Not sure

Guess I really don´t have too much to say right now, but I thought It would be worth sharing a few things I have seen in my time here, some of the things that aren´t all fun and whimsical...

In my time here (as in times before) I have seen houses built of nothing more than mud and sticks, bursting at the seems with naked to barely clothed and shoeless children. Children with bloated bellys and dirty faces. Children that look at you with the biggest and saddest eyes as you stroll by on your leisurly and pleasant walk. It´s truly haunting and enough to make you want to stay and help. Or return and help....I don´t think I will ever be done with this country I have come to love so dearly. It was my first taste of the real world, outside of my own, and I will always be greatful for its help in opening my eyes and my heart.

In my time here, I have seen countless men passed out in various places throughout the cities I have visited... in front of homes, on park benches, on street corners, on the floors of bars and pool halls. The time of day is not important, they lay down to rest their drunken bodies at noon, at 3 pm, at 9pm and at 4 am, for the bars and liquor never truly stops flowing, and in places where some people have little hope and little money, alcohol seems to be their only saving grace. Some of these men are drunk every time you see them, others are friendly and normal enough the next time you see them...before they make it to the bars. While I didn´t share this with you all earlier, I had the less than pleasat experience of being chased home by one of these drunkards the other night. Luckily his intention was not to hurt me but nearly to make a new friend. And hopefully you have all realized that I do have some commen sense and returned safely home after about 20 minutes of trying to shake this guy so that he did not know where I live. (The last thing I wanted was some old man banging on my family´s door at that time of the morning and screaming obscenities). Anyways, I often wonder if hope and money would change the situation. Of course, not for everyone, but I do believe that if there were more productive activities available these communites would suffer less from the barbarisms of alcoholism and addiction.

In my time here I have seen women treated as nothing more than objects and entertainment. Of course, I have experienced this first hand. There is a large population of men that whistle, cat call, kiss, and make other obscenties as a woman passes by, minding her own attention. Fighting for respect is futile as it only escalates the behavior and could quite possibly lead to problems. The town is run by men, women are just the inhabitants. Of course, I can´t make this a blanket statement, as there are many woman that demand respect here and not ALL of the men act in this atrocious manner. But the fact remains that this is a man´s place. Local women (RESPECTABLE women as they would tell you) DO NOT go into the bars, into the pool halls, do not smoke, do not drink, do not swear, do not show their bodys, do not stare at men (some say they should avoid eye contact all together) do not go out late, do not do much of anything outside of the home..... WHILE some of course will say that this is not a bad way to live, as it of course is healthier for the mind and body, its the hyppocrisy of it that is angering, and the right to be able to do such things if one desires that is important.

Well, i could of course go on forever, but who wants to read all of my rants and raves for an eternity. Maybe one day I´ll have more time to process what has happened in these last two months and could tell you more. Of course, if theres anything particular you want to know...ASK!!!!!! Alissa

