First Adventure

Once again I am sitting here and trying to decide how to begin this blog...

After Nancy and Allison left we pretty much just hung out and did schoolwork. Eventually we got bored of our routine and decided to do a week and a half trip for the last part of our time in Guatemala. First we would go to Rio Dulce for a sailing trip along the river, then we would go up to a place called Finca Ixobel which is a combination of a Farm, a really run down "resort" and a hostel. Finally we would go to the Tikal Ruins and then make our way back to Antigua. 

Okay starting from the beginning. The first day of our sailing trip was quite interesting; we got up at 4:30am, went outside and stood outside of our hotel in Antigua, and stood there until five. At 15 after five the shuttle still hadn't gotten there and it was supposed to have picked us up at five. We were about to go call a taxi, because we needed at least 45 minutes to get to Guatemala City to catch our bus to Rio Dulce, then our shuttle (which wasn't really a shuttle it was just a regular car) pulled up and we sped off towards 

Guatemala City. Unfortunately we got stuck once we got into Guatemala City we got stuck by traffic. At six our shuttle driver called the bus station and asked them to give him 5 more minutes to get there. We got to the bus station and got all our stuff out of the car, our shuttle driver had gone off somewhere so we just were kind of standing there. After about a minute our driver came running back and told us to get in the car because the bus had already left, so we went speeding off down the streets of Guatemala City. Luckily the bus hadn't gone far and after about two minutes of chasing down the bus we found it and got on the bus. After that the bus ride was unexciting and I pretty much just slept the whole way to Rio Dulce. 

When we got to the river, we were told to go and wait in a restaurant that would be where the sail boat would pick us up. When we got into the restaurant we saw two other groups that were going on the sailing trip. After two hours of sitting in the restaurant a guy in a little dingy 

boat pulled up and shuttled us across the river to a 40 foot Catamaran. The captain showed us our rooms on the boat and then we set off down the river. The rooms were tiny and they were quite stuffy but they had hatches on the ceiling where you could get some air at night. The boat also had two hammocks at the bow and those were nice to lie down in. The first day was pretty much just sailing to the place where we would anchor that night, and I got really bored because I had finished my book and it was too windy to play cards. Once we had anchored for the night it was time for dinner which was chicken, rice, and veggies. It was really amazing what the cook could do in the tiny kitchen on the boat. After dinner everyone pretty much just went to bed. 

In the morning we woke up and had breakfast which was the typical 

Guatemalan breakfast which is eggs, re fried beans and plantains. Once we finished breakfast we got our bathing suits on and got ferried over to the shore. Then we walked for about a half an hour to a hot waterfall. The waterfall was really impessive because it was steaming hot and there were little fish in the pools under that would come up and nibble at you. We swam for about an hour then we walked back to the boat for lunch. For lunch we had soup with some kind of fish in it. The soup was really good and they also had really fresh veggies on the side. After lunch we sailed towards the old Spanish fort, which was near where we had gotten on the boat the day before. The fort was really cool it had tons of old cannons and we had to walk through these winding tunnels all over. When we were done at the fort we got back on the boat and sailed to our night spot. I was really surprised at the captains choice of night spot; we docked at a small hotel or house that had barking dogs and tons of mosquitoes. For dinner we had spaghetti which was very good and we had fresh baked chocolate cake for dessert! Luckily the dogs were quiet when we went to bed and I didn't notice any mosquitoes biting me in the night so overall it was okay. 

The next morning we woke up to find that we were already sailing. We were in this huge canyon, with lots of fog and tons of pelicans. We sailed for about an hour and then we got to a town on the coast called Livingston. The cook brought out breakfast which was pancakes and fresh fruit. All of it was great and after we finished we ferried over to the town and walked around for a little while. In the main park of the town they had this pool that had three crocodiles in it. Luckily the pool had 4 foot concrete walls around it but still it was kind of freaky. After looking at the crocodiles we walked around the town some more and found an Internet cafe where we checked our emails. 

