Unbelievable Guatemalans

C: Todas los dias yo digo "Mira a que hombre!, Mira a que chica!"

and everyone laughs because i can{t speak spanish properly (or escribe it for that matter). but i have to try to speak more, the whole writing thing is hard but i am practicing that lots, i have at least 3 hours of home work every day on top of my 4-5 hours of study. I{m super impressed with meagan though, she seems to be able to get us out of any problem and can usually help me with whatever word or verb i don{t know.

Pero, i am more impressed with the everyday lives of the people here. We went to a market today in another lake town, Santiago. It was really cool, lots of bright colours and i can not get over the amount of work that goes into making the traditional dress they all wear. The Hupil (sp?) are first hand woven and then some little ol lady goes and handstiches a bunch of amazing intricate designs - birds, flowers, food - it{s really cool. i{d have a photo of them but the little ol ladies get grumpy if you take too many snaps. Rightfully so, i{d get pissed if someone was taking me as a tourist attraction... and boy did we meet some ugly tour group in the market.

M: I´m sure as individuals there were some lovely people but as a long procession of pushy, overheated, and way out of their comfort zone of elegance they were nasty. Courtney and I treated our Spanish teacher to a morning out after 3 weeks of lessons. We took the hour long lancha ride around Volcan San Pedro passing terraced lake front fields and enjoying a tranquillo ride. Luckily the lake was calm and we sat on the tippy top. The fields of maize, frijoles, cebollas and coffee are watered using a petrol powered pump and hose. We often go for early morning jogs at dawn along the path we pass men carring the pumps strapped tied to a leather strap that they place across their foreheads. It must weigh at least 50 some odd pounds. The woman we pass are mostly carrying corn soaked with lime en route to the machines that grind it into masa for the staple tortillas. In one the few areas left you still see men wearing the traditional pants which they keep amazingly white. Anyhow back to the market. We wondered snacked on the local fruits, atol, and tostadas, learned about the traditional dress and bought a cookin´spoon for our camp stove. Yesterday we visited an all organic coffee farm for one of its first "tours"

C: I learned a lot and yet i didn{t really understand a thing. well.... i understood a bit but meagan will no doubt tell me more over the next few days. it was really cool though and it was a real grass roots program. it was just meagan and i and the director of the museum we had visited and his cousin, who just happened to be the owner of the farm. it was great and it cost less than $3 each for over 2 hours! we might do another tour or two later on this week. oh yeah meagan decided we are going to stay for another week, and my spanish will be all the better for it. she will no doubt learn even more about how to get me out of trouble when i fumble my illiterate way into it.

When we were at the farm we saw guys carry huge bundles of coffee on there backs using the head thing meagan talked about. one guy in one day picked over 140 lbs in one day. the people here amaze me. Young, young children (tommy kern would have a solid year of work experience under his belt by now if he lived by the lake); old, old people and everyone in between is either carrying huge bundles of stuff either on their heads (women) or with their heads and backs (men and kids). Just when i think i{ve seen the biggest bundle on a person i see something else. It wouldn{t be so bad if the people weren{t so short. I feel massive around here. in fact i am, and people are carrying things well over twice the size of me. it{s unbelievable. no talk of ergonomic backpacks for kiddies, people that would be quietly enjoying retirement in our lovely first world nations are carrying nearly twice their own body mass in corn husks to feed the horses.

Yet through what we may perceive as hardship flourish a people so happy and beautiful and proud. at the market today a guy was walking/ultramarathon shuffling back and forth with humungous bundles of produce on his back. He was sweating and looked tired and then as soon as he saw my jaw drop and his work ethic he started to laugh and joke and even tickled me on his way. he was a very cool human being.

M: Una semana mas we have been saying for 4 weeks now. I can´t belive it has been a month. I find myself thinking that we don´t have enough time for all we want to do. I realize that there is no need to worry and I should just keep living in the moment and we will have all the amazing experiences we are meant to have. It has been nice to connect with the people here and we have stayed far away from any real tourist activity. This week I am going to have a reunion with my wonderful teacher Letty whom I studied with last year. She taught me a lot and welcomed me into her life and family. Kenny you will be happy to know that your beloved Rosalia and Bartolo (Wendy´s teacher last year and now Courtney´s) are a hot item. Laurie your teacher is still at the school but his outfits are more cheery and he has a little boy. Enrique is still shakin´his booty at salsa lessons. Thats all for now hope everyone out there is safe as houses, happy as a pig in shit, and smiling heaps. much love.