Una Noche en Los Tangos

Been awhile since I wrote so I guess I´ll fill a bunch of space with the last few nights adventures.... Let´s see...
Over the past 2 days my plans are constantly changing. In lieu of returning to Guatemala, I decided to stay In Honduras and do a bunch of litte things that I have been wanting to do. The first 3 things on my list were: to make it to La Entrada, Santa Rita and Santa Rosa. The first 2 are taken care of! Friday at 7 am I was packed and ready to go to Santa Rosa with my friend Emily. However, due to problems with the ATM, i was a little short of money. Emily (after A LOT of coaxing) convinced me to hop some local buses with her in order to go to the Aldea of Los Tangos a few hours from here to meet her "family" in the mountains. I decided to go. We first took a bus to Santa Rita so I could at least see a part of it and be able to say I went. Eventually I would like to return, 1 because its different 2 because its a bit cheaper (no tourists). From here we bussed it over to La Entrada, walked around a bit and had lunch before taking another van to the community. After eating fried chicken and a potato salad with plenty of eggs and mayonaise I prayed that my stomach would not revolt as I had NO medicine with me. After eating and taking the next van We walked a bit down the highway where I met her friend Tito then walked up hill to play some pool (a very different but fun version). This was crazy because I´m not sure that many of the people in this male-only place (with exception of the shop owners wife) had ever seen a live gringa before, so needless to say there was a LOT of staring and whispering. To my surprise (AND Excitement I actually won a couple of the games!!! To their surpise too I imagine). Had a drink or two, played about 8 games then walked back to Tito´s family´s house and talked. From here we were supposed to meet Emily´s family then return to Copan, BUT it was too late and no more buses for the day so we decided that wé´d have to spend the night and left to meet the Fam. We took a pretty long walk up into the mountains were we recieved a lot more staring. I met her grandmother, some aunts, cousins and nephews, played more pool (where at least 10 people crammed into the small room to watch and talk). We talked to her Aunt, and she showed me the room i would be staying in (cool room, the wall paper is just endless pages from Avon Magazines). Thakfully the room was clean and the bed was big with fresh sheets. When we first arrived at her grandmothers I had to go to the bathroom, and i´ve never been so scared in my life. (not true, but I like to exaggerate!)..... You have to understand that the aldea´s aren´t like the bigger areas, and indoor bathrooms with electricity and flushing capabilities do NOT exist... I had to stumble in the dark to a small shack and was not able to see ANYTHING i was so scared that some horrible and disgustingly creepy thing would crawl on me at any moment...in fact I had flashbacks to when I was little and living in Oklahoma when one day while at the pool a spider crawled outta the toilet I was using and bit me.... SO needless to say i hurried! After getting hungry I had to walk quite a ways back DOWN the mountain in order to have some woman make me some MORE fried chicken with fried plantains and cole slaw....AGAIN i prayed again and again for my stomach to PLEASEEEEE bear with me just for one day. When we got back to his Aunts around 11pm or so, i decided i should try to use the bathroom again because i did not want to have to try and find in alone in the dark later...let me tell you that i have NEVER been so happy in my life to see tissue and old napkins in my purse because there was NO paper in this outdoor toilet shack. Finally got to crawl into bed and rest and to my delight did not have to get out of bed once. IN THE MORNIng, i was woken up to drink some fresh squeezed and picked orange juice then walked over to the grammas house to eat some of the best Beans i have EVER HAD. Picked some cacao plants and sucked on the sweet slimy seeds and watched the chickens run back and forth. After leaving around 830 am we walked back to Titos house where i sat on the side of the highway and talked with his sister and uncle a bit before heading back to Copan. We arrived back in Copan around 2pm and I have never been so grateful for the universe working in my favor before....i´m telling you everything worked out SOOOOOO well, considering what could have happened (and i´m mostly talking about the food and my stomach!). The first 3 things i did back home, in order, were SHOWER, EAT, SLEEP. I was exhausted!

Welllll, after sleeping I woke up and got myself all purty because it was my LAST saturday and Copan and I was determined to have fun. I´ll just tell you that I definately accomplished that and will talk about parts of the evening. First I stopped in at one of the local Cantinas with a friend. The bartender is a really cool woman and she takes care of me in this guy only place! From here I left my friend and went alone to TUNKUL which was PACKED!!! With the conference in town, the place was bustling and full of energy. I looked around hoping to find someone i knew and heard someone call my name. It was Deborah (a teacher here and UofM grad) and she bought me a drink. I sat and talked to the people at the table at met lots of cool people, some speaking english others spanish. I left from that table to talk with the Mayatan School director and her husband then went on to talk to the guys I had met a few days before from Ireland and Pennsylvania and they bought me a drink. After watching them dance (which was hilarious) I went up to the bar and talked to a guy from Canada (originally poland) while I ordered a drink. While talking to him Juan Gabriel arrived and i promptly gave him the last half of my drink since I was starting to feel a bit funny. I ended up walking with him and a really sweet girl from England (the director of another bilingual school nearby) and one of the mayantan teachers to LAS PISCINAS. Once there Juan started bringing me glass after glass of water (Thanks!!!) and I wandered around and mingled with people there. I was browing Karaoke songs with The director, her husband and another teacher Matt, then went on to meet more people. Ended up dancing with some older guy in the club ( a very good Merengue dancer) then wandering outside awhile and talking to more people. At one point, i was ready to go (since the place was closing) when I got grabbed by the girl that used to work in my familys restaurant and they bought me a bottle of water...My new small grouped talked and then eventually walked when we were thrown out of the complex (it was about 4 am). I ended up back home around 6am and after a few minutes of hugging the toilet around 7am I finally slept until 2 pm. Of course, a few details have been dropped from this story so if you want to know more, just ask....i don´t have forever to write!