When we were done it started to rain so we made our way back to the boat. Once everyone had returned to the boat we set off back up the river. Halfway up the river we turned off onto a side river and sailed up that for about a half hour. After we had anchored the captain got out these flat kayak things that looked like surf boards. We kayaked around for awhile and then we went back to the boat and swam. Later we got back on the boat and sailed to a spot where we could hike to the top of a hill and then go explore some caves. On our way there we had lunch on the boat, lunch was a heaping mound of mashed potatoes and grilled guiskil (which is a type of squash). Once we got to the caves the captain ferried across the river and we hiked to the top of the hill. The caves were super damp and dark and we didn't want to get lost in the caves so we didn't go far in. When we were done in the caves we went back to the bottom of the hill but we couldn't get our captains attention because the boat was across the river. So we went over to this little shop on the dock and bought some coconuts. The coconut milk tasted kind of weird but it was refreshing. Finally we got our captains attention and he came over and picked us up. The rest of the day was unexciting we sailed to a small lagoon where we spent the night. Dinner that night was a tuna quiche, rice, and some veggies. After dinner we played cards and then went to bed.

We woke up the next morning and packed up our stuff. Then we had breakfast but I don't remember what we ate. After breakfast we set off towards the town Rio Dulce where our sailing trip would end. When we reached Rio Dulce we got ferried over to the same restuarant we had been picked up at, we said goodbye to the other people from the boat and then we walked to the bus station. We caught a bus that was going up to Finca Ixobel and thats when the second adventure starts. (I am going to put our next adventures in a different post because this post is getting really long.)

Larissa

WOW!!!! I just noticed that I haven't blogged for over month.

Okay starting from the beginning.

The week after we went to Monterrico we spent most of the time doing schoolwork while Allison and Nancy went to Spanishschool. On Friday we decided that we wanted to go up to Lake Atitlan and spent the weekend there. So Friday morning 

we caught a shuttle to Lake Atitlan and then took a boat out to Casa Del MundoWe spent Friday afternoon relaxing and reading in hammocks. At 6:30 dinner was served and unfortunately the dinner wasn't very special...also the soup had tons and tons of cilantro in it! After dinner Allison and Kelsey and I went back up to the room and played cards. Soon after that Mom and Nancy came back up and we all went to bed. 

In the morning I got up and went down to the dining room where Nancy and Allison were eating breakfast. I had a breakfast with them and then we all wanted to go swimming. We got on our 

swimming suits and then went down to the swimming area. Luckily since it was early the waves weren't very big so it was safe to swim (even though the water was still freezing). After swimming for awhile we got cold and Allison, Kelsey and I decided to go kayaking. We got our kayaks and then went out and kayaked along the shoreline of the lake. We got to this one spot where there was a huge algae bed and we started pulling up algae out of the lake because it felt really cool to grab the algae. After a few minutes of that we noticed that there were little bugs all over in the algae and we got all freaked out so we stopped. Once we had gotten the algae off of our kayaks, Allison and I decided to go back and swim again because it had gotten warmer. We swam and then Kelsey came up in her kayak and joined us. While we were swimming we noticed a ledge on the deck of the swimming area and decided to jump off of the ledge into the water. We all got tons of pictures and had lots of fun! 

Once it got to wavy to get in the water again we went up and had smoothies at the hotel restaurant. Then after we had our drinks we packed up and got a boat back to Panajachel. We had lunch in Panajachel at the really cute restaurant then we did a little shopping. We finished shopping and went to catch our shuttle back to Antigua. The bus was a 

little late so we had to wait awhile. When the shuttle arrived we got on and went to get gas at the gas station, turns out the bus driver and his girlfriend were in a fight and his girlfriend was on the shuttle so she got all mad and ran away with the keys to the shuttle, so we had to wait even more. Finally the bus driver drove up with another shuttle to  take us, we were really late at this point so he drove like a maniac back to Antigua. The shuttle was supposed to drop us off at our apartment but the driver said that it was too late to drop us off so we had to walk back to our apartment at 9:00 pm. We got to the apartment and just crashed.

The next few weeks were unexciting, Nancy and Allison left, and we pretty much just did schoolwork. Thats all I want to type right now!

Larissa

Goodness! I have so much to talk about!

