Costco-esque

You know how sometimes you think, "I love buying toilet paper in bulk costco-style, but how can we solve the whole constantly changing the roll issue". Guatemala might be your place.

Day 3 on the same roll.

Guatemala - Week 1

Well my trip is already a quarter over and I haven't written anything because my first week in Guatemala has been packed full of touristy goodness and far too much Spanish. So here's an overview:
Not that my travel list has been extensive, but so far Guatemala City is one of my favorite cities to land in. Where the city sprawls over valleys, all the buildings crowd together on the ridges of the hills and look like they are trying to avoid falling into the deep jungle precipices at their backs. Traveling to Guatemala was so easy this time that I even have even eased up my hate of the Houston airport. I think it was the calm of traveling that made the chaos and overwhelming confusion that I believe always permanently exists three feet out side the Guatemala City airport truly underline the beginning of my adventure.
The first two weeks of my trip I'm spending in Xela, the second biggest city in Guatemala, and studying at a language school called Celas Maya. I found the school online and it's turned out to be a great place that I would recommend to anyone who is coming to learn Spanish. The director of the school even picked me up in Xela, which was a complete and very nice surprise since I was expecting to have to grab a taxi. I'm living a block away from the school with a woman named Ana Maria, her son, and her parents. Ana Maria has a pañeria that is connected to the garage of the house. It's a little awkward in the house because most of the time it's me and the grandparents and I think I'm a little too quiet for the taste of the older Ana Maria, but she makes delicious meals. I didn't think it was possible for me to grow tired of plantains.
The school provides activities almost everyday after classes. Last wednesday we went to Fuentes Georgina with a bunch of other students. It's a hotsprings about an hour outside of Xela, and it's quite beautiful. There is a waterfall and three pools of differing temperatures, the hottest of which I couldn't even get in completely. We also did salsa dancing classes and bar-hopping, a visit to a local women's weaving collective and going to dinner to listen to salsa music. Over the weekend, I explored more of Xela with a friend and went to Chichicastanango on sunday for their big market. More and photos soon because I have to get to a movie...
See you later,
Mariko

Immunizations

Well, travel plans are always subject to change, but I didn't expect my Peru trip to be grounded this soon (and I expected any grounding to be thanks to LANperu). But I cry not, because I'm not giving up on the plan, it's just evolving into something new and possibly more kickass, although possibly not. I am beginning to think that my well planned travels are doomed and I should just travel on whims. Organizing not being one of my strong points, it's far too much to expect my arrangements to survive any more than a two week lead-up to departure anyways. In the past this tendency for spontaneous travel, combined with my wimpiness about shots, has led to traveling without the recommended immunizations. I know this is bad, you don't need to give me the face, especially since earlier this week I went to solve this travel foul. Now in addition to whatever I was good against before, I am also prepared to laugh in the face of Hepatitis A and Typhoid. Thursday, I went to the travel doctor at the Downtown Seattle Public Clinic and got the rest of the basic recommended immunizations for most Central and South American countries. Everytime I have to get shots, I convice myself that I'm making up how much I dislike them and that it's a irrational fear from my childhood. Yet each time it's as unfun as I remember, but worse since there's no stickers anymore either. So I'm off to Guatemala soon and more about that later.

Three days later and the Hep A protected shoulder is still proving I got the shot.

See you around,
Mariko