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Published: June 28th 2006
Hello, everyone!
We all remain living as our trip nears the halfway point. Promise. Though the others are dropping like flies, I remain healthy. I hope it stays that way...
Yesterday we participated in a Mayan ritual where we had to light candles and throw our sins into a multi-coloured fire. Each colour had a different meaning I technically didn´t participate, I just yelled at everyone to move out of the way and then took photos. Plus I threw a couple of sins into the fire.
It smelled really good though. But the smoke was burning my eyes.
People in the group are interested in re-enacting the ceremony downtown back home. We´ll see how that works out for them legally. Best of luck...
Afterwards we went to a charming cafe. This poor place, we go there every day and torment the people by ordering cheeseburgers and the like and sitting for hours on end talking loudly. It´s very clean and well-lit, with a TV for those of our group who are soccer fanatics. It´s cheap, too, which is of course always nice. But we go there everyday, more or less. Except when we´re eating pizza or running around the streets dodging cars and veterans from the war.
Today we went to a chocolate factory. I didn´t participate in the beating of the chocolate, I merely looked on and sampled here and there and offered insightful comments such as ¨No, not like that¨and ¨C´mon, a hobo could do better¨.
Afterwards we went home and attempted to do some homework. We also talked with nuestro hermanito, Javier, as he played his crazy video games and showed us his trading cards with eggs on them. He´s so cute, and always says hello at us. Jefrey and Christian are really sweet too. They´re all really shy, but we force them to talk with us a lot. Or, rather, they listen to our attempts at Spanish and laugh in a cute sort of way. But yes, we ate lunch there and then ran to school, where we talked about robbers and sexism. And Machismo.
AND today during school we visited the natural history museum here in Xela, about a five minute walk from the school. The exterior is very imposing, but inside it is small and quaint and smells vaguely of dead animals. The upper level is the most interesting, where they have a menagerie of stuffed dead things . Their specialty is apparently mutated mammals-por ejemplo a goat with eight legs and a cow with two heads. The most terrifying sight is that of two human fetuses just kind of sitting there in two little jars beside the baby armadillos. I thought I was going to be sick.
Afterwards we walked through Parque Central amidst assorted small children racing and shining old men´s shoes to the ice cream store, Pops. We bought our ice cream and proceeded back to school, where a certain person threw Quetzales at us from the roof of the school. I played Dan in ping-pong and lost gracefully. By 120202020 points.
This weekend we travel to Chichicastenango to spend all of our money and do assorted crazy things in a new Guatemalan town.
I should probably go as the bell rang approximately 30 minutes ago.
Adios and abrazitos.
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La Bamba Mama
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If I'd have known there was chocolate...
Hola Mija, I knew I should have gone to Guatemala with you--I love chocolate! I'm so glad you're having a good time and that you're still healthy (knock on wood!) Dad and I have decided to send you off to another foreign country when you come home because your blogs are so entertaining. I hope you find lots of cool stuff to buy this weekend. Be safe and take care of yourself. I miss you more than you know.