phase II

I guess I am not very good at maintaining a blog seeing as I haven´t written for a month. Therefore, I think I will just try to touch on the highlights of the last month.

A few of us spent one weekend climbing Tajumulco, the highest point in Central America. It was a great climb, with a lot of great people. The climb itself was easier than Volcano Santa Maria because it wasn´t as step even though it was higher. We started our climb on a Saturday at noon. It was pretty cloudy so it made it harder to see the spectacular view of the mountains, but in general climbing through the clouds gave it a certain mystic vibe that was pretty cool. We made our base camp, had a bonfire, and ate soup and pasta before attempting to sleep in our cold tents. The alarm sounded at three in the morning and once again we began climbing. When we got to the top we all huddled together to keep warm. Our effort and our cold fingers were well worth it when the sun began to rise above the clouds. We all watched with our cups of hot chocolate as the sun illuminated various mountain peeks. The clouds almost looked like waterfalls pooling through the mountains. You could see for miles and miles, on clear day from the top you could see Mexico and the Pacific ocean. It was such spectacular view, I can´t wait to do it again! Oh yeah, and of course we got back just in time to watch the Steelers beat the Cardinals in the Superbowl.

We finished our first phase of the program in the beginning of Feburary. Before starting our second phase our entire group went on a weeklong excursion. The first night was spent in Guatemala City. Nothing too exciting happened there because it was more like a lay-over. However, there was a fútbol team staying at our hotel that we talked to for a little bit. We were excited to found out later that it was Mexico´s professional soccer team. That excitement was somewhat short-lived as we found out later that it was only the minor league team...still cool though.

The next day was pretty uneventful as we spent 10 hours on the bus on our way to Flores. We spent four days on the little island of Flores. It was a great place to relax and have a good time. The weather was absolutely perfect and the scenery was beautiful in our humble little town. We spent our days wandering around the city and enjoying boat rides on the lake. We also went to the ancient mayan ruins sites named Tikal and Yaxha. I have to say, it was pretty neat climb all the ancient monuments and try to imagine what life was like there hundreds of years before.

The second half of our trip was spent in Semuc Champey, what is said to be one of the most beautiful and exciting places in Guatemala. For me it definitely lived up to its reputation even if I did get a few bedbugs there. There is a river that flows through the jungle and at one point the water eroded the land so much that part of the river is now underwater. However not all of the water goes under the land, some of it is above ground and it creates little pools of bright blue water everywhere that are connected by miniwaterfalls. We spent a day climbing a mountain to get a better view of the river, swimming in the pools, and jumping off bridges (it only seemed appropriate finish our journey by jumping off a bridge into the river and floating on our backs all the way back to our cabins). We spent another day touring the nearby water-filled caves. It was quite exihilerating swimming through the caverns, climbing rope ladders up waterfalls, and jumping of cliffs all within the cave. We are all crossing our fingers, hoping that our plastic-clad disposible camera survived the trip inside the cave.

We were all sad to come back from our excursion. It was a great expericance and it provided a great opportunity for everyone in our group to get closer. However, there was a good feeling about coming home to Xela. Part of it had to do with the comfort of coming back to our city, it is finally feeling like we are getting acustumed to living here. Another part was that we were beginning phase two. Now, instead of taking 25 hours of Spanish everyweek in the morning, we are taking 15 hours in the afternoon. We also began our Tuesday/Thursday morning courses at Universidad Rafeal Landivar, it felt good to take actual courses as opposed to constant Spanish grammer and phrases. I think I am going to enjoy my classes even if it means that I have to walk farther to go to class (as opposed to classes at my Spanish school that was just across the street). I suppose the fact that I no longer have classes on Fridays makes up for it : )

That generally covers the biggest occurances in the last month. Therefore I will conclude with a few closing thoughts. One of the things that I enjoy the most about our Spanish school is that people all over the world attend it. I now have friends from Germany, Sweden, Finland, Australia, and not to mention people from all over the states. I also feel good about my relationship with my host family here in Guatemala. Our conversations are getting better as we are getting more comforable with each other and my Spanish is improving. We are taking salsa dancing lessons together and are spending more time just hanging out, I even brought my "sister" with me to a concert with all of my friends. I know that when it comes time to leave I will miss everyone and everything very much.

But don´t worry, I miss you all very much and I can´t wait to see you all! I hope everyone is doing well!

Angela

p.s. Happy Birthday Theresa and Jessica!