Days 99-100: The Triple Digit Mark

So today I have been 'abroad' for 100 consecutive days. Pretty cool.

Yesterday and today have been pretty much revolving around my plans for the rest of my time here.

I am so excited to say that tomorrow morning, super early I might add, I am boarding a 'chicken bus' and taking the 2.5 hour trip to Panajachel. From this lakeside city, I will be taking a boat across to the little town of San Marcos. There I will be staying in a family friend's house that is currently vacant, and I hope to involve myself as much as possible with the Waldorf school in the town. Chicken Buses are giant school-bus types that are painted a wild mix of colors and have the reputation of enthusiastic drivers. It should be a good experience, definitely a Central-American one.

I just finished packing my things up, I swear, each time I do this I have less and less space. My bags both weigh a ton, it is kind of ridiculous. I also went and bought two loaves of bread (one banana, the other a delicious orange and chocolate) and now in addition to excessive baggage, I have excessive bread. I think I might give some to María Elena tomorrow morning.

I mailed off some postcards yesterday, finally. For me postcards are those things that are great to receive, but on the sending end I never remember them.

I also got to talk to my Mom yesterday and wish her a Happy Guatemalan Mother's Day since I was a day late for the American one. It turned out to be a good thing that we talked because my life is going to be super busy when I get back to the United States.

Yesterday was Andrea's (the daugther of María Elena) birthday, so they had a little party this afternoon. 10 Girls from her school came over and had lunch, cake, played a couple games and failed miserably at smashing a piñata to bits. I spent that part of the  afternoon in my room, so as to not disturb the festivities, listening to the giggling. The only moment that it paused for about 2 minutes was when the cake was served. Still, María Elena did a really nice job arranging everything, she set up a little canopy with a table underneath, cooked a chicken, salad and mashed potatoes lunch, bought a cake (that was specially made by a friend since there were literally no more cakes in the city due to the Mother's Day celebrations yesterday), and decorated the whole yard. It was very sweet. And, yes, I helped out: I dominated the balloon and streamer hanging as well as professionally filled the piñata with all sorts of goodies.

I am excited about tomorrow, naturally I am fretting a little bit, but I ought to get to bed early since I need to be at the departure spot at 06.40 tomorrow morning. We shall see how well Zombie-Dylan can speak Spanish at that ungodly hour in the morning, let alone navigate myself and luggage across town.

I will bring my computer with me to San Marcos, although I am uncertain as to the internet status. I will find a way to keep blogging, there has to be one place in the town that has internet. And if not, I will write them all anyways and post them upon my return to Antigua, the exact date of which is still slightly undecided.

Chao.