As ready as we'll ever be

In the past fourty eight hours we have dined on duck, squirrel, and venison... and some thought we were vegan. We shall see how we do down south. I still have no desire to eat cheese which probably won't be an option soon. Well enough about nutrition. In less than 24 hours we will be in Guatemala!!! Personally I'm clocking in a few pounds heavy (thanks to my mom, dad, sister, and grandma's fabulous cooking) and so are our bags at a frightening 42lbs. each. Oy vey our aching backs, I think with a little work we can par it down a bit. We cannot wait to begin Spanish lessons. Our plans are to arrive in Guatemala City 2:30ish tomorrow afternoon, hop a bus to Antigua for a night or two. Next stop is San Pedro La Laguna for 2 weeks of Spanish lessons and a homestay. I did one week there towards the end of the trip last Feb. and loved the structure and incorporation of culture into lessons and school activities. I also adored my teacher, Letty, her daughter, and her parents; I am hoping she is still there. We will be posting most likely as soon as we arrive to a internet cafe in Antigua so ya'll (mostly our mums) know we are safe and sound. After that we hope anyone out there thats reading or even if you're not write your comments on the blog because we love hearing from you. Thank you Becky for getting the comments started. We visited Becky in the big city, in a BIG building, with loads of security. We had to wear a name tag to get through the turnstiles then a metal detector, the works. After a 46 or 47 story elevator ride in which my ears popped we arrived at an office door where you had to use an electric key to open the door which was automatic, no woman power needed. Behind the frosted glass sits Ms. Becky, I can imagine the best damn receptionist in the world. For those that know her I am sure you all agree. Because the building is elliptically shaped, the walls are not flat and you could not hang pictures. The walls were decorated with cut outs of retired Latin American money in all sorts of intricate pictures... pretty wild and this was my first time visiting an office building. Now here comes the good stuff, we took the L (whats a visit to chicago without a ride on the infamous L) to wrigleyville for the most amazing meal at Chicago Diner. Anyone in the area who appreciates good vegan food must eat there. It was fantastic with great meals, wine and raw mango cherry cheesecake. We were a bit tipsy from our wine and still had time before our train back to IN so we did the most obvious... drink MARGARITAS. Whew a great time was had by all but we were missing the queen of the drink herself Ms. Stine Schwastenberg (We did have some killer margis whipped up NYE by Stine in MN though.) After our drunken L ride back we gave Becky lots of hugs, got on the train, and I passed out and drooled on Courtney's pants the whole way home. What a great night. In conclusion of that story we want to extend a great big thanks to our hostess Becky for showing us such a good time.

Again please, please, please, write comments about anything and everything or just to say hi, we would love it.