Thursday, July 8

I woke up this morning around 4am to a rooster crowing near Raquel´s house. I went back to sleep until 5:50 when my alarm went off. I got ready and packed up. Raquel had said that breakfast would be at 6:15, but she wasn´t quite ready. She said we needed to leave for the bus station at 6:30, but she was asking if I wanted pancakes or eggs at 6:25. I had granola with raisins, bananas, and coconut in it. I also had a small banana and 2 pancakes. We left for the bus station at 6:45. Raquel bought my ticket in her name and I waited for the bus. No worries on being late because the 7am bus did not leave for twenty more minutes.

The bus ride was pleasant and uneventful. I enjoyed looking out the window most of the trip. I love the colorful buses here. I took some pictures out the window, and I will try to post some later. The roads were hilly and curvy, but in overall better condition than in Costa Rica. There were even medians. The road was mostly two lanes and even had guardrails. I never once feared for my life. We stopped at a small restaurant for a 15 minute break. The weather is cool but pleasant.

I got to Quetzaltenango (or Xela as it is also known) a little after 11. I took a taxi to the language school. Two Asian women rode with us and we dropped them off first. The language school is painted bright orange. The taxi driver was nice and knew exactly where to go. He pointed out landmarks along the way. When I arrived at the school, I met the director, Oscar. I read some info about staying with a host family and paid my money. Then I got to use the internet, but I couldn´t go to gmail for some reason. My host mom, Sandi, showed up shortly. She drove me to her house. She is really nice.

My bedroom is kind of strange because it is not in the house. I have a key to the house, but my room is next door to the house. For this reason, I have to leave the house and walk a short distance down the sidewalk and unlock a separate door to get to my bedroom. The door leads to a very small courtyard-ish area and then there is another door that does not lock which leads to my room. We live in a very safe area, complete with an entrance guard for the neighborhood, but my room does not feel extremely secure to me. Good thing I´m brave! I also have a bathroom. We have to buy our own soap and toilet paper.

Sandi and I went into the house and I talked to her while she prepared lunch. I met Brenda and Erica, two girls who also live in the house, and Roberto (Sandi´s husband) and Gabi (her 20 year old daughter) and Andre (her son who is about the same age). We had soup with lots of big vegetables in it. After lunch, I went with Brenda to an internet cafe that was playing Christian music in English (Jeremy Camp and other popular artists) and then we met some other students (Ed, Jessica, and David) from our school to go to a market. We had to walk a long way and they didn´t really know where they were going. They have free maps of Xela, but they aren´t great. The roads are confusing here because the city is divided into different zones and each zone has its own road names. For example, there are multiple 1st streets because each zone can have one. We eventually made it to market after getting directions from a nice man. Brenda was looking for a bedspread. I just enjoyed looking since I didn´t have much money. Brenda ended up buying some large candles, but she left them in a store. I bought yogurt and fruit scented soap. We walked around and found another market. Brenda and I left Ed and headed for home.

Brenda did her homework and I made a list of things I want do in Guatemala. We sat in the living room until dinner. We had fried eggs, salsa, black beans, and tortillas with cheese in them. We tried a sweet tamale-like food that had hot pink on it. I cannot remember its name. I found out more about my family during dinner. They are Christians and Sandi is a kindergarten teacher although she is taking the year off to work with victims of domestic violence.

After dinner, Brenda and Erica were going to a concert, but I was tired, so I went back to my room. I was going to shower, but it was freezing by this time. I was already wearing several layers, but my fingers were freezing. I decided to pass on the shower. I wrote in my journal, read my Bible, and went to bed a little after 10pm. It was a very good first day in Guatemala!