Its 2008!!!! And camping...

Well I rang in the new year Guatemalan style. Our gigantic group of gringo Peace Corps volunteers got all dressed up and went out on the town. There was music, there was dancing, there was a countdown en español, there were late night street tacos, and boy were there firecrackers. Ear shattering firecrackers, to be exact. The streets were completely littered this morning with all the debries. I received various text messages from various Guatemalans wishing me a happy new year and God blessing me in 2008.

We all had a lazy morning and went out to breakfast and then sat by the lake for a few hours. I went swimming and it was absolutely delightful. I just had to declare how much I loved life. The water is super blue and clear and quite chilly at first but so refreshing once you get used to it and makes a nice contrast to the heat of the day. Theres nothing like floating on your back in a lake surrounded by volcanoes. Did I mention that the lake is surrounded by really cool volcanoes? I could have sat there all day taking it all in, but my burning skin made me go take refuge from the sun. I did a bit of poking around and shopping. I bought a gorgeous brightly colored table cloth for my dining room table that will add some color to the gray box that I live in. I also got a napkin holder for the family that lives below me and some worry dolls for all the kids. The town is such an interesting mix of wide eyed foreign tourists arriving by the vanful every 15 minutes, Guatemalan tourists from the bigger cities, and Guatemalan locals wearing the traditional clothing of brightly colored skirts and tops. Every day that I´m here I´m still struck by the diversity of the country and how much it changes with such little distance.

So back tracking a bit, I forgot to write about when I went camping in the mountains above El Chol before Christmas. I went with a group of about 12 Guatemalans from my town to spend the night. We brought food and cooked up there after collecting a ton of firewood to last us all night. We roasted marshmallows and heated up tortillas, chicken and beans on our make shift grill that was really the shelf of an old refridgerator. Someone brought a guitar and we sang and a bunch of them knew more lyrics of classic songs in English than I did such as Dust in the Wind and Tears in Heaven. I was pretty impressed. Theres nothing like a campfire and a guitar to bond with people and I had a great time getting to know everyone. There was a really full moon and we hardly needed flashlights to see because it was so bright. From up there you can see the lights of Guatemala City the capital. Its crazy that its so close (90 km) yet feels soooo far. It was so cute because when I told the señora from my house that I was going camping, she prepared me a bunch of tamale like things to take with me. It was very thoughtful and so cute that she was worried that I would be hungry. I woke up at sunrise and snapped a few pictures of the sun coming up with the volcanoes.

Okay, that´s all for now...I´m sure I´ve forgotten tons of details. Its really hard trying to capture the essence of being in a blog. Kind of like trying to take pictures of a sunset...it just never does it justice. But I´m doing very well, missing everyone, and wishing you all a very happy new year!