gringa in guatemala!

On Monday afternoon I set out to do two errands: exchange money and get a cell phone. Sounds easy enough? Two days later and about six hours of walking around town, I have only successfully exchanged money. My limited Spanish and knowledge of the town has allowed me to wander into 3 banks, all of which exchange US money at different hours of the day (and sometimes close randomly due to a holiday two days prior). When I did find a bank that would change money when I got there, it took over an hour of waiting in line. I've come to accept that what would have been a couple of hours of errands in the states, even without a car, is three afternoons worth here. My limited Spanish is humbling in town and I’m sure I was cause for a few laughs. Hopefully tomorrow will be my lucky day for buying a cellphone!

I've been putting off using the shower, but in consideration for my Spanish teacher with whom I spend five hours a day, I set that as my morning goal. I woke up at six in hopes that no one would hear me go outside to the bathhouse to figure out how the darn contraption works. I was in luck. The showers are electric here and have a whole bunch of electrical wires sticking out of the shower head, which I was instructed not to touch. I’m well aware that my days of hot showers are over, but what happened next was a surprise. The little hose coming out of the shower head (its purpose I’m not sure…) fell off complete and water sprayed around the entire bathroom. It was cold, but posed a larger problem of how to fix the shower without touching the shower head. I’m a problem solver, but not an electrician, and definitely not capable of much at such an early hour. After turning the water off, soap in hair, I was able to finagle the tube in place. The rest was a blur.
Shower 1 Anna 0. I should be clean for another 4 days, right?

Last night there was a 5.3 earthquake that shook Antigua! It was my first experience with earthquakes, and startled me quite a bit. My host family was really kind to explain what I needed to do. There are three volcanoes surrounding Antigua and one is active. I posted a picture of the volcano "Fuego" smoking from my run this morning! It is next to the volcano "Acatenango." The second picture is of the volcano "Agua." I hope to climb this one in the future as it is inactive!

Lastly, I was most surprised by the weather here. No one told it that I was coming and that it must be warm! I did my research and found out that summer is beginning here in Guatemala. What I failed to notice was that summer here means it’s sunny every day, but the coldest months of the year! It’s in the low fifties every night and there is no heat or insulation. It’s like camping (no dad, not the 3 star hotel kind…). So every night I put on my thickest socks, the one blue fleece I brought and hope for the best! It warms up in the afternoon, but I’m sure going to be happy for the Dominican heat!