When I finally rolled out of bed, I decided to go eat lunch, and after I went with my mom and sister to a birthday party where i was forced to eat more! After here we walked home, I slept another hour then went to a Goodbye party (IN MY HONOR!!!!) at Emory and Linda´s house (where the last party was with the great roof view). It was great, with spaghetti and garlic bread and about 10 people (mostly students from the advanced english group). I stayed here till 1130 pm then walked home with a small group. While walking home I was invited to the bar but decided that I should just go home and sleep. I kind of regret not going, just because i missed out on new experiences. But sometimes, its just better to rest...right? Today I walked the few kilometers uphill to Mayatan in order to say goodbye to Jose Raul and leave books in the library. Jose kept asking my why i wasn´t coming back and that he´d miss me and gave me a card he made :( Talk about pullin on the old heartstrings!!!! Well, got lots to do and i´m a few minutes over my time.
More later
ALISSA

Guatemalan Adventure - Part TWO

SAFE AND SOUND
Well, I´m back in Copan after a very very crazy and long 73 hours. To finish where I left off... I left from the computer place in San Pedro Atitlan, Guatemala and hobbled back to my hotel (4 dollars) and passed out. When i woke up the next morning at 6 my ankle was a bit worse but my bug bite (forgot to tell you, got stung by some black thing and swelled up my wrist a bit) was completely healed. By 7am emily and I were on a boat headed to Santiago Atitlan. He we climed some massive hills, ate breakfast and talked to some international volunteers (OXFAM and SAVE THE CHILDREN, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS, and some others I don´t remember) we talked to everyone we could, locals and foreign in order to gage where best the money the school was raising would be best used. After an hour or so we walked several kilometers up hill to see one of the disaster sites....................... I´m not even sure what is best to say here. At first, i thought i was seeing the aftermath of a volcanic eruption, because all the mud and flatted ground was white. After wandering speechless for several moments, I saw to gringos...a man with a video camera and tripod, and a woman with a cell phone...the ONLY 2 other people there. They informed me that the white powder was LIME, and its used to try and neutralize the acid of all things decomposing beneath our feet. Turns out that the couple works for BBC and NPR and were there to shoot a short report about the devastation. They warned us about several things and told us all that they knew. After sliding around a bit in the mud and lime I decided it was best to change out of my sandals and into some good socks and tennis shoes....my best decision ever, because not even 2 minutes after i did that i sunk into a mud trap. One foot was completely swallowed up to my ankle. From here emily and I decided that we were not going to try walking up that hill any further. We went to the other side, following the couple and were very disheartended my all that we saw. It´s hard to imagine the real extent of dmage since I had never been there before, but after seeing what used ot be a school (now full of mud) and the basketball court, we realized just how much mud there was....it went all the way up to the RIM of the basketball hoops, and some houses had it up to the roof. It is safe to say that we were walking ON TOP of what used to be a lively village. One importnatn thing i should mention I guess is the smell.....Emily and I kept wondering why we kept smelling a sour maneur (i know I spelled that wrong....mah new er) smell, we aked the woman and she says ¨yeah, that...that would be the smell of decaying bodies beneath your feet) :(