Let's see...The whole adventure started on Valentines Day when Nancy and Allison arrived. They got here super late and pretty much all we did was go to bed. But the next day we had tons of fun; we walked around Antigua showing them the sites, then we had lunch at a small cafe that has the best cookies I have ever tasted. After that we went to a small handicrafts market called El Carmen, then we walked to a travel agency to book a trip to Pacaya the next day. We also stopped by one more travel agency to schedule a trip to Semuc Champey, then we walked back to Santa Rosa. We had a quiet night and then went to bed early so we would be well rested for Pacaya. 

We didn't leave for Pacaya until 2 o'clock so we hung out in the morning. Then at two our driver came to pick us up and take us to the volcanoe. The drive was fine until we got right to the out skirts of Guatemala city and had to turn around because the teachers were striking and the roads were closed. We had an 

extra hour of driving because we had to go back to Antigua and and drive around another way to get to Pacaya. 

We finally got to Pacaya and started to hike, the hike was pretty much the same as I remembered it but much dustier. We finally got up to the lava field; there were tons of people and at first we couldn't see any lava. Then, once we got closer we could see this huge river of lava! We got up to the lava and roasted these disgusting colored marshmallows which was really fun! Then our guide told us that we had to go so we walked back down in the pitch black. We got down to the parking the parking lot, drove home and went straight to bed. 

The next morning we got up super early so we could get on our bus to go to Semuc Champey. At first we thought that the bus ride was only going to be about 3-4 hours but then our guide told 

us that the drive was going to be 8 hours long! We stopped along the way a few times and had lunch at this quaint little restaurant in the middle of nowhere. We got to the hotel which was a really cute inn with ponds everywhere! We walked around the site for about an hour and then our guide took us into the town nearby to have dinner. Dinner was great - we had roast chicken, rice, beans, and homemade tortillas. 

After dinner we went back to the hotel and went to bed early. I woke up really early the next morning because our guide was banging on our doors at 6:00am. We had breakfast and then all squished into a truck bed. We all had to stand up and the ride was very bumpy. When we got to 

the park we started climbing a very steep path to a view point overlooking Semuc Champey. After we were all done we started down the other side and arrivedat the Semuc Champey pools. We all got into our bathing suits and then swam for awhile. There was a small cliff on the side of one of the pools and Kelsey, 

Allison and I all jumped off of it. Our guide also showed us a tree that was about 35-40 feet tall and we also jumped off of that! It was so fun except I was shaking pretty hard afterwards. Soon we were all calmed down and we set of to rappel down a waterfall and look at an underground river. The rappelling was easy and the river was really pretty. Apperantly the underground river was formed by the rocks on the cliffs falling down and covering up the existing river. The rocks on top eventually formed a bridge and the Semuc Champey pools developed on top of the limestone. Later we had lunch and the sandwiches that we had were 

disgusting but we were all so hungry that we ate them anyway. After lunch we walked to another place where we would go exploring in a cave. The cave was really pretty and we got to see bacon (a form of stalagtite), but all of us got banged up pretty badly because we could barely see anything. On the way back out of the cave our guide told me were going to take a shortcut through a hole that would put us closer to the entrance. He told me to follow him and then he sat down and dissapeared into the hole. I sat down and it was really freaky, I had no idea how far down i was going to go, if I was going to have to swim underwater or how deep the water was! I let go and was fine but the water was freezing through the hole and I had to wait for everyone to come after me. By the time we started going again I was shivering really hard. We got out of the cave and our guide told us that we were going to go tubing. The river was freezing but it was really nice to just sit back and relax. We made our way back to the hotel after that, had an early dinner and went to bed early again. We had a fine drive back to Antigua and hung out for the rest of the day. 

