Necesitas una cerveza...estamos en Guatemala!: Where'd the sun go?

I've now been in Guatemala for a few days. The town that I'm in is called Quetzaltenango -- known as Xela (which is pronounced as Shela). It's the second largest city in Guatemala after the capital, Guatemala City. In order to get here, I had to endure a 4-hour bus ride from Guatemala City to Xela.

Fortunately, while waiting in the Fort Lauderdale airport I made a Guatemalan friend who offered me a ride from the Guatemala airport to the bus terminal. We managed to communicate with the very very little Spanish that I know, and it ended up saving me a few dollars that I would've paid for a taxi. The bus ride was dark and cold...not what I was expecting. I hopped on the bus at 3pm, but the sun started to set around 5pm. By the time we were nearing Xela (around 6:30pm), it was pitch black outside and pouring rain. Definitely not the welcoming I was expecting, haha. I made my way to my homestay, met my host-mom (Judith), ate dinner, got settled in, and went to bed. It continued to pour rain from the time I had arrived until about 10am the next morning. I had known it was "rainy season" in Guatemala before coming here, but I didn't realize that meant virtually endless rain. According to the people here, it's only supposed to rain for a few hours every afternoon, and then clear up in the late evening and morning hours. But since I've been here, it's been raining A LOT more than just a few hours a day. I guess I'll just have to wait and see though. Luckily, yesterday and today have been relatively nice days...only a few drizzles here and there throughout the day. Hopefully that will last.

View from my bedroom

Another view from my bedroom

So, besides this wonderful weather, I'm now getting a little bit more comfortable here. I'm taking Spanish classes Monday through Friday for 4 hours each day, so my Spanish is steadily improving...but it's hard for me to stop throwing in Italian words by accident. As of now, I only know how to speak in the present tense. That makes conversations a little awkward, especially when my host mom asks me what I did last night. It's difficult adjusting to living in an environment where I don't really speak the language. But I've started to make a few friends. I've met several American students that go to my school, and have also befriended two Guatemalans -- one of which was my teacher this past week, the other is the son of the host family of one of my American friends. It's also difficult because many of the students at my school are only staying in Xela for a few weeks, whereas I'll be here for 10 more weeks. I'm just hoping that some more long-term students will arrive soon.

In terms of daily life here in Xela, I get up each morning around 7:15 and eat a delicious Guatemalan breakfast at 7:30. I then walk about 10 minutes to get to my school. My classes last from 8am until noon, then I'm free for the rest of the day. In the next few weeks I'm going to try to find something to occupy my free time with...maybe a job teaching English or volunteering at an elementary school. My Spanish school also organizes daily activities such as hiking trips and Salsa lessons. I'm trying to become a good Salsa dancer before I leave here :) We've gone out to the clubs twice so far -- good for my practice. On the nights that I don't go out, I go to bed around 11pm or midnight. It's hard to resist sleeping since it gets dark and cold kind of early every day.

The food here is all amazing!! I get three home-cooked meals a day, which I am always looking forward to. Also, there is an incredible bakery here that bakes all kinds of fresh sweets each day. Yesterday, I bought a large muffin, a piece of sugar bread, and another large sugary thing for less than 50 U.S. cents in total! I might be going there every single day from now on!