1/3 of the way finished?

Ummm, yikes. it´s almost been a month since my last post. In that time period however I haven´t strayed too much from where I am, although a lot of that has more to do with the fact that I was in my spanish school and not quite volunteering just yet.

What´s weird though is that I feel that I´ve met so many people from all over the world that come and go through here within the last month. It is simultaneously both an interesting and saddening feeling to meet and become friends with someone for a week or so and then part ways, probably to literally never see them again. It is a strange cycle that I still can´t quite get over every time it happens. Additionally it doesn´t help that the general caliber of folks you meet during such travels tend to be, well for lack of a better discription, pretty freakin´chill. There´s something to be said about the general mentally that most people have while trekking across countries - it´s a strange, yet warm combination of friendliness, openess, and laid-back attitude that comes by much more rarely back home, i feel. It´s truly a shame because I realized that if I met these people under any other circumstances, i could totally see myself being pretty good friends with them back at home, whether in school, work, etc. but i digress.

In other news, I finished my spanish schooling last friday; I´m feeling okay about my ability to spit out the language. I guess the real test will begin when I finally have to leave Xela next sunday for my first gig in a clinic in a small town called Zapote. I feel like I´ve learned so damn much already and yet I am constantly reminded during my daily interactions at the hospital, exactly how little i actually know. It´s incredibly frustrating and humbling, but I realized that I must to continue to try over and over again and I cannot give up, simply because I have no choice otherwise. There is absolutely no easy way to do this; there is always a price to pay to do anything that is worthwhile in life. the question is then, is it worth it? absolutely. especially if I can find the answers to the questions I am searching for here.

Spanish is breaking my balls.

I can't believe I've only been here for almost 72 hours. I feel like I've already seen, done, and learned so much in such a ridiculous short time period. Quetzaltenango, or Xela, is fairly nice. Even though it's the 2nd largest city in guatemala, it provides an interesting sensation of being in a smaller town simply because everything is so bunched together and makes it impossible to see beyond a few blocks in front of you. I also like how at this point I can get to almost anywhere by foot, rather than by bus. With regards to the weather, it is uncomfortably similar to Seattle - everyday here has had it´s equal alternating share of clear blue skies and remarkably intermitent and wild rain showers. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that we´re up 7,000 feet up in the mountains. The people are also less threatening than they were hyped up to be but then again i am ridiculously ripped so maybe they´re more scared of me than I am of them. the black/white tank tops i brought may or may not be factoring into this equation. however, i don´t exactly speak spanish right now to determine conclusively, so who really knows. quien es saber!

Additionally, after a long and arduous process on sunday I finally decided which spanish school to attend for the following weeks. And by long and ardous process I really mean I spent about 5 minutes checking out the secretaries of various schools and chose the one that had the hottest, er, smartest girls.

I´m kidding, btw. Kind of.

Another interesting note is that I´ve so many austrialians here, and maybe just 2 americans in comparison. what the f, mate? I never would have guessed that central america was such an aussie hotspot; they´re all pretty much doing the same crazy expedition from mexico to south america. they´ve all proven to be fairly friendly of course, and allegedly we´re going out for a night on the town, tonight. we´ll see if that happens. regardless, after class tomorrow we´re taking a 2 hr bike ride up the hills to a hot springs area as part of our weekly school activities, so I´m pretty stoked. I am definitely ok with getting my relax on. Not to mention this weekend is apparently La Feria de Guatemala, or the guatemalan independence day, so there´s even more incentive to be pumped about my time in this country. fuck yea.

anyways, I think i´m going to be late for dinner with my host family so I need to peace out, kids. nos vamos mas tardes.

Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.

I made it.