Antigua! and humility

Our first weekend trip was to the colonial capital of the Spanish province of Guatemala. It's called Antigua now, and it's not the capital. It's close to the capital, but the most attractive feature is that it has held on to much of its colonial architecture and whatnot. Personally, I'm not sure what's so attractive about colonization, but tourists seem to love the town as it's the most popular tourist town in the country, or so I hear. We spent friday and saturday night in an uber nice hotel "Las Farolas" or " the streetlamps" ha anyway, it was like $120 USD (Q937) per night (paid for by our tuition), and needless to say a number of us thought it may have been money not used in the best way. Yes, we were very comfortable, and that was something we needed a bit at this point in time. I just think we could have done some pretty cool things staying somewhere cheaper. Maybe we could have hired a guide for all the sites we went to?

Anyway, I didn't get stuck on that. We took saturday to see four churches. It was an assignment (oh yeah, i'm getting school credit for being here, and its not just a vacation! *cough, cough* Kay :P). The assignment for all of us was to go to four sites on a list that Brian (our director) made and to write an essay about it. Mine was three pages hand-written, in pen, without scratch outs (incase you really wanted to know the details...) Anyway, I was happy to get to see a couple of monasteries and convents. Just so you know, these are all ruins. They're only tourist sites now, but many of the church buildings are still used. :)

First, Las Capuchinas was a convent a long time ago, but some cool things were that they only had 25 people in this convent, they couldn't have contact with the outside world, and their rooms were arranged around the outside of a circular building. It was amazing to imagine what that was like when they lived there. They slept on wood for a bed and each room had its own toilet. impressive, i know!

Next, we went to Casa Santo Domingo where my camera died before we could walk in the door. I was a bit sad, but by the time I left I was glad that I didn't waste any space on my memory card with this one. Sorry if that sounds sharp, but I was thoroughly unimpressed by how people had taken the ruins the biggest monastery in Guatemala and made it into a tourist trap of sorts. I commend the locals for luring stupid rich people to support the local economy, but as for me, the "museum" and ruins were not worth the Q40 I paid. I feel like I sound bitter. Don't take that from this. I think I'm just tired right now. Things were pretty great this weekend!

After that, we went to this little place for lunch. I don't remember the name. the grilled chicken sandwich was great as well as the hamburger, but most of all, the 'liquado' or smoothie was heavenly. I had two watermelon smoothies, and i could have sat there all day drinking more. It was too bad that we had to go see more sweet history. Ha! Anyway, after that we walked a few blocks more to the church San Francisco. The first saint of Central America is buried there, and you can be sure that there is a strong devotion to miracles that he has done(I'm not sure about the wording of this. I don't really understand it all, but they thank this saint for miracles in their lives. I feel like God is doing the miracles and this saint is interceding for them, but i could be wrong.) Anyway, his name is Brother Pedro de Betancourt. He started a hospital at the church there, and he was known for miraculous healings. Also, there was a monastery, a school, a music school, and something else cool that i forget. I had loads of fun exploring the ruins, so much so that i went back on Sunday. 

Finally, we walked across town to the monastery of La Merced. It has an amazing facade that you can see in one of my pictures. The highlight is that it has a huge fountain. Somebody said it may be the biggest in Central America. However it ranks, it's huge, maybe a 75ft by 75ft square. I'm not sure. 

Dinner was great at this place called 'La Peña.' We had live music (with pan flute included!) and a very exciting and excited server for the 23 of us. Later, I saw people 'pre-game' for the first time. This was the start of a couple of hours when I felt out of place. We ended up not being able to go out and salsa like we wanted and spent most of the time standing on the streets of Antigua. 

In the morning I went to mass at the Cathedral. I was quite happy that the priest was very clear and it was a smaller building. That started off my day well, although I remember every time I go to mass that i miss the Blood of Christ. They don't serve it here. I got to sit in the park for quite a while waiting for friends to meet me there so we all could meet up with Molly Roske, being that she's in training for the Peace Corps in a nearby town, 'San Antonio' de la agua fresco(si?). It was amazing to see her, and we ended up going to the ruins of San Francisco. It was fun to explore with her and Maria, another girl in the Peace Corps. I had to go back to the hotel early to pack my bag and went back out to meet up again to catch lunch with Molly. We left at 2pm on Sunday, and I only had 26 minutes left of my Audiobook "Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne. This has been a great comfort for me.

Four hours later, we got to Xela. I walked home, ate dinner and passed out. At 11pm, I woke up feeling bad that i needed to write my paper. Damn school! I got a bad headache and only wrote one page, then went back to sleep. Thus I absolutely could have fallen asleep in class on monday. 

Tomorrow is Inauguration day for Obama, and I'm pretty excited to hear his speech! I try, but it's not always easy to keep up on US news, and I'm kinda sad that I don't have more time to keep up on the "first 100 days" or whatever they like to call it. I do want to see what he'll do at the beginning here. May the Holy Spirit lead him in all he does.

If you got through all of that up there, congratulations! That is truly commendable. Here's a reflection of mine. I hope it helps to show a real pice of myself.

I have had a lot of fun here and i plan on having a lot more in the near future. At the same time i feel like I'm learning and growing a whole lot more than i'm having fun(not that they can't go together). Learning and growing isn't always fun. I've missed people more than I ever have since i've been away from home. College was fine, but now I have people (like you! probably) with whom I'm pretty close to. I find myself missing those people a lot more than I thought I would. A couple of people in particular keep coming to mind, and it's hard because it makes me feel like I don't want to be here. It's absolutely not easy living in spanish. I know that I'll "get over the hump" or whatever, but right now, I can't ignore that for the first time ever, it seems, i miss people back home, in my comfort zone. What am I doing about it? I'm trying to keep in contact through email, skype, etc. I'm also trying to start doing my volunteer work as soon as I can because I feel like it will be a place that I can invest myself and give and get a lot. I guess everyone gets homesick at one time or another, and i thought i was immune. it's nice to come back to earth. :) 

In the same vein of trying to find some sense of comfort, my desire to be dating returns after the end of last semester where I didn't feel comfortable trying to start anything since I was leaving. Oh the places you take me, Lord! 

wondering how different things will be after all of this...

I love you all very much!!! I'd really like to hear from some people. ;) :)

My favorite quote recently:

"Don't call us saints. We don't want to be dismissed that easily!" -Dorothy Day

I feel the same