So you wanna see...

...where I live!?!? I have taken many pictures since I´ve been here, but haven´t and won´t be able to label them on here. Therefore, I´ll give the rundown of what I´m posting!

The first few are of my first actual moments in Guatemala City with Corinne and our friend David (not shown). This was the area where the B&B was located, etc.

The next few are of the crazy ceremony I went to my first night. The little boy is Jesus #2! So cute!

After these, the next few are of the view from the natural saunas on the mountain top. It took about an hour and a half to climb and was absolutely gorgeous. The area goes from city to instant agriculture, which apparently is very common and popular here. The cinderblock looking rooms are the actual sauna and Corinne and I are standing outside the doorway. In one you can almost see the steam however it was difficult to get to close as my lens would become covered.

The final set is from Xela itself. Some are a 180 degree view from the park, others are of my walk to school, some are of friends at the bar in the evenings and others are of my home (look for the small room with lots o´crap). Like I said, my home here has a large courtyard and many rooms that surround it. These many rooms either house people or things (I took a photo of the shrine in the living room...needless to say bizarre). Hopefully this will give a good idea of my life here!! I think, in order to put the most photos that I can, I will make several posts. Stay tuned...hopefully this will work!

Today was another great day with my instructor, Karen. We studied and chatted in Spanish for 5 hour straight. During the break, I received the information about the lake trip this weekend, Atitlan Lake to be specific and I AM going to Panajatchel. So...confusion gone and I have some clue of my surroundings. We´re heading to San Marcos (I think) Island. There are a series of islands around this lake to visit. San Marcos, from my understanding is a ¨new age¨ sort of place for cheap spa care. I think I¨m going to spend most of my time reading, listening to music and drinking cervesas on the beach. From what I understand, several expatriots have visited these islands over time and like it so much, they stayed and opened tiendas of their own. Lots of English is spoken, which is good and bad and there are many things to do. I´m heading to a market to buy ¨handicrafts¨as it is described tomorrow...so watch out gifts for back home.

The weather here has been super rainy and wet and I had my first AWFUL lunch. Literally, one of the worst things I´ve ever eaten. Christina, our cook, claims it was cream, I´m positive it was mayo. Essentially, she boiled pasta, put some herb crap on top and made a mayo sauce. She, I think, would like to think that it´s alfredo, but no folks...this was freakin´ mayo on my pasta. For those of you who know me well...mayo is perhaps in the top 3 types of food I hate. Ah well...had fresh tortillas and salad to go with it. I think Corinne and I are going to a taco stand for dinner...mmmm. After studies and lunch, I accompanied Corinne and Sarah (friend from the B&B) to an actual mall here in Xela. Not like any mall, but like a nice mall with brands like Lacoste and Nautica and so forth. I don´t really own any warm clothes here or ones that protect from the rain. As such, I´m on a mission to find a cheap rain jacket in Xela. So far...not so successful. However, I´m hoping for better in the market tomorrow in Atitlan. The mall experience was so so. Not planning on returning while I¨m here as I couldn´t find anything cheap and we have Payless Shoe Source in the States.

Corinne got good news today as well: BENJAMIN, the boyfriend, finally got his passport and is on a plane tonight to Guatemala. He should be in Xela by 1:30 tomorrow! I am very excited to see him on Sunday and say hello!

This will be my last post for a few days as I don´t get free internet here on the weekends and I´ll be at the lake! Stay tuned for proof that I´m actually in Guatemala :)

Ciao