The smell was awful. And in some places it was very overpowering...I wanted to cry and at times I was frozen still because I just knew that I was probably on top of somebody or something and they never had a chance. We didn´t wander for long. Some old man was trying to undig his bus some ways up the hill and I wanted to help, just to show him that someone cared, but emily could not take the site anymore. It´s sad, because even after undigging his bus, there was no way it would go any where...the ground was still very mushy and unsafe in places. Like quicksand. While we were walking out 4 puppies, about 1-2 months I would think were swarming the couple...obviously happy to see people again...and probably very hungry. We said our goodbyes, and talked a bit with the 3 police officers approaching. Once back in the city we found a church-shelter that we decided would be the best place for the money and donations. There our hundreds of people without homes now, and are living on the floors of houses and churches...they say many could be there for 6mos to a year.

We boarded a bus from here and went straight to Guatemala City. Our plan was to go to Antigua, where its safer but after taking a taxi to a very exciting area, we decided to walk around a bit and price hotels. We found one right across the street for 4 bucks each, sharing a bed. The place was clean and well kept and had a guard. We wandered the streets for awhile, admiring the amazing markets and stores then had some dinner. Knowing that we didn´t want to go far too late (seeing as the city is so dangerous) we ended up at a restuarant-dance club two doors down from our hotel.. WE TRIED to stay in the hotel, but it was only EIGHT PM and we could hear all the excitement....there was no way we were going to sit in the hotel and feel sorry for ourselves. The place was great, the lady let us in for free, and upstairs was a dancefloor, live MArimba band and DJ and a bunch of older people. We ordered a pepsi and watched. I think the lady loved us though, cuz she kept bringing up snacks and water for free. SHE EVEN BROUGHT ME THE DJ........ohhh my lord was he ever gorgeous. We talked for awhile, i momentarily fell in love, and then he asked me to dance, but i chickened out and then he had to get back to work. So i admired him from afar the rest of the night as I danced with merengue and Punta with some guy my age. After here,at about 10pm we sat across the street and talked to 2 guys for a few minutes then walked into the hotel and talked awhile. At 6 am we woke up (since the guy told us we HAD to be OUT of our rooms by 7am...thats how we got the good price...we didn´t ask why). We walked to our next bus and went to Chiquimula, Guatemala. The city was SOOOO cool that we decided to wander for an hour or so before we got on the van for Jocatan, Guatemala. The van was sooo packed. From here we took another packed van to The border, paid our dues than hopped our last van back to Copan.

All that in 73 hours and about 80 bucks.

