We have begun the home stretch of our practicum now, with only a week and a half left. My mentor teacher has gone on what they call ‘long leave’, and has the rest of the school year off. There is a new teacher in my classroom now, and I am enjoying her very much. My class is responding much better to my management strategies since the break. We are having their annual sports day this Friday so I will update you on that next week, but for now, I want to give you a glimpse of our Easter break adventures!
The girls threw me a wonderful birthday on the 27th. They took me fishing, planned a surprise party with all our friends, got a scrumptious birthday cake made, and even worked it out so that my parents called me at the party on one of our friend’s cell phones. I didn’t suspect a thing and it sounds like they had fun planning sneakily in a one room apartment. It was so thoughtful and definitely a day that I won’t forget!
By the end of that week we were getting pretty excited about heading to Guatemala for two weeks. We definitely had some interesting experiences with the customs office, and the language barrier. Even the Spanish words we did
know, we didn’t seem to be able to communicate properly. We felt like we were in a big game of charades as we dramatized everything that we were trying to say, regardless of how foolish we looked. Thank goodness numbers are universal, because we resorted to carrying a calculator around with us everywhere. Our first stop was San Pedro, a little hippie town on Lake Atitlan. This lake is surrounded by 
some gorgeous volcanoes, and the lake actually used to be a volcano itself. This is where we were introduced to skurfing! Every morning we started the day off with a good skurf, which is simply like wakeboarding, but on a surfboard. The weather was gorgeous, the accommodations were only costing us $3 US a night, and we met some really cool people to travel with. 
From there we went to Antigua (right) for Easter weekend to take in their famous Easter celebrations. The city itself looked very European with cobble stone streets and just an overall romantic look and atmosphere. We celebrated Melissa’s birthday there by climbing Volcano Pacaya, which is about an hour outside the city. The hike was substantially tough, and we were surprised that no warning was given before signing up. There were lots of people that couldn’t make it up, and some that had to take advantage of the ‘taxis’ (kids on the volcano offering their horses as taxis). Once we reached the volcanic rock, we could see rivers of lava, and could feel the 
heat already. As we got closer, the heat coming out from the cracks between the rocks would actually burn us. I got a little nervous as some balls of lava would tumble off the river’s path, and look like they were coming 
towards us, but we got out just fine. That night we had a party for Melissa at the hostel complete with cheesecake, a large piñata, musical chairs, and of course some drinks.
heat already. As we got closer, the heat coming out from the cracks between the rocks would actually burn us. I got a little nervous as some balls of lava would tumble off the river’s path, and look like they were coming 
towards us, but we got out just fine. That night we had a party for Melissa at the hostel complete with cheesecake, a large piñata, musical chairs, and of course some drinks.When we were coming home that night, we passed 
a bunch of people in the streets who were beginning to make carpets. They worked all night, making these carpets, and then in the morning, the procession reenacting the stations of the cross paraded over them. The carpets are a symbol of thanks for gifts given and a sign of future faith. (The picture above is of the carpet in front of our hostel at night, and the one below it is the same carpet in the morning.) The processions were very impressive. It seemed like every male in the 
town was wearing a purple robe, and they carried floats to the beat of a band playing behind them. There was also a float with Mary on it, and women in high heels carried this thing all day. That night we saw the procession of Jesus lying in the tomb in front of the City’s cathedral. Thousands of people were standing watching with candles. It was very powerful, but it is also very hard to explain without making this entry a novel of details. (I have put more pictures of the carpets and procession at the bottom of this entry if you're interested.)
