Thursday, July 30, 2009




Well here we go! Spanish is coming along slowly, but we have two good teachers. Yesterday we visited San Jorge a small village with much poverty. It is only about 15 minutes up the mountain by chicken bus. We got into the bus early, so we had a great seat. Read we didn't have to stand in the isle. The ride cost 2 Quetzals or less than 25 cents (the current exchange rate is 8.1 Q to the dollar). By the time we left there were three to a seat and SRO. Somehow ever time I thought they couldn't get another person on, 3-5 more got on! We walked down the mountain into the village. There were great views. Janet has been doing great walking down and up. Yesterday we walked over 12,000 steps.

Our host family continues to warm to us. We are having more interesting conversations at meal times. We are getting used to where we live and the smaller space and the electric shower.

The pictures are a view from the Sunset Cafe, our room, and Wayne at school. Even though it is the rainy season we have had several days with no rain! It has been very warm.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

We made it to Pannajachel and are enjoying ourselves and working hard. We spent Monday at the Salud y Paz clinic and preschool in Camanchaj. Janet got the tour and we both were introduced to the work we might do next year. Janet was a bit overwhelmed. However, she has recovered as we started our first day of school. We both have great teachers and we work hard for four hours. We get homework to do for the next day so we still have some work to do tonight.

We are slowly begining to get to know our host family. There are three generations in the house. We have a small room on the first floor with a private bath and the family is on the second. We are a bit tight but are getting accustomed to the room. The food has been great! Lorenzo, the parrot, lives not far outside our door in the courtyard. He is friendly and is rumored to talk. As of yet, we have not heard much except when he is fed.

We had some rain but for the last two days, it has been sunny and warm during the day and the nights have been cool. No one will guess how long the good weather will last and the rainy season starts again.

We are updateding the blog at the internet cafe. We will add some pictures later.

Sunday, July 26, 2009



We made it! Except for a late depature and some wet luggage in Miami, we had a good trip. We toured Antigua, bought some minutes for our phone and got some cash. It was a holiday when we arrived. Marching bands and street music were all around. We got caught in a rain storm but waited it out in a store with a great courtyard. This place is very lush and beautiful.
The B&B where we stayed last night is appealing, very old and quaint with pleasant courtyards. Janet is impressed.

Dinner with Phil was great. We had some of the best fish ever.

Off to breakfast next then on to Panajachel.

Friday, July 24, 2009

We are on our way today

Hello,

We leave for Detroit today and leave for Guatemala early tomorrow morning. We have a busy weekend planned with dinner with the founder of Saludy y Paz and breakfast with our internet Spanish tutor. We hope to meet with Carey and Jay on Sunday night in Panajachel. Watch here for more posts.