Out of time,
miss you all!
Alissa

Guatemalan Adventure - Part ONE

A BIT DAMAGED, BUT JUST DANDY
Well hello to all,

After an absolutely insane 28 hours or so, i am currently sitting in San Pedro, Lago Atitlan Guatemala. I am very tired, a little sore, and a bit injured (oh don't freak out!!!!). I kinda fell of a curb last night in antigua after my left foot stuck itself in a crack as I was trying to step off a curb, but unfortunately it didn't move with the rest of my body so i now only fell, but i fell and extra 6 inches or so OFF the curb, twisted my ankle and my left arm bore a large portion of the fall. A little stiff and swollen today, but totally ok, things are too crazy to slow down for....SOOOOO, with only 90 minutes notice yesterday i left copan with 3 other teachers for Antiga Guatemala at 2pm. By 8pm we were in Antigua and found a hotel for 2Bucks each!!! It was clean big and had a GREAT view of the volcano. At 8 am the librarian, emily, and I hopped a local chicken bus for some city *choltomeca, or something like that* and from there we hopped a NOTHER chicken bus for Panajachel, Lago Atitlan. This bus was SOOOO packed i only had one cheek on the seat! However, problem is that there was a road block, police said noone could pass....SOOOO we got off the bus and wandered the line of cars too see if that was true, and then the bus left.... we ended up walking a bit to talk to the police and while doing so a very large bus driver was arguing with him and ended up gettin permission to pass through the road block...sooo we boarded this and it was SOOOO packed that i had to stand at the front next to the open door with 2 other guys and hang on for dear life every time he sped around a corner....after one stop i was able to sit on a bucket next the driver and the open door, but at least i was a bit safer *it was SOOOO exciting! and scary though*....from here we hit ANOTHER block an this time NOOONE was oing through, they said we'd have to walk if we wantd to get anywhere, so we did.....we walked with some preists that we met, for about 3 or more kilometers and found out why there was a block...well, L and G, there was no more road, it kinda washed off the mountain and we had to trudge through the mud on the side in order to get around the ENOURMOUS hole...once we got uphill we bartered for a truck and got to STAND in back with about 10 others to the next city...los encuentros. WHAT AN INCREDIBLE VEIW the WHOLE WAY... from HERE we boarded another bus to the city outside of panajachel (it may have been solola(. Once here we found another truck *a very VERY small toyota* with TWENTY , i kid you not, other people. I almost fell out the back (where i was sitting ) and made some woman scream, after i got a grip on the railing i was practically gropin the guy next to me....THEN the old guys taught me how to ride and be safer. Once we reached another block we walked about 3kilometers down hill to panajachel. After a GREAT lunch, we walked around then bartered fro a boat to get to san pedro, after an hour or more we arrived and walked up hill and now i'm sitting here....tomorrow we go to santiago, lago atitlan and then god knows where from there...we haven't figured out how we're getting home yet....soooo I'll update you when i can...got to get going the place is closing.

With love,
and i PROMISE I'm ok
alssa

Central America

I'm sure I could have posted this in my journal instead of bother you all, but I figured this was worth sharing. As you know, I have been here in Central America or a little more than 5 weeks now. Within the past few weeks, there has been a massive hurricane/Tropical Storm (Stan), and EArthquake and a series of very deadly mudslides. The hardest hit areas have been in the southern part of Mexico Chiapas), Guatemala, and El Salvador...with damage also being done throughout the rest of Central America, Including my beloved Honduras. While I have been fortunate here in Copán and have experienced nothing more than some massive quantities of rain, others have not even come close to being as lucky. Around Lago Atitlan, where I was planning my next trip, entire villages (mostly indigenous) have been washed off the mountiain, quickly turning themselves in to Mass graves. Roads have been washed out making any type of relief effort very difficult if not imposssible... RELIEF EFFORT, that's what saddens me... I have access to CNN, Internet, CNN ESPAñOL and other channels, and I have been bombarded with stories of Pakistan, The UStates and other matters. Please, I am not saying that those are not significant world events, but I am saying that I have seen little to no mention of Central America. How the hell did we manage to not make the news?! Where is the relief effort and pledges from President Bush and other nations to help the people that are quickly losing hope and life HERE?! Where's OUR millions of dollars? And don't think the people here don't
realize that they have somehow made it onto the backburner...if they are even there anymore. While you cannot believe every news story, there have been local reports that the damage done and amount of lives lost recently is greater than that done in 1998 during Hurrican Mitch....Remember Mitch...that's the reason that I first came down here in 2004 and 2005, to continue efforts to rebuild from a storm that hit SIX AND SEVEN YEARS EARLIER. So much has happened in the past few months, so many natural disasters, and so many lives lost..... the question is, who has a greater ability to recooperate and make a strong effort to rebuild...and how quickly? I have a hunch that it may be a very long time before the people here will be able to rebuild.
On that note, I thought I would mention that I will try to go to Guatemala tomorrow, friday or saturday. I still have some people to talk to first and am waiting for the librarian here to make up her mind (She used to live out on Lago Atitlan). I have intentions to go to Antigua within the next few days and then hop a bus the next day, if possible, to go to Lago Atitlan to help where and however I can. Of course, this is all dependent on traveling conditions and whether or not a bus is able to go there.
Wish me luck, and please keep the people of Central America in you thoughts as
well as those suffering in other parts of the World.
Alissa

