Guatemala, Day 3

---

Awoke this morning to sound of crying - I heard it clearly, a women sobbing. I got up and searched the house, the garden even the isolated street outside - no sign or sound to be found. Since it was 3am, I went back to sleep. Later that morning in class, mi maestra told me a story (unprompted) about the most famous ghost in Guatemala, la Llorona - a young women who centuries ago drowned her children and since has been known to wonder the streets of Antigua sobbing. Must say, the stordy would have been interesting if I hadn't been riled out of a deep sleep by crying...

Aside from that - all is muy bien. Class is coming along and I have literally wondered all the village streets - a few of my favorite sights:

1. The town square - a beautiful fountain of stone women with water streaming from their breast ( un poco strange), very, very old and tiny mayan women displaying their crafts and 6 year old boys providing shoe-shines (one asked if I wanted my black flip flops shined). The benches are filled with a few touristas, like me, doing their homework and loads of teenage couples giggling and kissing

2. The tortilla shop - the shop has no windows and is no larger than a small broom closet with one itty bitty little old lady, a flat cooking surface and cornmeal. I wanted to take her photo, but Mayans are not big on pictures or some amazon gringo asking for one in, at best, broken Spanglish doesn't help.

3. Guatemalan drivers - even as I sit in my isolated garden, the lovely sounds of beeping horns invade- lots and lots of horns. A few days here makes me realize we give cars way too much room in the States - because here - you can fit two full schoolbuses, a tuk-tuk (small 3 wheel taxi/death-trap), a few motorcycles and family of four all on one tiny cobblestone street at once. Day one I learned, "just look down when in any motorized vehicle" - otherwise I'd be letting out little screams the entire trip. Tomorrow I'll experience the local bus (complete with the chickens). I'm visiting a pueblo outside of Antigua where a little old man hand-makes custom-fit cowboy boots. Not that I'm a huge cowboy boot fan, but I want to experience the bus, see another village and maybe grab a pair of boots.

I'm limited to short afternoon trips because of my daily lessons, but will visit Tikal's ruins on Saturday. I'm enjoying Antigua and spend a fair amount of time trying to find a "clean" place to eat that caters to non-spanish speaking vegetarians. As you can imagine - my last 3 days I have eaten: beans, tortillas and guacamole solomente - Central America is no place for a non-carne, non-queso , non-cervesa chica like me to dine.

I've heard from many of you over the last few days about rain and snow - so let me leave you with my weather report: clear, sunny, breezy and 80 degrees.

---