We were going to spend the weekend just hanging out but on Saturday we decided that we wanted to go to Monte Rico, a black sand beach on west coast of Guatemala, on Sunday. The drive to Monte Rico was very short compared to the one to Semuc Champey, and we got to the beach in no time. The beach at Monte Rico is very steep so the waves are huge and they break really hard. We were playing on the beach and letting the waves crash against us, then Kelsey and I decided to go out over the waves to clean out our bathing suits. Kelsey is a much stronger swimmer than me and she was ahead of me so when she went over a wave and then I tried to go over it too the result was not good. I got tossed under water and all I could see 

was green everywhere. I had no idea if I was upside-down or right side up but finally I saw the surface so I swam up and started swimming back to shore (not a good idea). I was almost back to the shore when another wave broke on me, I got all disoriented again but I safely made it out of the water with a little help from Allison. The rest of the day was very unexciting and it took a little time to get over my shock but after a while I went back and played at the very edge of the waves. For lunch we had fresh fruit smoothies and fish and chips which were really good. At about 4:00 we got on the bus again and came back to Antigua. That night I was exhausted but I couldn't fall asleep because I kept having flashbacks of the waves and the water. So I got up, watched an episode of a TV show with Mom and finally fell asleep on her bed. 

The next day we went to visit Nancy and Allison at the spanish school and it turns out that 

Allison has Kelsey's old teacher. The rest of the day we hung out and did school work. Today we walked down to the spanish school so we could meet Maria Jose, Allison, Nancy and Nancy's teacher Elena to go to a carnaval at Maria's daughters school. The kids at the school were all dressed up in costumes of all kinds: there was a spongebob, a zorro, some belly dancers, and sylvester the cat. All of the kids were lined up in rows acording to there grades and each grade would go out to the dance floor one at a time. Someone would turn on music and the kids would have 15 min to dance while the judges watched. It was so cute and the kids were darling! After that we came back to Santa Rosa and right now we are doing more schoolwork.

Okay my hand is cramping up from all of this typing so I have to stop.

Bye!

Larissa

Ahh....beautiful sunlight! Last week we went to Mexico and we got to stay in this amazing resort that has one of the biggest pools in the whole world! The first day in Mexico we just hung out and relaxed and then on the second day we went on an awesome adventure in the rain forest. The adventure was zip lining, canoing, repelling into a cave, and then visiting a Mayan ruin. The day started with a very early wake up call and a 2 hour bus ride. Once we got to the site we went canoing in a small lagoon. Then we had a short walk around the lagoon where our guide pointed out all the native plants and animals. After about 20 min of walking we got to the zip line. Our guide (his name was Ramon) told us to be very careful and not let go because in the water below the zip line were crocodiles! Everyone thought he was joking and nobody believed him, so we all went and had a blast! And then the last girl who went, looked down and she saw to crocodiles right below the landing station. (I am not sure I believe her but oh well we got a good laugh out of it.) After zip lining we walked about another 10 minutes to a cave we were supposedly repelling down into. We got there and Ramon told us to strip down to our bathing suites because it was going to be wet down in the cave. I had no idea what he was talking about and I wasn't sure I really wanted to get wet. But then I looked down into the cave and there was this huge crystal clear pool! We repelled down two at a time and when we were about half way down a guy on a plat form in the cave was taking pictures of us. (He got some really good ones, and apparently thats how the villagers make money. They call themselves paparazzi and go along with the tours and take pictures , so we decided to get a CD of pictures.) Once we reached the water a person was waiting for you at the bottom with a tube and helped you unclip yourself from the rope. We got about a half an hour to in the water and then on the way back up the cave we didn't climb we got to get pulled up by four or five guys at the top. It was sort of like a pulley system, and it was really fun! After we all got out of the pool, Ramon took us to a spot where apparently we were going to be in a Mayan ritual. We all had to stand up and keep our hands behind our backs, because otherwise we would be disrespectful. Then the guy started the ritual which was him muttering something in Mayan and then blessing us with his incense. After the ritual we walked back to where we canoed and had lunch. The lunch was great they had this big table filled with Mayan food (plus spaghetti) which tasted amazing. Later when we were done with lunch we all got back in the bus and drove for about 25min to a Mayan ruin called Coba. Coba is and ancient village in the middle of the rain forest and the village has the tallest pyramid in the northern Yucatan. We climbed to the top and it turns out it was 42 meters tall and 120 steps. There was a small room at the top and I went in because I needed shade. I was looking around and something wooshed past my head, I looked up and there were 3 small bats up in the corner of the room! Once we had cooled down we climbed back down and got into the bus and went back to the resort. The next few days we just hung out and swam in the pool. We also went to Playa Del Carmen and went to the market there. We didn't end up getting anything but we found some really really good gelato! We decided that we wanted to get out of the house after that so we went to a place called Xel-Ha. Xel-Ha is a water park ish thing that has swimming with the dolphins, cenotes, a big lagoon type thing that is a mixture of fresh water and salt water. We tubed and snorkeled in the the lagoon, we swam in the cenotes, and the cool thing is the park only has an entrance fee and then you don't have to pay for food or anything once you get in. We had and awesome time there and then came home and fell asleep right away. Our last day in Mexico we were just going to hang out at the pool and order chips and guacamole, and smoothies. That day was spoiled because a pretty big rainstorm hit and we spent almost all of out time in the room. It cleared up for about and hour so we could go get chips and guac, and then it rained again. Yesterday was Sunday and was also our travel day. We got up at 4:00am so we could get to the airport at 5:00 and be on our 7:20 flight. We got to go first class and I slept the whole flight. We had a 2 hour layover in Miami then we got first class again to Guatemala city. We got to the airport and I could barely stand because I had such a bad stomach ache (we think that the airplane lunch may have caused it). We took a taxi to Antigua and got a hotel room and as soon as we got in the room I lay down on my bed and fell asleep. I felt a little better after sleeping but then later the stomach ache came back and I still have it today. I need to go rest. Goodbye
Larissa