RAIN

Rain, rain and more rain. Thankfully there is none this far today, but it was pretty bad the past 2 days, so much so that all the water turned brown in the city last night, so not only did i have a COLD shower, but a BROWN one as well. Of course now i don´t have ANY water so......WHAT FUN! Well, it would seem as though I have just made plans to leave the country for a week or so. Of course, I have this guilty feeling looming over my head about leaving the school and my student, but this is a great opportunity and I only have limited time to do it. It looks like I will be going to the magical LAGO ATITLAN, GUATEMALA for at least a week with a really cool chick from Denmark.....HmMMMMMM, just got an email from me MOM reminding me about the unfortunate (that´s the nicest word I can put here) weather they´re having in Central America, outside of copan. I guess I should look into that more before I book myself a one way trip into a mudslide! ANYWAYS, I went to the bar last night ( afew) for the first time in awhile and had a great time. Went with my friend Juán and stopped into the bar Tunkul and met the owner-bartender and I think he really likes me. He said my spanish was really good and couldn´t believe that I hadn´t lived in a spanish country for some time. My only response was ¨Thanks! Wait until I get a few more drinks in me though...and my spanish will be GREAT!!!!¨ He laughed.... So the 3 from MI stopped in at the bar while I was there with my new friends and we all talked a little. Got to know the bartender so well that he started giving me free drinks and water and he put on BLUES for me (BB KING and the Like) since I said I liked it. And then we cleared a few tables and danced a couple merengue songs in the middle of the restaurant while people looked and cheered on. It was a LOT of fun. I also found out that I have NOT been drinking ¨HONDURAN VODKA¨as ´some had been telling me (the vodka that I said tasted VERY VERY STRANGE) turns out its GUADO the national liquor that I´d heard so many horror stories about (only about how god awful and strong it is, which i agree, but i´ts not as bad as it was before). After that we walked to a Local Cantina (yup, i was the only woman around) but we were only there for a few minutes then we went to VIA VIA where I spent my time talking to one of the other Mayatan teachers (Former U of M girl) and the 3 Peace Corps people. Then off to bed. Not much else is new, I am going to a Birthday party today at 4 pm for some of the parties. It should be fun and I´m taking a friend, so I hope they don´t mind! Well, I need to get to the bank eventually . I am BROKE. Got about 20 lempiras left to my name and thats only a little more than 2 dollars.
Talk again soon
Alissa

Hello

Well, don´t have much time to update now, ran out of time answering emails (WHICH I LOVE GETTING! THANKS!) so i´ll just let you know that I´m doing great, got to spend some time at the pool reading yesterday, and I have started helping an hour a day with the English classes at the library. It´s a lot of fun! Must run, but I promise that i am doing just dandy again :)
Alissa

Bear With Me

So, today´s the first day I can remember in some time that I´ve let myself slide into a sort of funk, depressive state, if you will. While I had ever intention of writing about all the great people and things I encountered in Antigua (which I will later) I am doing what I feel is one of the most important things a person should do when they feel lonely and are starting to turn inward...I am going to the one´s that love me and asking for help. I need and want what all people need from time to time...a good ear and a trong shoulder. Of course, I know I should be happy. Things are goihg wonderfully and I am on a great adventure. Despite the ups I still ocassionly feel inadequate, confused and completely terrified. My head is spinning from all life´s possibilities and I have taken the day to contemplate, read and listen to music. While some of this was nothing more than a push closer to the darkness of depression, it has, ironically, helped me to feel a bit better in the end. It gave me the desire to reevaluate a few things and read a couple of books that have been sitting on my shelves collecting dust. One was, ¨A short guide to a happy life¨ by Anna Quindlen (Thanks Aunt Linda!!!) and the other was ¨10 things I wish I had known...¨By Maria Shriver (Thanks Mom!!!). I found some reminder of what is important, as well as inspiration and advice for the future. From here I moved on to my growing book of quotations, taken from various sources, that constitite nmany of the ideas that I find essential to life. They have, at times, been my light in the darkness, and are always an inspiration and reminder to DO something and BE something positive. Pair them with some good music, a slight attitude adjustment and the power of soul-baring writing, and you have the necessary instruction to being on the road to recovery. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING. I love you all.
Alissa
== A FEW QUOTES ==
1) In the silence of our hearts, we know that we are proving ourselves worthy of the miracle of life. When we realize each day, each hour, is part of the good fight We start to live with enthusiasm and pleasure. ¨The Alchemist...By Paulo Coelho¨
2) It´s the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting. ¨The Alchemist¨
3)When you really want to do something, it´s because that desire originated in the sould of the universe. ¨The Alchemist¨
4) Life isn´t about HOW MANY breaths you take, it´s about the moments that TAKE your breath AWAY. ¨Hitch¨
5) It´s about finding one´s place in the World - one that´s worth fighting for. ¨Walter Salles¨
6) Courage is walking through your fear with faith. ¨Unknown¨

