Mucho Suerte

It has been awhile and seeing as I have no work for the week it seems like a good chance to update you on my life.

So first birthday in Guatemala went well but had some major glitches. For one, they called STANDFAST on us while I was on my way to meet my boyfriend. This means that you cannot leave your site because it is too dangerous. At this time it was tourential(spell check) downpouring and there were tons of landslides on the main highway which sadly took the lives of many Guatemalans, rest in peace.
The picture is of crosses on the highway where people lost their lives in the the landslides. I got the go ahead to stay in Antigua but we were not allowed to travel to the lake as planned. After meeting Geo and wandering around Antigua looking for a hotel we arrived at Berkhard legitamently soaking wet. We were able to enjoy the weekend in Antigua, hitting the clubs, eating good food and enjoying one another's company. He left Monday but I was stuck there along with about 5 other volunteers. We made up the standfast crew and partied every night until Thursday when we got the go ahead to return to our sites. Needless to say standfast is hard...



Ran my 15K in Chimaltenango two weeks ago and it was incredible.
The route was so beautiful and I did it was some amazing friends. Finished the 9.3 mile run in 1 hour and 45 minutes, not bad considering it was my first real race. I just wanted to finish it and I was damn proud to have done so. Next up is the half marathon in Xela on the 14th of November and after a week of resting I am back to training.

I ended up staying the night in Chimal with my good friend Maggie and woke up at 5am to return to site. Why so early Christina, you may ask...wellll we were told that there were going to be protests on the main highway starting at 8am so I needed to be back in my site by 8 or I would be stuck in God only knows where. Things were going fine, according to plan. I was 20KMS from Cuatro Caminos, where they said these events would be taking place, at 7:30am when the buses could no longer move as people crowded into the street. The picture is of one of the protests I encountered on my walk. I was exhuasted from the race the day before but knew I would be stuck there, in the middle of no where for hours and hours if I didn't do something. Putting on my running shoes I decided to take my chances and walk a bit, see if I couldn't find a bus on the other side of this crowd. So 20KMS later (12.5 miles) I finally hit Cuatro Caminos. I was still in high spirits, feeling proud of what I had just accomplished and thinking once I got to the other side of the crowd there would surely be micros or tuk-tuks, something to get me home. Oh no, the entire department of Totonicapan had shut down for the strike and people had put rocks and branches in the all the roads to discourage people from driving. At this point the rain began and with it my spirits fell as I slowly but surely found myself still walking and drenched. 5KMS later I encountered the bomberos, they are the volunteer firefighters, who thank God took me the final 15KMS. I still need to write them a card and get them some delicious treat to thank them. After all was said and done I had ran a 15k one day only to walk 25 more the following. I am just now recovering. And in retrospect it was a fun adventure and now makes a good story but let's be honest those last 5kms about broke me.

Now it is feria time in Toto which means a ridiculous amount of people, so much street food walking in parades,

and basically regulation free rides. Pretty much the best time of the year in Toto. I have enjoyed myself thus far and fair rides will never quite be the same after legit fearing for your life on the ferris wheel and the zipper.

Work is winding down as school comes to an end. They have exams for the next two weeks and then vacation until January. During this time I will be teaching english every week and having camps, we shall see how this pans out...things in Guatemala never ever go as expected. I am headed to Coban in two weeks to meet the boyfriend's fam, I have never been so nervous to meet someone in my life. Ay, I will keep you posted on how much of an ass I make out of myself. That is it for now, hasta pronto.

These last pictures are all from the feria: