Hello from Xela!

Hello from Xela!  It’s been a crazy few days.  I decided to stay up all night on Saturday with the brilliant idea of sleeping on the plane early the next morning.  Sleep did not happen. Anyway, I made my way to Miami then ran to my connection to Guatemala and as soon as I arrived, a lady named Maria picked me and my friend Emily up. On our way to the bus terminal, Maria almost rear-ended a giant truck because she was distracted by us asking her questions. We then got our tickets for the bus and we were on our way, 4 hours around hairpin turns through the mountains in an Alamo coach bus from 1974.  Now that it is the rainy season, everything seems much greener and there are more crops growing which made the trip very enjoyable aside from the fact that I had not slept.

 

Finally, we arrived in Xela and as soon as I got to my home-stay, I completely passed out.  I fell asleep at 5pm and apparently Sandra, my host mother, and here husband were knocking on my door trying to wake me up for la cena around 7:30 but I slept right through it. I slept for almost 14 hours straight and woke up the next morning very disoriented.

 

Classes started today and my teacher, Freddy, is a very nice guy and I’m excited for the next few weeks. It was really nice to see some of then Timmy Global Health staff that I knew from my last trip here. I also found a cool yoga house and bought an unlimited month pass for only 125 Q which is only about $16 (the cost of one class at home).

 

The picture is the view from my classroom at the school. The mountain in the back is Volcán Santa María which is not active but very scenic (on the right).