Ahh... we have discovered the nicest, most relaxing, and most beautiful place in Guatemala. It is a hotel called Casa Del Mundo (House of the World) on Lake Atitlan.
We decided to go up to Lake Atitlan on Sunday and its about a three hour bus ride. We were actually supposed to get a nice tourist bus with individual seating but instead we got to the Travel Agency and our "nice tourist" bus was a chicken bus (recycled school bus). So you can imagine how uncomfortable the ride was. I was especially uncomfortable for Kelsey and I because we sat in the front row and all of the native women will not sit more than two rows back. So we kept getting very squished with almost three or four people to a seat that was meant for two people. We got to Panajachel (the town near the lake) very stiff and went to sit down in a restaurant for breakfast. Mom, Kelsey and I went out shopping in the market there but Ben decided to stay in the restaurant and just chill. We walked up the street and went into a store with all these nice cloth and leather bags. I ended up getting a very cute little backpack and Kelsey wanted to get one but decided that it was too expensive. After that we found t-shirts for ourselves, and a few little knick-knacks for Micaela. We returned to the restaurant for lunch then walked down to the boat dock where we found a boat over to Casa Del Mundo which is pretty much out on the other side of the lake and built on a lake. When we arrived at the hotel we had to climb about 100 steep and uneven steps up to the office. I noticed that on the sides of the stairs the hotel had made little clearings all over where they put sky chairs and hammocks. We got checked in and then had to walk about another 50 steps up to our rooms. The rooms where up on a high ledge and had a beautiful view of the lake. After we had gotten unpacked we went and down to the swimming area and cooled off in the water. The water was about the temperature of the Boulder Res. but the wind was blowing very hard so we didn't stay in long and my ears froze! Later we had some quiet time when I read and rested. Then Mom and Ben went down for a drink at the cafe, and Kelsey and I went out to take some pictures of the area. We found out that they had this old fashioned hot tub that was wood fire heated and was very nice looking. (We found out later that you had to make a reservation for the hot tub before one o'clock in the afternoon, and we never got to actually go in the hot tub.) It started to get very dark (it was only 6:00) so we went and found Mom and Ben at the cafe and they told us about the dinner situation. Since the hotel is not close to any grocery store the hotel makes dinner for us family style (which means that the whole hotel eats together at one huge table). The waiters brought out the soup first which was corn, squash, and something else that was yummy, after the soup came the salad which was avocado and tomato covered in a vinaigrette. Then the main dish came which was shish kabobs, veggies, and mashed potatoes. We finished and then they brought out dessert which was probably the most scrumptious strawberry short cake ever! Kelsey and I went up to the room to get ready for bed after that. And when I was walking back to the room from the bathroom (which is public). I saw my very first scorpion! It was tiny which made me even more freaked out because I had heard that the smallest ones are the most poisonous. But the scorpion was just minding its own business and nothing happened to that.
The next day I woke up early and found out that Kelsey was very sick and had thrown up quite a few times, so we decided not to do much that day other than relax. We went down for breakfast and I had pancakes with a homemade syrup, and fresh fruit. Then I went downstairs to the porch and found myself a nice sky chair which I snuggled up in and read my book for the next two hours. I went back up to the cafe to find Mom and I found her sitting with Kelsey who was feeling better by then. We had lunch then I went back down to my sky chair and read for another three hours. Then I decided that the wind had cooled down enough to go swimming. When I got to the swimming area I found Mom and Kels already there and so we swam for awhile. Then we had another scrumptious dinner of vegetable soup, fish, rice, and veggies for main dish, tomato salad, and fruit crepes. And again we had another early bed time, this time we found a huge spider and a scorpion so we decided to experiment by putting them together in a glass. Unfortunately for us nothing happened so we let them go and go to bed.
Yesterday nothing was a half day of relaxing and a half day of traveling which all went very smoothly. Today I am doing some home schooling and waking up from my three days of relaxation even though I don't want to!

