Well, the school has kept me pretty busy. I study during the day and and then there is some sort of activity in the evening, such as watching a movie in Spanish, going to a museum, going to the baths (I'll explain). The best school activity so far was going to the hot baths about a 20 minute ride on the "chicken bus" (see photo) which was an adventure in itself. The baths are hot volcanic spring water in a rather large tub. I'm not sure how the Mayan people use it, but we put on our swimsuits and used it like a hot tub. It felt wonderful because it´s the only hot water I've been in since the States. I absorbed the heat like a rock in the sun and enjoyed every minute of it. ... read more

I´m here in Antigua finally a day late after the airline saw fit to send me my luggage. I had to fuss a bit but I got it last night and hauled out this morning in a shuttle here. OH, MY GOD! THIS PLACE IS BEAUTIFUL! Antigua is a colonial town in the central highlands of Guatemala. There are cobblestone streets, colonial style churches some of wich were destroyed by earthquakes a couple of hundred years ago. There is a strong presence of tradionally dressed Mayan women selling things... and for good reason, is crawling with the backpacking tourists. Still, the tourists surprisingly don´t ruin things here. I saw Guatemalan tourists as well. The climate is almost perfect with a little sunshine and warmth in the morning, and when that gets almost uncomfortable things cool off ... read more

This, along with all my other Africa blogs, were actually emails sent to friends and family. I didn't know much about blogs at the time, but now I do. Sorry to leave you hanging on the edge of the Ngorongoro Crater, but I can only get to a computer when the Internet Cafes are open and I was not very close to a computer in Kenya. ...I'll tell you more about that later... As far as the Crater went, we left the lodge early...maybe 7AM, and went down to see the animals for my first game drive ever. We drove around a little and saw herds of wildebeest and zebra just grazing. There were ostriches and the occasional elephant. At one point, we saw other safari jeeps gathering, which I soon found out means something ... read more

So here I am in Zanzibar basking in the quiet of an internet cafe which is a contrast to the extremely noisy streets and alleys here. I got here on the ferry yesterday with my brother, my niece Heather, nephew Martin, and a house friend. My brother and the kids went snorkeling, but I decided to go on my own. I had big plans for Zanzibar, but it seems I got into town too late to catch any interesting tours and all my attempts to go sightseeing on my own haven't worked out. So maybe I'm supposed to be just relaxing and writing y'all. Actually, this is a really good option. We took the fastest ferry and the ride was exciting. On the way, my brother managed to get himself into the crew cabin where they ... read more