The End...for now

Soooo...yeah. Kinda trailed off there and then disappeared for a month and a half, didn't I? I have an excuse, I promise!

My last 2 weeks in Guate were beautiful and crazy and filled with dancing and music and ruins and animal sacrifices (well, only one of those, but it was probably the greatest, most wonderous day of my life and so I am counting it as two). And then I was in tears at the airport, crying into a friend's shoulder, and finally at home not knowing how to function in a DC bereft of friends, most of whom were still working for the summer.

So, of course, I did what I always do. I made myself a wicked complicated travel schedule to keep my mind off of my longing for volcanos and mountains and hiking (which included the volcanos and mountains and hiking of Asheville, NC and Bend, OR). And then suddenly I was here - back in DC - navigating the treacherous but much less overwhelming waters of 2L year. Its amazing what a difference knowing that you can actually skim certain parts of your reading makes.

So that is me. I am home; safe, sound, and slightly stressed out - and dreaming of more adventure. Little local ones like an upcoming 3-4 day weekend trip, and big ones like heading back to Central America for part of winter break and hopefully another awesome internship next summer.

Soooo, the name might change, but this blog will be back some day. Like Frosty the Snowman, or the unicorns (yes, they're comin' back, just you wait).

Bye kids! Check out my sister's travels at: http://thegnomad2010.blogspot.com/ She's funny, so you should read it!

Spanish-English Translation Lesson #1:

"Infant Burning Unit" does not equal "Pediatric Burn Ward".

I just realized that I have been here for over 5 weeks now, and while I have told you a lot about running around the country taking pretty pictures, I have not actually told you what I do during the week (other than going to the rock-climbing gym and earning legs that look eerily like those few months when I was 5 and they thought I might have leukemia. But that is another story...)

So, here goes: I have been doing a heck of a lot of translation. Some of it has been made into guides for foreign countries on how to incorporate businesses in Guatemala. Some of it was trying to figure out exactly what the standards are for the Guatemalan version of the EPA (that could have been done in Spanish, but I had to basically translate all of their decrees and bylaws to be able to get anywhere). I had a brief encounter with researching the IP rights of University students - which was very interesting and I actually got to read some articles and write things that might have changed a presentation. But mainly I have been translating.

I'm even doing some translation that has nothing to do with work - I volunteered to look over the annual report of the United Way here and it has turned into this massive re-translation project, because every single sentence is just...wrong. Most of the time I don't even know what they were trying to say and have to go back to the Spanish. That lovely little example at the top of the page? Yes. Someone actually wrote that and thought it would be okay to present to American investors. This is the United Way people, we do not burn babies.

So that is my 9-5 work week. I don't mind it, and I am glad to help, I'm just hoping that some of this will be useful on my resume. I'm sure it will, I am learning a lot. I just don't have any grand writing samples to show off when I get home.

Oh well. As my lovely roommate used to say - "It will all turn out all right in the end. And if its not all right, then its not the end."

Speaking of the end - I really don't want to go home next Tuesday. I am seriously considering spending an extra $200 so I can change my flight and get to see some of the lovely places I haven't been to yet (there are so many, many, many more places to go.) I may just have to come on another trip, however. We shall see, and I will keep you posted.

Dun dun dunnnnn

No adventuring today - I was supposed to go to the lake, but as many of you know it is the World Cup Finals this weekend and that has put every friend that I have here who is not working on hold.

I did walk myself on over to the mall and pick up some cute jeans at Zara though! Yaya for having pants that fit! Unfortunately, they only had ones that had either gems on the butt or pre-fabricated holes. I went with the holes - I can always make more of my own.

Ta!

Court, Futbol, Dinner, Drinks

....and I will tell you all about it later, if I don't pass out cold like I did last night. VAMOS ESPAÑA!!!

Hanna has become training nazi at the climbing gym. "Meagan, vamos a hacer los abs! Solo 2 mas! Ahora 30 mas!". Girl is strong, and so tiny! But we spent the rest of our time playing "Strip poker" (No clothes were lost, there was a child present) - a game where you climb across the big wall and then when you get to the end you get to take away two holds until there is nothing left for people to use. I got my ass kicked, per usual...but someday... someday far, far, far in the future, I will win one of these games.

