The Anticipated Itinerary

At the request of many friends and family, I shall hereby inflict upon you our incredibly scattered schedule, for which I wish you luck in understanding, but will hopefully give you some of the basic idea. (Or maybe this is simply to benefit myself- sorting bit by bit our plans...)
Now presenting:

THE ITINERARY.
Exact dates beyond January 2nd are still currently a mystery.
December 22nd: 11:55 PM flight from Seattle/Tacoma International Airport to Boston Logan.
January 2nd: Leaving Boston to Houston, Texas at some unearthly hour of the morning. From Houston to Guatemala city.
January 2nd/3rd: (Date still unknown by me) we supposedly get picked up at the airport in Guatemala City, and travel to the city of Antigua, to attend Spanish school Antiguena, and stay with a host family.
Some two weeks later: we stay by invitation for one week at the house of a generous acquaintance, and, with school ended, we can explore the cobblestone streets of Antigua. Unless we continue the school, but I'm afraid the details of that are still unknown too. (I'm seeing a pattern here.)
Another week-ish later: Lake Atilan- to (possibly) attend another Spanish school on the shores of said lake, visible on the map on my first post.
Some time after that: what I'm looking forward to most- the area of Tikal, home to many of the ancient Mayan pyramids, like, once again, the one pictured in post #1, the temple of Tikal. Unfortunately, this is expected to be near the conclusion of our trip, and on February 28th, 2012, time unknown too, we'll be flying home, where all Washingtonians can rejoice at our coming.  :)

That ought to give you an idea of the manner in which we are planning, and with that out of the way I can wish you all a very happy new year, (Yesterday my cousin said 'see you next year' and I got very confused. Strangely enough this Sunday is the new year. How did that happen?) and hope that you had a great Christmas weekend. I was fortunate enough to be able to spend mine with lots of family, with whom I shared a lot of laughter.

Missing you all,
Anda

Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas, everyone! We hope you have a wonderful season full of joy, and a white Christmas. Or, Hawaii folks, a sunny one. All the best in the new year!

10 Things I Have Learned About Guatemala

As the title says, these are ten things I have learned about Guatemala. As I find them interesting, I thought I would share them here. 

10 things I have learned about Guatemala:

Here is a map of Guatemala. We plan to start out in Antigua (south of Guatemala city) and travel also to Lake Atilan (northwest of Antigua) and Tikal (northern Guatemala) 

1. Antigua, where we will start out, was founded when the second Spanish settlement, Almolonga, flooded in 1542.
2. A Guatemalan school year runs from January through October. Students go to preschool for four years, primary for six, secondary school for three, and high school for two to three years.
3. Guatemalan textiles include brightly colored weavings, pottery, and wood carvings. Marimbas, flutes, and drums are popular for making music.
4. People in Guatemala enjoy basketball and cycling, but are most passionate about soccer. :)
5. Black beans, corn, chicken, eggs, white cheese, tamales, and tostadas are the most common foods eaten in Guatemala on a daily basis.
6. Language in Guatemala is about 60% Spanish. The remaining 40%is made up of 23 officially recognized Amerindian languages. Here in the U.S., Spanish is about 11% of the language. 
7. The name Guatemala means 'land of forests,' which was derived from one of the ancient Mayan dialects.
8. Tikal temple, in Tikal National Park, is 154 feet high. That's about 1/4 the height of the space needle, Washingtonians. 
9. Guatemala is about 42,042 square miles, about the size of Tennessee. 
10. Most of the population is centered in the highlands of Guatemala. Still, the country has a very diverse climate, making it, as I can now tell you from experience, very hard to pack.