Un poco a poco

Hola a todos...

Well, as you can tell from my lack of blogging in the past few weeks, life if more than busy down here in the mountains of Guate. I somehow thought that the slow pace of life down here would translate to a not-so-busy lifestyle for me...I will admit that most things do not start on time, but that does not mean that they are not busy. But, I can honestly say my days are filled will all good things including learning more and more español, making amigos with all types of great folks, taking in all the history and culture of Guatemala, and seeing so many beautiful sites. Life is busy, but I wouldn´t say trying...at least not yet.

So much has happened over the past few weeks, it is hard to capture them all. However, I will give you some highlights. So here we go...upon arrival to Guatemala it doesn´t take much knowledge to recognize this country is just dripping with history and culture. A large amount of women in the country dress in beautiful, vibrantly colored clothing. It is the tipical clothing of the Mayan. Most men do not wear it because there is a lot of discrimination against the Mayan, even though about 80% of the population (mas o menos) are indiginious or are part indiginous. The women must wear the clothing most times because they are made to by thier husbands. I personally think that the clothing is so wonderful and such an attraction to the culture. I do not quite understand if the women feel ashamed to wear their clothes...I kind of gather that they do not. But actually this week there is a conference on it, so I guess I will learn more there.

I have also had the blessing to take in more of nature´s beauty down here. I hiked up another not so strenous volcano. This one was called Volcan Chicabal. It is a sacred space for the Mayan. One because it is a volcano and two because it has a lake at the top...it is magnificent. When we got to the top there was a group of Mayan singing prayers in Mam...a native touge. It was amazing.

We also took a weekend trip to a beach on the Pacific. I am not quite sure of the name of this area, but it was pretty much deserted by American standards. It was weird to be on a beautifl beach with few to no other people. The other great thing was that the water was very warm and the waves were great. We got in some great body surfing. You really didn´t need to have any skill becuase the waves were strong enough to do all the work. It was great. It was also just a very relaxing weekend.

Yesterday, we took a short half-day trip to a town that was destroyed by one of the volcanos about 20 or so years ago. It was kind of eerie to be there but very interesting. We also got a beautiful view of Santa Maria (the volcano I struggled up) and Volcano Santiaguito (a currently active volcano, but not a threat currently). The beauty of this country amazes me.

Beyond all of this, I have really been building community with both my fellow Finca volunteers and some of the Volunteers from Amigos De Jesus (An orphanage also in Honduras). Two of the current volunteers from the Finca, Teresa and Nathan, came for a surprise visit one week. They brushed up on their spanish but also answered many of our questions about the Finca. They were great people and only built our excitement to reach the Finca. Our 3 final volunteers that were planning on coming to language school arrived late Friday night...so we are 7 strong now. It is great to have everyone here. We will meet our final and newly added volunteer at the end of this month on our trip to the Finca. The volunteers from Amigos de Jesus were here for about the past month to month and a half studying Spanish at Juan Sisay as well. They are great people. We really built a sense of community with them. They all headed closer to thier orphanage this past weekend. It was sad to see them go, but I am fairly certain we will see them a few times over the next year. It is was reassuring to know that there are other people in Honduras working for the same cause we will be at the Finca. Bottom line, I am feeling more and more a part of a community down here and it is very welcomed!

OH, Spanish is coming along. ¨Un poco a poco¨ is what my teacher keeps telling me which means little by little. So, I guess I will just keep fumbling through muy words. But I am seeing improvements and am hopful.

OK...this was a lot I know. I will try not to leave so much time in between entries. But, there is just so much to share. You are all in my prayers and thoughts daily. Much love to you all.