Our travels in Guatemala so far

Hey everyone!!

We have been with out internet since we arrived in Guatemala on Tuesday morning, but we are finally at a hotel with wifi today.

We have been living in the small village named San Andres with a family, taking Spanish lessons for four hours every morning. It is on a huge lake that is great for mid day swimming when it's hot. It's been quite a culture shock here, but a nice one. The people in our village are kind and generous. Our family's home is quite interesting, with no running water at times and in and out electricity.  We are paying $135 US per week for our board, food and lessons. Pretty darn cheap!!

 Our home in San Andres

 Justin on Lake Petan Itza

J on the step of a home

When we first arrived in Guatemala city we visited the Arc. museum of the ancient Maya and have been learning all about them since. We also visited the zoo in the city which was designed perfectly with moats around the animals, so there was limited barriers between us and them. We saw so many cute creatures including tapir, coti, monkeys, and many beautiful birds.

Me at the zoo

The wonderful Tapir

We took an eight hour over night bus ride up to the state of El Petan, where San Andres is located. The road was trecherous with huge potholes and it poured rain the whole time!!! Luckly we had some valium to help us sleep:)

We are now in Tikal, which is and ancient Maya ruin in Northern Guatemala. The park is breath taking, we are staying in a little bunk in the park surrounded by spider monkeys constantly. We met a few friends at school who made the trip up north with us. We took two amazing hikes into the park (with a guide named Able), one at sunset last night, and one at 4am this morning for sunrise. It may be one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen! Both trips we climbed the highest temple to watch the sun cross the horizion all the while being completly above the canopy of trees in the Jungle filled with howler monkeys. We needed head lamps on both the hikes do to the darkness, it was a lot of fun.

 Denice, Me, Justin, and Chris of Eco Escuela

 Tikal @ sunset

Tikal @ sunrise

We are now waiting to take a 2 hour bus ride back to San Andres to start school on Monday morning:) Hopefully we will have more internet service soon to tell you all about our journey. Hope all is well back home. We miss you!!! Mom, say Hello to Charlie for us!!!