settling in

A week has passed with Xela as being my new home, and it's come with a whirlwind of experiences and emotions. It's a really nice city, however on days when it pours and is cold it tends to induce negative thoughts... mostly about the sanitation and pollution. But on sunny days it's really nice!! Spanish is going well, it's SUPER intense for 5 hours a day, and by the end everyone seems to be pretty exhausted. The level I'm in is a little higher than I expected to take, so I'm trying to keep up and am doing fairly well. The group finds things that make us happy (CHOCOBANANOS). They're the greatest things ever... frozen bananas dipped in chocolate and rolled in nuts. Makes any bad day better. We're also starting to find our "places" in town, which is nice to have some consistency.

Last week we had some really incredible speakers come visit with us. As a lot of people aren't aware of, Guatemala experienced a 36 year civil war that ended only recently in 1996. The economic and social well-being of the people haven't really improved much since then, and the repercussions of the war are still lingering with the civilians. On Wednesday we met with a colonel from the Guatemalan army, and he delivered a very well put together, yet limited, presentation on the military and government's position during the war. On Thursday, a ex-guerrilla commander came to speak at the school, and she was so incredibly inspiring and intelligent. It was a great dichotomy to have the two presentations back to back, as the colonel's speech was still fresh in my mind when I heard Victoria. From what we've been learning, and just everyday interaction with Guatemalan people, it's hard not to back the guerrilla resistance, as their efforts always had the interest of the social well-being of all Guatemalan citizens, and were not influenced by economic and political gains. In general, my further education of Guatemalan life and it's rich and devastating history has really made me realize how lucky I am to have been born in the United States, and the privileges we have at our fingertips that so many others are denied.

The week was really intense so it was great this past weekend for us to get out of the city and travel to the little town of Chicicastenago, which is famous for the largest outdoor market in Central America! On our way there we stopped in this BEAUTIFUL mountain community that is home to a women's weaving co-op, all of whom were widowed from the war. It was started through the Methodist church, and today they sell their own woven products in order to support themselves. We had to hike for about 15 minutes to get to the house, and it was through rows of corn on the side of an incredible Guatemalan mountain. Of course I forgot my camera. The visit was really humbling, and all of the women were so sweet. We went to the city afterwards and had a free afternoon and then a great dinner all together again. Today we woke up early and went to the market which was so comical. It was incredibly crowded, but those vendors KNOW when you've got some money to spend. People walk around with products and will follow and badger you relentlessly until you're able to lose them in the crowd. It was so fun to bargain, and I ended up buying gifts for tons of people back home (and for myself) and only spent about $50 US dollars. The exchange rate still amazes me. It was a great way to use Spanish in a real world context! I'll post some pictures here soon.

But we're back in Xela now, and I'm back to the grind of studying for another Spanish test I have tomorrow.

Hasta luego!
Becca