Hola from Xela!

After a long overnight plane trip, we arrived in Guatemala City at 4am. Luckily we already had some Quetzals (Guatemalan money) and there was someone there to pick us up because there were no phones and no banks. We had a nice breakfast at the hostel who picked us up and then I very happily slept throught the 5 hour bus ride to Xela. Greg said there was a strange moment when we were stopped for 1 hour due to construction and people came onto the bus to sell us goods.

We´ve been in Xela for about 1 week and life is pretty good so far. Not surprisingly, i got sick over the weekend and Greg is sick today, but luckily Cipro seems to cure all in 24 hours.

Our host family is very nice and pretty wealthy for here. many of the other host family only have an income from hosting students. But our house is beautiful. We have 2 huge gardens in the middle of the house. the rooms are situated around the garden-plazas. We have our own room with 1 double bed and 1 single bed and our own bathroom. they also have 2 live-in maids who are indigenous. And, the family keeps talking about a ¨rancho´´ or costal house that they have (we´re not sure if this is one place or two, but we´re hoping to visit!) The family consists of 2 grandparents (probably in their 50s), a mother, and 3 children-- a baby boy, a 10 year old girl, and a 13 year old girl. Greg and I have an on-going game of soccer with the 2 girls (and they usually win!)

Our favorite activity so far has been going to the natural hot springs. The Fuentes Georginas were first created for a past president´s wife. But, they later became public and were given to the city of Xela. It was a perfect way to relax on the weekend. We also went and saw Prince Caspian in Spanish and understood just about everything. Of course it helps that I already know the story.

Sakribal, the Spanish School has been great so far. We´re both surprised by how much we understand when people speak and by how much Spanish we already know. We can understand almost everything the maestos (teachers) say and speak pretty well with our family. I´m jealous that Greg knows Italian, because it is helping him greatly with both speaking and understanding. We mostly need to learn our grammar and more vocabulary. I´m also excited for next week´s potluck dinner at the schoool, which is also Greg´s birthday.

There´s always much more to talk about, but it´ll a have to come later. Hopefully, we´ll get a chance to put pictures up too. Adios!