Larissa

Yaaaaawn! This past week has been day after day of excitement (maybe I am exaggerating a little bit but it still has been fun) and now I am utterly exhausted.

The week started off with a very fun hike up a volcano: Volcan Pacaya. We had arranged a private tour with one of the many travel agencies here for us and our Norwegian neighbors (only the dad and the oldest son came because the younger boy was not old enough to go). The very comfertable bus arrived at the apartment at 8:00am and from there we had an hour drive to the volcano. We got to the parking lot and immediately a whole crowd of little boys trying to rent us sticks came and squished us into a bundle. We got out of that and started to hike. It took about an hour to get up to the cooled lava field and then it was another fifteen minutes to actually get to where we could see lava. Unfortunately our guide was too nice and got us to a place where we could get up close to the lava from below. I say too nice because it is actually a better view but if you are trying to take a picture it doesn't work so great because one you are below and you have to be careful of rocks falling and two it is way way to hot! Kels burned her legs when she was trying to take a video (don't worry it was just a warning burn and is fine now). In fact i had such a hard time getting a picture that I didn't ever manage to get one where you could see the lava very well so the following picture sadly is not mine. I did manage to get a cute picture of Kelsey, the guide, and I. After we got out of the lava field our guide took us to a grassy place where we could eat lunch (turns out where we ate was a right next and kind of in the middle of a whole bunch of corn fields). That is pretty much our whole adventure on the volcano!

This week we also finished the Contru Casa house! The only super exciting day was yesterday (Friday) when the family threw a party for us. At about 11:00am a group of workers who had also finished their house came over with a cake and a huge bottle of Pepsi. That was only the beginning of the party. First we had a group picture, then the volunteers (us) had to fill out evaluation sheets for Contru Casa (the kids at the house were very interested in our writing abilities and we had a huge crowd around us when we were writing), after we finished we had Pepsi and the cake (the cake was not your general Safeway cake it was amazingly good! It was almost like Tres Leches because it was so moist but not quite). The workers that we were not working with left after that. The family came up to us and said that they were making us lunch, so we stayed for lunch. At first we really didn't want to stay because all of us were very tired. But when the food came out it look so good that we forget about not wanting to stay. Lunch was Pepian: a Guatemalan recipe of chicken in a sauce that is very hard to explain but is very good, homemade rice, homemade tortillas, and a hibiscus juice! After lunch all seven of us (the workers came too) went to the bus stop and came to Antigua. We got home (without the workers of course) and just conched out. That was our day!

Today nothing special has happened, only our usual outing to the supermarket and maybe a little strolling on the art street. Tomorrow we are going to get up super early to go to a travel agency and board a bus to Panajachel to do some shopping and then spend a few nights on Lake Atitlan in Casa del Mundo. I will probably bring my computer so you can hear of my adventures up there but right now I really need to go pack! Wait one more thing on our way back from the supermarket today we ran into the lady that gives Ivan our Norwegian neighbor cooking classes and she said that next Wednesday will send her friend over to our apartment to talk about me and Kels taking cooking classes! YUMMY!