==

Subtle longings for a life I once led,
fleeting moments of desire for what I can no longer possess;
What I once touched I can no longer feel...
just memories. nothing more. nothing less.
A life lived and not to be recreated...
Only reinvented.

Antigua

I know I always say this, but I have fallen in love, again. I´m not sure I want to leave Antigua, this place is amazing. Although, honestly I am wavering or not I could stay here long term. However, i really do plan on coming back for at least a week or two. First off, the van ride here (alone) was about 5-6 hours and gorgeous scenery the entire way...so mountainous! Driving through guatemala city was exciting, its full of Fast Food joints and people. I was suprised to see a Little Ceasars. I saw one hotel called ¨AutoHotel KAMA SUTRA¨ i didn´t even stop to ask what kind of hotel that was...I was nervous about finding a hotel, but my van dropped me right of at a Posada, kind of like a hostal thats costing me 8 dollars a night. It´s clean, the woman is friendly, and the best part is that it comes equipped with 5 PERFECT CATS!!!!!! My room is clean, with a large bed, a private toilet (which i haven´t used) and two peices of furniture. The shower, with warm water, is shared, but VERY clean. I´ve killed a few cockroahes, but i´m getting used to it (i did sleep with the light on however, i was nervous for various reasons..mostly because it´s my first real time alone, ever) and one of the kittens came in this afternnon to eat one of the dead ones from the corner! Spent about 5 hours walking the city today, this place is great, a mix of ancient colonial buildings, ruins, churches, and great shopping and restaurants. Walked aimlessly through a cool market and a GROCERY STORE today as well. Met 2 guys from California and Wisconsin, respectively (and am VERY disappointed to hear that Michigan is LOSING HORRIBLY this season) and may run into them and their friends-girlfriends in Copan next week.....WELL so much to write but 1 minute left.

BYE

Just a Thought from my ride through Guatemala City

== I´m sitting in traffic in Guatemala City, the place that i feared driving through, but i can´t stop thinking how great this is! It´s so full of energy, people, buildings, cars...life. A REAL CITY! Big cities always have this magnetic energy and they never really seem to vary from city to city or country to country...They´re big, busy, dirty, noisy, full of Fast food joints, car exhaust, more danger and most definately exciting. Within 15 miles I have seen 5 Mcdonalds (which deliver!), 3 Burger Kings, 2 fried chicken places, A pizza hut, a Domino´s and EVEN A LITTLE CEASER´s! Houses and hotels are piled right on top of each other... except here, they´re sitting on the top of a mountain (although you´d hardly know it when you´re in the city center). On the outskirts the housing is truly stacked, a shanty town, clinging to the edge of a steep and sharp mountain...these places are so densely packed and poor they looked like a greyish-brown wasteland spilling into and INSULTING the amazingly vibrant green that surrounds it. While i truly love my peaceful Copán, and other relaxed homey towns like it, I truly believe that part of my spirit, heart and soul will always long for and live in the City. ==