And if Manuel reads this he will laugh at me and say that it is never going to happen. But at least I will have abs of steel. (P.S. Meme - if you do happen to read this, laughing at someone is not the way to get them to spend their money and their winter break on a trip to go climb mountains with you in Mexico.)

So that is the story of why I cannot get out of bed this morning even though I have to be at work in 40 minutes. Help.

"Don't worry, you won't be the only one who dies tomorrow"

Said Manuel, in an attempt to placate my nervousness over my first real outdoor climbing expedition. He also thought it would be a great idea to drink half a bottle of wine each after hiking around the non-existent trails of a newly erupted volcano for four hours when we had to be ready to leave at 5:30 in the morning. "Don't worry, you're in Guatemala! Live it up! It will be fine."

Yeah...I am never believing anything he says ever again.





But, about thirty minutes into the two-hour hike, having sweated most of the alcohol out of my system and downing a badly needed coffee and gatorade combo, it turned out he was right. The hiking was almost like climbing - straight up through dense forest and grasses that made me wish we had that machete I noticed in the back of Jon Scott's car the last time we all went day-hiking at home (he works with the land, its okay to have that sort of thing). Two people actually died there last year, something we weren't told until we reached the summit. The climbing itself was...climbing. And super fun - I wish I could go every day just so that I could practice and eventually get to the top of something without colored hand-holds.

I am a little burnt (well, a lot actually), very bruised, and have never been so happy to see a shower in my life - but it was a fantastic, fantastic day.

And speaking of fantastic days... here are some pictures from our trip to Volcan Pacaya as well. There are, as always, more on Facebook and Flickr. The entire forest used to be green but now everything is just starting to re-bud from the blast. Most of the trails and rest stops are in ruins, which actually made the way back down the volcano really interesting. We were literally skiing without skis down through the ash and volcanic rock - which is scary and exhilarating for the first 30 minutes, and a little less fun when you've cut open your hand and run out of water about an hour later. But the trip was worth it. I would like to come back someday when the chamber has refilled with magma to see the lava flows.




And luckily, there is a spa/hot springs in nearby Amatitlan where you can go and relax and get de-ashified after a long day. Add in some papusas and a beer from a little stand on the lake and you will be a completely contented adventurer.



By the way - I finally saw The Descent last night. I may never go caving again. Creepy.

Designs

Anyone reading this probably knows that I have long been thinking about getting a tattoo on my back (no tramp stamps here, a piece of art), but that I have been straining to pick the perfect subject. For a long time I thought I would get a tree that would stretch from my tailbone up to my shoulder blades, but I couldn't think of a way that I would want it to sit, and picking the perfect tree is very difficult, there are too many pretty types to choose from.

This trip has inspired me to have something a bit more feminine, a little smaller - still natural, still in black, still purely aesthetic and probably not that realistic in appearance. A representation of orchids and leaves, twining up my spine.

I think if I was a flower I would be an orchid - they can be a little sensitive and don't like to be kept indoors, but give them light and air a tree to cling on to and they flourish and their blooms last for a very long time. I once had one last almost six months with the same flowers - it was pretty amazing. A bright burst of pink.

Plus I've heard that they re-bloom if you coat them in cinnamon....can we say delicious?

Just Swell

For some reason I have had Swell Season songs playing through my head all day, even though I was streaming KEXP.

It is a beautiful head soundtrack, intermixed every couple of songs with Hoover-Fixer-Sucker-Guy. I might need something more upbeat for running when I get home though.

Ooh! Ooh! And I just found out that the volcano that blew up is back open for visitors, so Im thinking of taking a hike this weekend and seeing some awesome lava flow. Fantastico.

Rainy Season

Every afternoon the skies here become a massive dark grey cushion and at 4:42:26 exactly all of the seams burst open, pouring out sheets of rain for a half hour, just in time for my walk home. There are no crosswalks here and pedestrians do not have the right of way, so my lovely work pants are soaked from rude drivers speeding up to splash me.

Oh well, nothing that Elizabeth Bennet and rock climbing can't fix.

I am thinking of being the zombie-fighting version of Elizabeth for Halloween. She would definitely know how to scale a wall.

Drip Drop, Drip Drop

Plop. Plop. Plop.

I wish the rain would go away so that I can go outside and do something fun. I am very tired from a combination of walking, too much coffee yesterday, and homesickness. 2 weeks and six days to go friends, and I am enjoying it very much, but I would like to be curled up on the couch right now with my pupper and High Society or Gentlemen Prefer Blonds or some Doris Day movie. Or maybe some Anthony Bordaine. I miss him.

