chicken bus adventures

At a Super Chivos futbol game with some of the girls I work with.

I read something the other day that said your work expands to the amount of time that you have. If you have a week to do a project, it will take you a week to do it. If you have half a day to do the same project, you will get it done in half a day.

With this being said, I believe that the longer you anticipate something, the excitement grows with each passing day. We have Semana Santa (Holy week that serves as spring break) in a week and a half. I feel like I have been waking up each morning counting the days until I get 9 days of rest and relaxation with my dad, step mom, and some wonderful friends. I am absolutely ready to hit the beach and explore the underwater world while receiving my certification in scuba diving. We are going to Roaton Honduras for the week of March 15-22. I am very excited about this time!

Since I last wrote, we had our staff retreat. We went to this place called Irtra. It is paid for by the Guatemalans with some of their tax money. It was beautiful! It is a complex that includes a water park, a theme park and one of the nicest resorts I have ever been to! The resort consisted of four different hotels with three pools, a workout complex, golfito (miniture golf), boliche, (bowling), tennis courts and many restaurants! There were peacocks, parrots, and wonderful landscaping.

The next weekend I was all by myself all weekend because the rest of my friends were in Antigua at a missions conference. I wasn’t able to go because I got here in January and the hotel was already full. I spend the weekend exploring and expanding my knowledge for this area. On Friday, I went to one of my kids birthday parties. Let me tell you this, the Guatemalan culture knows how to throw a party! There were horses, a huge piñata, a trampoline, and a moon bounce. The girl who was turning five, had a three tier ‘my little pony’ cake. It was quite a production! On Saturday, I got up and decided I was in need of an adventure. I looked in my guidebook and found a little town that sounded interesting: Momostenago. The town is known for the wool products that it makes. I was aware that the market days were Sunday and Wednesday but I figured I would still be able to get some cool stuff. I headed to the terminal (which I had never been to) packed on a micro bus. I will explain more about a micro in a later post…they are pretty entertaining! They let me off at a market that is known for pickpockets so I took my backpack and made it a front pack. As I was wondering through the market, I realized that I had no idea where the buses were. After cruising around for 15 minutes, I decided that I would just go home and call it a short lived adventure. I was heading out and passed a few buses and the drivers said, “Donde?” I replied and they pointed me in the right direction. When I arrived in the real terminal that was full of brightly colored chicken buses, I found someone who took me to the Momos bus. I boarded the bus and was off! When the attendant came by to collect our fairs, he asked me where I was going and I told him. He informed me that the bus I was on wasn’t going to Momos, it was going somewhere else! He told me I could go to San Franciso Los Altos and wait for another bus there. I agreed but was a little nervous about switching buses. They let me off in SF and I stood on the side of the road for 20 minutes waiting for the next bus to come by. Finally, a bus came that was going to Momos and I boarded with enthusiasm! Once I arrived, I walked around and figured out that there wasn’t much for me to see there ☹. I consulted my guide book and it said that I should walk to the edge of town and see ‘Los Riscos’ so I went. They were pumice formations that were caused by erosion. They were kind of cool but not cool enough for a 2 ½ hour bus ride! I walked back to town and caught the next bus out of town. I made sure it was a direct bus to Xela. I had to wait 30 minutes for it to leave and a group of 4 teenage boys came and sat next to me and tried to talk to me. They got a kick out of my lack of Spanish! Needless to say, it was an eventful day but I was very happy to get back to Xela!

Sunday, I got up and went to the Artesian Fair that is in town once a month. I got the most beautiful quilt that is made out of the dresses that the indigenous women wear.

Other than that, things are going well. We finish up our quarter next week. It amazes me that I have been teaching for ten weeks! I can hardly believe that my time here is half way over. The decision of whether or not to return in hanging in the air and I will decide by the end of March! I will keep all of you informed!

Hope you all are doing well!

Liz

Playlist:
Not Counting You by Garth Brooks
Milk and Cereal by ___________
That’s Just the Way it is by ___________
No Woman No Cry by Bob Marley
Fat Bottom Girl by Kevin Fowler
La Musica en mi by High School Musical (Spanish version)
Crashing Down by Matt Kearney
Be Near by Shane and Shane
Wrong Side of Town by Pat Green
Love Will Tear us Apart by Joy Division
I’m Slowly Turning into You by The White Stripes
Sleeping to Dream by Jason Mraz
Lifellight by Kelsey Weston
Austin by Blake Shelton
Red High Heels by Kelli Pickler
Enchantment by Corinne Baily Rae
Fireworks by the Neighborhood