Airport, Arrived, Adventures

I'm in Guatemala!!! Yay! After a nice red eye flight, Katie and I arrived at 7:30am. We went to the seminary where we would be staying that night and took a six hour nap. Then we took a taxi to the mall (one of the only safe places for a group of foreign girls to be in Guatemala city) and hung out a bit. I was shocked at how many western things they have there. PRetty mucht hey ahve all the stores that we have in North America, which I totally wasn't expecting, but it was interesting to see. WE grabbed lunch and then grabbed some food from the bakery for dinner that night and headed back to the school where we playes eomg ames and hung out until evening when the rest of the group arrived. The next morning, we got in our vans and headed out.

WE stopped at the Guatemala City Cathedral which was really interesting. What stuck out to me was how different Catholocism in North America is compared to here in Central America. Anyway, after a three hour drive, we were in Tactic, which is in the middle of a valley, surrounded by mountains and it is breathtaking. We went to the market and had a list of spanish items we were to buy which was funny and interesting. I knew a little bit of spanish from school so i was able to get by and we got all of our grocery items-yay for fresh amazing tasting fruit!! :)

Last night we headed to the top of the mountain to a catholic church upt here. It was interesting to see how the Catholic church has integrated Mayan religion and witchcraft into their religious rituals in order to encompass those people under their umbrella. THey named the church after the Mayan corn god in order to attract people to their church. Interesting stuff.

Last night it poured which was fun tohear and this mroning as I was reading on the roof of the building we're staying in, I was enjoying watching the wild dog fights. THere's like 12 of them that run around and completely pounce each other. An interesting sight to see to be sure!!

Today we're off to a Coffee Plantation and a bunch of other stuff. Looks like the days here will be pretty packed,b ut it's pretty neat to be able to interact with the people here and see how they are living.

I probably won't have internet access for a while, but wanted to send out a quick update to say hello!! I'm safe and alive and having a great time!! On the weekend we'll be heading to Belize for a couple days and I"m definitely looking forward to being back in that country!!

Hope all is well at home!! Bye friends!!!