Guatemala: first update

Hola from Guatemala! So sorry I havnt been keeping up with the blogging. It´s been a bit crazy and the computers are super slow.

Anyhow..we´ve been here almost a week now (5 days) and it´s amazing. I can´t even really begin to describe how beutiful it is here, yet also poverty stricken and just SO different from the United States.

I guess I´ll try and say what I´ve done so far...

Well, first interesting thing was on the flight from Miami to Guatemala City. About halfway through the flight, midway over the Gulf of Mexico, our pilot comes on and says "Ladies and Gentleman we have to make an emergency stop in Cancun. We are having some problems with the air conditioner"
WHAT??? Thoughts running through my mind like dying, crashing, drowning, flying throught the air. But we landed safely and the airplane was surrounded by fire trucks! Again, thoughts running through my head like dying, exploding, burning. But we taxied safely and escaped the situation unscathed other than having to wait in the Cancun airport for about 5 hours.

But we made it. We drove to Antigua and sayed the night there. It was beautiful. The next day we traveled via mini bus to our town: Quetzaltenango (Xela).

Since I need to consolodate 5 days worth of posts into one I will now provide
highlights from the past few days:

- meeting our family (awesome mom, quiet dad, funny college student who lives with the family and goes to college in Xela, and three middle school aged daughters)
- 4 1/2 hours of Spanish everyday, one on one with my own private teacher
- building stoves for people with dirt floors
- good coffee
- sharing a tiny tiny tiny bathroom with 9 people
- walking around and feeling amazed and humbled
- hiking up a volcano to plant tree with children from the daycare
- tamales

I don´t know what else to say.

More to come...and pictures too!