Bienvenidos de Guatemala!

Happy New Year! The title above pretty much sums up my Spanish knowledge as far as it will go. I don't yet feel confident saying much else.

So, hola! (Oh wait, I can say that too.) Obviously, we arrived safely in Guatemala, but let me tell you a little about our trip.

So first of all, we almost missed our flight from Boston, because we took advantage of some convenient free wifi at the airport. Also breakfast, although that was unfortunately not free. Anyway, we made it on board with a good ten minutes before the doors closed, only to worry about our connection in Houston- boarding half an hour after our arrival. Fortunately, both confirmation email and boarding pass were wrong, and we had over an hour of free time. I got to use more free wifi.

Arriving in Guatemala city, we were pleasantly surprised to find that our checked bag had made both planes. We were not happy to find that our school had mis-read our flight information and planned to pick us up the next day, instead. A taxi to Antigua solved our problem.

Antigua. Where we are now. Our host family is very patient with our inability to communicate in Spanish, and very nice. Their roof is very nice too. It has a great view from it- of the surrounding volcanoes, one of which manages to convey a feeling of great safety by letting out cheerful puffs of smoke every few minutes to hour. It's cool.

Every morning (there have been three) we walk to school, about seven minutes away. In that short time, you can see a lot. Except that if you look, you're likely to fall in the uneven cobblstones of the street. I look anyway.

When you look, you notice that everything is busy. Where is everyone going? Trucks, cars, colorful buses, bicycles, pedestrians, motorcycles... all full of people. Also horses pulling buggies, which I thought very picturesque, until I noticed that most of the drivers were talking on cell phones. Also tuktuks. Little three-wheeled means of locomotion, and impossible to describe. See picture.

And color. The buses are colorful. The rooftop gardens are colorful. The buildings are every color of the rainbow, and all connected, giving Antigua's streets a closed but friendly look.

Every few blocks you come across the remains of a Spanish building, destroyed in a 1770's earthquake.they're amazing. And churches, that are everywhere, and have gorgeous architecture. I'll post some pictures, because along with the famous Santa Catalina Arch (one of the few completely intact remains of said earthquake) they're really fun to look at.

And the handicraft market. The last of the places we've explored in three days, and possibly my favorite so far. Weaving after weaving after beads after blanket- it's overwhelming. Even more so when the people selling are jabbering at you in rapid Spanish and you have to give them a half wave and mutter 'gracias' before, feeling touristy, scooting away. the textiles are outstanding.

Oh yes, school. School is fun. We're learning about, well, Spanish. The language. It's a Spanish language school after all, but yesterday we had fun with field games and a pinata. Our teachers and the other students are really nice and helpful.

That's all, until the next endless post. We'd love it if you left comments! I can't be the only one posting.

One of the many Spanish building ruins

To the left, a very large volcano. To the right, two smaller vocanoes, over the rooftops of Antigua. Photographed from OUR roof.

One of the smaller volcanoes- up close. Look closely- you can see the smoke.

The tuktuks! They're funny.

Me, in front of rainbow buildings.

These hang from many streets, we think they're holiday decorations. They appear to be made out of straws.

Hasta manana,
~Anda