Instead I will share with you as much as I can remember right now of my very first ever children's poem. I wrote it when I was 18 in my head on a flight to Oregon (see the travel link?), thinking of my little cousins. I'm sure I cannot tell you all of it right now, but you will get the gist, and I have it written down somewhere.

Melinda and the Pointy Shoes

On rainy days, Melinda plays,
inside her mother's closet.
She hides and seeks, and sneaks and peaks,
inside of all the pockets.

And then one day she found the shoes,
the purple, pointy, lace-up shoes.

Where were they from? What were they for?
Her mother never wore them.
As soon as she took them out of the box,
Melinda began to adore them.

She put them on,
and wobbled out,
and then began to laugh and shout!

Were they climbing shoes?
Or dancing shoes?
Or shoes for stirring witch's brews?

This is where I cannot remember, there are a couple more verses. But it ends:

And there they sit,
all tucked away,
safely 'til another day.

I know it is not much, and I will remember the rest I am sure, but this is the first time I have shared that poem with anyone. So there we are.

I will rock your face off

Just got back from a really bad hair-metal show. Its not that the musicians were bad, they were actually really talented (except for the first drummer - why is there a derth of good drummers out there? Sometimes I feel I could do better, and my drumming experience amounts to Rock Band II), but I felt like I was transported back in time to 1986. Or someones garage band from highschool except with more skill. There were smoke machines and everything, and the name of the bar was Bad attitude.

But then a funk band came on out of nowhere and all was right with the universe.

Raul is my very best Guatemalan friend. He asked me on the way home what the heck I was doing in Guatemala, in this boring city, when I've been to Paris and Prague and Tuscany. And I just laughed and said the people were beautiful, and that is all that mattered. It is true. He may be one of the nicest people I have ever met in my life. Manuel and Boris and Ligia too. I hope that when I get home we keep in touch.

If I do not get a book in English I will go mad

My mind has been over-inundated with Spanish, and yet it seems to me that my speaking ability is not getting any better. In my head though, I am fluent again, and so that means that I can read at my leisure any one of the many books that people are throwing at me (including one by one of the old-codger lawyers on why environmentalists are the scourge of the Earth... he is trying to cure me of my evil ways. But he is a really nice old guy, and also lent me a history of the country and a paper he wrote about a painting in his office.). The only problem is that, after a day of reading legal jargon in a foreign language, I really, really, really do not want to.

Be it Jane Austen or Dan Brown, I need to get myself a novel in English stat, or else my brain might melt away. This is very hard on a girl who reads as much as I do - I might be going on physical adventures here, but I need some mental escape at night. There is a good bookstore/cafe nearby in a little Southpoint type mall, but unfortunately you need a car to get there and I have none. I'm sure I'll be back sometime soon though, everyone seems as infatuated with outdoor breezy shopping here as they are at home. I will just have to listen to episodes of Wait Wait and This American Life that I have stored up on my iPod, just as good, but not the same as turning pages and being enveloped in someone elses life.

Tomorrow I go to Antigua, and will hopefully catch some of the USA game while I'm there! It was the second capitol of Guatemala (the name is actually Antigua Guatemala, or Old Guatemala, and I am in the New Guatemala City) but was ravaged by earthquakes and mudslides. Its a hoppin tourist spot, and according to Sheni's grandson you have to go on Tuesday nights because girls can get beers for 1Q (like 15 cents). That will have to wait for another week, because I am on a mission to do some gift-shopping.

Diaries of a Mad Foreign Socialite

Party Monday, Concert Tuesday, Climbing Wednesday, Gallery Opening Thursday, Friday...?

I think that I am far more social here than I am at home. I do not know if this is my doing, or the doing of everyone I meet who wants me to be happy and busy, or a little of both. All I know is that my Wednesday nights curled up reading have been replaced with climbing with Manuel and Bodis (actually, not just Wednesday, we went Monday and they wanted me to come yesterday as well but my arms wanted to fall off), and I'm seeing more art and music and culture with Raul than I have in the past 6 months at home. This week we have a gallery opening featuring a local artist that is good friends with his sister and does some amazing work.

