Bienvanidos a Guatemala. After nearly two weeks in Guatemala I found a internet cafe that is speedy enough to upload photos. Unfortunatly we are moving on to a new town tomorrow. In the meantime be prepared to be bedazzled by my descriptions of my first impressions of  Guatemala.

Upon arival we spent a couple days in Antigua, pictured above. Antigua was the Spanish colonial capital of Guatemala and you may seem a glimmer of New Orleans in the colonial archetuecture there. Unlike New Orleans Antigua is cradled in a mountainous vally surrounded by 3 volcanoes., one of which is pictured in the street view and that we enjoyed daily. But now on to the important...

Our first meal in Guatemala. A tamale!. Tamales are popular street food here and go by many names. I often hear "Chuchita". The chuchitta pictured here was the last great thing that happened the day we left Antigua. It was spicy and delicous, unlike that day which was spicy and annoying.

On that first night we feasted in the court yard of a church on puppusas (stuffed tortillas), and tamles. It was magical to taste the local flavor and breathe in the fresh mountainous air.



We also did this!

 

That's right, we hiked Volcan Pacaya, an active volcano. Seeing rivers of lava flow down a mountain is more than a little nuts. In my continued effort to live on the cheap I refused the request of the MANY children offering to rent walking sticks, even after a percocius 6 year old nina told me "es neccecito". 15 minutes later our guide cut down a small tree with his machete and I panted out something that sounded like "gracias". 

Ok that's all there is time for today, but stay tuned for information on Lake Attilan, home of an odd hipie village, San Pedro where we studied Spanish this week, and much much more.