Lots of Thingss...

Bummer!! I just had completed all my commenting on the following pictures, went to publish post and... ERROR! :( Shoot!! ....I was writing to say that I was about to post this massive overload of pictures from my trip to Costa Rica because... I've finally found a good wifi connection for a minute and was hoping to get in lots of updates before Ashlie arrives tomorrow! - Ps, yes, my best friend is coming to Guatemala for Thanksgiving and I'm so stoked!!! But anyway, now I'm a little bit short on time so, I'm not going to get to post all that I wanted before dinner, but here's something to get started...

Oh but first, I went into Guat City today with my teacher, her daughter, and another chica that is living with her right now... The city is all decked out in Navidad decorations so, I thought I'd share a little :)

Pepsi Santa says hello

massive tree inside MiraFlores Mall

my teacher and me

and in Santa's sleigh!

Joselin (Elsa's daughter) showcasing the Gingerbread house in Tikal Futura Mall

I CANNOT WAIT to be home with my family and friends for the holidays!!!

I'm even looking forward to the cold... the white!!

Christmas, in the north... steaming hot soy lattes and loved ones... perfect.

Now from C.R.

this is at the end of Ale's street...

the sunset was beautiful this night

And this is Ale's dog perra...

ps- "perra" means "dog" -haha

...she wanted to come back to Guatemala with me...

tuesday Ale and I headed up in to the mountains to relax in some volcanic water

this is what the pool looked like, it was really nice, warm, and good for the skin!

road = "calle"

this pooch I spotted one day while we were driving somewhere and... well there were actually three more poking their heads out too and it was super cute! ...but then I took my camera out and this lame red car pulled up, hiding the others :-/

the streets in this part of town were lined with clothes...

i guess they were promoting some event but... i just thought it looked cool, added color :)

this is ale's house.

from outside the gate..

we look SO much different than we did 6 years ago, don't ya think?!

i had a lovely time in C.R. with Ale and her family, it was a really nice time of catching up and.. well, practicing my spanish lol

OK, REALLY, MORE TO COME...ASAP!

(maybe I can get one more post in before dinner)

Adventuras en San Jose

This, is the Costa Rican flag

These, are cocoons...

This is a butterfly (mariposa) that came from a cocoon

And here's another.... BeaUtiful!!!

(There are tons of mariposas in Costa Rica)

Ale picked this guy up because he was sitting in the walkway & about to get run over!

This wall is famous... it's inside the old barracks of the Costa Rican Army (they no longer have an army)... but this wall is where a peace agreement was made so... it's pretty much a big deal :)

[left] Alejandra [center] me [right] Ale's younger sister Vero

Oh and this guy was in the Mayan art portion of this museum...

Along with these massive ear gauges

See this purse that Ale has... I gave it to her almost 6 years ago and she still has it! :) Love.

Friendsss. Framed.

i like this art.

So this museum was the most random of all... It was inside the old Army barracks and included all sorts of info and history about the Army and their spaces, but then also had a walk-through mariposa area, Mayan art, religious art, and paintings... lots of random things... a little bit of everything!

This is the update for today... MORE TO COME soon...!

I'm back in Antigua and have TONS of photo updates!

Well first I have to start with these..because I forgot to post them last week before I left for Costa Rica but...last Thursday we had a grand celebration/fiesta because it was my last "official" day of Spanish classes for this semester!! - And Kylie's too! ...So we went to the mercado, got us some goodies and, headed to my teacher's house for some fun time together!

This is my teacher, Elsa, working on the chocolate covered bananas!

And they were sooo delicious!!!

And this is Kylie and her teacher smothering the strawberries...

Also we made popcorn and had ice cream and strawberry-flavored sparkling juice!!

Then, I won at bananagrams! :)

MORE TO COME.... PHOTO UPDATES FROM MY AMAZING TIME IN COSTA RICA, CHECK BACK SOON!!

Tikal

Well this was like, one of the longest days ever since I've been here but... a good experience... after an early awakening of 3:30am... 1 hr. on bus, 1 hr. in plane, another hour on bus... We arrived in Tikal and headed out on a 3 1/2 hour walking tour of the grounds, and here's some of what I saw! :)

Oh, ps- if you don't know what Tikal is, it's one of the most famous locations containing ancient Mayan ruins, found in Guatemala. Right now only 10% has been uncovered, but this is a huge plot of land containing Mayan buildings from thousands of years ago.

We spotted this little guy, with like 20 others crossing our path while taking a short-cut through the jungle... they were super cute but, i don't know there names, and this is the best shot i was able to get unfortunately..

This is my group (and other gringos) sitting at top of one of the temples we climbed... "the tallest, and easiest" the guide said... but whoa, it was quite a tiring climb.

And this was the view... you can see in the distance 3 other temples

Of course, I wore my trustee kicks for the hike!

Our tour guide gave me this parrot feather, how beautiful!

This is one of the recovered Mayan "masks"....it was made in stone bigger than I, one of my favorite things to see during our tour.

It was a good experience to see these ruins... there are Mayan ruins covering Guatemala, actually I learned that Guatemala City is built on top of over-grown Mayan villages, and it's just amazing the work archaeologists are doing to recover and study some of these places.

Gotta run for now, it's nearly lunch time!

Hasta Luego!

babé es un poco frio afuera

Not! ...it's really quite lovely today...70 and sunny!!! however... i'm writing to announce that I have officially begun to rile up the Christmas spirit within me and have been listening to my holiday albums all morning long!

Yes, it's the truth, I'm guilty... but I cannot wait to be home with my family for the holidays!! Snow, winter clothing... warm lattes and cafes... most importantly mi familia y mis amigos, I just really can't wait!

Today we're having spa-day with Bev (Paul's wife)... then going to be early tonight because we leave at 4am for Tikal where we will be visiting the grand Mayan ruins for the day! Pray for safe travels in the small plane and... check back monday or tuesday for pictures, i'm sure it's going to be stunning!

tienes un buen fin de semana!!

Oh, and please (for those of you that choose to pray...) Health, yes again, is near the top of my list, not only for myself, but for many people who are very close to mi corazón.. lots of attacks on physical and mental wellness lately it seems... gracias.

Oh! and I almost forgot... but I have a few pics to add to your visual pleasure

Me and my teacher (Elsa) during class the other day... yeah, sometimes I'm ADD... and she just thinks that PhotoBooth is so hilarious!

And I had to post these... I have the cutest nephews in the world, and I miss them like crazy... have to share them with the world all dressed up in their little costumes :)