dia de los muertos

so much to write and so little time on the internet. but i´m pretty sure there are worried souls out there who might want to know that i am still alive. :)

so to catch people up, i finished up my two months at the school and had a long, emotional goodbye on thursday. i´ve grown to make good friends and family at the school and in the community, so i´m already planning the next time i can get back to visit them. i´ve learned a lot of spanish, but more than that i´ve made good friends with the teachers and the families here. i recommend it to anyone who´s looking to find a little community to make a home in in guatemala... :)

but finishing time at the school means that i´ve moved into my final leg of my 3 months. on friday i met up with Mark Forsberg, an Ole in the Peace Corps, in Huehuetenango. he and i took off saturday for Todos Santos to watch the famous drunken horse racing to celebrate Dia de los Muertos. it´s a big deal, and it is legitimately crazy. it´s tucked way up in the hills and thus the 24 hours we spent getting there, spending the night, and getting back was exhausting, but well worth it. i hope to attach a couple photos. it was an adventure to get back because there weren´t any buses leaving yesterday, just pickups. so we were bien muhado (REALLY wet) and very tired. still, it was well worth. Day of the Dead is a big deal here and everyone flocks to cementarios to celebrate, dance, eat food, and decorate their family tombs. extremely interesting, and i was glad to have been here to experience it.

it´s been a big change to switch from my impoverished little community to a bigger city with mark, where he and i can speak english all day if we want. he reintroduced me to tv via the treasure that is his laptop. our weekend in todos santos was with about 80 other peace corps volunteers which was also crazy. but it´s been a good few days, and i think will be a good way to transition back to the busy world of the US.

i´m looking forward to using spanish at work, not living out of bags anymore, and having a bed that doesn´t give me pain, but it´ll be sad to leave this country. who wants to join me when i come back... next year?