La Vida es Loco!

I`m ALIVE.

PULGAS.

Tengo Pulgas. I have fleas.

Yepp. I have fleas. Well, not so much have them as fleas don´t actually habitate on humans because we don´t have enough fur...but, they attacked. And thats to put it lightly.

Today I counted. My right hand ( this includes front and back and very upper wrist ).
I have 45 bites on my right hand.
And, if you continue to count up my arm...just a couple inches more, you´ll count another 20. And this is only one arm!

Arms, legs, stomach, neck, face. Covered.
I am a dirty, filthy, itchy, swolen mess.

Guatemala has given me:
Food poisoning.
Fungus.
Fevers.
Flus.
Fleas.

what next....



Ready to fly home. Only three more days.

Your friendly Guatmalan street-animal,
Vicki

SEMUC CHAMPEY

Que ondo amigos-

I am a bit late, as is my style, on the update from my past weekend which took me to Semuc Champey. Semuc is known as the prettiest place in all of Guatemala....It´a National Park, river with limestone pools.

You can swim, tube and cave- all of which are amazing. But, as I´m looking back in my journal...I noticed that I completely under-rated Semuc Champey after my first night there. Whoops.

Our first day was spent in the limestone pools of beautiful turqouis water. Now, I´m warning you that I am a brat before I go into my speil. I have been spoiled by the hot springs, and the turqouis waters of Southern Thailand...nothing can really compare and therefore I wasn´t all that impressed with Semuc Champey ( to begin with ). But then.....we went caving:

* The whole gang inside the caves*


Caving. Indian Jones Style. By far the coolest thing I ever done....so far. The caves were pitch dark so we all held onto hand dipped candles to light our way. What made this extra exciting is as one is continuing on in the cave- you begin by walking around on the rocks, then you find yourself wading in the water untill suddenly it is too deep to stand and you are swimming ( with one hand holding the candle high enough to light your way ). Then to keep exploring, you have to climb up rickety ladders that are barely holding onto the rocks, crawl through tight places, and even climb up a waterfall- with only a rope and your body weight. It was exhilarating!

It is somewhat amazing that we all survived. haha...just a joke.

I find myself wondering: Where does my anxiety go when I leave the U.S.? I must leave it behind tucked away...i wish it would stay there.

After caving, we took a relaxing tube ride down the river right back to our hotel.

* El mirador de todo del Semuc Champey*

Semuc is pretty far out there. From Xela we first had to take a 10 hour shuttle to Coban, ...and we stayed in what is called the Cloud Forest-Which is exactly as it sounds. You are high enough in the mountains that when you look down amoung them, clouds seem to me growing right out of the valleys. Its beautiful.

The following day, it took us another 3 hours to get to Lanquin, closest town to Semuc, and then we had to leave our shuttle behind...all pile into the back of a pickup truck ( 15 people standing with our backpacks ) for a 45 minute very windy and VERY bumpy ride that took us down futher into the valley to reach our hotel near the park. The hotel had electricity for only 3 hours per day, 6-9 PM. Lights out.

By the end of the weekend exploring and sleeping in the rainforest, I was eaten alive and completely bruised and cut up from the caves. I´d never hesitate to do it again, completely worth it.

Now I am off on one last adventure. It is my last weekend here before I return home. It is very sad, but i am starting to feel ready. Heading off to Lake Atitlan, surrounded by volanoes in just a few hours.

See you all soon,

Vicki

Fue un exito!

Ayer fue le noche de Trivia yyyyyy fue un exito!

( Yesturday was Trivia Night annndddd it was a success! )

*Myself and Zach- Your Mcees for the evening.*

So, at this very moment I couldn´t be more proud.

Extatic, bouncing in my seat with excitment proud.

Last night, Wednesday night, I commenced the very first Trivia Night in Xela, to benefit Trama Textiles. I´ve been working so hard to get this going...finding the right venue, promoting the event, and just general organizing and researching questions. After all my effort, the night was a blast....I honestly couldn´t have asked for it to go any better. We filled the bar...30 people, about 9 teams...and even had some locals!... Oh, and the locals WON! Their team name was the Rabbit Masacre....quite creative as well. haha.

We had a grand prize donated by another local pub ( Who call themselves Beer and Pool. Gosh, i love it here), free pizza and beer- not to shabby! We charged 10Q to play, just over a dollar...which isn´t much...but in Guatemala terms, we made about 40 dollars in one evening, which is an amazing amount! Especially considering we only had about 5Q in our account before hand. Trivia consisted of 5 categories, being: International current events, Michael Jackson, Monsters, Basic Sports and Leisure, and General Music Knowledge. I also threw in a few random´Shot Questions´ in between rounds, taking after Trivia Nights in Connecticut by Radio104. Everything went so well that we can´t wait to do it again next week...even if we get half the amount of people, I´d be happy.

