Whoa Mangos & Panda Puffs!!

I got off work a little early today... or rather, I got home a little early because I caught a ride back into Antigua with some friends and so, I thought I'd say HI and share with you about my amazing food friends this week! LOL - If that doesn't make me sound too lame... :oP I found some gluten free, peanut butter cereal on sale at Organica and was so stoked to buy some for my trip this weekend! (Which, I haven't yet mentioned, I'm heading to Semuc Champey, an incredibly beaUtiful place about 8 hours away, and I leave Friday morning! I'd post a sneak-peak picture but, I think I should just make y'all wait for the real thing so... google it if you want, but I have great expectations and I'm super excited!) Anyway, I bought this delicious cereal to take

along for the ride. Also, it's mango season here!!! Yesterday I bought my a bag of 6 mangos in the market for about $1.25 = CHEAP! && YUMM! And since mangos are ridiculously overpriced in the States, have no worry, over the next couple months I will consume enough for us all ;o) I actually just had a mango appetizer and now I better leave, dinner will be on the table at Marta's soon. Glad I had a chance pop in, probably won't post again till the beginning of

next week so, ADIOS till then! Ke te vaya bien!

Volcan Pacaya / Monterrico

Wednesday I climbed Volcan Pacaya with some friends...

It was sweet, and I took some sweet photos, check 'em out!

After hiking for almost an hour and a half, we got to this view... then we got to go closer!

*the red marks the area we walked

We didn't get to see lava, but there were a lot of cool "hot spots" where steam poured from the rocks and we were able to roast marshmallows in the heat! :)

My foreign friends = Maria (Canada/Ivory Coast, Africa) and Celina (Korea)

I always joke with them how I love taking pictures together because there's such a great contrast in our appearances and I just like it! lol

It was hot..............then it was cold!!!

Now I don't know these people but... what a cool pic of them! haha!

No but look real closely...just above them you can faintly see Volcan Agua of Antigua.

And we all watched a BEAUTIFUL sunset, it was simply stunning!

Then came the hike back down...

through the horse poop!

ha ha ha... Let me not forget to mention about the horses...the whole way up the mountain these two men followed us on their horses hollering "taxi! taxi natural, taxi!!!" or when someone was really killin (because the hike was a bit intense at times) they'd say "¿vamos por la playa?"...Nobody from our group gave into them but, they tried real hard! On the way back down, it got dark before we made it back... needless to say, our friendly natural taxis also left a trail and... well Celina got a foot full of it - SICK!!!

But anyway, that was Wednesday, and it was a really nice experience...

nice hike, nice view, nice people = great day!

Today we took a road trip to Monterrico & this too, was quite nice :)

The sand was black

and HOTTTT!!!

The waves were big,

and the undertow was strong,

but the water felt so good...

We had a pretty fun time, and tomorrow we're heading up into the mountains for a day at Earth Lodge with fresh aguacate, mucho sol, and corn whole tournaments!!

This has been one fun, adventurous, busy week!

coffee lovers, scheel center, and saturday in the park

I'm WAY behind on blogging and feel like I have so much to blog!!

But that's because this past week has been super busy and now we're about to start another one and I just got over some crazy 48-hour horrid sickness :-O!

Anyway, before I get too far behind, let me recap:

Last week Friday = Trip to La Azotea (coffee plantation, mayan music museum, etc. place)

and these, are coffee beans... drying in the sun... lots && lots of coffee beans!!

I enjoyed this trip, it was interesting to learn more about the coffee making process & sadly, how American's consume an insane amount of labor every single day by sipping on one (but usually more than one) single cup of coffee. More than anywhere else in the world!

I've always been an advocate for fair-trade coffee...

trips like this remind me even more why it's so important that the workers get fair pay, because they work really really hard just to produce one, single-pound bag of coffee.

Then SATURDAY, Marta and I set off for Jocotenango to locate the building that I would be starting in on Monday for my internship.

And after quite an adventure in buses and with lots of asking direction, we finally found it lying at the bottom of a hillside (the yellow building).

Jocotenango is far different from Antigua, and for this reason, I really like it. Antigua is great, and there's plenty to experience here, it's quite a place to merge cultures and people from the nations. However, it is probably the least Guatemalan city there is in Guatemala these days... Though there is all sorts of historical preservation, the way of living is considerably different in Antigua then any where else in Guatemala.

Jocotenango is a pueblo (town) a couple chicken bus rides outside of Antigua. Here you will find more poverty, gangs, & violence, along with other social-economic problems. I am so glad to have the opportunity though, to work here and to experience a different dynamic of Guatemala. This past week was super busy getting acquainted, but I really like the psychologist that I'll be working with, and it's really cool to interact with the children and families involved with this home.

This week I start individual therapies and, well... I'm nervous!

BUT, on the other hand, excited to see where the Lord will take this.

These kids mostly need to be loved on, the situations here stem from neglect and violence in the homes and it doesn't take some master equation to determine that the greatest thing they need is to experience, even if just for a moment, God's love moving through me and caressing their little heart. SO, needless to say, I'm ready & can't wait to get started!

After our journey outside the city, Marta and I returned back to Antigua to meet up with some friends in the park and, I just had to capture a typical saturday in parque central...

Wedding at the Cathedral,

dancing and maringa around the fountain.

These are the things that you pass by as you're walking and just smile :o)

It's Antigua people!

thats my girl!

I'm so stinkin tired I can hardly write,

so I'm going to sum things up by 3 brief bullet points.

1. 54th Grammy Awards

2. TAY SWIFT = Best Country Song & Best Country Solo Performance

3. Yes, I'm one of her biggest fans!

Now, I must sleep... Good night...

vagabond.

Since arriving in Antigua about 2 weeks ago, I've been spending a lot of time wandering from house to house, just trying to find a place to call my "home" for this semester... Yet again I've come to a foreign land, what I thought wouldn't feel quite so foreign anymore but... always with so many complications, it's taken me for quite a ride thus far! So I have more to write than show you this time, and I hope that's alright... i've had an interesting start to my semester...

I'm now on my 3rd living location...since I've gotten here, I've stayed one night with Karla (Marta's daughter), then a week with Marta, and now finally just settling into my new - and hopefully permanent place - here in La Union's guest apartments. If you know anything about me, you know that I despise such frequent change and am a total neat freak, so needless to say, all this moving around has had its toll on me. But now I'm here, in my new apartment, and what a mess!!! My goal is that by the end of the night, after a bit more improvisation with this and that, all my things will be orderly and just the way I like them and I, will be a happy girl who sleeps very well tonight! :)

What I'm really excited to share is that today, I had a meeting about my internship I'm planning to have while I'm here this semester! I'm going to be working with a psychologist from Nuestros Ahijados (also known as God's Child Project) which is an NGO who is working here in Guatemala offering all kinds of services to those whom are in greatest need, (here's a link to their site if you'd like to learn more http://www.godschild.org/ ) But what I have the privilege to do is hang out with a psychologist named Leonelle, who is working with pre-teens, teens, and families as a whole who are dealing with some of life's toughest matters: violence, drug/alcohol abuse, and abandonment issues. I will have the opportunity to sit in on some counseling, participate in home visitations (to get a feel for the social work end of things), and also help lead a group therapy for mothers in abusive situations. I'm hugely appreciative of this chance to work with Leonelle in the field and... I begin Monday, so I'm psyched!!

This semester definitely has it's own flavor, much different than the last but, it's very cool and I think I'm going to like it very much! Tomorrow I have my 2nd Spanish exam, which I'm planning to ace! :) And... a little bit of R&R will be nice for the weekend because my schedule is about to get much more hectic traveling to Jocotenango 4 times a week for the afternoons but, I'm sure it will be worth it! Bueno, mucho amor my friends. And, if you've made it this far well, thanks for reading the whole post. Goodbye for now.

tranquilo

Was out and about today walking around town and snapped some pretty nice pictures I thought I'd share... It's finally warm here... Go figure, the day after I give in and buy a thick furry used sweater from the market, it's like 80!!! But I'm really not complaining much, I was over feeling cold all the time, never being able to warm up, and always having to move my toes to try warm my feet. LOL I'm a huge baby these days when it comes to the cold, I really don't know why...

But anyway, this weekend has been really nice and relaxing, Friday I climbed cerro de la cruz with some other SAU students && again caught a beautiful view of this wonderful city I've returned to. Yesterday and today were also quite relaxing, around the house, around the town...

LOTS of good food... LOTS of rest! :)

This is a sweet panorama of Antigua that I took...

it's a shame I can't figure out how to upload it any bigger to this page for you :(

After a very tired afternoon, for some reason now I have loads of energy! But, it's going on 8:30 and I'm like an old lady with my bedtime... I best be going!

Hasta luego.

OH(!) I JUST LEARNED THAT IF YOU CLICK ON THE PICTURE, IT WILL PULL IT UP MUCH BIGGER, SO YOU SHOULD TRY THIS BECAUSE IT WAS TAKEN FROM ONE OF THE BEST VIEWS IN ANTIGUA!

back in antigua...

Estoy aquí! Y feliz para hablar en español otra vez :-)

(I'm here! And happy to speak in Spanish again)

Esta semana estuve muy ocupada pero posible durante el fin de semana escribiré mas para.

(This week I have been very busy but possibly this weekend I will write more)

Solo quiero para ustedes saber que llegamos y todo esta bien!

(I just wanted you to know that we have arrived and everything is good)

Hasta pronto!