a bunch of people in the streets who were beginning to make carpets. They worked all night, making these carpets, and then in the morning, the procession reenacting the stations of the cross paraded over them. The carpets are a symbol of thanks for gifts given and a sign of future faith. (The picture above is of the carpet in front of our hostel at night, and the one below it is the same carpet in the morning.) The processions were very impressive. It seemed like every male in the 
town was wearing a purple robe, and they carried floats to the beat of a band playing behind them. There was also a float with Mary on it, and women in high heels carried this thing all day. That night we saw the procession of Jesus lying in the tomb in front of the City’s cathedral. Thousands of people were standing watching with candles. It was very powerful, but it is also very hard to explain without making this entry a novel of details. (I have put more pictures of the carpets and procession at the bottom of this entry if you're interested.)We left Antigua, rode a bus to a town called Lanquin, and stayed at an amazing hostel called El Retiro. This was definitely our favorite part of the whole trip so far. It was 
so beautiful there, and the people were great. We got to float down the river in the middle of the jungle as villagers swam, and did their wash, and welcomed us. We went on a crazy cave tour where we felt like Indiana Jones. We climbed up waterfalls in this cave and slid down natural waterslides while trying to keep our candles above water. After that we floated down another river, and t
hen hiked to a park called Semuc Champey (right). We hiked up this ridiculously steep trail to a lookout point above the pools that we were told were amazing. The view was well worth the hike. The pools waterfall down into each other so that we could swim in each pool, and then dive down, into the next one. We slept outside in hammocks at El Retiro for 4 nights, and were pretty sad to leave. The hostel there had ‘family dinners’ where we would all meet at 7:00 for the best food that we’ve had so far.
so beautiful there, and the people were great. We got to float down the river in the middle of the jungle as villagers swam, and did their wash, and welcomed us. We went on a crazy cave tour where we felt like Indiana Jones. We climbed up waterfalls in this cave and slid down natural waterslides while trying to keep our candles above water. After that we floated down another river, and t
hen hiked to a park called Semuc Champey (right). We hiked up this ridiculously steep trail to a lookout point above the pools that we were told were amazing. The view was well worth the hike. The pools waterfall down into each other so that we could swim in each pool, and then dive down, into the next one. We slept outside in hammocks at El Retiro for 4 nights, and were pretty sad to leave. The hostel there had ‘family dinners’ where we would all meet at 7:00 for the best food that we’ve had so far.We left there on Thursday morning and bussed to Tikal, which is supposed to be the most impressive Mayan ruins around. I guess we were somewhat disappointed, but we had high expectations since the rest of the trip had been so good so far. The structures were impressive, but we were more excited about the wild life. We woke up at 3:00am that morning to go watch the sunrise on
one of the structures. You could hear the jungle come alive as the sky lit up. We saw spider monkeys, toucans, parrots, and heard howler monkeys. We only stayed until about 11:00, as we were tired! From there, our adventure was pretty much over. We had to wake up at 4:00 the next morning to take an 11 hour bus ride back to PG. Guatemala was incredible. The culture itself is so different than Belize's. All the women wear their traditional outfit, and the men are not nearly as aggressive as in Belize. It was a very friendly country and it was cheap! It only cost us about $300 US for the full two weeks. The only downfall is that there was a lot of garbage around the towns. People litter constantly without giving it a second thought.
We thought it would be hard going back to teaching, but it felt good once we got back to PG. Today I was teaching my kids about rhyming words, and encountered quite the challenge. I had picked one syllable words for them to rhyme once they had grasped the concept, but their accent threw them off a bit. For example, I asked them to find words that rhymed with ‘bat’. Many of them chose the mystery word ‘shat’. I asked them what a shat was, and the word that they were trying to describe was actually shot, but when they say it, it really
does sound like shat. We shall try again tomorrow! Adios!
one of the structures. You could hear the jungle come alive as the sky lit up. We saw spider monkeys, toucans, parrots, and heard howler monkeys. We only stayed until about 11:00, as we were tired! From there, our adventure was pretty much over. We had to wake up at 4:00 the next morning to take an 11 hour bus ride back to PG. Guatemala was incredible. The culture itself is so different than Belize's. All the women wear their traditional outfit, and the men are not nearly as aggressive as in Belize. It was a very friendly country and it was cheap! It only cost us about $300 US for the full two weeks. The only downfall is that there was a lot of garbage around the towns. People litter constantly without giving it a second thought.We thought it would be hard going back to teaching, but it felt good once we got back to PG. Today I was teaching my kids about rhyming words, and encountered quite the challenge. I had picked one syllable words for them to rhyme once they had grasped the concept, but their accent threw them off a bit. For example, I asked them to find words that rhymed with ‘bat’. Many of them chose the mystery word ‘shat’. I asked them what a shat was, and the word that they were trying to describe was actually shot, but when they say it, it really
does sound like shat. We shall try again tomorrow! Adios!The picture to the right is of the view from the top of our tough hike. Those are the pools I was talking about.
The picture below is of one of the processions in Antigua.
This picture is of the evening procession that took place in front of the cathedral. The smoke is actually incense.
This is a picture of the intense carpet making. I hope you enjoyed!
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