FW: Escribo de Guatemala!

Hi all! I wanted to send a quick email and let you all know that Iarrived in Guatemala, safe and sound. There were absolutely noproblems getting here. It was quite exhasting though. I took a redeye from Denver to Atlanta. Two hours to Denver, three to Atlanta, fivehour lay-over in Atlanta, 4 hours to Guatemala City, and then another 2 to Santa Lucia. We then got lost on the way to my host family's house....so in all, I was in a car, airplane, or airport for 24 hours. Yuck.

Guatemala, so far, has a lot of similarities to Nepal. Bad pollution, lots of people, bad roads, and open markets. It´s a lot more"American" than Nepal however. I even saw a Wendy's in GuatemalaCity (made me think of Mom) and my first taste of Guatemalan food was a McDonald's ice cream cone. Funny, huh? My first meal was at a fastfood place, Pollo Comparro, similar to KFC. Most of the food is similar to what we eat at home, which was suprising.

I went to the school yesterday and spent the day. It´s a very niceschool. I worry that I won´t have enough to do. The one person thatcould be my mentor speaks no English and I speak almost no Spanish.Hard combination. I´ll have to create my own work. But the kids are excited and I´m excited to be there. I hope I can help in some way.

The language barriar is so difficult. Oh, how I wish I knew Spanish!I´ll walk down the street and people talk to me and I have no ideawhat they say. I just have to say, "¡No hablo español!" or "¡No comprendo!" It´s frustrating.

I already miss Ben like crazy. The first day I was extremelyemotional. I couldn´t even think about Ben without crying. I musthave been going through some kind of culture shock. It´s gotten better. Nodoubt I´m defintiely excited about the day when I can see him again!

Things are good. I like Guatemala. It´s not nearly as hot as Ithought it would be. Very tolerable. From what Ben says, it might even behotter in Wyoming right now. It´s ´winter´ here....rains every day.

I send my love. I would love to hear back from you all!

Tiffany