Last night I went to a concert in the park which was put on by the Municipality. In a bizarre turn of events the only other Gringos in the entire place were seated directly behind me. They are a group from Atlanta that is here working with a non-profit outreach, and included a very nice guy named Inman (like Cold Mountain!)and an Indian Girl from Portland who lives down the street from me! They had no idea what was going on and seemed to think the mayor was speaking.

In reality it was a concert put on by the Music School downtown. The children start at around age 3 and were fantastic...it was what all highschool orchestra teachers dream of. The singing by the chorus was little iffy, but that could have been poor mic work.

They Atlantians were right, however, in that before any of this started there was a very bizarre 20 minute film that was supposed to be promoting the city, but was instead a love song to the Mayor and his wife and all of the work they do. Elections must be approaching. :)

Everything's up to date in Guatemala City

I know that I make everything here sound like sunshine and daisies, but today, after staying up too late at a party (on a Monday, I know) and then having people yelling and honking their horn outside of my window for an hour at like 4:30 in the morning and then Sheni singing at 5:30 once they finally stopped, I am in a mood to explore the slightly darker side...

Guatemala City, not the rest of the country mind, is dirty. And it is dangerous. So dangerous that yesterday a woman was held ransom in her house by men with assault rifles over a tv or something a few blocks away from my home which is in the safest part of the city. Consequently, Sheni's protective instincts have doubled and now Angelina has to go everywhere with me. Angelina, by the way is literally 4'5" and although very sweet could not possibly fend me off let alone a large man. I feel like protecting her, and it makes me wonder about their ideas on my capacity to handle myself.

There are police with guns everywhere, and if you are a member of the police or of the military you are not allowed to vote because as a public servant you should not be swayed by a particular party. Really its because of all of the military coups in the past.

BUT, it is still beautiful, and I would like to return here this winter break maybe to do some volunteering. Or perhaps I'll move on to Peru!

I spent a wonderful weekend in Peten (with an accent on the second e, but its difficult to get my laptop to do that and I never remember the combinations) visiting the archaeological sites of Tikal and Yaxha (pronouced Yash-ha, it means Green Water). It was super hot and August-in-North-Carolina humid. But the views from the tops of the pyramids were worth it.




Its funny, but this was my very first solo excursion of my first solo travel experience. I've always had guides or groups or flocks of lawyers taking me places, but this time I was on my own. It was a little scary and a little relaxing, knowing that I could go to the ruins and then come home and the whole evening was mine. And I made friends, once again, everywhere! American acquaintances from Tennessee and Montana, Guatemalan friends, Chinese tour companions and even one guy from Peru who was on both my flights and staying in the same hotel and was on my tour the first day.

Its nice to know that even if you start out some place alone, you don't have to stay that way. But if you do want some space, you can always go back to your room, chill out, and take a bath.

See my pics on Facebook, I will try to load them to Flickr but its being odd with my internet connection.

Tremors

I experienced my first ever earthquake last Thursday at around 3 a.m. I was sleeping, and completely forgot about it until yesterday because it was like a dream. No worries mom, nothing huge, just a little shaking and a power outage.

Just returned from my weekend excursion to see some fantastic Mayan ruins- I have to admit that one of my favorite parts was getting to watch movies in English on Encore in my air conditioned room and then take a bubble bath (or three) - will post more about it in the coming days, but now I'm about to pass out and have to go wash the DEET off of myself. Jungle mosquitos with malaria....

Reasons why Guatemala is better than Europe:

#1: They eat vegetables. Real ones, and lots of them. Not just crappy iceburg lettuce.
#2: There are orchids everywhere you look.
#3: They do not dub their movies. Yay subtitles! Yay original actor's voices!

I just saw the A-Team. It was silly, but it put me in a good mood, because I've been jonesen for my bi-weekly cinema fix. Thanks Ligia!

Swan Lake

Rock climbing is like ballet - difficult and graceful.
Right now I am an ugly duckling, but soon I will be a swan.

They call me Indiana

This weekend was possibly the coolest of my life... I am in a dreamy haze of adventure.

Friday night at 8 pm I received a call. A call which may have changed the course of my entire trip for the better - and not shockingly it was from Sebastian, my boss. Here is how it went:

Him: "Hallo, Meagan? Do you want to go on a rafting tour and see some caves? There is a group leaving tomorrow at 7 am - I will send you the details (never sent), but here is the number of my friend Manuel who gives the tours. There are two other girls going. You will love it, are you in?"

