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Published: April 17th 2008
Wow, this has been quite a week and it's only Wednesday! This weekend we went to Antigua, the original capital of Guatemala. We left on Friday afternoon and took a bus from the city. It was quite an interesting experience! There was a guy who hung out of the open door as we were driving and shouted "Antigua, Antigua" as we went down the street (he's called a brocha, the same word as a paint brush). People would randomly get on where there were no bus stops, and we squeezed in there about 7 to a seat, where only 4 usually go. Other than that, it was pretty uneventful. Antigua is much different than the city...it is a beautiful colonial city only about the size of 12 blocks square. The best part was we could actually walk without fear of dying from all the crazy cars like in the city! So pretty much all we did in Antigua was eat, drink, lay in a hammock, shop, walk around, and just have fun. We also got massages from this 70 year-old American ex-pat who lives in Antigua. It was a great break from the stress of the city! The only problem was
there were so many English speakers there, I barely spoke any Spanish all weekend! It was really fun though.
Monday and Tuesday we didn't teach, instead we decorated our very own classroom! Now we have our own classroom to teach in instead of going to the kids' classrooms. We're just like real teachers now!
On Saturday 3 new volunteers arrived who are staying for only 1 week, so we have a LOT of activities this week! On Monday, we had a really interesting guest speaker at the Center for Human Rights. It's amazing to hear about what Guatemala was like during the war. It was just horrible, and so few people even know about it. He was saying that even Guatemalan people don't even know about it! Could you imagine 10 years after the American Civil War having people not even know that it had happened? It's pretty crazy. I think it's so fascinating to hear first hand what it was like. I just can't imagine.
On to happier subjects.... On Tuesday, I hiked a volcano! We drove back through Antigua and onto Volcan Pacaya. It was a 1.5 mile hike pretty much straight up. I'm not
going to lie, it was so hard! We had to take a lot of breaks. But we made it all the way to the top. That's when things got really exciting! We continued our hike onto the actual volcano. It was so crazy! We were walking on dried lava rock, but we could still see red glowing beneath some parts and it was really warm! Then we got to the actual lava. It was so amazing to actually see flowing lava before my eyes! I never thought I would actually see that in my life. As the the sun set on the three volcanoes in view, we headed back down the mountain (much faster than we came up of course!). It was a completely amazing experience that I can still hardly believe I accomplished! Needless to say, today I was tired....
Today we got back to teaching the kids in our new classroom. It went pretty well teaching the older ones body parts and the verb to have and the younger ones fruit. The younger ones were very hyper today! I don't know if it was the new surroundings or the fact that they had been playing a rough
Our ride in a tuk tuk
It was a crazy ride on those cobblestones!game of soccer at recreo, but whatever it was they were loud! We got by though, and got through all of the material. I even had a nice conversation with the younger kids' teacher. In the afternoon, we went to a coffee plantation. It was interesting to see the process. It was incredible to learn how little the workers receive for their hard work, and how much profit the importers make. And how expensive it is compared to how little it costs! It was an organic farm at least, so it was great to learn about how they reuse so much in their work. At the end, we got a little cup of coffee, which we all needed!
Well that's it for now. Tomorrow is my cumpleanos! It should be a great day, going to the Pinata factory and then out to dinner.
!Hasta luego!
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Mom
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Happy Birthday, Angel!
Today is your birthday!! Wishing you a very happy birthday - pick out a fun pinata at the pinata factory!! You're having quite an adventure! The classroom looks great - love Oscar and Elmo! I'd have recognized the rainbow anywhere - you used to draw them everywhere!