Before I forget what happened over the holiday break...

NUMBER ONE: I went home to Houston! Even got to Austin for a weekend. :) It was very nice to be home and see everyone (and stuff my face).

Pretty architecture in Antigua

NUMBER TWO: I went to Guatemala! We took an incredibly comfortable bus (Pullmantur) from San Sal to Guate City, then taxied to Antigua for $35. Antigua is really nice! It's really chill and touristy. We ate at Bagel Barn and Frida's (wow the mole was so good) and saw all sorts of neat churches and a museum of colonial art. We met up with some fellow teachers who were also there, and Matt and I even checked out the nightlife (slightly unsuccessful, but oh well). We also hiked up to the Cerro de la Cruz (hill of the cross) that overlooks the city. Our hotel (Aurora) was very nice and included a decent continental breakfast.

We were supposed to go camping on Pacaya volcano, but our guide was sick or something and we didn't get to go. :( We hung around Antigua for an extra day, then hopped in a van to Panajachel to see Lago Atitlán. It was one of the prettiest places I've ever been. Will definitely have to go back. We had dinner at sunset and took lots of pictures. The next morning we went to the market in Chichicastenango (the largest market in Central America) and haggled and bought lots of stuff. I got a cool painted skull, a clay jaguar (my Mayan birth glyph is the jaguar, i'x), and a super amazing painted leather Mayan calendar that I am absolutely in love with.

After a reroute back to Antigua and a really really long day of being on a minibus, we finally made it back to Guate around 9:30 pm. Went right to bed and got up to catch the bus back to San Salvador at 6 am. Phew!

The first week back at school went well, and my kids are being really good. I hope it keeps up! I started using classdojo.com, and the kids are really responding to it. Hopefully they won't get bored.

One of my kiddos is moving back to the US (boo), so I'm down to 20.

I'm so happy to be back!

Lago Atitlán

Sunset din din on Atitlán

Chichi market