After returning from Guatemala we had a lot of work to get done! We painted two murals, and had a cultural event with two dance performances. One was a traditional Salvadorian dance group that is in the high school near where we live, and the other was by a more hip hop dance group that is led by one of Jess and Sandra's students!

These are some pictures of the murals (more to come). The little boy is Alfredo, and he is our next door neighbor. I included that goat because that old fart would walk into our house (on more than one occasion) and eat our tortillas... or our bread.. really anything edible we had left out.

TIKAL!

Tikal is a really famous site for Mayan Ruins. It is a relatively small area with larger than life structures. The view off of the ruins is absolutely spectacular, and the forest is filled with life. We saw monkeys and toucans. Apparently there are also jaguars that live there, but we didn't actually see one. The steps you see are the most intense I have ever been on. More like a ladder and really bad for people with a fear of heights... And! I made a friend! Apparently he made his clothing, and was very nice to me! Hooray for interesting outfits!

So, in Guatemala! Well, we hiked up an active volcano... I told you how I poked LAVA... but now you can actually see the lava and how close we were to it.. pretty cool. It rained both on the way up and down.. It got soooooo cold! It was funny though, because the volcano acted like an oven and dried off all of our clothes.. only for them to become completely drenched again on the way down.. The smoking mountain you see is actually Pacaya, the very volcano we hiked! Next we have a really beautiful cathedral in Antigua, and there is a huuuuuuge fountain attached to it!

Back hooooome!

Ok! I am back in Richmond, Virginia! Here are some photos that I have yet to post because of not having a computer.. :)! The first one is me in my hammock, it is a pretty nice view of the room I stayed in. The one that is above is all the kids making pinatas in Sonia's class. They all turned out really beautifully! Next two were taken at this beautiful look out, and the land you see is Nicaragua. Pretty cool. Last but not least is a demonstration that I did do work! You can see me taking Alfredo's blood pressure. Hooray for nursing skills!

Hooooray!

Yo! I leave Guatemala tonight and will arrive in San Salvador sometime tomorrow afternoon! In Guatemala we climbed an active volcano named Pacaya, (where I poked red hot lava with a stick), I went to see the most famous Mayan ruins in Tical, where I took some sweet photos, climbed on ruins, saw monkeys, tucans, and a guy dressed in indigenous wear... We also went around a colonial town, did some shopping, I got the most beautiful quilt!

There is supposed to be the Saint's day festivals going on in San Salvador when we arrive! So excited!

So, when I was in Tikal I did a random rubbing from the Mayan Calender and apparently it is the sign that represents me. Weird. .. does this sound like me?


http://www.xzone.com.au/maya/personality.php?YEAR=1987&MONTH=9&DAY=22

GUATEMALA

Next weeek = Guatemala! We are going to colonial towns and ruins.... pretty exciting!

Okie dokie, well! We have been working, traveling, and having a lot of fun.




Sandra put make up on me.. then I took glamor shots. .... after deciding that my face looked way too fancy to be wearing shorts and a tee shirt, so I changed to my fancy dress. :)









We went to this really beautiful place up in a mountain which had an amazing view. El Salvador is yet very touristy so.. there aren't parks and places like that to hang out in. We were on top of a water storage place... it rocked.

The woman you see above made her house out of plastic bottles. The floors are all bottle caps. We stopped by her house on our way to pick up Mike and Sonia. at the airport, and she invited us in and talked to us for a couple of minutes. Pretty sweet.

Mike and Sonia are from Houston. Awesome people, Sonia is teaching Spanish and English and Mike is helping her and Oscar. More soon!