Central America oh seven: back to xela

this week has been pretty amazing. i've been back in quetzaltenango, guatemala (xela), for the last week and a half and am kind of starting to settle in here. i switched families on sunday which was definitely the right thing to do. the first family lived so far away from everywhere that i was always faced with this sketchy 30 minute walk home. i'd bonded pretty hard with my little brother, but then after his 18th birthday party on wednesday night, the mom and her friend pulled all this strong evangelist stuff over everyone at the party and it felt pretty uncomfortable. now i'm with a family that loves to play scrabble in spanish. the food is amazing. the water is hot. i am happy. this week is the most hyped up week in guatemala, as it's the week of semana santa (easter). there are processions every day and some huge ones this weekend.

things feel awesome right now for the following reasons:

1. i love my spanish school and my teacher luis, he's so sarcastic and patient and so much is starting to click

2. received pretty amazing news from the grad schools i've applied to... am trying to make my final decision between pratt and columbia. leaning towards pratt. very psyched.

3. i live in the attic of this beautiful house that is covered with the grandmother's paintings. the room smells like dried eucalyptus and old books. last night it rained for an hour, really hard, and i just laid on my bed and listened to it crash on the roof. perfect.

4. there is a bidet in the bathroom.

5. and hot water and water pressure in the shower. at the same time.

6. i went to a dinner party on sunday night in the apartment of this couple from my school. it was a send-off party for this girl who's been here for months. i brought a bottle of wine and they had a piñata on the roof. it felt like sf and normal. for the first time here, like some sense of my life at home.

7. i gave myself a haircut with the scissors on my swiss army knife and didn't do such a bad job.

8. i've found this amazing mennonite bakery in xela that sells fresh yogurt and homemade granola. it's open every tuesday and friday and so far i've gone three times to stock up on heaven. ALSO found the best macaroni salad at this fried chicken place down the street from school.

9. recieved a cell phone from a departing friend. i am so definitely connected now.

10. i hadn't heard ANYTHING in my life until the other night when, on my walk home from the dinner party, an evangelist church was singing eye of the tiger.

here's a view from the roof of my school. you can barely see the tip of the volcano sticking up over the clouds. it's so beautiful here..

so this might be complicated to explain.

last week was the annual event of university students here called the huelga de dolores (literally means strike of the pains). historically, i believe the event has been this awesome forum for students to talk politics, criticize the faults of the government and generally assert their opinion on things. because of the pretty brutal police brutality and corruption in guatemala, the students have always covered their faces with these masks, which don't look unlike the kkk. pretty alarming on first sight, but it really doesn't have anything to do with that.

so there is this big parade of the students the week before semana santa, and this year was no exception. there were tons of floats and events and people dressed up like a million different things. also one of the traditions of this group is that they ask for donations to support the event from local businesses, the remainders of which they give to social projects in guatemala. however, businesses that don't donate are attacked with paint the night before the huelga. as evidenced below:

here are some mayan women in front of me at the event

a comparison between bush and rios montt.

saturday night, went to a soccer game! it was the xelaju team vs. the team from zacapa i believe. from what i understand, the team is owned by the city somewhat collectively, and almost everyone pays dues to the team so they can pay their players. xelaju won and it was a pretty fun game.

they don't allow bottles of any kind, don't even sell beer or water, so i was so thirsty and had to settle for pepsi in a bag. it seemed like there should have been a goldfish in it.