Me: "Uh, yeah! 7 am? What do I need?"

I then proceeded to glaze out and dream of white water rafting, something I do often (the dreaming, not the rafting; that I only do on rare occasions), post to my blog, and then shove a whole bunch of crap in my backpack and pass out.

I have no sunscreen, I have no bug spray (If I get Dengue in a week you will know why), I mainly packed work clothes for my trip - but I do have a pair of Chucks and some flip flops, which got me through my entire superbly-fantastic weekend.

So at 7 am the next morning I was up, as ready as I could be to leave. A car, driven by my guide and now friend Manuel pulled up with two American girls (Caroline and Sharon), who were both very blond, very northern, very tired from working at a hospital in the campos for a few weeks, and very awesome. We began our 6 hour drive up into the highlands, which was incredibly beautiful. Up until this point I hadn't done much traveling out of Guatemala City (read: ugly), but suddenly I was surrounded by green, which as you all know is my favorite way to be.

By mid-afternoon we were hiking the trails to Samuc Champey, limestone pools which have formed particle by particle over the centuries. It is supposed to be the most beautiful place in Guatemala - it is possibly the most beautiful place in the world. I really did not know places like this existed outside of the movies, and I always thought that those were color-enhanced.

Pictures do not do the pools justice, but I will try:




We then came home, ate at a fun outdoor restaurant that was basically one grill and candles and loud music, and passed out for our very early start.

The next day was a marathon:

We started out the day rafting (Team name: Nivel Cinco: because level three rapids were nooo problem; Team Members: The four of us, two local guides, and a young couple - Nathan and Maria, one from Guatemala and one from Ft. Lauderdale. He speaks little spanish, she speaks no English, they both speak the language of love and he has been flying down once a month for the past year. Pretty cute and seemingly-impossible at the same time. They both were really bad rowers.). It was an amazing three hours in which I was continually forced to play guinea pig for water rescues because nobody else wanted to get wet without cause. But it didn't matter, because we all had to do it and we all got soaked in the process of taking on some hardcore rapids and extremely strong current because of all the rain. Also, we lost our bucket and almost sank halfway down the river. Thank god for helmets and manpower. I don't have any pictures of this, but someone does and we've all exchanged emails so I will post as soon as I get them.

Next came the real Indiana Jones part of our trip - the wet cave at Lanquin - once again, no great photos because of the water. This was possibly the coolest thing I have ever done in my life. The maya believed that the caves were the entrance to the underworld, and now I know why. At different points I was swimming in the depths, avoiding stalagmites and stalactites, passing through underground waterfalls, and scaling rock walls and then jumping into pools (some of which were not very deep), all by the light of a few headlamps and candles. We befriended a couple of Canadians who will be sending me some great photos from their waterproof camera. Our local guide, Sebastian (there are a lot of them in this country) was extremely nice and sported great headgear, as can be seen here:



We then tubed down the river (so much water!) and quickly changed before sunset so that we could head to a different cave, this time dry. Deep in the depths of this cave live about a million of four species of bats, all of whom swarm the entrance and swoop out at sunset. You would think it would be scary to have thousands of flying animals swirling around your head, but no, it was just amazing.



I am in love with this country. In love with the people, the trees, the lizards who run on two long legs across the road, even the giant scary cicada-type bugs that sound like some mechanical monster out of Lost. And I'm making so many new friends, both local and foreign. For the rest of this week Manuel and I are going to the climbing center so that we can prepare me for a camping/climbing trip that he wants to go on with some friends. Caroline and Sharon will be back in Guate on Wednesday before their flight out and we are going to all go out on the town, and on Friday I fly to Tical, to see some of the grandest ruins in the Mayan world.

Pinch me please.

Uuuggghhh.....

Something here is making me sick (as always). I have had zero dairy, I am trying to avoid bread, though that is hard...I have no idea what it is. My two choices are 1) toothbrushing water (everything else is bottled) 2) the fruit. I'm leaning towards fruit because it seems to be worse after mealtimes, and not bad in the night. I will figure it out, or I'll come back a size 2 and try out for America's Next Top Model. They would probably tell me I looked too "mature".

