Ok, I have a little more time today to actually check in. Let me catch you up.My friend Nikki came down here to Guatemala (Via Belize) several months ago. She is going to a spanish school in Xela (also known as Quetzaltenango, the second largest city) and even though I keep telling her her spanish is just fine (as if I could tell), she is now planning on staying until December. She was in Belize for 3 years doing peace corps and I always said I would visit but never did. So I finially had to make good on this trip.
Anyway, I flew down here on the 23rd, but didn´t actually get in until the 24th. I flew into Guatemala City (the capital and largest city), but didn´t really see any of it, unless you count staring out the window of a cab. I made it to Antigua (the old capital) within a couple hours and met Nikki at the hotel. We didn´t do much beyond wander around Antigua becuase I was pretty tired from the red-eye flight. We did see some beautiful cathedrals though, one of the things Antigua is known for.
Yesterday, the 25th (happy late birthday Dani! Sorry for missing it) we hiked up Pacaya, an active volcano outside of town. It was a pretty brutal hike up, Í´d tell you the elevation change, but I chose to leave my GPS unit in the states (I know! Crazy!). It was the first time I have ever seen active lava flows, not to mention getting within about 20 ft of them. We even toasted marshmellows. I took some pictures, but haven´t figured out how to upload them yet. I´ll let you know. The hike down was even worse though, becuase it started to get dark as the fog was rolling in, and at some point we lost members of our tour group (not to worry, we found them at the base). Nikki and I stumbled every couple minutes, and it´s amazing neither of us fell. We saw others fall, but I don´t think anyone got too hurt.Shortly, we´re about to get on the bus to go to Xela, where I´ll get to meet some of the people in Nikki´s classes. She just got a job at a cafe there that she starts after I leave, and she has an interview for a job teaching enlish while we are there. I think we stay until Sunday. Then on to Lago de Atitlán.
Hope everyone is doing well, and I´ll post again as soon as I can.
