I wish you'd see yourself as beautiful as I see you.

Why can't you see yourself as beautiful as I see you?

We took a trip to the coast a couple of days ago. The trip started out pretty bad, but turned out to be pretty good. We woke up later than we were supposed to, so we left later than scheduled. When we finally left, we were about halfway out before my uncle realized that he didn't have the proper documentation to be driving in Guatemala. After going back to get his papers, we were on the road for about twenty minutes, hit a pot hole, and one of the tire axles broke. We drove back to town ridiculously slow to try and get it fixed. After a couple hours we got it fixed and were back on our way.

The car broke down on our way to the coast.

 Little bridges through broken windshields.

 No car seats here.

Last Sunday was pretty intense. Went to my first motocross race ever. It was hot. Really hot. I went with a couple cousins, an aunt, an uncle and a whole bunch of friends. After getting completely covered in dirt, eating delicious food, barely watching the races and conversing for a couple hours, we decided it was too hot and we should go swimming. No one except two little girls had bathing suits, so we all went swimming in our clothes. The cold water after being covered in dirt was the most refreshing thing ever. After swimming, we picked green mangoes from a tree right next to the pool. After the pool we hit the fair. I rode the Ferris wheel 3 times before I felt like puking.

My cousin on the far right and a couple of his buddies.

 More peeps. The guy on far right won one of the races.

We hit the pool after the races.

 Milton picking mangoes from a tree.

We were really high up from the ground. If you fell you would've landed on a rock in the river.

 Daniel and...

Milton throwing broken pieces of ceramic tile at the mango tree to knock some mangoes down.They missed every try.

 Milton driving the family pick up. He's 11.

 View from almost the top of the Ferris wheel.

I love palm trees.

 The church in Esquipulas.

 Little kid on a bike. A couple minutes later he was staring at me and didn't realize he was riding right into a speed ditch. He fell pretty hard and I kinda felt bad.

 Moto-taxis are pretty popular now.

 Coca Cola in a bag.

Today was the first official day of the fair. There was a parade early in the morning. Parades here are really similar to parades back in the US. There's music and marching. Duh. Students from all the schools around Concepcion march in the parade in their uniforms. Its pretty cool to see all the different uniforms from all the different schools. They have floats where girls are dressed all pretty. Its kind of like a homecoming queen thing. At the end of the night a queen was crowned. 

Marching band in the parade.

Floats with girls dressed all pretty.

 I didn't notice the bunnies on the float were actually boys until I posted the picture.

More girls in pretty dresses.

Even more.

Uni cycling clown.

Shaved Ice.

and I had pizza today. It was great.

P.s.

 I think Im over taking cold showers. I want warm water now. Please.

Today was a blast.

I got to go to a Motocross race, went swimming in a local pool, picked mangoes from a tree, found out that 11 year olds here can drive better than I can, and went to the fair. I rode the ferris wheel three times. I was on the verge of puking up the tortilla I had just eaten after the second time riding. I won a pocket knife at a booth with a shooting game. I was excited. Right now I am exhausted and sunburnt and listening to Harry Potter in spanish.  Im way too exhausted to upload all the pictures I took right now. Im slacking, I know.
The fair officaially starts tomorrow. Theres a dance tomorrow. And I WILL buy more candy tomorrow. Candy here is really good. Bon bon bum all the way! Pictures will be uploaded tomorrow...maybe.

Paul Baribeau - Christmas Lights

What could be better than being in a ridiculously beautiful place without a care in the world? If someone were to ask me that, I wouldn't really be able to think of anything. Yet, the whole time I've been out here in beautiful, warm, sunny Guatemala, the only thing my mind has been on, has been going to California this summer. That is the only thing I want right now. To be on the road, on my way to California. That's it.

Soda for a parched tongue

I´ve been stomach sick since last night. Slight fever and horrible stomach pain, which I´m thinking might be from eating too much yesterday. The only thing I´ve had all day is a couple peices of lettuce and a couple sips of water. I´m really thirsty but not in the mood to drink anything except soda. Coca Cola to be exact. I think its just to get some of that bubbly, tingly goodness you get when the soda first hits your tongue. Oh my gosh.

And I got my bags this morning. You don't realize how important clean clothes are until you have none.  I was super happy to be able to change into a clean shirt after the long walk today.
And I spotted the pizza place in town. Looked really good. Pizza will definitely be had there sometime this week.

Guatemala Trip Day 2.

I woke up at 7 AM today. That's the earliest I've been awake without anyone having to wake me up. I wasn't even tired when I woke up. I was actually hungry. The kitchen was closed at that time though, so I just went back to bed. I slept til 11, woke up, had plaintains and freshly made cheese. It was delicious. After breakfast I lurked around the house for a bit and after a while we walked to my Grandpa's farm. We picked mangos from his tree and ate them right there. How many people can say they ate a mango they picked from their tree? It was awesome.