A complete success!

Estoy Muy Feliz!!! Vida es bueno.

As for myself, I´m taking off tomorrow morning for the weekend....off to Semuc Champey. Yes, I decided to go after much debating. Throwing my money out the window and just enjoying it. It´s said to be the prettiest place in all of Guatemala...and I get to swim in waterfalls, tube down the river and splunk in some caves. ha. Needless to say, its a trip right up my ally and I can´t wait....why was I thinking of not going??

Mas historias cuando regresso.

Super Chivos!

NEWS FLASH:
Anoche, Xelaju tomo la victoria y ahora estan en la Finals- de futbol, por supesto. En caso tu no sabes, Super Chivo es el apodo de Xuleju.

Chivo is a Goat.

So, yes. Last night was the final game of the semi-finals of football of Guatemala. The game toom place here in Xela. Let me tell you, there´s not much more exciting that one can experience. They weren´t deemed to win this game beforehand because they did so poorly against the same team earlier this week. But, 2-0...two over times, and it took Penalty kicks to win the game. Then the entire city broke out into celebration. You would have thought the Red Sox had wn the World Series after 80 years...ha. Hundreds of people filled Central Park and the partying didn´t stop until the morning. A very unique experience...and now we have Saturday to look forward to.

The Final game of the finals is taking place here in Xela this weekend. Which has me contemplating my travel plans...because, can I really miss it???
HELP ME DECIDE!
Semuc Champey o Finals de futbol???

Also, i´m looking for a new place to live. I found out that I could get an apartment for less than a hundred dollars a month- two bedroom place- right next to Central Park. I´ve decided I´m retiring in Central America. I will also sell chocalate dipped fruit out of my window. In ten years time, this is where you will find me.

K, Must run- we´ve been busy celebrating Aaron- my new roomies- birthday. We had McFlurries instead of cake and filled his with 24 birthday candles and set them ablaze in McDonalds. Quite the perfect celebratory act I think. OH, and Dad will be proud....I taught the crew how to play dice and It´s a Hit!

Amo a todo,
Vicki

Tambien, Necesito dicer ´Feliz Dia de Madres´a todo las madres!!!

( Today is Mother´s Day at Home, but Tomorrow is Mother´s day here.)

( Celebrate Twice!)

Caminata

Este es mi caminata a casa de escuela:

* Keep right at Ugly Peach Statue...if that´s what you would call it... *

* Turn Left at Vulgar Graffiti in English *

* Turn left at Blue Garage *

HOME

La Historia de Antigua

¡Hola todo el mundo!


I haven´t been healthy since the day I got here. I hope it doesn´t mean anything more than I just have shitty luck...

I spent a lovely weekend at Monterrico Beach, killing my flu with the sun and attempting to escape Bed Bugs. Killing the flu was a sucess, bed bugs- not so much.
Monterrico is about 8 hours away, on chicken bus, shuttle, and however else you want to travel- up and around nasceating roads. I bet it would only take a few hours if it wasn´t for all the volcanoes and mountains that stand in our way. Anywho..since it´s so far, we decided to take the 5 hours trip to Antigua first and spend a night there. I had been told by many that it was a city worth visiting....I disliked it. A lot.
Antigua.
Gringo central.
If you ever have an urge to want to say you´ve been to Guatemala, but actually don´t want to come to Guatemala- then Antigua is the place for you. The whole city is a show for rich European travelers...the culture has been sucked right out of it. I honestly felt like I had left Guatmala and landed in another country....closer to Scandinavia. For some, this may be the perfect place...but when I come to live in a place I want to experience it´s people and its culture in its true form and there wasn´t a drop of it in Antigua. Guatemala is a very poor country, rich in Mayan culture and its poverty speaks through it´s people...even in the cities, but Antigua is a different story. It´s filled with over prices Steak Houses and Cuban Cigar shops, Art Galleries and High-end Jewlery stores....you can even find a Pizza-hut like shop on just about every corner and coffee close to that of Starbucks.
Ugh, even telling you about this right now just makes me shake my head. It´s shameful. Most of the Europeans who travel there fly right into the Antigua airport-which you pay twice as much for-and leave from there as well. It makes me sad to think that Antigua is all of Guatemala that some people experience. The real story is everywhere else, and its soooo much better!

I had originally thought about studying in Antigua for a week, since many students go to study there...but, One afternoon was more than enough.

Anyways, the point of this run-off story was that I got eaten alive in Antigua as well.
Estoy siendo comida viva.
Don´t stay at the Black Cat. They may offer a mean breakfast, but you´ll be breakfast for about a dozen bed bugs first. Then, I arrive back home in Xela (thankfully)...finally having kicked all my illnessed and I get FOOD POISONING. Turns out I should stay away from the Milk....