Raul (my architect/artist/frustrated guitarist friend) is highly concerned and just called my cell phone from the next room to say that its okay if I come bother him if I get too ill. So funny - I'm not sure why he didn't just knock, but he is shy. It seems I am constantly surrounded by musicians and artists, no matter where I go. It might be a sign that I need to just give up and become a super-hot chick bassist like I've been pondering lately. Or that I should sell my electronic jellyfish painting whenever I finish stage 17. Perhaps I could become famous for painting mechanized sea creatures.

But the weekend keeps getting better and better - I was supposed to go horseback riding (fun!) but instead I'm going on a three-day caving/rafting/hiking trip (fun x 12!). I will take tons of pictures!

Hugs, Kisses and Tortilla Soup,
Meagz

P.S.- My day: Wake up, work 3 hours, go to lunch to watch the France/Uruguay game, end up staying at the bar drinking with the lawyers for an extra hour because of the pouring rain, work another 2 hours, come home, chill, eat, find out about awesome trip. Not bad at all.

This morning I was a little homesick...

tomorrow I am gonna be a little hungover. Nough said.

The Legend of Quetzal

It is very early here, and I am a little homesick. But tonight Raul is taking me to a conference on rebuilding and restructuring the old city and I am very excited. The old buildings are very beautiful -.they haven't been around as long as some others in the country, because this is the third capitol, but they are still colonial spanish style - but they have been ravaged by earthquakes and rainstorms and many years of neglect. They are also planning to make the city more people-friendly: walkways, cleaning up the main streets, moving out some of the vendors and giving them their own market. I hope they manage to do it all because it could be a wonderful place. And then this weekend I am going horseback riding out in the countryside - so many things to do!

Here is the story that I promised for you.....

La Leyenda del Quetzal

They have to be and they will be.... - I said that placid and indescribable afternoon, an afternoon of Guatemala, bathed in light and languishing sun. Many years ago, who knows how many, there was a city that in our tongue was called Kumarkaaj - which means " the place where our canes will wither" - and that was the same that now we call Guatemala.

In that city there was a flower that was very good and very beautiful - as all children should be good and beautiful - that loved her father, who was a very handsome tree, a Pine. He was a tree a thousand times sacred, because in our mayan tongue he was named chaaj, which means "tree under which you can hear the whisper of the voice of God", and her mother, saintly and good, as are all mothers, was the light of a star, the light of the star of the afternoon...

The flower had many sisters, who were always at her side, circling her and lavishing her with attention. These, like she, were what we here in Guatemala call orchids.

One afternoon, very much like this one, the good flower, thinking of her parents and her sisters, very soundly slept. She had a dream so sweet and so beautiful, as sweet and beautiful as are the dreams of all children: she was seen and drew the attention and maternal love of Ixmucane, the grandmother, and was touched by the hands of Junapuh and Ixbalamque, who encircled her sweetly, and the flower was converted into an admirable symbol, into something that was the incarnation of all the art and glory of the Maya.

The next day the flower awoke and was no longer a flower. She had transformed into a beautiful bird that flew ever so high. And this bird, into which she was changed, through goodness, through spirit, through delicacy and beauty, is, my friends, the Quetzal. The Quetzal! Fire and beauty, that knows that death and liberty are the same, as the chest of the Chief Tecun-Uman, when he battled against the conquistador don Pedro Alvarado, as sweet and good as sunny days of hope and grandeur for your country, that is now called Guatemala and that then was called Kumarkaaj, that in our beautiful mayan language means "the place where our canes wither".

Tonight is Hot

Rain is pouring down over the country. There is more flooding in the campos, as if they haven't had enough problems.

My face, my entire body is covered in dew.

Time flys when....

you're reading contracts. Not really - it actually goes very slowly, especially when you don't know what you're looking for.

Today, inspired by a trip to the hair salon and a discussion with my lovely sister, I am thinking about time. This might be a very boring post for some of you, and I know a blog is not a diary, but its going to be nice to have this as an archive of my entire experience.

Today I went to the salon de belleza with Ligia, and got my hair did and all pertied up. The girl asked me whether I wanted it curly or straight and of course I said straight, thinking she would just blow it out (yawn, I know guys, but this has a point). She didn't - she flat ironed it. All of it. Imagine my head, and think about flat-ironing all of that hair, especially now that it is so long. That poor, poor girl.