Larissa

Buenos Dias!
Yes I am still alive even though I don't update very often! I have just been having a fine time keeping myself occupied and don't see the need to sit at the computer for however long this will take to write :)
Saturday I think was the day after I updated last so here goes my schedule!
Saturday was Day of the Dead, and there was a tour organized by the Spanish school to take us to a kite festival and cemetery where we could watch the festivities! The kite festival was so cool they had kites of all sizes and I think the biggest one was 15 meters across!! They also had really cool pictures and designs on them.
The cemetery was also very cool because it is the one day a year where every member in a family with a deceased person goes to the grave, cleans it up, and decorates it with flowers wreaths, grass, and tissue paper. We walked around in the cemetery and little town that was down the hill from there for awhile. We as in the Kelsey, Mom, Gavin, Elizabeth, Lois, Joe (all people from the school) and of course ME! After that all of us started to get really hungry so we went back to the kites and found a nice grassy spot that was kind of sheltered from the sun and we ate! After that we went to the bleachers to find a good place to watch the kite competition, the rules for the competition were very simple the kite had to get up off the ground and then it was a matter of time (the kite that stayed up the longest won). Some of the kites were really pretty but didn't exactly fly, one of the really pretty ones got up maybe 30 feet and then folded in half and crashed it was very amusing and Gavin said "Hecho en Mexico" which means (jokingly) it was made in Mexico!! Oh yea and while we were waiting for the competition to start we kept ourselves amused by playing with the really sweet little girl that was sitting in front of us. But then we had to go right as the competition had started... and that was pretty much my day. Oh wait after we got home Elizabeth, Lois, and Joe wanted to go out to dinner and invited us to come, we did and then nothing else happened.
I forget what happened on Sunday so nothing special must have happened.
On Monday we got up super early because it was the day when we started building the Constru Casa house. Kels actually didn't come because she had a bad stomach ache so mom and I walked down to the square at 6:45 am (brr it was freezing). Carolina (head of Constru Casa) picked us up and took us to the location of where we would build the house, the city is called Ciudad Vieja (Old City). We walked in and there where kids running around everywhere because the neighbors had lots of kids, we met the workers we would be working with, their names are Thomas, Willie (never heard of a Spanish Willie before) and Cesar. They weren't very friendly the first day and we didn't actually do that much work but thats okay. After work was done we went down to the bus stop and that was my first CHICKEN BUS experience. I had just got on and the driver took off so I almost fell off but I didn't and was fine but it was kind of freaky. We arrived home late and very tired so we got home and just conched out! I don't have any pictures from Monday because my camera died right as I turned it on for the first picture and that was a bummer. Yesterday we (not Kelsey again) went and met Thomas at the Chicken Bus stop. This time the ride wasn't as crazy but it was still fun. We got there and Willie and Cesar where already working so we started working right away. The day flew by and we did a lot of digging and measuring and such, except then we were done with that and the materials we needed for the house weren't there yet so we sat around for a really long time and then finally just left. Again we got home tired and hungry, but this time Kels was nice and hyper for our return but we didn't feel like doing anything. We had dinner and watch the election, at about 8:30 I fell asleep on the couch and then didn't wake up again until Mom told me that the election was over, Obama had won and it was time for bed and that was that!
Today nothing much happened I got up early since I had gotten an extra 3 hours of sleep last night, and just kinda hung out and had breakfast until mom and Kels got up. We had a slow morning and then we went out to lunch and went to the store. We got home and have been resting since then. Right now I am listening to my itunes, chatting with friends, and blogging (I am such a great multitasker!) Later tonight we are going to have Chicken Tetrazini for dinner and watch a movie. Oh yea we found a Guatamalan Blockbuster!! They have lots of good movies and all of them are in english too! Exciting huh? Well I need to get off the computer because my hands already are weak from digging and typing this for an hour hasn't helped!
Hasta la Vista Baby!
Larissa