T minus 12

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Yes, in 12 days I'll be on my way. I've spent several hours yesterday and today putting together an audio-visual presentation to share with people here on Sunday. In so doing I found an organization called "Cafe Feminino Foundation who try to advance the conditions of women in poor communities. They are currently building a library for a school in a remote mountain village in Guatemala not so far from where I will be, and I hope to visit it. It is a coffee growing area, and I want to see how they grow and process coffee on small farms. Their "Coffee Can" project (see www.coffeecan.org) and others are geared to providing people like us with a way to help out. I talked with the chairperson on the phone today, and by email with the founder.

At the same time, I've received an invitation from my 3rd cousin who lives near London to get together with her one evening, and I hope that works out as well.

I also received a friendly message from one of the Spanish schools in Xela which I considered, recommending some software for learning Spanish on my own, even though they know I will not be attending their school.

With temperatures here hovering around -28ºC at night and -20ºC in the daytime, I can't wait to get out of here!

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