A Weekend Vacay.

What a weekend!  It was a great trip away.  Two other teachers and I went to Guatemala City to meet up with a Guatemalan friend who was our host for the weekend.  So, so much fun to travel with someone who is from here.  We got to see a little of Guatemala from his perspective. 
Friday night we went to the gigantic mall in the city-- the same one I went to at Thanksgiving.  Its a super nice mall and last time we went I noticed a restaurant that I really wanted to visit.  It has a large aquarium right inside!  I got ceviche-- I'm not sure the etiquette about eating fish while enjoying watching live fish... but I did it anyway. 
Then we drove to our friends house about 30 minutes or so outside the city in a town called Lago de Amatitlan.  Staying at his house and in his town was probably one of the coolest parts of this trip.  Living here in Xela, teaching with all American teachers, it could be easy to live just like I would in the states.   But I love getting to know the culture and the people here.  And we do have several Guatemalan friends here, but a lot of times they dress, act, and talk just like us, and sometimes I forget that most of their background is so totally different than my own.  But going to our friends house and his town, I was reminded that yes, I am in Guatemala and yes, my friends are Guatemalan and the way they grew up and live can be very different.   He was so proud to show us his town and it was great for us to be there. 
Another, more sobering, reminder that we do indeed live in Guatemala, happened the next morning when we all woke up.  Our friend received a call that a friend he had grown up with had been murdered.  These things happen here.  Sure, they happen in the States too, but its just a totally different world down here sometimes.
We spent the rest of the morning at the Lake.  It is an absolutely beautiful area, but a little sad because the lake has been taken over by bacteria.  Its really bad-- the water has turned a toxic, neon green.  Our friend just kept telling us if it is this beautiful now, imagine how much more so when the lake was pure. We rode this thing called the Teleferico, which was made up of cable cars that scale high into the mountains leaving you with spectacular views of the town, lake and surrounding area.  It was incredible. 


Riding up the Teleferico-- it went really high!



Beautiful views from the top

 

 
Afterwards going back down we enjoyed a delicious snack of chocolate dipped frozen pineapple and then went to go watch our friend play in a town soccer game.  My first soccer game in Guatemala.  Then it was off to the town of Antigua.

Antigua is absolutely BEAUTIFUL.  I guess that's a theme of this trip/Guatemala in general.  Its just a beautiful place.  Antigua is very touristy, but the architecture and everything there is just very unique.  I loved it!  We walked around then central park at night time and it was just enchanting with sparkly white Christmas lights and a fountain and the lit up church.  The next morning we enjoyed a quaint breakfast of a warm croissant filled with nutella (gluttonous, but so good) and a chai tea in a little cafe right of the central square.  And there were two adorable dachshund puppies sitting right out front, which was what drew us in in the first place.

One of the teachers had a friend from the states that just happened to be in Antigua that day with a short term mission team.  We met up with them for lunch which was a nice treat.  It was interesting to be with a group from the states and to hear their first impressions of the country I've come to know quite well after living here for almost 6 months.  It was kind of fun to tell them all about it, and dispel some of their preconceived notions.  I've been on many short term trips in the past, and I do think they are great, but living in a foreign country just this short amount of time I've continued to gain so much respect for long term missionaries. 
Anyway, this trip was a great one-- too short.  There were many things we didn't get to see or do.  But as we kept repeating, "It just means we will have to come back again!"

Also, I could really tell how much Spanish I have learned on this trip.  It was kind of a Spanglish weekend since we were with a Guatemalan who knows quite a bit of English but is learning more, just as we are with our Spanish.  He kind of made a deal with us that he would speak English and we would speak Spanish so we could all practice.  It didn't quite work out that way the whole time...everybody was going back and forth.  But with that constant back and forth, the lines between Spanish and English were able to be blended.   A lot of the time I wasn't conscious of translating back and forth in my head anymore-- I was just able to understand.  And I forgot about what language was being spoken.  Pretty cool. 

Up for this week... 100th day of school!!