We sat there for almost an hour, with me getting more and more apologetic about my head. But then it was over, and she got a really good tip, and my hair is silkier smooth than it has ever been in my life. I'm like an Herbal Essences commercial. And I realized...that was an hour. She got paid for it. She was happily chatting - and I should not apologize for the bounty that is my hair, other people would love to have this much.

In just 3 1/2 short weeks my internship will be over - they are sending me to beautiful Antigua for a week or two to study spanish, and I will get to take in the fantastic colonial town. This is the best internship ever. And after that, a mere 6 months, I will be half way done with law school. In less than two years I will (hopefully) have a job and start saving up for a house and a life and getting all settled.

When you are in school you tend to have tunnel vision. Three weeks can last and last - I know that the past couple of months for me has seemed endless. But in the long term it is nothing - a flash. And then you are left with forever. Forever to be settled and staid - forever to wish you had jumped into things when you were young.

I'm so happy that I'm here - I'm so grateful for this experience. I am so happy that I am living in DC because I don't think I will end up there, but it is a great city. These are the things that I will remember when I'm 80, so I am going to try to make the pictures as vivid as possible.

Enough sappiness...next time I will post a translation of a Guatemalan Legend that I am reading. ;) Enjoy the day. Hold tight to the things that you care about. And if anyone wants some volcanic ash tell me, because I am going to go get a baby food jar to collect some in for Bonnye and it might want some friends for the ride home.

Look Ma - I'm a lawya!

Its started. The feeding.

When I lived in Spain I basically spent the whole time eating. Anyone who knows me knows that I like to eat - a lot. But this kind of food intake is beyond even me. It is pushed on you by kindly older women - "Are you sure you don't want some pasteles?" - in a way that you cannot refuse. Tonight for dinner I ended up with carrot cake, split pea soup, some sort of eggplant dish, meat and potatoes, tortillas, rice, and a lovely after dinner tea. It was an amazing assortment and Eugenia seemed slightly insulted that I didn't eat every bite of every dish. She is very concerned with my weight and wants me to eat as much as possible - but if I do, and I gain 10 lbs, I will surely hear about that too. I still remember the day when my Spanish house-mother (Purificacion Palma Sanchez - I love her name, it rolls off the tongue) told me I'd fattened up while I was living there. I wasn't sure if it was an insult or a compliment to her homemaking skills.

This time I will just have to go running - I miss it anyway, since people won't let me leave the house unescorted because I'm an extranjera and it is not safe. But there is a gated community pretty near by, so I figure if I can make it a few blocks over without being mugged I should be good.

My spanish is improving drastically in a very short amount of time though, and I'm really excited about it. Today at lunch my new friend Ligia (25 year old lawyer) and I decided to exchange spanish and english lessons. It is mutually agreed that if we stay in one language too long the other person will change it up. Then I get thrown right over the language barrier when I get home because Eugenia and Raul, the other border here who is getting his Phd in architecture, talk so incredibly fast. I fully expect neck pain from the whiplash endured while following their conversations. Today I began zoning out until Eugenia started talking about finding a giant snake in one of Raul's coats. It turned out to be a dream she had - one in which she also ended up talking with Jesus. She blames bad pillows.

I have no idea what I'm going to end up doing at work... firms here aren't like at home. Everybody does almost every type of law. I got in a bit of an argument today about sustainable development with one of the partners. Or a very polite disagreement; its hard to say when you aren't speaking your native tongue. Tomorrow I'm reading over contracts for a stock purchase from Con Edison worth 50,000,000. I cannot imagine that kind of money, so I better not mess things up.

This has nothing to do with Guatemala...

But I just bought this rockin' dress from ModCloth. I will be like an eyelet Marilyn Monroe. Fun times.

http://www.modcloth.com/store/ModCloth/Womens/Dresses/Frankly+I+Don+t+Give+a+Dress

Corpus Christi - flowers, smoke and ashes

Yesterday I learned that this is a very, very small country. As in 'we've never made it to the World Cup' small (a huge deal here).

One of my bosses (who looks shockingly like my high school boyfriend - doppleganager Junius/Jose) and his wife took me out around town, to a country club, shopping, to the movies. Everywhere we went there were people who knew them, people who were friendly and wanted to meet me, kiss my cheek. If you live in the city you are almost always connected with someone else, even though there are 3 million people here.

Guatemala is also extremely Catholic - today is the celebration of Corpus Christi - something Eugenia (the ama de casa) has been preparing for for weeks. She turned the entire house into a florists shop for the occasion, so she could set up flowers on the balconies and in the garage to receive a blessing when the procession came by.

