I think they´re trying to tell me something

When you don´t access the internet in several days, you realize that you´ve had almost too many adventures to put into a little blog post.

Let me catch you up a little:

We left Panajachel and had a chicken bus adventure to Chichicastenango. I mean adventure. Our guidebook and the internet lead us to believe there was a direct bus. Lies. Terrible, terrible lies. We were told there was no direct bus, and going completely on faith, we were directed through a series of not one but THREE different buses, two of which we basically got onto while they were driving away. It was sort of terrifying. Teryn seemed to be enjoying herself, but I was having mini heart attacks with every turn. These chicken buses are American school buses, but on speed. Like, literally. They go WAY faster than those buses were ever meant to go. The drivers are CRAZY. They pass everyone. Even on blind corners. Even long strings of trucks. Oncoming traffic? No problem! We´ll just barge our way through.

Heart attacks.

So we got to Chichi and were almost immediately accosted by a tour guide who insisted on showing us around (for a fee, of course). This was completely unplanned but actually worked well; we learned more that day than we had any other. It´s actually really interesting because the Mayan culture is so strong there. They´ve actually integrated the Mayan and Catholic beliefs together in the same church... they hold mass in Spanish and Quiche, the local language. Neato. Can you think of another example of the Catholic church being so accepting? We can´t.

Chichi also had the other memorable event of seeing children ¨toboggan¨ down a hill on an empty oil bottle with a rope attached. They were having a GREAT time. We missed getting a picture, but Teryn loved it so much she giggled for hours.

Every Sunday there´s a giant market in Chichi. It was like most of the other markets we´ve been to, but bigger and with more food... busy, loud, full of high-pressure salespeople. Teryn actually got some mad bargaining skills by the end of the day. Me... well, I´m still working on it.

So we found our way out of the market and onto yet another crazy chicken bus (picture attached... we were actually sitting 6 people across in the back for a while... and somehow, the old guy next to me fell asleep. Until I slammed my shoulder into his head. I couldn´t help it - those buses are bumpy). Finally, we found ourselves in Quetzaltenango, where we had our Spanish school booked. I had a very broken Spanish-English conversation with a woman who sent some guy to come pick us up at the bus station. Not going to lie, I was a little sketched out by the whole process.

So we got into the school, filled out a form, and were sent off with our respective homestay families almost immediately. I got some severe separation anxiety as Teryn and I split up, but our families are only a block or so apart.

So now we´re getting to the subject of this post, more or less. My family doesn´t like to talk to me. They´re nice enough, but I suspect they think I´m a little bit dumb. I mean, my Spanish isn´t great but I actually understand quite a bit, but my family talks really fast and mostly to each other. I mostly eat meals with them and then go somewhere else.

Last night Teryn and I went out for some salsa dancing (Teryn danced, I tried to avoid being asked to dance by hiding. Partially successful, but not entirely. You want to feel self-conscious about your dance skills? Go dancing in Latin America. With Teryn). So we left the club around 11:30 and I found out I had been locked out of my house. With an interior deadbolt. That´s right, now it´s close to midnight in a large-ish Guatemalan city and I have nowhere to go. So I slept with Teryn. In a single bed.

I am very very tired today.

To add insult to injury, today they made me move rooms so they could give the new American student my room. WTF, host family. You´re killing me.

Teryn´s pretty happy with her family, I think. She´s been doing such fun things as explaining Canadian health care to a guy who doesn´t speak English, with her very minimal Spanish. She has two adorable little girls there who are teaching her Spanish vocabulary with flashcards. She´s having a good time.

School is good, if a little overwhelming. Teryn´s learning a crapload of verbs (she´s estimating 90 or so. Which she has to use in sentences for homework every night. hehehe), and I fulfilled my dream of learning how to use the past tense (ever tried to communicate using ONLY present tense? it´s hard!). I can´t believe tomorrow is already our last day. This week has been fast. You could easily spend weeks here (and, indeed, people do), just learning.

Here are some other joys of Guatemalan life, from our perspective:

- Chocobananos. These are chocolate dipped frozen bananas, sometimes with nuts. Most of the places here sell them for Q1, which is about 13 cents. These are the best things ever.

- Licuados. These are fruit drinks, made with real fruit and milk in a blender. We found a place that has them for Q5, the same price as a can of coke (about milkshake sized). Booster juice, eat your heart out.

We´re currently in the process of figuring out where we go from here - we need to get to Tikal and then down to Nicaragua. It´s going to be an adventure.