A New Beginning

Blog Objective: Updates for friends and family not in Guatemala

Time in Guatemala: 10 days
Weather: Ideal
Occupation Status: unemployed, armed with suggestions and referrals
Living Situation: Uxlabil EcoSuites hotel
Mental Status: Oscilating between overwhelmed and bored
Misc: No photos yet. Still getting acquainted with the area, and waiting for a day without rain for photos.

My flight was uneventful except that my carry-on backpack was filled with heavy items to maximize my checked baggage utility. I was carrying about 36 pounds on my back in addition to my "personal item" (stuffed full with books and electronics). Then I also had my camera equipment in another bag (hurray TSA allows a camera bag in addition to your 1 carry-on and 1 personal item) Needless to say I was carrying almost 50 pounds...fun standing in the int'l security line at LAX for an hour.

I had a red-eye flight that landed at 7 am. Breakfast was french toast with strawberry sauce. Not bad compared to the rice or noodle & unidentifiable meat options on Asian international flights. Getting 2 bike boxes and 4 suitcases, each weighing 50 pounds, off the baggage claim and through customs was lots of fun. Heavy lifting+humidty=stinky Ana.

The weather. Is. Perfect. The temperature is always somewhere within the range of refreshingly cool and comfortably warm with a 50% chance of rain. One day it rained for 12 hours. Others it doesn't rain at all, but the clouds always make me itch to pull out my camera.

I'm still getting used to the humidity. The other day I left a package of cookies open overnight and in the morning they were soft. In Utah that would require a tight seal and a few pieces of very moist bread. My lotion supply will last at least 4 times as long here as in Utah, and I'm not sure why hair conditioner is even available to purchase.

I live about a mile from a small grocery store and the Oakland mall (with stores like Columbia, Hugo Boss, North Face, etc) I bought a pint of strawberries at the store for 5.5Q which is less than 70 cents. And they tasted even better than the ones I anxiously await from my mom's garden each July.

Since we're moving out of this hotel soon, I don't want to unpack all my kitchenwares. So we eat out quite a bit, often with people from the University. We've had tapas a few times, tacos or fajitas several times. The food is quite good. But nothing better than culinary scene in downtown Salt Lake. Supposedly the culinary capital is Antigua, and we want to go there to buy some hand-carved furniture so perhaps we'll try a restaurant there very soon.

Funny anecdote: The mall is very americanized and has a food court with Sbarros, McDonald's, Quiznos, and several local-cuisine places. Each time I have been through the food court one restaurant ALWAYS has a line. Taco Bell. I'm dying to find out how to make Pepian, Tamales negros, Chichirones, and these people are lining up for nachos made with cheese from a can. Quien sabe...

Upcoming adventures and goals: visit Quetzaltenango this weekend, move into our apartment next week, start attending my Vegetarian cooking class Thursday, have coffee with the Director of Caputo's Children's Fund, and visit US Aid and the Colegio Maya (school) to ask about work

I think I'll write once a week. Miss you all!! I'm still fairly isolated here, so if you read this, I'd love to have a reply :)

And will someone in the states tell me if you see the date of this post in Spanish or English?