Here are some pics (for more, check out my flickr or facebook) - the procession travels through the entire town on foot, winding through the streets, and ends up at the Cathedral.

La imagen del dia! Que impresionante!

I just got a new camera to post some of my own pics because mine went caput - but here is a picture of the volcano spewing ash at night over the City. Its pretty fantastic. There is tons of it everywhere still, in piles and sitting in bags waiting for the city to pick it up. The volcano is still going, but not like this.

I want to go to there

I am currently on my comfy little bed, in my comfy little room, far more connected than I expected to be on my first (very, very late) night in Guatemala. Seriously - the cell phone coverage here is frickin' amazing. And they gave me one.

I will tell you all a little secret: I love airports.

It could be that they almost seem like home away from home (so much traveling back and forth to the West coast and the Rico-rico and other places). It could be the fantastic people-watching opportunities. But really I think it all boils down to the fact that if you arrive early, and not on a major holiday, airports are shockingly calm places. You can find a corner and meditate to your hearts content, and nobody bothers you about it because they think you've just got the airport zone-out. Airports are that perfect place to get away from everyone without being alone. Not as nice as a park or a forest; but there also aren't as many distractions because everyone else is a travel zombie, and if you manage not to be bitten by the living deadness its pretty awesome.

My flights were a bit crazy though — about 30 minutes away from DC we heard a scratchy/loud voice from the intercom saying "Are there any doctors, nurses or medical professionals available?". Ten minutes later it was repeated in a slightly more urgent tone.

A fellow passenger had a heart attack (I hope he is okay!), and for once I can really commend American Airlines because they kept that skyship calm as day. We turned around and got him medical attention, taxied for an hour, and then took off again with profuse apologies for the delay from the flight crew — something I found rather ironic because they never apologize for anything, yet they choose to apologize for an uncontrollable medical emergency?

The second leg was quite a bit better — the flight attendant guy gave me free wine (welcome to Latin America!) and I sat next to a Guatemalan woman with a serious need for a life coach. She kept piling papers on me the entire time, and had a million pictures from when she was sixteen, but she was so nice and chatty that I didn't mind. We taught the older gentleman next to her spanish so that he could talk to his grandkids, and he later made sure I knew exactly where to find his son who works for Catholic Charities in case something unspeakable happens while I'm here. I truly doubt it will — the volcano, the tropical storm, the sinkhole, and a last minute call for an EMT could not keep me away. Bring on the locusts.

So now I am officially in Guate, and even though it's only been a few hours I feel very, very hopeful. Everyone is so nice — they are planning out my entire trip for me (hikes, weekend trips, volunteer work, REAL work) and are maybe slightly overprotective but I think they are probably right to be. I don't know the city and it's awfully big and currently covered in sand (strangely not ash) from the volcano. I'm staying with one of the partners' mothers who rents out rooms, and she is lovely and only speaks in spanish which is great because everyone else is pretty fluent in English.

And I just heard R2D2 coming from the t.v. room....I think I'm gonna like it here.

The Gateway to Hell is just across town

This is not where I am staying. But it scares me.

Packing, packing...

Hey guys! Just wanted to keep you posted on what I'm doing while I'm away. As of right now this is a completely rudimentary blog - and as of right now I have nothing particularly interesting to say because it hasn't quite hit me that I'm going to be on a plane in less than two days.

I have not packed. I have not printed my ticket. I HAVE figured out that the giant sinkhole in the city is nowhere near where I'm going to be working, and doesn't seem to effect my plans. Hopefully I will get to help a bit with the clean-up effort while I'm there, and maybe see a still spewing volcano.

Packing list:
bug spray
work clothes
a million pairs of underwear
bathing suits
4 sundresses
2 pairs of shorts
6 Tees
socks
flip flops
no hiking shoes - I need new ones anyhow and I think I'll purchase some while I'm there if I need them
work shoes (2 pairs)
Books - in spanish and english
iPod
Computadora

...you get the idea. Is there anything that I'm missing? I just learned today that there is a cooking school in Antigua and I think I'm going to sign up for classes for the days immediately before I leave. I'm really glad my mom bought me a travel book because I've been too stressed to think about it, but now that I have one I am pouring over it....

-Meagz