were closed. After she "checked" our eyes she lit the candle again... well as you can see from the pic. that was the game! HAHA.

The video is the end of Selvin telling us a riddle.

Endangered Birds and The Finca

Kisti and I decided to head out of town for the night to a farm about 2 hours away near Poptun (towards Belize). We went up to the school in town because that is where we catch the bus and there were a ton of policemen hanging around. And then we saw why. 1st there was a truck filled with pot parked out front and in front of the police station there where a bunch of dead birds laying out with the man who killed them, cuffed, sitting by. It`s illegal to kill these birds. We were told he planned to sell them, but we can`t figure out exactly who would by them dead. We also heard he got 10 years in prison and has to pay a huge fine.

On a lighter note, we headed to the finca for the night and really enjoyed it. We didn`t really do much...ate, studied, relaxed. And headed back the next day in the afternoon. The drive there and the land there was very beautiful. It`s Kirsti`s birthday this weekend!

Making traditional food (oops forgot the name)

Last night after school I decided to go the the activity which was hald at a local woman`s house. I think we made tamalitas.... Should of wrote it down. We shucked a LOT of corn and then took it to a machine to be ground. Mixed in some other ingredients. Packed some into the husks. And then put it on the fire for 2 hours. We made some with chicken and some dulce (sweet) And then of course we ate them! Pretty good. Although it was an adventurous afternoon. And a little sad too. Todd took over cutting the corn from the cob and was tossing the cobbs onto the ground for the chickens and rooster to eat. He wasn`t really looking before he threw and after he threw one of the cobs we heard a little shreik! He hit a little chick!! The chick wasn`t doing so good when we left and are not sure if he will make it.... Sad!

The best part of the afternoon was talking the the lady who was teaching us how took cook. I love trying to talk to people in spanish.

Kir and I will finish our 4th week in school here on Monday. After that we have hired a local guide to take us to El Mirador which are remote ruins near the border of Mexico. We will leave Mon. after school and return Sat night. The next week we aren`t solid on our plans, but at some point will be heading to Xela, which is in the highlands I think about 15ish hours away, for more school.

****Update: Friends just came into the computer lab and told me the chick didn`t make it :(