"Guate Guate Guate"

Every weekday here is spent at La Union from 8am-12pm studying Spanish. During the twenty(ish) minute walk there, me and my fellow Americans will almost inevitably hear the daily cry: "Guate Guate Guate!", which is an indication by the workers of Chicken Buses (see picture below) that they're headed to Guatemala City, the capital city of the country. This past weekend our group headed to the infamous city to check out some of the sights.

We checked into the Barcelo Hotel after the 30 minute drive to the city and were pleasantly surprised by the grandeur of the place (view from our room below). After working my way out of the glorious bed that I had settled into, our group spent the afternoon at the Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. On display were all sorts of ancient Mayan artifacts that are estimated to be more than 3,000 years old. That in itself was a bit hard to comprehend. When I consider what the world was like in the early 1900s, it is difficult to picture even with history books, artifacts, and other visual aids. To touch and see stone artwork from 1,500 BC was really something. Many of the artifacts were taken from the ancient city of Tikal, a place in the northern part of the country that I'm extremely excited to visit later in the semester. 

Another cool stop we made while in the city was at the National Palace. It was constructed by a Guatemalan dictator in the early 1940s and now operates primarily as a museum. Below is a picture of our group inside the a courtyard in the palace (with  Libby, Paul's assistant, and without Sydney). During the tour of the museum, and throughout discussions in our classes, it has been interesting to learn of Guatemala's conflict-filled history. I could probably write quite a bit reflecting on the topic as I'm continuing to learn about this country's history, but I'll spare you for now. (Next week we're going to a place in Guatemala City that is still uncovering the remains of victims of the civil war, and I'll probably have some ramblings on the topic then.)

Another cool experience was attending Casa De Dios on Sunday morning. It was my first time attending a Latino mega-church. The entire service was in Spanish, although there were headsets for the Spanish rookies like me. If the beautiful building doesn't make you interested in visiting, the pastor's name will (Cash Luna). 

As for now, Spanish classes are continuing to challenge me. Although I'm beginning to comprehend much more than I was originally, it turns out that Guatemalans like to speak incredibly rapidly. I mean, probably no more so than Americans when speaking English. But I'm just now realizing that my teacher has been talking to me as I might speak with a 3-year-old. Ha, it's a process. I'm still enjoying it and starting to talk with some of the people at the school more. There really are some awesome people working there, and each week brings new students from all over the world. 

Thanks for reading and stay classy. 

One of the quaintly decorated Chicken Buses

 Some important Japanese people were in town for the weekend, so we had lots of soldiers hanging around the outside of our hotel. 

Grabbed this picture as we walked into church (Casa de Dio)

Inside the museum; you can see several of the stone tablets on display

Inside the National Palace

 Inside a courtyard in the National Palace

Good looking Spring Arborians

 Austin is a regular Guatemalan patriot.

This was taken directly following a bad spill Austin's camera took. RIP,

By the way, one of the ways that I was able to pay for this semester was through something called the Gilman Scholarship. It's available to hundreds of students every year who are studying abroad. If you know someone studying abroad in the future, make sure they check it out.  http://www.iie.org/programs/gilman-scholarship-program