Hotel Rio Azul Quetzaltenango

... and living in Miel y Cafe we have met a lot of young local people. We met a few guys who are part of a local artistic cooperative called 'la tres lunas', and who are a local cooperative of artists who sing, paint and write poetry together. The strange thing is they are constantly talking, practicing and singing in rhyme - so it's pretty testing on the old spanish! We met another guy from LA, who is walking (WALKING!), all the way from LA to Rio. Along the ...

... After spending nearly 30 hours with her I´m beginning to pick up a Spanish accent when I speak English (unfortunately it comes less easily when I actually speak Spanish - can anyone from England actually roll their "r"s?).


I have to have conversations with the other female teachers about my "coorrrrleee" hair every break and am now fluent in telling people I get it from my dad and wish I had straight hair. To which they wish they had ...

... is happening to me isnt even, like, "third worldy" crime. Its not like I am getting mugged in the streets or my pack is getting stolen off of the top of buses or my bag is getting sliced in the bus and my wallet stolen out of it. The first time i got my money stolen, it was through a super high tech, inside job. The second time, it was because a stranger was able to get a key into our house and come in. Random.

One more week in Xela. Then I go.

... definitely a bumpy but unforgettable experience. We booked a hostel for our first few nights here, but when we got here the hostel was actually fully booked, but luckily (or some good karma coming our way) we met an american lady on the street whose daughter had just renovated a large house in the hills close to the centre, so we went to check it out and its pretty awesome! its like a litte hideaway, but with a lovely living ...

... audible from the lookout point. The smoke produced from the single, several-minute long erruption was massive. As it raised to the sky, it produced a large, dark cloud overhead. It´s hard to describe the magnitude of the erruption, but we´ll bring home pictures for those who are interested.

So, after witnessing this, we began to continue our journey towards the crater. This journey was to include the following: a descent from our lookout point on ...

... was overwhelming.

So there I sat, wondering where a starry-eyed dreamer with a trembling lip begins to make a difference. But, I tried to keep my cool. Must look tough in front of peace corp... must look tough in front of peace corp...

I am in Comi now. Comi is almost 100 perenct Mam speaking Maya. I am working with a group called Association Mam-Maya de Investigacion and Desarollo (AMMID) they work with agroecology, women's ...

... watching movies and studying/doing homework. Yesterday, however, John and I took a little self-guided field trip to the main market to search for gloves. To get there, you flag down a minibus -- just about any one will do, just ask to make sure they go to the market. A minibus isn´t really a bus so much as it´s a van, carrying as many people as it can possibly fit. In addition to the driver, there´s also a helper, who rides in the back doorway ...

... top of Volcán Chicabal! Lucky for us, it was nice and breezy, and the clouds kept moving around in the sky. The rocky/packed dirt trail took us over the crest of the crater's edge, then scrambling, slipping, and sliding down an eroding dirt skree slope which spewed us out at the Lake. Boom! We were there.

We immediately found ourselves a nice grassy patch to snack-lunch it out, and to rest our bodies and take in the serenity of these sacred grounds. We were down inside a very ...

... cold and the anxt for summiting this crazy volcano. But when we were finally awoken by Chris that morning, I was ready.

We left most of our belongings at camp, except for a bottle of water and a sleeping bag if you wanted, and a headlamp, and of course our cameras. Then, we scrambled over bolders and rocks and summited with the wind wipping at our faces, and the swirling clouds leaving dew on our clothes and our hair. We summited with about 20 minutes to spare ...

... night wandering around, reacquainting myself with the town where I spent two weeks studying Spanish a couple years ago. While walking, I kept seeing these two hot backpackers walking around. They looked a little lost and both kept gesturing in various directions. By the third time I saw them, I resolved that they were far too cute and vulnerable to pass up. So from across the street, I called out, 'Hey! Are you ...