Postcards from Guatemala -- 11 July 2008

Volcan Pacaya as seen from the town of Antigua




Lava flow on Volcan Pacaya



SO FRUSTRATED. i haven´t been to a computer in a week, partly because i spent so much money on the pacaya trip and felt guilty spending more on internet, and partly because english classes are running me ragged. so today i finally get into an internet cafe, only to have a browser that will allow me to read everything in my yahoo inbox, but forward, reply to, or compose NOTHING.

ed, you are a hot punk kid in your mohawk. work it. i´m choosing not to try to watch sam´s video, because it will take up so much of my charged-by-the-minute time to load, but i plan on seeing it when i get home.

i have about 12 minutes left, after reading the 40 or so messages i´ve gotten this week, so i´ll give you some quick news, and let´s plan to talk via skype tomorrow, at... oh... 10 AM my time. good? i realize that this is such short notice that you guys might have other plans, and not be home, so i´ll just plan on going to a DIFFERENT internet cafe that time tomorrow, and then if you guys don´t answer my skype call, at least i´ll be able to compose in my yahoo account. and respond to people.

i got really sick yesterday. i have yet to have stomach problems of any kind whatsoever, but somehow yesterday my nose was running like crazy, and just walking home made me incredibly tired. i woke up in the middle of the night and i could feel that my skin was hot, but it was that prickly kind of sensitive feeling that made me feel cold anyway. so... my classes today weren´t so hot. luckily, i think my students forgave me because it WAS a friday, and because we played hangman. what´s not to like? and i think i´m getting better again, because i had energy to carry my seven pounds of laundry to a lavanderia about 5 or 10 minutes away from my house. it´s kind of gross that i haven´t done laundry in almost exactly a month, but it´s also a source of some kind of grungy pride that i´ve stretched my wardrobe this long.
my new room in the alonzo´s house had almost no place to put clothes when i moved into it, so i made my suitcase into a shelf, and stacked things on a couple of plastic chairs. today, rosa brought me a ¨mueblecito¨ to put some of the stuff in instead. yay :)

i went today to talk to the christian spanish academy people about maybe taking a week of 4-hour classes... i´m lucky, because the only opening they have is exactly the kind i want (half days, in the afternoon). i´m a little concerned because it costs exactly twice as much as the cheapest options in town, but i was pretty impressed by what i heard from the woman to whom i talked today. i think they know what they´re doing, so i think i´m going to go ahead and register. and hope to be feeling more sprightly by monday.

Volcano danger warning poster - showing what to do during an eruption, and depicting, front and center, a woman praying

i have a new housemate (the one whose arrival necessitated my room switch). he´s a swiss member of the church, 19, here for almost the entire rest of my stay. he has some pretty weird ideas about being here, like he´s planning on climbing volcan agua tomorrow, without a government permit, or a licensed guide (or any kind of guide, because no guide in town wants to risk the security conditions right now... there´s been a surge in robberies and assaults on climbing teams), or the HIGHLY recommended armed escort. i don´t know if he knows that volcan agua is often a multiple-day climb...

OK, OUT OF TIME!!! LOVE YOU! skype or longer email tomorrow!!!

besos! abrazos!

RUTH