I had my first cold shower in about 9 years today. It was also my shortest shower in about 9 years. To get hot water here, we have to heat it up on the stove. I was tired and hot from walking, so I just took a cold shower. It was actually not as bad as I thought it would be. It was a cold that was appreciated after the long walk. In the morning, I think that would be a different story. After showering and lunch, my grandpa gave me fresh sugar cane to munch on. Delicious.

The anorexic looking dog I saw yesterday, is not as anorexic as I thought. She just had puppies and is thin, but probably not so much from starvation. She's probably thin from giving the food she gets to her puppies. Her puppies are all fat and round and adorable. She had 8 puppies, 3 were given away and now she's left with 5.

Before I came out, I was warned not to touch any dogs unless I wanted to get bit. Dogs here are very different from dogs back home. If you try to touch a dog when it's eating here, be prepared to get your hand bit off. Dogs here aren't really cared for the way they are back home either. Its rare to see a dog that's not skin and bones here. All dogs here are skinny and most of them live on the side of the streets. Most of them have owners, but all the owners do is feed them every once in a while. They don't really go in houses.

Tomorrow we're waking up really early and going 3 hours away to the coast where my aunt used to live. Apparently it's going to be ridiculously hot.  I can't wait. I love the beach. I didn't bring a bathing suit though, so we have a dilemma there.

 I get to hang out with these monkeys again.

Puppies

 Sleepy puppies.

This guys bark is bigger than his bite. He ran away when I got close.

First day in Guatemala

Today was the day I flew to Guatemala. The flights were great. Not too long, not too short. The flight from Orlando to Miami took about 45 minutes. We had a one hour stop in Miami. We ate breakfast during that stop and that was definetly the worst decision I made all day. We ate at this Chinese place that served breakfast. The breakfast was pretty bad. I'm not that picky of an eater, but this was bad. I had scrambled eggs, potatoes and toast. The toast was the best. You can't really go bad with toast though. The eggs were greasy and oily and the potaotes were completely drenched in some yellowishy orangy oil. I ended up eating less than half of it. I've had a stomach ache alllll day. I slept through the 3 hour Miami to Guatemala flight.

My bags never got to Guatemala. So I don't have any bags until tomorrow when they send them. I usually always pack a change of clothes in my carry on for this kind of stuff, but this time it completely slipped my mind. I don't have clothes or a toothbrush, or my laptop until tomorrow. Major bummer.

Other than that the day has been great. The weather here is great. Its around 70 something. It was supposed to rain today, but it hasn't. Which is good. It was 3 hours from the airport to Concepcion las Minas, the town where I'm staying. We drove most of the way with the windows open. My hair is so tangled, it's insane. I think it'll stay like that til I get my bags tomorrow. I forgot how bad people drive here. Or how good? They are good at going fast, swerving, and passing cars. Not too good at watching out for pedestrians. Pedestrians have to watch out for cars here. In the first ten minutes of being here I almost got hit by two cars. I think they can tell I'm not from here.

We got to town pretty late to do anything and were tired. Concepcion has grown so much since I last came. I didn't even realize we were here. There are so many cars now. The streets are much smaller. It seems like all the buildings are being expanded or new ones are being built. Last time I came I was in sixth grade, so about 11. Everything looked much smaller. It seems like there was alot more open space back then. It might take me a while to figure out where I'm going and where I am, even though I kinda still remember. Somewhere I plan on going soon is the local pizza place. I remember it from last time I came and it was really good. I've been lurking my grandpa's house for today. They have a couple of kitties and an anorexic looking dog. (Pictures tomorrow.)

These are from today.

Picture of a plane from the road. This was right after leaving the airport.

 Gallo Cerveza sign

Scenic stuff. Cool.

A cool looking bus. These are always full of people. Sometimes they have so many people they have people hanging out the door. 

More buses.

Flags. The middle one is the Guatemalan flag.

 A perfume store that closed down.

Delicious bread from a bakery on our way to Concepcion.  It was delicious. I missed this bread.

I almost got the picture! We drove away a little too soon.

Bank advertisement. Its weird seeing signs in spanish.

Pollo Campero is Guatemala's version of KFC, except sooo much better. The chicken is super moist, fresh and crispy. I didn't have any due to the whole vegetarian thing, but when I was little we came here a couple of times on our trips to Guatemala. I really liked it when I had it then. Alot of shopping places and restaurants here have security guards standing at the doors. 

And we're off!

My plane leaves Florida in exactly 4 hours and 32 minutes. Bye Bye Florida. Hello Guatemala.

Disney Quest

I went to this place called Disney Quest last Wednesday. It's a five story building full of basically video games. It was pretty cool.

I won.

Centipede. My favorite game in the whole place.

Sooo many pinball machines.

A couple of pictures outside before the camera died.

House of Blues water tower.

I love palm trees.