shout out to you, and you and you and you and you.....

Ahem,

After reading the copious amounts of love from friends and family, it brings me to be a bit homesick, missing my Friday dinners, sushi with C, chats and general agreements (and the occaisional disagreements) with T, Sunday dinners with mi familia and pretty much any conversation in English.

It´s weird...I´m literally, hands-down absolutely in love with my life in Guatemala (it´s been 3 days I know), but sometimes during my studies con mi maestra, I want to stop the Spanish and speak English and express every thought I´ve wanted to say since I got here (feelings, likes, dislikes, etc.). Most of you know that talking is something I do pretty much most of the time and here it´s not only extremely difficult for me to do in Spanish, but no one can understand English and it´s necessary. Definitely part of the immersion process and I´m thankful to almost be forced into it. So...again..thanks to everyone who has been reading of my adventures and sending me your thoughts. I think about you all daily!

So...when I last left of yesterday...I had mentioned that the school provides activities every day to different parts of the country, the city and Guatemalan life in general. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to take a hike (about an hour and a half long...and straight up-ish!?) up to Eco saunas Las Cumbres. These are natural saunas in the mountain in which you pay to spend up to an hour in. Once at the top, we were greeted by some women (whom we paid..costs about $2.50), who directed us to the changing room. There we put on our suits and went literally into a very black hole. It´s difficult to explain other than, the volcano heats the water in this mountain and where there are natural creveces forms a natural steam room. I took many pictures and will try to post as soon as I can. The room is very small and a tight fit for more than 3 people (although we fit like 5). I wore no shoes so I can tell you it was very slimy and I couldn´t seen pretty much anything. From my perspective: put on bathing suit in the dark, enter door #1 where there is a shower head and enter curtain #2: a dark hole that is dark and steamy. The walls are made of the mountain rock and there are a few seats to sit on. The whole room was probably 4 square feet. Aye.

The hike down was even more amazing, but at this point, I found this nasty cough I´ve had for 8 days to be getting worse. The moisture here in Xela is nothing like I´ve ever experienced, not even comparable to the midwest. Corinne and I and the group of friends we´ve made had a really great time on the trip. I must mention further some of these friends: Ned is from Minnesota orginally and has no Spanish experience...he is learning quickly and plans to spend at least 2 weeks here. After that...he has no plans. Rachel and Sarah came together from D.C. and are both here for a month. They are AWESOME! Sarah studied in Spain for 6 months and knows Spanish well...Rachel studied in New Zealand and is fluent in German and Russian, so she´s learning Spanish now. Corinne, of course is the friend from Chicago who I went to ASU with and is here with me! Brian and Bridget are brother and sister from CA, who are here for 2 weeks to study Spanish and hang out. Both are really active and have interesting lives in the states. Bridget is in medical school at UCLA and Brian is in the Navy in San Diego. They were all at the Bed & Breakfast with Corinne and I in Guatemala City for the first night in Guatemala. We met, made friends and have been doing the activities together.

As for activities this weekend, I have planned to take a trip to Panahatchel (an amazing lake and beautiful sights about 2 hours from Xela). Tentatively, the only plans I have at the lake is to bungee jump with Rachel. I remember seeing my brother´s pictures from Switzerland and how amazing the experience was and I´m actually really psyched to try it. I´ll give the full report upon my return on Sunday. Danny: post some helpful comments when you get the chance!

It´s raining like mad right now and I´m using the time to surf the net and soon I will begin writing my essay, due to my maestro tomorrow. Goal: use 35 verbs and describe a typical week in AZ. Aye.

more to come!